August 14, 2009
If you want to meet Jesus and haven’t yet, here’s a place to do it:
The crusade will go live online tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night at 8pm MST and Sunday night at 7 pm MST. My dad and I got saved there 9 years ago and our lives have never been the same since. Plus, you can watch the archives if you are watching this after the crusade has already happened.
[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 08.14.09 under From My Garden, Home Life, How to Start A Garden
Chain of Events for My New Winter Plot
October 13, 2008
1. Rototilled the hard native soil to break it up first
2. Laid out the manure and mulch, grass clippings and “homemade” compost
3. Tilled again
4. Water dirt once a day for a week or two, as needed, to get the dirt working
5. Plant! (Hopefully this will be happening today.)
Email me photos of your newly planted gardens and I will post them for others to see and give inspiration to at agardeninthedesert@gmail.com .
[ 3 Comments ] Posted on 10.13.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
My man tilling
October 06, 2008
Look at that hunk of a man tilling my garden. I am so excited because we’ll be planting in a few days.
(Those are the okra plants to the far left. They are taller than my 6 foot tall husband…geesh! I had no idea that they grew so tall!)
[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 10.06.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
More progress
September 15, 2008
is being made on the new garden plot. My son has been working half the day trying to get the stump out from a bush that I have had no use for in my new garden plot. He has worked his tail off, bless his heart, all morning and afternoon…(money helps).
I sure do love that kid.
YES! One more down and one more to go…then we’ll start tilling. Woohoo!
[ 3 Comments ] Posted on 09.15.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
Garden beginnings…
September 13, 2008
So, here it is. My visions of my new garden plot right before my eyes. Can you see it?
Maybe you only see and smell a big pile of stinky manure…I see visions of veggies. To each his own.
My wonderful dad, AKA Farmer Darrell, came all the way out to my house today to haul my garden beginnings in the back of his truck. Thanks, dad!
He also brought us a gallon sized bag of hot peppers from his garden, along with a few bell peppers. We had the bell peppers for lunch today and they were so crispy, crunchy sweet. I’m imagining that we’ll have pepper poppers with cream cheese or something along those lines with some of his hot peppers. Mmmm!
My 2 year old loves grandpa’s red bell peppers. That’s how you get your kids to like veggies. You grow your own and then they get to taste what the real thing tastes like and not the mass produced tasteless, nasty veggies.
Thanks for the visit, dad, we all thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with you.
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 09.13.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
It rained, it really did!
May 15, 2008
Well, sort of…
We got really excited and then it stopped after 30 second of sprinkling…..oh well, maybe next time.
My hired boys did a great job and almost completed their/my project today of clearing the rocks.
I’m contemplating on whether to keep the Honeysuckle bush or not (the bush right in the middle of the picture). I’m thinking it might draw up too many nutrients for what it’s worth. I’m also thinking that when I till around it that it might upset its roots too much and kill it anyway…what do you think? My boys are waiting in anticipation, ready to pounce on it and conquer it…
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 05.15.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
Making Progress
May 14, 2008
My boys are making progress on clearing an area for the new garden.
They even dug out a bush stump this morning.
Way to go boys!
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 05.14.08 under How to Start A Garden
A New Garden Project
May 13, 2008
I’ve decided that I want to add another garden space for my cool weather, winter veggies. I am always getting frustrated around February because my winter veggies aren’t always mature yet along my west wall garden space, but I need that space to start my spring plantings, mostly for my tomatoes. It never leaves me enough time to ammend my soil in between the winter and spring plantings and I end up pulling up the cool weather veggies before I really want to. SO, I am going to take over my east wall and make it green so that I will be able to prolong my winter garden this upcoming season. I am so excited!
Here is the new space…along with a couple of cuties.
And here is the rock remover crew…
…to be continued.
[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 05.13.08 under From My Garden, How to Start A Garden
First Garden Tips
February 19, 2008
So you want to start your very own vegetable garden, free from pesticides and so forth here the Phoenix, Arizona area. Here are a few tips on how to get started.
I would keep your very first garden small so you don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t go quite right. If you leave room for expansion you can always expand it next season if you really like it. If you keep it small, under 4′ or 5’ in width you will be able to walk around it or reach into it. The size of my garden is 17′ x 5′, running along my west wall for shade from the late afternoon sun. I would suggest a square of 4’ x 4’ or 5′ x 5′ to begin, but that all depends on how motivated you are! Remember, there are all different kinds of ways to start your garden, this is just how I have done mine with great success here in the
The soil composition is very important. You want to have lots of organic material, meaning manure and compost. The more dead, organic matter the better the soil, which means better produce. For my first garden, I just laid out equal bags of manure and compost over the area that I chose for my garden and then tilled with a rototiller. The place you choose, of course, needs to be free from rocks and large pieces of anything. The dirt composition needs to be over 50% of the manure & compost and 50% or less of the native dirt when tilled. Then let it sit for at least 2 weeks before you plant. You also don’t want to step on the garden dirt and compact the dirt once you till. You want it to be airy so that the roots will grow deep. Craigslist always has people offering free manure or compost. If it’s horse or cow manure it has to be aged, say overy 6 months old, but goat or rabbit manure does not have to be aged to be useful right away.
Here’s a link from the Maricopa County Extension http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/t-tips/feb.htmthat tells you what you can plant in February.
[ No Comments ] Posted on 02.19.08 under Gardening Tips, How to Start A Garden
