I know a lot of the country has been digging out, repeatedly, from one of the worst winters that anybody can remember, but here in AZ… nope. No winter here. Mid-eighties… yup. Cool evenings and nights in the fifties… yup. I can’t complain. It is absolutely beautiful.
Best of all, it has helped get my previously neglected garden, back into shape.
Bed 1: Bok Choi (behind the kale), Red Russian Kale, Red Romaine, and regular romaine (kind of a dud).
Bed 2: Onions, bib lettuce (I don’t remember the variety), and dino kale
Bed 3: Broccoli (mostly eaten), Chinese cabbage (that bolted and never formed heads, but the chickens said it was delicious – and is gone), a couple of little romaine heads (again, didn’t do much)
Bed 4: carrots (yeah!), lettuce (couldn’t look BETTER), and some lame purple broccoli that grew pretty plants but NO FLOWERS! Where is the BROCCOLI? You can’t call it early broccoli… if it NEVER FORMS BROCCOLI! But it is a pretty plant… and the chickens like the leaves.
Meanwhile, growing quietly, and without much attention over in the main garden area…
Half of my future St. Patty’s day feast.
Peas, which are the shelling kind of peas. I’ve never grown these before but will definitely do again, although in a more abundant and organized fashion since EVERYBODY seems to love them.
I’ve also been potting plants like crazy. Tons of tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, malibar spinach, and did I mention another artichoke? To go along with this bad boy right here.
Of course I’m talking about the plant, not the kid. We have enough kids (and good ones at that), but I could use another giant artichoke plant. Man, if I don’t get some chokes off of this bad boy this spring I am going to be one irritated gardener.
It’s growing time! I’m actually starting to harden off some of my starts because… well, it’s non-winter. Spring is here… for the most part. Our official frost date is April 1st in my book, so I’m keeping them mobile until then, but I have to get them out in all of this wonderful sunshine!
Spring time is upon us!
Well, at least in AZ. 🙂
The Jones Garden Blog 
sounds like a very successful gardening yearhere’s hoping that the spring and summer is just as good
I’m hoping the same!
That’s a very tasty looking garden you have there 🙂
Thank you!
So jealous! Not only of your beautiful garden but also your weather!!!
Yah, you really can’t beat Arizona 8 months out of the year. Some rain would be good but reservoirs are full so we are in good shape.
Yeah…..I’ve still got at least three feet of snow on top of my garden beds. On the upside – I spent my day off filling five gallon pails full of chicken manure for the tomatoes in the greenhouse. That would be the greenhouse that’s still covered in three feet of snow as well 😄 Oh well – I can at least dream of spring.
It all comes soon enough. Man, hard to imagine that much snow though.
Looks awesome! I’m so impressed by all those happy greens. Guess I should stop blaming the drought for my poor little babies only growing 10″ tall. Nice job 🙂 And thanks to you I’m looking into ollas!
Great! I look forward to reading how those turn out. I’m up to seven full blown ollas. I need five more to be ready for spring.
Have you seen the DIY ollas made by glueing two terracotta pots together at the lip? Then you block off the hole in one end and bury it with the other hole facing up. Not as cool as the real ones but maybe a good inexpensive option for now?
I’ve contemplated that. I get hung up on small things and can’t get them out of my head. In this case it is the glue that you use to join the pots. Does that leach into the water, ground, plants… Ugh… I probably shouldn’t think about it, but I do.
It’s no small thing, I wondered too. Seems some people use silicone instead of glue. Wonder if that’s better/worse? I wonder too about sticking plastic bottles in the ground to water, especially in the sun. It can get overwhelming!
gorgeous gorgeous!!!!!!!
Thanks. We had some salad tonight with dinner. Yummy!
Beautiful! healthy plants and my god I am so jealous!! hah.
Thank you!
Our winter has been a dud. And even though the rest of the nation would flog me, I REALLY prefer a fat, juicy winter!!!
Yah, being from Arizona, I’m not even going to pretend I know what that means. We don’t even have winter, let alone a fat, juicy winter.