Melting snow, more on the way

More cranes are making themselves heard, just in time for the Monte Vista Crane Festival this coming weekend! I went to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge yesterday and was nearly deafened by Canada geese & sandhills. Mating displays among the latter were in full swing.

After being away from the San Luis Valley for a six-day stretch this past week, I returned to find more than 50% of the snow in the yard gone, and the ground saturated with all of the snowmelt. The soil seems to be slowly thawing. Rain overnight last night was a great sound through the open window. A current Winter Storm Warning in the eastern San Juans will mean more skiing & summer irrigation water.

Rain, weeds, rain, weeds, rain, weeds

It looks like the land of Russian thistle here; if there were more weeds I could easily identify I'd list more. Over the past week we've gotten nearly 3/4 inch of rain, which for this high, arid desert seems like a lot. I'm seeing growth in plants that haven't done a thing the past 3-4 years.
All of my yarrow are blooming, rabbitbrush is just beginning to put on beautiful yellow flowers, Russian sage is looking great, as are gaillardias, monarda, Mexican Hat, and more. Jupiter's beard, planted less than five weeks ago, is blooming. My Scarlet Runner pole beans (planted just for the hummingbirds) are climbing rapidly and beginning to flower; nearly endless squash blossoms but I'm not doing a thing with them. By the way, I had my first cheese-stuffed squash blossoms at Rino's Italian Restaurant in Salt Lake City back in late June - was very yummy. I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience to make something like that.
Lettuce, greens, Swiss chard are all being harvested in abundance, kohlrabi in less abundance but still good.
I purchased 35 lbs. of canner tomatoes at a local greenhouse and will be spending quite a few hours making "Firey Salsa". My recipe includes jalapenos, onions, garlic, lime juice, red bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, vinegar, & salt. I found this recipe in Parade magazine (Sunday Denver Post insert) a couple of years ago, and it has become my favorite salsa recipe.
Whew, that's all for now.

Wow, time flies during planting season

Can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've written. We were on vacation and then I spent every waking hour (or so it seemed) outside in the garden. When we returned to town on June 1, the yard and area looked like WI, because RAIN had actually come down during our absence. Granted, not much rain, but for here it was significant - over the course of 10 days about 1" total. So nothing died from lack of precipitation.
WE've already been fortunate enough to harvest greens and spinach, and radishes will probably be ready within a week. I madly planted annuals, herbs, and many more seeds this past weekend - the seeds that went in were more carrots, various green beans, more lettuce & greens, parsnips, sunflowers, more kohlrabi, and don't remember what else.
I'm in Cortez working this week, and indulged in a shopping spree to Four Seasons Greenhouse this evening. Some people shop for clothes, some for expensive cigars, but Marianna goes to greenhouses to spend her money.
I have vowed to stay away from perennial plants that have failed in the past - that list is getting mighty long. Ice Plants are at the top of the list, along with Alpine Poppy, Colorado Gold Gazania, and at least a dozen more. Am getting weary of spending money on plants that last only a season, and then kapoof! they're gone.
Bruce emailed me today that we have a fledgling robin and a parent hanging out in the yard; let's hope Caddy the pooch doesn't find them.

First day of fall clean-up

And the dust is flying! The soil is so dry! No precipitation has fallen for a while. Every day is warm, sunny, and fairly warm (60'sF). I turned the compost in my Earth Machine composter, not quite ready to use. Maybe before the snow flies but I'll likely wait until next spring. Will write more later about more activities this past weekend. What a great day for gardening it was! Oh yeah, harvested my last two acorn squash on Saturday - the last items to come out of the garden.

More worm stuff

Have been picking and smashing cabbage worms (normally, I'm not a violent person, but I really don't want to relinquish another harvest to the critters). Obviously, I'm not averse to hand picking!

I have a neighbor on the next street over who also has several plants in the brassica family, and she has NO problems with these guys; I think it's a matter of them not having yet found her plants and focusing totally on mine!

We've had about about 4/10" of rain the past 24 hours so irrigation of the vegetable garden isn't necessary for at least another day or so; the mostly cloudy & coolish conditions are another reason not to water.

I'm including a picture of what I suspect is cabbage worm poop - don't know what else it is. Thought maybe it was eggs but their appearance doesn't jive with what I've read about cabbage worm eggs.

MORE rain

This weather is not too common in the San Luis Valley - three consecutive days that are mostly overcast and have measurable precipitation. Feels more like the Midwest.

The rufous hummingbirds are madly flitting all around the front and back yards keeping one another from the feeders and seemingly spending little time actually sipping nectar.

We've resumed supplying niger thistle to the birds and are attracting house finches, gold finches, and lesser gold finches.

Three springs ago I transplanted some milkweed (not sure which species) from a nearby local fishing hole to a vacant area near the firewood pile in our backyard. As I sort of guessed would happen, it has moved beyond its original area and has to be periodically reined in. I planted it to attract monarch butterflies, which actually happened!!! For two consecutive late summer periods, I found several monarch caterpillars on my milkweed. It was so COOL to track their metamorphasis from larva (or caterpillar, see photo) to pupa to newly-emerged butterfly, all within the confines of my little gardens! Unfortunately, the first time I was lucky enough to observe this process, the monarch emerged during a bad weather period of cold & rain, and shortly afterwards it died. I don't know what happened to the monarchs last year, but I always hope for the best.

Wow, it's raining!

Yep, we're getting precipitation! A nice, steady rain to wet everything down. No watering of the vegetable garden'll be necessary tomorrow morning. (On second thought, since the rain only amounted to .09" .....)

Yesterday's harvest included radishes (big ones!), beet greens, & spinach. I look at some of my plants (tomatoes & squash) and wonder if I'll have any produce before the first frost. Yikes, don't think that yet!