Busted for Gardening!

Do you live in an area that limits what you can grow in your own yard?  I know some folks live in neighborhoods where a neighborhood association controls what you can and cannot grow, but, for the rest of us, by and large, we have creative freedom on how we landscape our gardens.

With the weakness of our current economy and with the rapid rise in food prices, it only makes sense to try to grow some of our own food.   But not in Oak Park, Michigan!  After her front yard was dug up when a sewer line was replaced, Julie Bass decided to put in attractive raised vegetable beds instead of replacing the lawn.  Her new garden is a delight to see.  Very tidy and no weeds.

Unfortunately, Julie is facing 93 days in jail for planting a garden in her front yard!  Read more here.

Here are pictures of Julie Bass' tidy garden and yard. 

Introducing a New Blog

The blog named "Seiler's Little Paradise" is about the transformation of a small piece of property into a micro homestead.

These folks will explore the joys of remodeling, gardening, poultry raising, alternative energy including wind, solar and hydro power, and self sufficient, self reliant living.

Having a little piece of earth to call your own and to try to live off of is a dream that this family is trying to make a reality.

Garden Update

I've had some successes and failures in my little garden.

The sprouting red potatoes I planted did not do well at all. Nor did the Radishes, even though I planted them early enough and watered them regularly. Surprisingly, the onions did not take, and I think it is a soil issue rather than a heat and water issue. Green beans have sprouted and produced a few beans, but have not thrived despite having enriched soil.

Because I planted early and watered well, lettuce did well for me. My Zucchini plants are thriving and will probably bloom in the next week or so. It is no surprise that tomatoes are doing well. I planted Early Girl, Beefsteak, and Heatwave. All tomato plants except the beefsteak tomato plant have fruit on them. The Cherry Tomatoes are already turning red. My Big Jim pepper plants look great and are blossoming.

In my herb garden - the Basil did not reseed, and my Spearmint carried over from last year. It doesn't look great and I want to see if the extra feeding will help. The Rosemary bush is thriving, but the climate here in Las Cruces is friendly for Rosemary.

I'm going to plant some more beans, as I know they are heat tolerant, and hopefully, I'll have more success with them. Because of our long hot summers, I cannot plant a fall garden until the end of September.

I'd like to experiment with fruit trees and berries. Flower gardening is not my strong suit, but I hope to try them later.

Here's a good gardening site for Las Cruces Gardeners - Guzman's Garden Center

Computer Repairs, Gardening and Much Needed Rest

This week was spent doing many things so very different from my usual routine. It was spring break in this part of the country, and I had a week off from teaching. It was also a week of limited access to the internet community - our primary computer was being repaired. I've missed blogging, but the blogging life is not the center of my existence either.

I spent a lot of time in my little organic garden. Vegetable growing is one of my hobbies. The southern New Mexico climate (zone 9) permits the planting of summer crops earlier than most region. My readers from the cooler climes will be surprised to know that my tomatoes and peppers are planted and thriving. (Early Girl, Beefsteak, Heatwave, California Wonder and Big Jim chile peppers!) Today, if all goes well, I'll be planting green beans, yellow summer squash and zucchini.

I planted my spring crops in January - several varieties of lettuce, spinach, radishes, peas, potatoes (red potatoes from the store that had sprouted) and turnips. We are harvesting the lettuce now. The radishes should start bulbing out soon. The peas are not blooming yet and the turnips look healthy. I forgot to mention my red onions. They did not get planted until about a week ago, but I could not find good onion sets until then. (I still have some yellow onion sets to plant today as well!)

My little herb garden contains rosemary, spearmint (good thing it's in a contained raised bed), basil and coriander.

As my garden is fairly small, I use a modified version of Square Foot Gardening to maximize yield. Vegetable prices are high nowadays, and whatever I can do to help keep our food costs down and provide healthy food for my family is a bonus!

The biggest expense of gardening in the desert southwest is the cost of water. I like to use a lot of mulch to retain moisture in the garden, and I spot water my plants and use a soaker hose to target watering. How I wish we had a grey water system to recycle laundry, sink and bath/shower water! Such a system is high on my wish list if we were to move from here.

Interested in organic gardening? My favorite resources are the "Mother Earth News" and "Organic Gardening" magazines. Yes, yes, I'm a political conservative who reads "Mother Earth News"! I believe in responsible stewardship of our natural resources, and have NEVER believed the "Progressives" and "Liberals" have had a corner on the market of environmental responsibility!

There are two days left of this blessed spring break, and then I go back to the very busy life of teaching choir at one of our local schools. Large group festival is looming, as well as our spring concert and other opportunities for my honor choir to sing.