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Post by dogwoman on Nov 28, 2008 2:33:36 GMT -5
I'm an organic gardener. I grow produce and flowering plants. I live at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is a challenging climate for gardening. I have some land, and am in the process of clearing more space of native vegetation. I'll be branching out into heirloom produce in the spring, and have a lot of new seed types to try out.
Some of you know me from Idig. I changed my handle!
Lorna
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Post by johno on Nov 28, 2008 2:50:56 GMT -5
Welcome to Homegrown Goodness! I look forward to learning how you cope with the desert climate.
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Post by canadamike on Nov 28, 2008 3:27:34 GMT -5
welcome Lorna. Hope you enjoy it here.My climate is just the opposite, a desert of snow for 6 months or so, but I'll follow your posts with lots of interest. What kind of crops are you planning to put in the ground?
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Post by hiven on Nov 28, 2008 4:29:17 GMT -5
Welcome to Homegrown Goodness forum Lorna . Are you Lorna_organic in Idig ? It will be interesting to know your growing climate as we all have different challenge depending on the mother nature and mine is more and less opposite of your as we have wet and cool summer. You must have drought resisten veg collections by now... enjoy your stay here... .
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Post by grungy on Nov 28, 2008 5:31:41 GMT -5
Welcome Lorna, Hope you enjoy joining our gang. Please tell us about desert gardening, your garden and what types and varieties of vegetables and flowers you grow. Cheers, Val (grungy)
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Nov 28, 2008 7:08:34 GMT -5
Welcome to HG, Lorna.
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Post by lavandulagirl on Nov 28, 2008 10:24:56 GMT -5
So glad you decided to join! Hooray! What native plants are you clearing? Next spring I need to take out some Manzanita and maybe some Oleander.
Again, glad you're here, and hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving!
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Post by dogwoman on Nov 28, 2008 11:24:32 GMT -5
Hello, thank you for the welcomes. Yes, my handle is lorna-organic at Idig, and on GardenWeb, as well. Got to thinking about privacy on the Web and decided it wasn't a good idea to use my name as a handle. Though I'm closing the gate after the horse already got out.
I live on top of a mesa in central, New Mexico. We get some snow here, but not much. April is a season of harsh winds, which are killer for seedlings. Plants and trees suffer from the winds, too. Extra water is a must to help vegetation survive the winds. Monsoon season is July through August, which is a good thing in the desert. I have a well, hard water from an aquifer. I use a magnet system on the well to break down the minerals.
Most people don't plant until early May, unless they have some sort of protection for their garden. Bales of hay are popular. I've been putting in random bushes and trees for protection from winds. I also use retaining wall bricks, in low walls. These bricks don't fit tightly, so they aren't a solid wind break. Breaking the wind is better than trying to divert it. Diverting can cause serious wind tunnel effects.
Most of my land has sandy soil. There are some areas of red clay, adobe, not too dense. This area was an ancient sea way back in history. The soil is alkaline. I garden primarily in sandy areas. I've worked on soil amendment for the six years I've been living here. The sand seems like a bottomless pit--amendments seem to disappear into the sand. It takes a heck of a lot of amendment to make a difference.
I have a good diversity of flowers. Chrysanthemums, snapdragons, penstemons, scabiosas, salvias, artemesia, honeysuckle, Columbine, dianthus, agastache, Sanatoline, Euryops, osteospermum, caryopteris, petunias and shrub roses do well here. I tried a native Pacific Coast bush, which I really like, Ceanothus. It seems only one type does well here, Concha. I have a number of roses, of various types, but most roses are tricky here.
Lavender and rosemary are tricky. I've managed to grow a couple of lavenders, but have had no success with rosemary. True oregano and tarragon do well. There are lots of native wildflowers on my land: snake bush, globe mallow, asters, verbena, bitter root, four-wing salt bush, spectacle pod, yucca, prickly pear cactus, and more. There are no native trees on the mesa. The primary vegetation around here is tough native grass, which grows in tussocks.
