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