A Rainbow of Bell Peppers....

   
    When you think of Bell Peppers most people think of green... boring green. Green enough to miss those still hanging on the branches until, "oops!" too late it went soft.  But, what about the range of colors that exist, the colors of the rainbow, minus the blue...
    
     Red that is so red, the first question  people ask is, Is that hot? Oh, and the orange, orange that makes you think of citrus... Yellow, yellow like a banana... I even think that there is purple... deep enough to confuse it with an eggplant..  and last, but not... Chocolate color peppers...
    
     This is the gamete that I decided to purchase today... We now own Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Chocolate varieties of Bell Peppers. Oh I can't wait to get these added to my tangent list!

     I did get my tomatoes also  Early Girl - indeterminate... This was the variety that grows best in this AZ weather.

     I splurged on a Sage plant, and some marigolds.

      The marigolds were going to be inter-planted with all the peppers and tomatoes to help with companion planting, but they were so neat looking that I planted them in separate spots and in their own pots...

    I planted Nigella Seeds and 4 O'Clock's. I did seed cat grass and some catnip...
 I also planted Bush scallops, zucchini and cucumbers... 

 The White Lady

Last Year "2011"-

   I want to tell you  about my trip to Tombstone. Other than the incredible history, living and dead.
I had toured a place called the, "Rose Tree Museum". If you are a rose tree or bush connoisseur, this is a must see to believe, tree...

     I have never in my lifetime, seen a monster of a Rose Tree.. This magnificent specimen, is a White Lady Banksia, It originated from China, but was shipped over to the states from Scotland.  This tree is of  to date 125 years old. There is nothing they do, but water it. The ever spanning limbs is at close to 9000 square feet (no joke). Not to mention the trunk itself is, close to 6 feet tall and 3 feet round.


     The pruning takes approximately 2 months with two truck loads of clippings to be rid of. The flowers are double petal, white clusters. It is a climber and does well in zones 8-9, but doesn't do well in frost. Blooming happens in late spring. This particular bush blooms in April. It is extremely fragrant and an all around  superior species.

 In the photo above, I was actually standing on a platform looking down and across the top of The White Lady...  It was high enough to be, I would say, equal to a flight of stairs.... 
     Unfortunately, I missed the majestic display. This is what I got... (huge sigh!).

    But seeing pictures they had,  made me imagine how beautiful it was.



      Please go and see if you ever venture Tombstone.

April would be the better time to go!

Lettuce!!

My coffee can lettuce is coming along amazingly. I can't wait to see the color and crispness that I have seen in the catalog pictures...

 
      The black berry bush is beginning to show new growth.  I really thought that I did something wrong. I can't wait to see it become a big bush.

   
I have planted these....

and I already have sprouts...  Well, except for the patty pans... Still waiting, I did just plant them...

I hope that I have success this time!  Last year the bugs (aphids had a feast). The stink bugs were a problem too....

But all has been remedied so far!  Here's to hoping, last year the infestation was really bad!  No signs yet!

Hooray!!!!

Spring is Springing....

     A few years ago, I had a thought, a dream, if you will..
    
     The concept or desire, a hand in growing life of wonder...

      I wanted the aroma of my favorite herbs, the kind that makes you feel the sultry, humid feel of mid-morning. a brush of Basil, or a whiff of Chamomile as you sweep past, "mmm,  I can just smell them now." 

      Those are some of the moments that helped to inspire me to grow a garden.

     I was on a Tangent for years. I really wanted to grow just herbs to market to whom ever needed them. But, my backyard is just now getting to a point of accepting a garden.
     I bought book after book to learn, grow, and market herbs. Yet, my goal has been at unreachable calibers. I have found some wonderful sites, and incredible information to help me...  Somehow though it is taking a little longer than I wish to get the "Tangent" of my dreams...

SPRING SPRINGING?     
    

     Spring is almost here, but the weather in Mesa, AZ, dictates that it is here.  It is cold in the mornings, and I just seem to keep hibernating... Is it things in my life that are influencing me to do so? Maybe! I feel a little overwhelmed with how big I made my garden and when to seed it...

But Great News!
        Lettuce in the coffee cans are emerging gloriously!!!

     I have labels in them, I should have shown which varieties were which.... I will next time..
   
     The winds kicked up a couple of days ago, and it was expressing its strength in the late evening... It made it kinda spooky...  I went out the next morning to see the results...

     Do you know what I found?... errrr!

     My seedlings; broccoli, parsley, and peppers, on the ground and thrown about!!!  I was in such disgust... Then I thought well, I guess.. Mother Nature has a plan right?
I guess, I will be buying those instead....

     I thought that I had it all planned out, when to plant my seeds and plant my tomatoes, peppers, etc.... but well, I don't have a plan... I haven't had time to do so... This coming weekend, I will be making an effort to plant and working the area of where I want to seed those Nigella seeds...

