Gardening on the Moon ( GOTM )

Written by Jeff

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We continue our series of personalized (vanity) license plates in Arizona. To maintain individual privacy, we try to show as little information about particular cars as possible as long as we can reveal the license plate.

NOTE – License plate photos may have been archived for quite some time. The years indicated on the registration stickers DO NOT necessarily reflect the current status of any given plate!

We hope you enjoy these PL8 A TUDES!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

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  An Appropriate New Year Wish from Water When Dry

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  2011 Garden Photo Contest Winners. Some real beauties. Click on the small pictures to enlarge them. [ Picture shown above was NOT from the contest and NOT a winner.]

http://www.hortmag.com/gardens-and-gardeners/2011-garden-photo-contest-winners

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  Happy New Years Rehash 2011 – Some interesting garden ideas from former posts that may have been missed. This post is definitely worth another look.

http://www.faroutflora.com/2011/12/31/happy-new-years-rehash-2011/

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  An interesting hummingbird camera. Mostly they sit and preen, but still interesting. Mom visits nest. Ignore the chat in sidebar which often has nothing to do with the streaming pictures. [ Link via http://birdsandbloomsblog.com ]

http://phoebeallens.com/

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  From Chiot’s Run – Good looking and good tasting popcorn. Who knew growing your own could look this good?

http://chiotsrun.com/2011/12/31/enjoying-the-fruits-of-our-labor-2

http://www.finegardening.com/item/21712/the-one-essential-thing-to-know-when-pruning-climbing-roses

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Happy New Year – A New Post Next Week!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

As deserts go, the Sonoran desert may have a bit of an identity problem. It is one of the more moderate deserts in the world. It does get approximately 10-12 inches of rain a year and the temperatures, at times, are quite moderate. As a matter of fact, the Sonoran Desert does get snow and frost from time-to-time.

As you can imagine, we plant heat-loving plants in the desert because of irrigation concerns during the hot, hot summer. Unfortunately, those heat-loving plants don’t like the cold. Take our long-flowering summer, 2011 favorite, morning glory bush.

Here it is after a few cold evenings. Not necessarily freezing, but in the low 30′s.

You might recall what it looked like from an earlier post HERE!

We flirted with freezing temperatures a couple of evenings where it may have dipped to 32.

Our potato vines didn’t fare much better

This is our fifth winter in the desert and for three of those winters, we didn’t have any hard freezes. When the weather turns in December, we try to plant some frost-tolerant plants that help us maintain season-long color in our garden areas.

One cool weather star is decorative Kale. Of course we also have to deal with the Javelina who don’t read the labels that say DECORATIVE Kale and will enjoy it if they can get to it; ditto for the rabbits.

We removed the morning glory bush and planted the Kale in that large, raised planter. We also put some pansies in the planter to add additional colors. I did most of the digging, root removal and soil refresh while my wife, Mary, performed the detail work of restoring the mulch and watering the newly planted treasures!

When we were finished we had replaced the dead plant with a very pleasant, frost-tolerant arrangement.

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Happy Holidays a New Post Will be Published Shortly!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post