Wordless Wednesday - Cutting back the trees for fall

Desert gardening: How's the garden doing?

Well, we've had tons of plants get growth, but we are barely getting ANY thing out of the plants. Why? Bunnies, birds and cats.

Bunnies are likely hopping through and getting some of the leaves.

Birds are flying off with any thing that is actually flowering

and our cat likes to take naps in the garden.

Well, I solved that.



Please note, while I attended an engineering school for my undergrad,

THIS is why I'm not an engineer.



And you can see we've had some clean up done... some gardeners came by and also pulled some things we had growing... life goes on.

Outside my window - Thursday - Desert Window - Baby bunnies

Here's what we had out in our back yard this week.

Look closely...

Do you see the baby bunnies? My kids are so happy to see them. Earlier this week, my 4 year old wanted to "feed" them and she gave them rocks. So we got to discuss how fragile the bunnies were and how we wanted to leave them alone so they won't be afraid and also so their mommy could come back and nurse them. BTW, a request for the bunnies to get my milk... definitely passed on that request. 

And our desert garden 14 weeks in. Looks like tomatoes and potatoes and possibly some eggplant. Hopefully the beans will survive.

I attempted some additional plants out of compost and some Sustainable Seed Company carrot and other seeds... Apparently when you forget to water them, plants don't like it!

We had our yard cleaned up and while they did a great job, they overdid our second garden and dug up some actual plants, including strawberries :( Looks good though and we know where to restart! Lookame, Rohan would say :)

And we got rain Thursday and our make-shift laundry line broke with the weight of the hand-made quilt. 

Desert Garden week 10

It has been a while but here are some updated photos... First know that I did finally transplant my compost growth... yes, about time!

Hello garden! We finally have growth... we may just get some good ol' backyard goodness after all!

New Hardiness Zone Map for Gardeners

I may be the last to know, but in case I'm not... Enter the latest and greatest hardiness zone Map. I'm in 9B now.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

I hope to have an update with my garden photos later this week... Yes the bunnies are liking my beans :(

What's this growing in my compost?

What's this growing in my compost?

Need bunny help for garden

We're 4ish weeks into the garden and I think the bunnies like our plants... they ate most of the transplant leaves on the blueberry "stick" we have (I can't really call it a bush). Many of the small sprouts I had for carrots, etc are gone. Some may have got too much dirt on them, but WOWsers. I feel like I'm starting over! For those not in the desert southwest... bunnies love backyards of homes that have view fences. That's one drawback of not having a neighbor too my back causing us to have a cinder block back wall.
Not naming names but some may have been buried by added compost :)

What we do have includes:

Chili for everyone!

potential strawberries

I have no clue... do you?

What I'm starting now... But I'm afraid this week of cool nights may not have been too helpful! Beans on the way, I hope!

So except for putting blood around my garden... what are your natural ways to keep the bunnies in your grass only? :)

Garden Week 3 - Desert Gardening - Spring is spruning!

If I may, I will introduce you to my garden - we have sprouts and items are being transplanted. So far we have some very excited kiddos!

So excited my 1 year old had to start throwing them around... it must have been time to make the move into the big garden. :)

Three Year Old Desert Gardener

Garden Week 1 - Desert Gardening

The desert garden will succeed... I will have veggies grow this year. I will, I will, I will! To the right is the photo of the aforementioned 4x8 dug up plot for my raised bed.

So I have a few books and resources I'm using to hopefully have a successful garden this year.

First - The Garden Guy: Seasonal Guide to Organic Gardening in the Desert Southwest (Outdoor and Nature)

Second - Various websites, including: A monthly Garden Calendar and the Home Depot Club.

Third - The Phoenix Permaculture Alliance I figure between these resources and some tough dedication, we can have a successful garden this year.

Today my almost 4 year old and I started some small seeds and some transplants.

My 1 year old attempted to help, but mostly I was trying to keep him occupied with other things... His attempt at planting was mostly digging up seeds that were already planted or throwing rocks at his older sister. 

But in the end, we started some carrots, cucumbers, strawberries and beans.

This weekend's goal is to finish clearing the area (above) and put together my two 4x4 raised bed garden pieces.

I also have some blackberry and blue beries to transplants and look forward to my order of seeds arriving from the Sustainable Seed Company.

Wish me luck!