     My Blackberry bush is just sitting in its hole, no new growth or change... I'm wondering if I planted it too deep?

        Worried? Yes! I really want to have Blackberries.... I hope that I don't nurture it to death.... LOL!

     I did happen to get a couple of favorites, pansies. Mixed batch... Favorite color at the moment... Maroon and yellow...

and mint... Orange Mint  that is....

      I potted it up in a hanging basket... I have experienced mint "taking over" and having to round up those crazy shoots... I learned!

INDOOR GARDEN!!!!
    

     I think that for indoors, this go around I want to plant huge pots of cat grass and catnip... I know that my Trio will have a blast eating and playing and digging in them...

     I came to this conclusion because their is a suspect amongst this family.

     A mysterious trail of dirt was found outside the pots of my favorite plants the other day... I, for the life of me, couldn't figure out how all that dirt got outside of the pot...

 
     Then, dadadadunnnn!


There he was, butter on the ledge, where my plants were...

     Will having cat grass and catnip make a mess? Yes! Will it be worth it? Yes! By all means cleaning a little bit of mess, compared to the destruction of my potted plant friends...



Priceless!!!
    

  
   

seed arrival!!!

My seeds arrived!!!

     I am most excited to plant them...Can you tell?.... ha ha ha.... I can plant all my lettuce at the same time now.  I will be putting them in the coffee cans.

These.....

 will go into these....

So I have the coffee cans ready to go...

     I punched holes on the bottom and around the sides of the cans. I felt that I needed to keep the lids. I placed the lids on the bottoms and punctured the lids where the hole on the cans were. So the lids have holes in them too.
     I put a layer of gravel at the bottom to start. I then put soil in the cans all the way to the top.
That will happen this weekend ;0)


Recap on planting...

     I did say I planted carrots and radish and onions, Right?  Okay, I really can't remember...  Feb. 7th or 8th, I planted  kaleidoscope mix or the proper name being ZANAHOIA - Carrots...
and regular carrots, Danvers #I26... Radish - Sparkler.... Last, green onions or bunching onions...

     I'm supposed to keep them moist so that they will sprout... To be honest, I have been trying but well, I have not been to consistent.. What is wrong with me... !!! But, I'm doing it...


The ever notion of Ideas...
    

     Does inspiration ever try to hide from "the would be" gardener?  Sometimes, it does for me. I have so many ideas, but I  can't seem to get organized enough to make them real.

     So the thought is that I would write them in my Tangent Journal and try to remember to make them real.. You know, that homemade birdbath or that beautifully planted flower bed for the butterflies... I have to say I do struggle...  I love to look at things and say, "I can do that!"  That is half the battle right?  Well, now the other half of the battle nags at my cognitive soul...

 
     Would you agree that if every inspiration, thought or notion come to pass and be conquered, make a better dream life?  I guess... Or would it be better to keep working at it and making one idea at a time come to life... I don't know... I do know that... when I see one idea come to be real, the next thing in line can be too...

     So the next inspiration that comes, when it comes, Tangent be thy name... It will be screaming I made that or that inspired me to do this. 

     Okay, Yes inspiration is short right now, all I want to do is plant my seeds, but Mother Nature is playing around and teasing us by saying "See what a wonderfully warm day it is, you can plant now", but then she decides to sneak and show her power and make it 39 degrees out or colder in some places at a blink of an eye... so if thats how it is, I guess, I have to play along too... ( hear the aggravation in my voice...)

     Update on the Fur Kids...

Piglet relaxing in a box lid...

     Piglet is doing well, and taking her meds like a trooper... Her disposition is still a little harsh with the little ones but she is becoming more tolerable each day...  They "the little ones" really try hard to play with her or get her to join in  on playtime, but she is still a little resistant... So, here is to high hopes, to get her to feel like a kitten again.... 

When Peanut was just a little thing....

Butter, seeing what I'm doing!...

Updates... and News!!!

Shopping Spree

     Okay, maybe I'm a little behind on ordering my seeds... I did it though... Hoorray!  I went to one of my favorite catalogs and looked at it for a couple of weeks!!  I couldn't quite make-up my mind... I did a lot of thought, remember I have to be very thoughtful...  One of the thoughts is, that I am really excited to have a variety of lettuce..

1. Oak-leaf Mix                             
2. Curly Ruffle Mix
3. Heatwave Blend
4. Mesclun Mix
5. Grand Rapids
6. Salad Bowl

     I also ordered Nigella "Chocolate Sundae" I'm so excited for those seeds...
and some Sunflower seeds (the really tall ones) Russian Gray stripes... 10' to 15' maybe the HOA will yell at me but who cares...
Of course I did order them from "the cooks garden" catalog.
    With the top three, and the recent ones just purchased, Mesclun Mix, and Grand rapids, I'll have two coffee cans each to plant and harvest from.  I actually spent about $35.00ish on just seeds.
My Projected delivery date is Feb 15.... Omg! can't wait...

