Perennial garden sprouting...

After a long cold winter (November 2010-February 2011), those perennials that are sprouting (at 7000 ft.) include: thymus (English thyme), penstemon, tulipa, kniphofia (red hot poker), linum (blue flax), and...

Iris

Narcissus (daffodil)

 Nepata (catnip)

Agastache

Papaver (poppy) 

And this rhubarb has popped back up in the vegetable garden!

These violas survived in the garden all winter long as well:

This is a summary from two separate perennial gardens at the same elevation. We're in USDA plant hardiness zone 5-6.

The only clean-up we're doing is some pruning.  The cuttings make good mulch and more likely most of that will blow away with our March-April winds.

Just a reminder we're in the high desert.

Supermoon

The Supermoon of 2011!

A look back at winter

On August 19th of 2010, seeds were sown in our community vegetable garden. These shots were taken on January 17th of this year. With a good soil preparation and a row cover laid directly over the plot, we had fresh vegetables all winter long. 


Carrots, radishes, turnips, collards, several types of lettuce, arugula, spinach, pak choi and cilantro all flourished under the cover.

Our garden history...at 7000 ft.

This is our first post.  We think it will be interesting for people to see gardening projects that you can do at 7000 ft. of elevation in an area that only receives 8-12 in. of moisture (snow/rain) annually.


Here in Northern New Mexico, we have to really pay attention to soil prep. and create the best growing environment possible before planting anything.  Actually, once you get through that 1st 4-6 inches of hard compacted surface silt and clay, it gets a lot easier to cultivate your soil.


The better our bed preparation has been, the better our results.  


In our posts, we'll talk about vegetables, herbs, perennials, and the natural world outside our doors.  We hope to post information from several gardens throughout our area.