Wow, your hollyhocks are way ahead of mine. Someday that Jeanne Lajoie is going to eat that shed.

Hehheh, pot ghetto. I wonder whose is bigger. :-)

You must make your local nursery happy! It's nice to see such variety in your plant choices -- you're really trying a lot of things and choosing more than just common plants. I like it!

My pot ghetto (don't we all have one?) is just about 20 little square four-inch pots that I put some of my seedlings in that I raised in the basement this winter. They're all on my deck and get some protection from the hot afternoon sun. Most of them are Hibiscus moscheutos 'Blue River' seedlings and I'm just not sure I have a place to plant them! They're going to be huge. Like often happens, plant lust is blind and doesn't promote foresight about where to put things!

I'm now waiting for the weather to cool a little so I can put my potted flowers in the ground without risking too many dying from the heat. Good luck on that, huh? It's probably going to be high 90s until September with the way this summer is looking.

That reminds me, maybe I should stop thinking about flowers so much and get out water skiing! The boat's still winterized; where are my priorities?

I love your natural garden. The favorite is your stone steps.
There is a Ridgeback here too, she is 10 yrs old now. Funny, no head dog. Why are they always facing the wrong way when the camera is at hand?

Thanks for the wonderful garden tour.

Thanks Michelle,

I'm sitting here admiring your backyard garden and enjoying a cup of herb tea. I was thinking the other day that plants might benefit from this concoction even more than I do.

Alfalfa tea, huh? I've appreciated that drink too but I've an idea that's not the kind of tea you've been making . . . Understand that the smell is horrible despite those obvious benefits.

So, has anyone ever thought that all the beneficial nutrients are right there in the alfalfa pellets and the micro-organisms are doing nothing other than making those nutrients more available to the plants (while creating a horrid smell)? The microbes are contributing nothing otherwise to the concoction, right?

So, wouldn't cooking the alfalfa also make the nutrients if not AS readily available at least MORE readily available? If garlic and cayenne pepper or even a mix of weeds run thru your blender and sprayed on your plants is beneficial as a pest repellent might they also be good for the purpose of fertilization?

Anyway, alfalfa tea is supposed to prevent arthritis - too late with that here but all the activity, tea, and fine plants there - are evidence of your good work, Michelle.

digitS'

Thanks everyone. It's so fun to take the pictures every year and see how things are looking.

Cheryl, the ghetto is up to about 50 roses. If we have a rainy season, I would like to get a bunch of those in the ground. Otherwise, I am going to have to build a bigger cold frame! :-) Want any roses?

Stevation, the funny thing about the local nurseries - I usually show up driving the oldest truck in town, usually a little sweaty or grungy from from working outside - and mostly am ignored! :-) I must look too poor to bother with. :-)))) I have been working on other hobbies, too, mostly horse riding. It keeps me from obsessing about the thrips and flea beetles that are so obnoxious in the dry weather. If I had a ski boat, I know what my new hobby would be!

Emagineer, our RR is also 10. We can tell she's getting old because the bunnies have moved into the yard. :-)

Digit, alot of folks do apply alfalfa or alfalfa meal. The problem I have here in the SW corner of the state is lack of rain. With drip irrigation, it's just too dry for the top layers of compost to be doing my soil any good. I do spread and scratch in the left over alfalfa sludge and apply lots of compost and manure, but right now it's just dried out and doing no good on top. Topdressing seems to do the most good applied in Fall, when winter and spring moisture helps to work it into the soil. The tea is easy to make, I can mix it with a fish emulsion and apply it to everything with a hose using a siphonject feeder. The results in my garden have amazed me.

Cheers,
Michelle

"Want any roses? "
Ha ha! I don't want all the ones I've got right now. Too much work for my old body.

This Eglantine hybrid from Fairmount Cemetery has spent 10 years in a pot ghetto. I don't know where I'm gonna put it.

I love that Eglantine!! And your spotty little gallicas that you grew.

Reverse enabling is not allowed!!! :-))) Why is it that every rose I see a photo of, I want to grow? My mind must be seriously diseased.

Cheers,
Michelle

I guess then you don't have irrigation? There are some interesting gardening techniques that the folks use out near the Utah border, in the 'dry land' (vs the irrigated land) where they plant stuff in 2 ft deep holes, letting the roots develop that far down. They use something like a catch basin for what ever rain does fall, but most of it is done by hand watering and a very thick mulch with the compost / straw kind of stuff. I know some folks who have to haul all their water, domestic as well as for their plants, in the back of a truck, and its pretty amazing what they can grow.

I have an absurd amount of irrigation water, so I don't have to do all that.

Hi David,

We do have irrigation rights, occasionally some water even comes down the ditch in Spring (not for 4 years, though). There's a good well on the property to do the drip irrigating out of.

Regarding planting really deep, I wonder what happens in the rainy season when the roots are that deep. Do the plants drown, or do they have sandy soil that drains well?

There is a community water station next to my house. Many rural families haul their domestic water in my area, too.

{{gwi:1207726}}

Everyone drinks the water regardless of what the sign says.

{{gwi:1207727}}

Cheers,
Michelle

Re the deep holes and drainage, its all pretty much sandy clay sitting on top of sand stone, and I got the impression from the few folks I know who do this that drowning the plants it isn't much of an issue. My limited understanding is that that deep, if there is any ground water left over from the winter, its down there. Someone was telling me they can grow strawberries that way, although I haven't seen it.

I'm half way between Cortez and Dolores, and forum poster 'debitinco' is just down the road. We have occasional posters here from Ignacio and infrequently, Durango as well. Its none of my business, just curiosity and guessing from the back ground of your pictures, are you south of Hesperus?

Anywho, I have 5 shares of Montezuma Valley Irrigation water, which is a bit over 25 gallons a minute, from May 1 until mid-October. Thats when I scrape off the barnacles and moss, and then check and see if I have developed webbed feet. I have such good drainage that although it's happened, its pretty hard to drown anything unless I leave the water running in the same spot for a month.

Here is a link that might be useful: Don't tell California about this water

Hi David,

Yes, south of Hesperus in the sticks. New Mexico is a stone's throw away. 25 gallons a minute is INSANE, I am jealous! The challenge of making a garden under difficult conditions is part of the fun, though. :-)

Do you know - are there any places to buy the beyond-heirloom local crop seeds - meaning things the Anasazi grew? I used to have an archeologist friend who saved a few seeds from a dig where they found a pot full, and he grew true Anasazi beans from ancient seeds. They were really cool.

Cheers,
Michelle

ps. Do we really consider it summer yet if Mesa Verde isn't on fire? :-) I am literally suprised some hot days to not see the familiar smoke plume to the west and water tankers flying overhead.

"I am literally suprised some hot days to not see the familiar smoke plume to the west and water tankers flying overhead."

Considering the fact that we're about 40% below normal precipitation for the water year, and it has been high 90s for several weeks, I can't believe I haven't seen any wildfires yet. I'm nervous about what the fireworks will bring.