Oh, Sunday night…. It’s just not fair! How was your weekend? Did you have fun, get stuff done, relax? I don’t know about you, but I get pretty bummed Sunday nights after a great weekend. I just want to throw a tantrum toddler style. It won’t help. But it’s tempting… I started the weekend with a pottery painting sesh with some girlie friends, and woke up early Saturday morning to take Jones to the pet store, get him some goodies – lucky butt! I attempted my first newborn photo shoot, which didn’t go so great, but at least I got some baby snuggles in with the new nephew. Sweet little guy! Why do new babies smell so dang good?!? After getting my fix, I went to a cheerleading tournament for M (the little girl I mentor, check it here), and holy wow are those kids nimble! It was pretty exciting and I enjoyed watching the little sprites toss each other around. On to a BBQ by the pool, where only in Phoenix can you go swimming in the beginning of February. Well, that’s probably not true, but it’s less likely anywhere else in the US for sure. And today? Today I got some yard work done, along with some gardening, shopping, cooking and a little nappy nap to round out the fun. The doors have been open all day, Jones has been on my heels and that husband guy of mine even made me smile a few good times. It was a great day.
February is sort of prime time for gardening around here. Starting your spring garden, planting fruit trees and landscaping plants, pruning and trimming and generally just getting s&*T done is sort of important right now, before the heat sets in and it’s too late. And this year, all that probably shoulda been done last month since it’s so warm already, but eh. Life happens. Here’s what’s happening around here:
snap peas – eight plants total, with tomato cages in the rear for support
bell pepper plant, a little worse for wear…
there were three rows of carrots… only two made it though. how does a whole row disappear?!? made sure to thin them out this year, so hoping we get big fat carrots instead of the tangled piles we got last year
mint, mint and more mint! here are a couple of the many offshoots
all the tomato plants took a hit with the freeze a few weeks back. there’s a baby growing on the other end of the garden, and these look like they might make it…
thyme and strawberry
pretty little lettuce mix
our potted pepper plant, which has seen better days – this baby got a big shot of fertilizer today, poor thing
this photo was taken days ago, and today, this strawberry was sweet and juicy and freaking delicious!
purple basil – all the flowers were deadheaded today to encourage bushier stems since these babies are looking pretty leggy
this ham loves him some gardening! his addiction to the hose is getting a little over the top, though. he chugs the water as fast as it can flow, then coughs his face off because it’s too much all at once. when this isn’t going down, he’s helping me with the weeds by devouring them or sniffing everything i’m working on and nodding his approval. he takes his gardening jobs pretty seriously.
So, what’s up for this month? Here’s the list:
- Heavy prune roses, train Don Juan variety to trellis (it’s only been seven years, and it’s still a hot mess – no big deal, right?)
- Plant flowering vine along the back wall/trellis
- Pull dead plants and trim those not affected by freeze (did you know that cutting back freeze-damaged foliage from a plant can actually kill it? it’s best to let it grow out)
- Fertilize
- Plant tomatoes, peppers and basil
- Get working on side yard, pull weeds and create a master plan for the space
- Plant spring seeds (not sure what yet)
So you know, the bulk of gardening here in the desert. That’s all. HA! What’s going in your garden this year? Have you started seeds indoors? Or is it way too frozen where you are to do any of that nonsense? I want to know!
In the meantime, I’m out of here. I hope you have a great week!
