BYC gardening thread!!

[Peep_Show]

I love the pics of other lawns and gardens.. It makes me envious, however, because I live in Arizona (Arid-zone-a) where very little is green. Brown is our "state-color". Hot, Dry, low humidity. An abundance of sunshine, little or no precipitation. Lousy, treated municipal water. But, we still try.

Until recently I lived in Las Vegas (NV) and I feel your pain! Our state color is dried sage unless it's summer, then it's dusty dried sage. Growing stuff is a 50/50 proposition there. You plant something in the ground (if you haven't got caliche) and wish it luck. Really stifles the gardener's soul.

And that's why I moved! I wanted to garden....and also the CC&R's got all fussy about raising chickens. Now I've got an orchard and proper veggie area, but due to our late start this year (we finally moved in Memorial Day) and a hole-y fence it looks like our first crop will be cottontails.

 

[vehve]

Until recently I lived in Las Vegas (NV) and I feel your pain! Our state color is dried sage unless it's summer, then it's dusty dried sage. Growing stuff is a 50/50 proposition there. You plant something in the ground (if you haven't got caliche) and wish it luck. Really stifles the gardener's soul.

And that's why I moved! I wanted to garden....and also the CC&R's got all fussy about raising chickens. Now I've got an orchard and proper veggie area, but due to our late start this year (we finally moved in Memorial Day) and a hole-y fence it looks like our first crop will be cottontails.

They make a lovely stew.

 

[Peep_Show]

...and a lovely challenge on how to harvest without shooting them! (Township laws are no firearm discharging allowed)


Last eve I counted 10 in the back orchard area....and, if they're like rats, that means there's that many more you cannot see!

 

[vehve]

Bows, traps and knives come in handy at that point.

 

[Peep_Show]

My neighbors would probably freak if I went all Hunger Games on the rabbits. Husband is thinking perhaps a slingshot, but I don't know if he's thinking about dinner.

 

[ChickenPapaCT]

For those of you in arid states like Nevada and Arizona (Arid-zone-a

LOL loved that), have you tried olla pots? I live in CT, and we get plenty of water, so I don't use them, but I hear they are great.

Check out this link: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/how-guide-olla-pots-–-effective-traditional-irrigation-system

I hear you can make olla pots by putting regular unglazed clay pots (like the ones in your local garden center or big-box store) together with the clay dish that they usually go on top of using Silicone Caulk ( http://aiminglow.com/2012/02/how-to-make-a-homemade-olla/ ).

Good luck - I hope these work for you.

Please let me know if you try them - I am really curious.
PapaChickenCT

 

[Hershy]

We live in Oregon now, moved to Colorado Springs 7 years ago and transferred back to OR as soon as we could. It was way too dry and brown. Finally got a couple acres, chickens and garden started but nobody's producing yet. (Well, some lettuce...)
It 's so hard to be patient! but encouraging to see pics of others success.

 

[chickadoodles]

We finally moved to a house with a yard in the fall, so this is our first year of gardening. The soil is pretty acidic with loads of pine trees surrounding us though, so we mostly try to do raised beds and similar solutions. Here are some pictures of what we've got going.


On the left, salads and spinach in one box, onions in the other. The higher boxes have carrots and parsnip in one, and what's supposed to be broccoli and cauliflower in the other. On the right are our potato towers.


On the left, 3 bags of beans and one with sweet peas. On the right, Jerusalem artichokes.


Here's some red currant to the right, the bigger bush in the middle is a white currant, both moved here in fall, and the small one to the left is a gooseberry bush we planted this spring.


In the front, some wild raspberries we spread around a bit. They seem to be pleased with the move. Behind them is a lonely small rhubarb that I'm not too hopeful about. This spot would need some serious weeding, but I'm a bit lazy. Maybe I'll just see how it turns out.

Very nice garden area I would love to have morning coffee there.

 

[vehve]

Very nice garden area I would love to have morning coffee there.

This morning it was +8C and raining, so no

But whenever mother nature is kind, we try to have breakfast out on the deck (maybe 30-40 mornings per year). This morning the table was mainly used as rain cover by the chickens.



The broken fence part is just a figment of your imagination.

 

[chickadoodles]

This morning it was +8C and raining, so no

But whenever mother nature is kind, we try to have breakfast out on the deck (maybe 30-40 mornings per year). This morning the table was mainly used as rain cover by the chickens.



The broken fence part is just a figment of your imagination.

That is a nice deck to have breakfast on you can still enjoy the view. Nice looking chickens. Ok I don't see the broken fence. We have alot of torn down fence wire in the pasture a stubborn bull does not want the pasture divided. lol