Gardening Blog
Each season I will periodically post what I am doing in the gardens. Past year's activities can be found in each specific garden section.
(The Vegetable and Herb Garden, The Wall Garden, The Fruit Orchard, The Lavender Garden, The Perennial Flower Garden, The Pond Garden and The Cactus Garden)
Annual Blooming Table
2024 |
| Spring |
| March - May |
By the end of March the winter is coming to an end. Bulbs are coming up and blooming and the apricot and peach flowers are beginning to show color and opening. We can see the stirrings of spring! We planted onion sets on March 31 to be used as green onions later on.
On April 4th I washed off pine needle scale's protective white webbing that forms on the trunks and lower branches of affected pinion pines. If you have this problem a strong stream of water from a hose will wash them off. You will know the scale is present from last year by observing small black dots on the old needles. All of my trees and plants got their first big watering from the hose as well.
On April 20 we planted Fedco seeds in pots in trays in our sunroom. They will be nurtured there for a about 6 weeks before putting them out in the garden. We planted Nero di Tuscan Lacinato kale, tatsoi, Winter Density lettuce, Choko pac choi, Bright Lights chard, Red Russian Kale, Vates collards and Yokatta-Na Chinese Cabbage. Some even started germinating by the 24th!
Planted tomatoes, Japanese eggplants, shito and sweet yelow peppers and bush beans on May 27th.
| Summer/Fall |
| June - November |
Began picking leafy veggies (Nero di Tuscan Lacinato kale, tatsoi, Winter Density lettuce, Choko pac choi, Bright Lights chard, Red Russian Kale, Vates collards and Yokatta-Na Chinese Cabbage) by the end of June. We had several good monsoon rains at the end of June and first of July which really got the veggies growing! July monsoon rains came, but unfortunately missed Eldorado most of the time. Some off and on short rains, but nothing great. By the end of July the tatsoi, lettuce, most of the pac choi were eaten. The tomatoes have lots of flowers and some small fruit. The shitos are producing well as are the other larger peppers. Eggplants and zuchinni are coming along and are promising. Bush beens didn't make it!
The pear trees and peach trees are loaded with fruit, but won't ripen until the middle of August. A few greengage plums made it on the front two trees, but not very many. I put up jars of peach and sour cherry preserves from last year's crop. Picked many black currants and put them in the freezer to make jelly at a later date.
Orange pepper plants were also planted in the wall garden. The cherry tomatoes began producing on July 22. There were larger tomatoes, but non had ripened by that time. Shitos had produced many peppers by July 15th and some of the larger peppers were producing as well. None of the beans did well at all!
Began picking peaches and some eggplant on August 14. Still have many shitos and green peppers. Some tomatoes producing as well. Filled 8 trays of the drying rack with peaches! On August 22 I picked 3 dryer trays of Luscious pears. They were all still hard but some had begun to fall off of the tree. Also still picked some peaches that were left on the tree. On August 22 I picked 3 dryer trays of Luscious pears. They were all still hard but some had begun to fall off of the tree. Also still picked some peaches that were left on the tree. A good note- we are getting a good monsoon rain almost every afternoon or night and temperatures are getting into the 80's and 50's instead of the daily 90's!
On August 18, I filled 16 six cup plastic bags with sliced peaches to put into the freezer for later use. Also gave away a couple of bags of ripe ones. By September 3rd the Asian pears began to ripen. Picked all of them (3 trays) on the 6th to make preserves. In early September all of the peppers are producing as well as the eggplant, zuchinni and tomatoes. All of the greens that are left (Nero di Tuscan Lacinato kale, Bright Lights chard, Red Russian Kale, and Vates collards) are still being picked as well.
On Sept. 12 I pulled up the Nero di Tuscan Lacinato kale, Red Russian Kale, and Vates collards. They slill had edible leaves but were gettiing leggy and had aphids. This leaves the eggplant, zuchinni, peppers and tomatoes which are all doing quite well.
On September 18 I filled three 4 cup plastic bags of frozen Luscious pears that had been picked on August 22. They had been cut into slices and frozen for later use. By October 6 the nights are getting into the 50's and the veggies are not thriving. All that was left are the large peppers, zuchini and tomatoes. Will take out the zuchini and all of the others as they ripen. I am saving a couple of the peppers as they turn red to collect the seeds for next year.
On Sept. 12 I pulled up the Nero di Tuscan Lacinato kale, Red Russian Kale, and Vates collards. They slill had edible leaves but were gettiing leggy and had aphids. This leaves the eggplant, zuchinni, peppers and tomatoes which are all doing quite well.
By October 6 the nights are getting into the 50's and the veggies are not thriving. All that was left are the large peppers, zuchini and tomatoes. Will take out the zuchini and all of the others as they ripen. I am saving a couple of the peppers as they turn red to collect the seeds for next year. Took out pepper plants on Oct. 8 and tomato plants on Oct. 11.
2023 |
 |
| Spring |
| March - May |
Plants around the farm are beginning to bloom on time as in the past. March was cold, windy and wet with both snow and rain. April was still cold in the mornings, and the winds began to blow in the afternoons as usual for that time of year. Onions from the previous year began to grow as well as the chives and garlic chives. New onion sets were put into the garden on April 18th as well as Summer Island scallion seeds.
Fruit tree flowers were abundant so hoping for a good crop of all of them later in the summer. Three kinds of tomato seeds were planted in pots in the sunroom on April 14th to be put in the garden in May. They were Territorial seeds of Sungold cherry, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye slicing and Stupice slicing. Takara Shishito peppers seeds were also planted in the sunroom into small pots. All of the tomatoes began to germinate and by April 21st all varieties were up and growing well. The Shishitos began to germinate on April 26. They are still not big enough to put out by the end of May.
 |
| Summer/Fall |
| June - November |
Transplanted 24 tomatos, 6 each of Sungold cherry, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye slicing and Stupice slicing seedlings from the sunroom to the Wall Garden on June 14. Also 2 Sweet Banana Peppers from Lowes, zuchinni and yellow squash were planted there a week ago. Two wild arugula plants and several Egyptian onion sets that we got from a neighbor were planted as well. In June the weather is getting into the 80's in the daytime, but still in the 40's at night.
No rain in sight! Still no rain by the middle of July. The daytime temperatures are getting into the mid-90's! I did purchase five eggplants from Lowe's. I have to keep everything watered every day or so. No rain at the end of July. First time for us that there has been no monsoon in July! Heat has gotten into the high 90's everyday. Many of the veggies seem to be stunted, so I disbanded a couple of our beds. The chard and beets are doing ok, but eveything else had many aphids. Tomato plants are doing well as well as the new eggplants. Something ate all of the squash plants and I have pulled up all of the shishito peppers because they were not thriving.
No monsoon rains at all in July or the beginning of August. I pulled up all of the leafy veggies in the main vegetable garden on August 5th. All that are left are the eggplants and tomatoes, which seem to enjoy the heat with the water that I am able to give them. The peach tree still has unripe peaches that are turning color and the old Asian pear tree has small pears. There are a few greengage plums on one of the small plum trees in the front of the house.
Since we will be away all of the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers were pulled up. The tomatoes began producing until the end of the month. The peaches began to ripen and were picked and frozen for later use. Still only a few days of rain until the end of August. Lots of watering!
Not much rain/snow into the fall. Supposed to be a wet winter, but who knows?
Tips for Home Farming in Eldorado at Santa Fe