sterile plants for a sterile girl

I think it's interesting that plants can be sterile. I actually think it's pretty lame. I had heard of this but it wasn't till I had my own garden did I realize what this means.

I used dirt from my compost to fill my garden. I planted many things as you can see in my jan post. However not many of those seeds sprouted and instead seeds from my compost decided to volunteer themselves for my serendipitous garden. I didn't realize that carrots weren't growing until my good friend told me I had a tomato plant and that my hollyhocks that weren't standing up were actually some sort of squash. After she told me the fun news of visitors in the garden I started looking closer. I had probably 10 blooms from what I think is a zucchini plant and still no fruit. It's obviously is a hearty plant as it has taken over half of my garden but with no reproductive skills. This part was probably bred out of it while trying to make a sweeter more delicate skinned vegetable.

I thought about ripping it out and putting in something that would actually give me something for my salad, but I had this moment of bonding with the plant as I recognized we had a lot in common. Just because this plant can't reproduce doesn't mean it can't provide shade for other plants from the Sonoran sun.

The point of this entry is that genetically engineered plants have a hard time replicating themselves, but at the same time genetically modified foods have made oranges sweeter,bananas bigger, and corn to grow faster, just know that what you see might not be what you get.

Green Grass

I would like to dedicate this blog to the wonderful idea of grass in the desert. Who says you can't eat your cake and have it too? If you are one of the many people who have grass in their block walled backyard listen up. Here is how you can have a beautiful lawn in the Sonoran desert.

2 Seasons of grass
We can have green grass all year long. The warm season grass will be from April to October. The cool season grass is from mid October to June. Warm seson grasses include Bermudagrass, Buffalograss, St. Augustinegrass, Zoysiagrass and only have to be planted once. The cool season grasses are Perennial Ryegrasses and Fescue they are reseeded every year.

Dethatching
This time of year (April) is when we want to dethatch our yards of all the previous years undergrowth. You don't want to have more than a half inch of thatch in your lawn. You will be surprised how much is our there. This process allows light and air to circulate so that the annual summer grass can come out of dormancy with ease. We want to slowly wake the summer grass up. If your out there dethatching your yard keep in mind that it is also a good time to aerate the ground. This step only needs to be done every 2-4 years but should be done during the growing season.

Watering
Once your yard is dethatched and aerated you will want to increase your water as we come out of winter. Usually everyone thinks that in the desert plants die of dehydration. However, plants usually die from overwatering. When I first moved here I used to think, well I'm thirsty so they have to be thirsty they are out under the sun all day. But really if you water your plants once a week with a deep watering they will do well for you. (in the middle of the summer it is possible to move towards 2 waterings).

The early morning is a great time to water, it has the lowest evaporation rate, less wind, and is a low usage time. I usually water around 430 or 5 in the summer, and closer to 6 in the winter (this winter i didn't have to water at all!)

Fertilizing
Along with watering our plants, April is also a great time to feed your grass. Our soil doesn't always have everything your grass needs to survive here but we can fix that. Turf Royale is the brand name of a fertilizer that has the proper ration of 3Nitrogen 1Phosphorus and 2Potassium.

Mowing
As the transition from Rye to Bermuda or winter grass to summer grass happens, we want to mow the lawn often and short. When mowing keep in mind that it's best to only cut 1/3 of the blade off at a time. If you cut more than that it often sends the plant into shock and looses it's photosynthesizing power.

I hope you find this information helpful. let me know if you have questions I'm always up for learning more!

Hope the grass is green wherever you are.

My Orange Blossom Sugar Tastes Like Sugar

I thought it was going to be so awesome. I thought I would be able to infuse sugar with the taste of the sweet scent of orange blossoms. The smell is there but the taste is so delicate I'm not sure anyone would be able to taste it. Maybe I will set up blind taste tests to see. I would hate to sell something that would be a disappointment. I have 50lbs of sugar in my pantry. You can count on me for desserts for a while. Hopefully my neighbors will come over and ask to borrow a cup or two or five.

In any case I hope you enjoyed being with the orange blossoms as much as I did. This spring in Phoenix has been so wonderful. I'm sorry to be seeing it leave.

If you are interested in how to infuse sugar I will give you the steps. Maybe you could come up with fun ideas to infuse sugar. Maybe citrus rinds, or cinnamon.

1. Gather orange blossoms, wash, dry, and bruise.



2. Buy Sugar

3. Put orange blossoms in sugar






4. Cover and let sit for 3 weeks.







5. Enjoy and hope it taste like more than just sugar.

What to plant in March

This is a march list of a few of the things to plant in the garden. As you can see you have a lot to choose from. Enjoy!

Veggies to plant
Asparagus Crowns
Beans
Beets
Chives
Collards
Cucumber
Eggplant
Endive
Herbs
Kale
Leaf Lettuce
Muskmelon
Mustard
Okra
Parsley
Peas
Pepper
Radish
Salsify
Spinach
Squash-Summer
Sweet Corn
Swiss Chard
Tomato
Watermelon

Flowers to plant in March include:
Ageratum
Alyssum
Balsam
Basil Ornamental
Scarlet Runner Bean
Celosia
Cockscomb
Cosmos
Dahlia
Delphinium
Four O'Clock
Gallardia
Gloriosa Daisy
Godetia
Gourds
Hollyhocks
Kochia
Lupins
Marigold
Nasturtium
Old Fashioned Garden
Petunia
Pinks
Portulaca
Salvia
Shasta Daisy
Sunflower
Thunbergia
Verbena
Vinca
Viola
Zinnia

Orange Blossom time!