Arugula grows like a weed here. It is the backbone of my produce garden. I don't grow tomatoes because I am allergic to them. I have grown potatoes, limas, cantaloupe, watermelon, mustard spinach, sweet corn, Japanese eggplant, green chilies, jalapenos, summer squash, lettuce, winter squash, kale, peas, green beans, strawberries, onions, shallots and garlic. I've had poor success with thyme, red radish, carrots, beets, sweet potatotes and bell peppers. The few bumper crops I've had here have been arugula, shallots, onions, watermelon, cantaloupe, and summer squash.
For next spring the heirloom seeds I've ordered or traded for are: birdhouse gourds, Crenshaw melons, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, Christmas Pole limas, King of the Garden limas, Thelma Sanders sweet potato winter squash, kabocha, Anaheim chilies, black Spanish radish, daikon Japanese radish, shiso, collards, amaranth, Chichiquilite and Wonderberry, butter cup winter squash, cowpeas, Early Hanover melon, a Chinese melon (can't recall name), Russian sugar peas, Lebanese white marrow summer squash, globe eggplant and more.
I am trying a cover crop called GardenWay this winter. It sprouted nicely. The wild rabbits have eaten it down to nubs in the unfenced area. I've got chicken wire up all over the place because of the rabbits. I have eight dogs who are also garden predators. The dogs will even eat green chilies off the bush! I'll be putting a lot of effort into fencing during winter. The existing produce plot needs taller fencing because of the dogs, and a newly cleared area needs to be fenced.
My food preservation skills are lacking. I prefer drying foods to canning. I have a couple of hanging non-electric food dryers. I'll probably need to invest in an electric dehydrator as well.
I planted a couple of almond trees. They are doing well. I planted two apple trees. The wind killed one, and broke the main trunk on the other. But the broken one has survived, and is growing slowly. There is an old apricot tree on the land. I ordered three hazelnut bushes from the National Arbor Day Foundation Hazelnut Project. They haven't yet arrived. I'll have to check into that. If the hazelnuts do well, I'll put in a bunch of them. Unfortunately windy season tends to coincide with tree blossoming time--blows the blossoms off the trees. There were no apricots, apples or almonds last year because of an unusually long windy season.
I look forward to getting to know you folks, learning, and sharing gardening joys and sorrows.
Lorna
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Post by stratcat on Nov 28, 2008 11:29:19 GMT -5
Hi, Lorna. Welcome to HG. Join in and have fun! john
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Post by lavandulagirl on Nov 28, 2008 11:32:54 GMT -5
Interesting that you're allergic to tomatoes, but not other nightshades, like eggplant or potatoes. Is that common?
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Post by dogwoman on Nov 28, 2008 11:41:16 GMT -5
I am allergic to nightshades, Lavendula, but tomatoes hit me harder than the rest of them. The allergy is an arthritic response. Mostly I avoid that plant family, but can handle eating some things once in awhile. I was not happy to discover the Chichiquilite and Wonderberries are in that family. I'll try them and see how it goes.
Lorna
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Post by lavandulagirl on Nov 28, 2008 12:14:58 GMT -5
Is the arthritic reaction changed at all by how you preserve the nightshades? You said you generally dry your crops for storage rather than can them or freeze them. Do you suppose there is a benefit to you in preserving a certain way?
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Post by canadamike on Nov 28, 2008 14:29:23 GMT -5
Please, don't tell me you're alleric to potatoes too....
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Post by dogwoman on Nov 28, 2008 16:51:20 GMT -5
It is a chemical in the deadly nightshade family plants, which causes problems for me, solinine, solinase, or whatever one wants to call it. Yes, Mike, potatoes are in that family. I can eat them from time to time, particularly if peeled and fried. If I go out for breakfast, it is awfully hard to pass up those hashbrowns. I can eat eggplant once in awhile. Tomatoes hit me hardest, within fifteen minutes of consuming them I can feel my body reacting. Lorna
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Post by moonlilyhead on Nov 28, 2008 22:59:30 GMT -5
Hi Lorna!
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