Starting the Garden

The desert is a new place for Lily and I. The prickly pear and pinyon pine enchant us with their beauty. The cute little lizards scurrying along in the sand make us giggle. The sunset never ceases to amaze us. 

The New Mexico sunset as seen from our backyard

A lovely patch of prickly pear down the block from our home

Alongside all the outdoor exploring of our new home state, we've been working hard to make our new apartment a cozy, comfortable place. Between our love of food and the growing desire to be more self-reliant, we've started working with the soil. Much of this blog will be documenting our gardening, cooking, and foraging for our family and friends.

Not long after moving in, I went off to Home Depot to get supplies for raised beds. I used a few cedar boards, some wooden posts, and nails to create two beds, and then I filled them with a cocktail of topsoil, compost, and potting soil — all while listening to Margo Price and sipping some local brews (Santa Fe Brewing Company makes a damn fine pilsner).

The beds before planting (well, minus the Celosias)

Me in the perfect gardening attire

 Once the beds were constructed, I sowed the seeds. In one bed, there is a row of Cherokee Wax beans, a row of onions, and two rows of carrots. In the other bed, there is four cabbage plants, two rows of arugula, and two rows of lettuce. Alongside the bed, there's several cloth gardening bags and pots. In these containers, we have cat grass, garlic, celosias (the lovely cock's comb),  nasturtiums, sorrel, basil, and chamomile. 

The row of beans sprung up fast! And Remy loves to help out in the garden.

Basil sprouting 

Nasturtiums sprouting 

Not long after getting the beds and containers started, I moved my attention to the back of our backyard. There, I laid down a bag of compost and sowed some beet seeds.

Beets sprouting in our backyard

A few days ago, I decided to build a compost bin. I was annoyed with how much food scraps I was throwing away that I used to compost back in Wisconsin. Composting in the desert seemed intimidating at first, since things dry up so quickly here. However, luckily, New Mexico State University has a wonderful web-page devoted to gardening in New Mexico, with a whole section dedicated to composting down here. Following their advice, I bought myself a cheap plastic storage container and drilled some holes in. I collected some branches and dried up weeds in the yard to add to the bottom, and then I started adding food scraps and the scratch paper that I do math on!

Drilling holes in the composter so it can breathe!

 Now, every evening, I sluggishly head out after dinner and water Lily and I's wonderful little garden. It's a lovely way to end a day of doing math and spending time with my best friend and our pets. 

Frankie and Jude looking out over the garden as the morning sun shines