Ahhh!  It’s a great time to live in AZ.  From now until May it will be beautiful.  A little on the cold side at night sometimes… but who am I kidding, it will only be cold to people who have been living in AZ their whole lives and have thinner blood.  To the rest of the world it will feel like Spring!  Which is why this is EVERYBODY WANTS TO LIVE HERE season!

Planting is underway.  I really wanted to have it done by the time September was finished.  I didn’t.  Things never really work out according to plan do they?  But still we plan.  There is a plan every day… and the plan changes every day.  🙂  Sorry for the blurry pictures, I’m a little out of practice photographging sprouts.

So far we have some cabbage, ice berg, romaine, chard, red Russian kale, dino kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, and dill planted.  Little seedlings are springing up everywhere and I’m busy yanking out Bermuda sprouts wherever they may dwell.  Be warned foul beasts… I’m coming for you!  (Insert maniacal laughter here)

I spent a couple of hours on Saturday with my youngest helper pulling up piles of grass and trimming up the pepper plants.  They still have a solid month of good production to go, so I want to make sure we get some good sized peppers!  I harvested the peppers from the trimmings and had enough to fill a substantial bowl.  Roasting and peeling the small peppers can be a pain though.  I focused on the larger ones.  I’ve learned when it comes to roasting to get the oven super hot (BROIL) and put the peppers up as close as you can to the heat.  Then wait until they are really blistered before you turn them.  I’d love to have one of those drum roasters that they have in grocery store parking lots, but the oven works fine.

I added some manure to the main garden and have been busy raking and smashing and pulverizing… it’s good for stress relief.  I’ll plant all of that out soon with peas and various other things.  I’ve got a plan for that.

The areas that were cleaned up in the pepper beds are going to be planted out first.  At the end of November the peppers will come out, along with the ollas, so I need to be able to get those out without destroying too much.  That will be a challenge. I do like demo though.

I’m still looking for a good deal on some mulch.  Maybe some alfalfa that got ruined by the rain, or even some woodchips… I’m really not that picky.  I’ve decided it would be really handy to have a decent sized wood chipper.  I have a tiny one right now, but frankly, it’s not good for much.

I’ve still got a few little apples growing on the tree.  I’m not sure that they’ll finish maturing, but they are fun to watch.  Apples seem to be a pretty slow process.

That’s about it; I hope you all are having a good Fall.  Ours is off to a great start.  It’s a great time to garden!