Larn'in Me Some Gardening

'For young trees under four years of age, the most effective method of cold protection is to bank the trunk up to a height of about 15 inches with clean soil' - courtesy of this webpage

So, I'm totally learning lots of stuff about gardening. This soil protection technique fascinates me, so simple, so clear-cut, I like it.

Otherwise, I've put Rambo (my German Shepherd) on 24 hour patrol. I've seen some hawks flying around the area. Now, I know they usually don't eat citrus trees and bell pepper plants, but one can never be too careful. I'm also in the process of putting some ground to air anti-bird missiles in the yard. If that wasn't enough, I'm still having to fight off terrorist rabbits (the terrorist desert ground squirrels are no longer a problem, thanks to my ruthless tactics, ie fox pee, uh, actually it's a long story).

A couple of weeks ago my red chili pepper plant had produced a wonderful fruit that I was ready to harvest. To my utter dismay and horror, the day I came to harvest the fruit, it had already been half-eaten by some good for nothin' varmint (these creatures have no morals, and they don't even think of the 'poor starvin' kids in Africa' because they leave food unfinished! the monstrosity of it all). I will never forget the sight of the crime, pieces of chili-pepper strewn about the ground, the half-eaten pepper limply hanging off its branch, forlorn, violated, and devastated, clinging to its last thread of life... I have yet to find out who or what stole my chili pepper, but some of my sources inside the rabbit warrens are leading me to believe that a rogue terrorist rabbit assaulted my chili pepper plant in broad daylight.

As I gather more information, I will locate and capture this rogue terrorist rabbit. Then, uh, I guess I will cook him and eat him for lunch? With a chili pepper thrown in?

Garden Update!

I'm very new to gardening, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it and learning lots! (and getting to fight evil terrorist desert squirrels while I'm at it). I'm mostly focusing on vegetables and plants that hummingbirds will enjoy. Vegetable-wise I've started off experimenting with pepper plants, as they seem to grow well here, specially hot peppers. I also have some peppers that I am trying to grow from seeds, but the following pictures are of plants that I have been growing but did not start them from the seed stage. I look forward to growing plants from the seed stage, but that will be a greater focus for me in the future.

I am also planning to organize the garden later on, do some planting in beds. For now I'm sticking with containers. I'd like to keep things as sustainable and resource efficient as possible, but I don't know many of the nuances of sustainable gardening, so that's something I really hope to learn about and improve upon. Maybe do some rain harvesting as well...

If you have any suggestions, ideas, resources you can recommend, it would be much appreciated!

Here are some pictures:

My golden bell pepper plant, with some fruit on the way :)


Jalapeno pepper plant:


Chili pepper plant:


Meyer Lemon Plant and Dwarf Lime Plant I just got... can't wait for these to grow! will transfer them to larger containers at some point...


Agastache plants, they don't look impressive, but they are babies. Supposedly they grow well in desert conditions, and once mature, they have beautiful flowering that the hummingbirds love!!!


Can't remember what this is, but another plant for the hummingbirds, pretty sure it's a native plant.


This next one is some sort of honeysuckle plant, I think Mexican honeysuckle. Another one for the hummers...


Baja Fairy Duster. Not looking so good right now but the flowers are beautiful. Another plant the hummers are supposed to like. Spoiled hummers better enjoy all the work I'm doing for them. I usually throw up the nectar feeders in the fall and winter, summer is not very practical with the feeders, as the nectar spoils too quickly. Hummingbird bonanza... I can feel it, approaching like rolling thunder, ready to overtake us, here at the house :)