 Snap Dragons

     Why are they even called Snap Dragons,
     I was thinking that I would be buying some Snap Dragons to plant, but when I did some weeding in the area,  Guess What I found!!!, Snap Dragon seedlings....  Wahooo!!   But I do think I might buy some to go along with them...

     Not only will I add the Snap Dragons, I will have my Nigella seeds and four O' Clocks...
Beginning of March will be when I do those plantings... ( maybe a little sooner)... ha ha ha!  Can you read my excitement!

Lunar Planting
 
 
     So far carrots, bunching onions, radish were planted on Wednesday, it was a full moon. So Lunar planting
was implemented...  I wrote about how I wanted to learn the past time (?) of Gardening by the Moon Calendar... All I really need to do is follow the Farmers Almanac.  I love that magazine...
 Oh! and the recipes it has listed, sound fabulous tooo!

The Furry Kids UPDATE....


      So I have Really rough news::::  I have been so worried about my Piglet... She has been feeling unwell...
She has been loosing weight and not eating a lot and a bit lethargic. She is super grumpy especially towards  the babies... It is just not like her... She loves to be petted and loved on and played with... She loves people and I'm sure that having a brother and sister is a thing she would enjoy.. She wanted Mina to play with her all the time... Mina was just to old to play...

      Well, after taking her to the Vet.. I thought the worse... I thought the severe, worse thought ever...  The Vet took blood to check all the panels; kidney, liver, white blood cells etc... urine,and a pancreatitis test http://manhattancats.com/Articles/pancreatitis_test.html (well this explains that). I found this link, searching for what it was...

     But, the true result is...  She has Hyperthyroidism, she will be on medication the rest of her life. One pill a day... One pill a day to bring her hormones to a level of normal...  Although, I am so thrilled the worse was never an option... I am still sad that she has to endure this kind of thing...  She will be checked routinely for the the levels of hormones and blood work is the only way as of yet! So she has a long haul to get back to her self. But the Staff at the vet's office is uplifting and easy to see... So Rough News? Yes! But, News to work with! Very Easy..

     This is The Princess, We're talking about!!!

This was Yesterday, But Today WE....

     Yesterday,.... (Friday)


     I thought that I would have planted my Blackberries by now,  but unfortunately or fortunately for me, I haven't yet!  I did say that I wanted to plant it in a container... I just can't seem to get an idea. I have scouted my tiny backyard.

     I have come up with the thought of planting the blackberry bush in the place where the Swiss Chard still exists.. I really like Swiss Chard, but as an ornamental type plant, you know, to look at in the garden. The taste is really disagreeable to me... I would guess it is an "acquired taste" type plant... In my own opinion....

      I will be ripping out the Swiss Chard and amending the soil...  It gets a good amount of sun and controlling the shoots that the blackberries put out will be easy enough to handle...

I, think that I will stick to this story...



      Wow! I can't believe how many more amazing blogs I have found and subscribed to, since the Versatile Blog Award...  Talk about the diverse and uniqueness people create.  I love finding and seeing all the new and maybe not so new blogs that are out there... The pictures are incredible, the hints are amazing... and, and, and... I can so, go on and on...

 
     This weekend,  My plan is to put more organic matter in the garden, create rows, add more watering lines, also start plotting my areas.











My list of plants consists of  Tomatoes,    of course
 peppers
 broccoli
 eggplant
 carrots
 squash
 cucumbers
 green onions
 spinach
 radish

 And to border the garden with  Nasties.... jk.. Nasturtium!!! Oh! and of course, Basil!!!

     My lettuce will be planted in the coffee cans in which I have collected. I have 10 of them so, I hope to have an array of different kinds of lettuce... loose leaf is my favorite.. so I will see how many types I can plant...

Today,...

(Saturday)

      We ended up tilling and making rows, well my husband did! lol!  He really did work hard...

     He tilled dug and help with the Blackberry bush...

     That area where I decided to put the blackberry bush was so compact with that irritating soil.. They call it Caliche, this is a type of clay. A subsoil, Caliche is high in Alkaline and very in-penetrable.. It literally needs the jackhammer to breakthrough, it can go as deep as 6 feet down. Roots won't be able to spread and water won't penetrate to water the plant...

   
     So here is my husband working his mightiest trying to work, and get this irritating soil in check, so I can have a blackberry bush... He dug it up and then mixed organic matter in the soil, I then followed the direction on the packaging, then the plant was placed and planted...      I hope it will be happy...

Lettuce Cans
   
     I punched holes in the coffee cans and dumped a little gravel in the bottom, then soil.  I have three different types of lettuce to use.

