Barn Owls Ready to Go!

You MUST take another look at the barn owl babies... they are ready to take off from the nest soon!

http://owlsmatter.com/blog/barn-owl/

"I Believe I Can Fly"

Start at 0:40....

Mark and I should do a remake of this song, and edit in Mynah singing for every chorus.  I mean, he nails it, right?

Delicious Indoor Carrots - MMMMMMMM

Indoor Carrot Garden Results:  HUGE SUCCESS!

Here's the crazy bunch... it's a combination of Carrot Mokum and Carrot Carnival (the pretty colors).  These guys are DELICIOUS!  This collection of 3" carrots (average size) grew in eight nursery containers under fluorescent lights for three months.  They are SO sweet!  I'm going to plant more!

There's one in every crowd... this one is named "Pants" :-)

And finally, the bowl of treats.  I could eat a bowl like this every day, so I'm going to need a LOT more fluorescent lights and nursery containers LOL.

I'm proud of my pretty bowl of carrots.  There are carrots growing in the raised bed outside now, which I'm certain will be delightful.  And no, there are never going to be enough for me to eat.  I need to replace ALL of the desert soil outside with beautiful compost and organic matter.... then and only then will I have enough carrots!

Raised Bed of Veggies - 5/12/13

As expected, the cherry tomato plants are ecstatic in the 100 degree desert heat.  The raised bed makes the tomatoes closer to admire and then, of course, easier to pick.

I planted cucumber seeds (five different kinds) to climb up the arch.  I have found that cucumbers don't transplant well, so I'm very happy to see the cucumber seedlings looking so strong.  The transplanted cucumbers are growing in spite of their pale look.  The miniature watermelon vine transplanted fine and the plant is doing well, but the long vine got cooked.  Hopefully it can shoot out another vine this week and start coating the arch with vines.

Mother's Day Rose - 2013: Eglantyne

I am now the proud owner of a bare root David Austin English Rose - Eglantyne.  Thank you for my Mother's Day rose, Noel!!  The beautiful pink fragrant rose is going to be amazing.  I will do everything in my power to help her survive the hot summer, as I would absolutely love to have her flourishing here by the walkway.  She'll be a stunner.

Step one - dig hole.  

Step two - Pour in really good soil (this is peat, compost, and chicken manure mix, with added perlite.

Step three - Add bare root rose (she has soaked overnight in water).

Bare root roses are quite fun looking.  Hard to believe they sprout into rose bushes.

Step four - cover with soil and WATER.  This is two days later, and she looks great.

I am patiently waiting for my lovely pink roses (fingers thumping the table, tap tap tap tap....)  LOL

Here's what she'll look like in bloom....     ahhhhhhh.

Indoor Carrot Lab Update - May 12th, 2013

I have two sets of results for my indoor carrot lab experiment.  For those who are new to the blog, I am growing these in very small pots under fluorescent lights (12 hours a day).  I feed them once a month (when I think of it), and they are grown in a home made potting soil (peat, worm castings, vermiculite, and sometimes other stuff that's hanging around).

The first carrot featured today is Carrot Mokum.  Full size (after 65 days of growing), the Carrot Mokum guy is two inches long.  I'm only growing tiny carrots indoors right now, since it seems that the tiny carrots would flourish in tiny pots.  I do have the carrots growing in gallon pots, but those are the finger size as well.  The REAL carrots are growing in the half whiskey barrels outside, and they're not quite ready to pull.  Yes, I know it's been a long time... 

Washed, he looks pretty good now.

Sliced and nommed.  In seconds : )

The 2nd set of results is the lovely Tonda Di Parigi carrots planted 2/29/13 (per the tag).  They have been in 3 1/2" pots for almost two and a half months, so since they mature in 65 days, I was determined to "harvest" today.

They look happy and tiny in the pots.

Another view of the tiny 3 1/2" carrot pots.

And.... the harvest!

Miniature carrots!  Tonda Di Parigi.

It's a huge meal for a baby bunny, right?

A bunch!  LOL

And now... the whole bunch of carrots.  They are SOOOO little.

Washed, they're a gorgeous orange color in the sun.

 Yes, I "cut" them up and ate them.  They were sweet, almost wine-like.  If only there were a hundred more!  I'm ok with tiny carrots, really.  Just need LOTS of them.

In summary, the indoor carrot experiment was a HUGE success!  Delicious carrots, on demand.  Next weekend, we harvest the carrots growing in the gallon pots.

Time to plant more indoor carrots!

Beauty in the Garden

Here's a quick overview of some non-veggie happiness in the magic Quartz Hill garden.

These palms looked very unhappy after weeks of temperatures in the teens in December and January.  I  had all but given up on them.  But look... I've learned that California Fan Palms are fine in the core and come back in the spring.  Perfect!

This grape vine produces tiny grapes that the hummingbirds eat.  No, really.  What's bad about that?  : )

Finch tree.  On a lovely gorgeous May 5th, 2013.  Clouds.  Cool Breezes.  Happy Finches.

The house finch feeders.  My goldfinches went back to Canada.  They must have AMAZING thistle and seed in Canada, that's for sure.  Or, they hate the heat.  But I have my little House Finches to entertain me throughout the summer.

I'm about to tear up last year's long day onion garden (which produced very few tiny bulbs, which were delicious in soup or for a snack).  I might put massive amounts of soil amendment in this pit and plant delicious things, or I might not.  But the pictures are to show the beautiful flowers that the onions turned into in spring of this year.