Organic Gardening, In The Desert…

Okay, so here’s something a little different from my usual writing forays… Just some pics of my little garden project, finally underway. Been wanting to get back into gardening for many years, and after 2 years of living in Vegas, I am now officially giving it a go. And yes, while many around the country, and the rest of the Western Hemisphere I suppose, are still fighting off winter chills, here in the Vegas Valley we’ve been seeing record temps up in the 70’s, and even the 80’s a few times, since before February even began. From what my research thus far has told me, essentially the weather here allows for two windows of growing seasons, on either side of the please-shoot-me-now summer heat. I planted some organic, heirloom (of course) seeds about one week ago, and most of them have already sprouted, seeming to very much like the plastic egg containers I used as little mini greenhouses. So far I have started some spinach, arugula, basil, and tomatoes, but I plan to expand the “crop” once I get these first ones settled in.

After about 1 week, starting to sprout..

I have also finished building some garden boxes which I will be moving the seedlings into, once they are big enough for replanting in the actual ground. Of course, I am going to have to go to Home Depot and basically buy all the soil with which to fill the raised beds, since the natural dirt in this area is virtually devoid of any actual organic matter and nutrients, etc…

Used recycled wood from an old section of fence to put these together…

And now, for no real particular reason, here are some shots of my other beloved little green friends:

My succulents. I hope to be able to grow all of these varieties into fairly large plants eventually, with all the desert sun, and low humidity.

My little bonsai trees.