     I have 1.  Lettuce (salad bowl) 2. Mesclun  3. GrandRapids...

 PLANTING TIME
  
    I decided to plant next week in-ground,  carrots and radish, I thought that I would plant my cucumbers and squash, but I think I will wait a while longer...

TOMATOES, To CHOOSE.....
  
    I decided to investigate tomatoes... I want tomatoes that will work in this AZ climate... So I asked the question literally, What tomato grows best in AZ... ( Duh Right?)   It turns out the indeterminate works best and the One that is best is called, Early Girl... indeterminate is the vining type, and it will produce for the long haul... The determinate type is the bush kind... and it does not produce for the long haul, it produces all at once...


     These if I can remember were an heirloom... I think they were indeterminate, but not Early Girl...

      So carrots and radish this week, I hope that the radish do well enough without going monster,

     But I'm excited for my carrots though...

     All the different colors and of course I will be planting traditional orange ones too...


DEEP FREEZE !!!!

    I have a couple of blog friends that are in the deep freeze right now, SO, Stay warm, keep your chimney's clean, and have some exciting times in the kitchen... ha ha ha ha!!!

    I can only imagine my time will be coming when it is 120 degrees out, and to just step outside takes your breath away... Not looking for that time at all...

Blackberries!?!!

     Okay no excuses, I had not done much in the garden lately... I let my work life pretty much take it's toll this week.  I, however, am  reading my three NEW CATALOGS!!! 

     Can you tell, I am way to excited...I have done nothing but fantasized over what I could put in my little back yard... Of course, reality sets in and I come back to earth... realizing that I can only do so much to create the space of my dreams, a little at a time...
     Do you know that I tagged each and every item to see how much I pretend to spend... One catalog, That was The Territorial Seed Company, www.territorialseed.com. I spent over $400.00... Whew, That was one sitting... ha ha ha! No, but really, I can only get a few things to contribute to my tangent thinking...

   
     But I do want to tell you about this one catalog. I just got it about a day or so ago... This catalog is fabulous, as you skim through, it gives you the feeling of, going back in time some, when news print was the way of life... kind of Victorian glamor, all pictures are illustrated and  designed to give an appearance, like a sears catalog... When, I was oh, about 6 or 7, my grandmother would get these huge shopping books from department stores, and us grand kids would sit for hours and look through them for the coolest toys and clothes. We would make a list of items we all would like for Christmas or what ever holiday that was of the time...  I have done nothing but look through this catalog like that moment when I was that little girl again.. So this One is called....
      R.H. Shumway's. www.rhshumway.com/. 

If you get a chance to request a catalog, try this one tooo...

Surprise!!!

Honey! I'm home...

     As the night was winding down,  I was waiting for my hubby to get home from work... I had dinner all ready for him, staying warm in the microwave...  I was watching a little bit of T.V.
     I heard the front door open. My furry kids were alert wondering if it was Daddy...  All four of us were glued to to the stairs waiting to see who it was coming up. Well, lo & behold... it was dad... no real surprise though right!?!   As he was waling towards me he had something in his hands out stretched, extending to me... Can you guess what it was, NO!, of course not,...  Oh!...silly me...  But I will tell you!

    A Blackberry  Bush.... Yes! How cool is that!!!  Okay, maybe not so much for you guys and gals... But for me... WOW!!!  I love that man of mine...

    I have a problem though, I have no idea of how to cultivate this berry bush... I want to put it in a container...  I know that I have research to do...  I did however get a couple of facts down, about putting it in a container...  I know that they are heavy feeders, and that I need to prune the limbs that I would harvest the blackberries off of... I know they are perennial...  This particular one has no thorns... yay for me!!! It is also two years old and that is when they will start to produce berries...  Pretty good so far!  huh?

Lettuce

A little while back I planted some lettuce.  I really didn't think that it would come to anything... I thought that I would experiment and see if it would work.  Well, surprise it really did... It is just beautiful and I can't wait to make a salad. I do need to buy some tomatoes among other things...

But Popcorn-corn chicken salad... yummmm! That sounds like a delish meal....




Goldfish  heavennnn!!

Remember my tank dilemma, I have fixed it and and the magnificent trio is happy as can be...

  The Three Amigos....

     Butter thinks that he would like to have dinner, as much as he is jumpin at them... but His belly is always full so that shouldn't be happening any time soon..

Last Minute Things...
     The garden border has been sprayed and the dirt will be tilled one more time next week-end to make rows.. and I will be commencing the seed plant ceremony.... I absolutely can't wait... If  I plant now!!! (well, this weekend) I counted about 70 days away, I should be able to begin harvest of quite a few things, if I did everything correctly, ha ha ha!  That would be about Mid-April..... Can't wait....