A Northern Nevada Garden

I like to take pictures to remind myself to be a patient gardener: growth happens and it can be nothing short of amazing. I never tire of the many tiny miracles that gardening reveals. The first photo in each pairing below was taken in March, the second was taken in May.

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After only 2 days, I have my first baby trapdoor snail in my fish pond. I didn’t think I would be able to see any babies if I had any but indeed I can.

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Well, a Nevada high desert miracle arrived this weekend: it rained. I had the rare opportunity to turn the irrigation off for one cycle. The rain has kept regular gardening to a minimum but the water gardening has been full speed ahead. The algae bloomed this week and it’s been a race to combat a [...]

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I planted 2 more artemesias in the west side garden. And now there are 3. I would like to add 2 more echinaceas (I have a thing about planting in threes but I also like to see if a plant is going to make it before I go for three. I need a plan B [...]

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We hit a new record in Reno yesterday–96 degrees! It was a hot one. To do list: Watered the vegetables Friday night and again this morning. Worked on the irrigation system a little–still have more to do. Watered the compost bins and piles Raked up leaves and pine needles–I need that compost to keep cooking! [...]

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Well, I hope to be a better–and smarter–water gardener this year. Now that there’s  a new pond pump in place (and pumping water at an new and improved rate), the pond is starting to clear-up. Thankfully, there is very little in the way of string algae at the moment and I plan to keep it [...]

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First: a shout out to my Mom: Happy Mother’s Day! Any green in my thumb comes from you. That plus a lot of stubbornness makes me a decent gardener. It’s a sunny day but breezy. Spent a good 3 hours out in the garden this morning. I decided to be bold and plant the rest [...]

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I decided to start a list of new plants for this year so I can keep better track of what does well. Vegetable Garden: Strawberry Spinach (Territorial Seed Company) Bloomsdale Spinach (Seeds of Change) Tomatoes Sprite (Tomato Growers Supply Co.) Bush Beefsteak (Tomato Growers Supply Co.) Yellow Canary Hybrid (Tomato Growers Supply Co.) Applause (Tomato [...]

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All 4 hostas have emerged–yeah! The bleeding heart is in bloom and the clematis is already taller than it was at the end of last season–yeah!

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I think Memorial Day weekend will be the official kick-off to this gardening season. Hopefully by then I won’t have to worry about frost. But every week more happen in the garden. Today we mowed some pretty lush green grass. I think compost might be the secret ingredient to a healthy lawn. There are still [...]

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