March 22--Spring?

It's been trying to be spring. We've gone from the sub-arctic to several weeks of positively balmy weather. But spring comes with a price in the mountains--wind. Yesterday it took the plastic right off greenhouse number 4. It was a frantic, whipping race to get another piece on before dark. Try holding onto 50 feet of sail in a 40mph blow! If it weren't still dropping to freezing (and below) we'd have left if off, but the plants are leaping into growth with these 65 degree days...not dormant anymore. And last night it was cold enough for grapple to fall. Would a little rain be too much to ask?!

We've been pleasantly surprised by the recovery the plants are making. It looks like that -30 didn't do the damage we were expecting. The fruit trees look hopeful, tulips, dafs, and crocus are coming up all over--even things that froze to the ground (like my 4th of July rose) are showing some green. What else is showing signs of life--catmint, of course, enormously tough up here. The dianthus planted outside stayed green, soapwort is greening up, little leaves coming out on the strawberries, big green leaves on the hollyhocks and oriental poppies. The lilacs have fat little buds. The barberries are leafing out. Potentilla and delphiniums too. The peaches in # 6 are flowering! No more arctic freezes, please!

We got #3 & 4 lashed down with line to keep the plastic from billowing. Tomorrow we'll get 6 & 7 roped down. Should of done it last fall...oh well. Can't spend every day dabbling in the dirt.

...later in the month

   It's been several weeks since the last post, and since then we've had a storm that dropped us to -30 (and that's not windchill)! Records were set all over the state. We're still waiting to see what the damage is on the fruit trees outside. It looks as though most of the hardy natives in the unheated hoop houses came through fine, but the heater in greenhouse two failed, and some of the annuals we're getting ready for spring didn't make it. We had just received our big shipment of fruit trees and gotten them potted up. Early to say, but most of them look very good.

And the last several days have been lovely! Except for winds gusting to 50 yesterday--that's New Mexico.  the days warm up--we're longing for spring. Half the gardeners (who know better) start planting, then zing! We get hit again.

We continue to plant seedlings--we've started the onions, tomatos and peppers, and are about to put some greens in the grow box. I had half a dozen flats of leafy greens from last year in number two (I'm cutting them for the chickens), and was surprised at how much cold they took.

It's always a pleasure to go into one of the greenhouses and see something in bloom. Right now, the amaryllis, winter jasmine, bougainvillea (still!), cyclamen, and the fuschias are showing their color. And I brought in a pink daisy today to make cuttings from--it was covered! The days are getting longer, more light (sometimes more heat) is coaxing plants out of dormancy. Many of the potted fruit trees are starting to show buds.

Tomorrow, we give a talk at the local garden club on "What Not to Grow in the East Mountains." Many people get confused because, though we're so close, many of the plants they admire in Albuquerque won't grow well (or at all) in the mountains. ABQ is a heat island--zone 8. In the mountains, we're zone 4, zone 5 sometimes with protection.

Less Snow!

February roars in with about 8 inches of snow and near zero temps. Is there anything more exciting than raking a foot of snow off the hoophouses?! Or plowing a half mile of driveway?  Or hanging plastic over breezy cracks in the greenhouse? Or fussing with the generator when it's only 2 degrees out there? Cold, cold, cold, a wind chill of -12...and another storm front sweeping in tomorrow. Sure glad we topped off the propane tanks we use to heat one and two. The heaters, usually off by 7or 8 am, have been going strong all day. The cisterns are probably going to freeze again too. Ahhh, winter in the mountains...

More Light!

In the dregs of January there is never enough light in the greenhouse for new seedlings. They leaaaan, and streetttccch for the sun--getting too leggy, the stems too thin, and easily bowed over by the gentlest stream of water. But we now have a grow light up and running, a veritable brainchild. The box (see pic) holds fluorescents covered by aluminum insulation--reflects light, holds in heat. The contraption above the light is a lever that allows us to rotate the light up and away from the bench so we can water or whatever.


The framework keeps the light aligned properly over the bench, and when the plants get taller, we can notch the light up on the steel bar.

January Frenzy

 There's never enough room on the seed mats in January! Our new boxes (on right in pic) have helped. We've captured another several square feet of climate controlled space near, if not on, the heat mats. The mats sit inside the styrofoam boxes, holding eight flats of seeds, and letting us add additional six packs to edge where they harden off a bit before moving into the open air. This especially helps hold heat at night when we have to turn the mats down (or off) to save power (being offgrid requires making hard choices--no nighttime tv for us!).

What are we starting? Penstemons, agastache, salvia, daisies, bundleflower, campanula, hollyhock, canterbury bells, scholar tree, privet, dutchman's pipe, geranium, pansies, petunias, passionflower, grasses ,iberis, sundrops, buckwheat, evening primrose, coneflower...and much more. Lots of new annuals, some new perennials too, mostly natives.

So as one batch comes off the mats, another immediately goes on, and the oldest shuttles into stronger light, and cooler parts of greenhouse one, from seedling trays to six packes to 4 inch pots, and eventually into greenhouse two, and come April, we'll be trying to squeeze maturing plants into greenhouses three thru seven.

Getting Ready for Spring

 Hello everyone. We are starting to plant seeds. We hope to have different perennials to offer in the spring. We will open Mountain Gardens in mid-April. The plants in the greenhouses are dormant and resting for the winter. Feel free to email or call if you have questions or would like to suggest new plant choices for us to try.

End of Season

We would like to thank everyone who visited us this year. This has been a great year. We are closed for the winter, but will reopen in April. If you have any special orders or questions, please call. Thanks.