I was making my way to my compost this afternoon and noticed that my citrus trees have buds all over them. In my opinion this is the best reason to have citrus trees...for this short period of time when you don't want to exhale b/c the Orange Blossom scents are too good to miss. So I thought I would look online to see what we could do with these little flowers to keep them around longer.

This is what I found.

Orange Blossom Sugar
http://mattbites.typepad.com/mattbites/2007/03/sometimes_its_t.html

Orange Blossom Perfume
http://www.ehow.com/how_2122942_make-orange-blossom-perfume.html

Orange Blossom Essential Oil
http://www.ehow.com/how_2105457_distill-orange-blossom-oil.html

Orange Blossom Water
http://www.marigoldlane.com/kitchen/orangeblossom.html

Eat them as they are
http://www.foodsubs.com/Flowers.html

Drink this while making the above
http://www.esquire.com/drinks/orange-blossom-drink-recipe

Enjoy this time in phoenix. It's intoxicating. Let me know if you decide to make one of these! At the very least pull some off the tree and put it on top of pancakes or your dinner salad!

lauren

Feb in the garden

I did it! I filled the railroad garden with my compost dirt. I had such a huge sense of satisfaction to know that all that dirt was from my kitchen waste. It took probably 20 trips with the wheelbarrel across my yard...and i sifted all the dirt through a one inch filter.

This is what I planted and how it's arranged in the garden


R Holly hocks Nasturitium Holly Hocks Nasturitium
O Onions Onions Onions Onions Onions Echinacia
S Beets beets beets beets beets beets beets
E Mesclun Mesclun Mesclun Mesclun Mesclun
M Arugula Arugula Arugula Arugula arugula arugula
A Alyssum Alyssum Alyssum Alyssum Alyssum
R Cladiums Caladiums Caladiums Calasdium Caladium
Y

Here is a photo of my little seedlings. The big clusters are the arugula!
It is is so satisfying to plant seeds and then see something actually come out of the ground.


Now that it's the middle of Feb we can start planting even more things. Most of the list on the Jan post still applies, so the new items for this month are as follows,
Beans
Herbs
Muskmelon
Okra
Sweet Corn
Tomato


Also if you are into Roses here are a few action steps to keep them healthy this month
Continue pruning and planting bare root roses
plant container roses
fertilize with a slow release fertilizer
Add 4-6 inches of mulch around the plant to retain moisture, cool the roots and control weeds
Water slowly to a depth of 2 feet
allow the soil to dry out between waterings
Spray with a good fungicide

Also don't forget that the best root stock for roses in the low desert is called Dr. Huey.


Please let me know what information you are interested in knowing more about. I am getting all my information from the resources provided by the Master Gardening course through University of Arizona. I can touch on Prunning, grass, watering theories, tropical plants, or whatever else you are curious about.

Thanks for visiting

lauren

January in the Garden

Thank you for coming to my newest blog. As it has been most of my life...I love starting things and hate the follow through. So as a new years resolution I am working on the discipline of finishing the things I have started in 2007. It's quite a list and something I am sure I won't finish.

This blog will be dedicated mostly to the garden. This past fall I took a master gardening class and learned some specific things to growing a garden in the low desert climate and I would like to share them with you. In the same respect please share with me...I took a class but you all have more actual experience in the garden so please share your experiences with me.

As many people in phoenix I'm a transplant. And when I was transplanted here I thought that there was no way to garden here...with this hot sun what could survive? Well to my surprise I can, and many yummy fruits and veggies, beautiful flowers, and some of the coolest cacti specific to our region of the world can too.

Before I jabber on too much let me tell you all the fun things that can be planted as seeds in January.
Beets
broccoli
brusselprouts
cabbage
carrots
cauliflower
chives
collards
endive
kale
leek
head lettuce
leaf lettuce
mustard
onion
parsley
parsnip
potatoes
radish
rutabaga
spinach
swiss chard
turnip

A lot to choose from right? For right now I am assuming you have amended your soil and have a garden that you are working in. But don't worry if you don't. My first attempt at gardening was 2 years ago when I took a spoon and planted corn straight into the ground near an automatic dripper. I didn't add anything to the ground or even dig very deep and got two ears of sweet corn. There are no rules to gardening so if you want to plant something on the list without much prep try it. But I will be doing a soil post soon. I have a beautiful above ground garden that my friend steve built for me in the middle of august. I need to fill it with dirt..and I will send along what I learn.

Before I go, here are a few tips for freezing temperatures although this seems to be a bit of a warm winer.

The best advice is to keep you plants watered. They will stay warmer and withstand cooler temps if they are properly watered (NOT OVER WATERED). The reason is because when the soil around the tree is kept moist, it will not radiate as much heat to the atmosphere at night.

It can also be effective to use Christmas lights to give off just a little bit of heat to keep the edge off.


I wish you well this 2008 and look forward to learning what you all are doing. Please take pictures and send them my way.

Happy Gardening!