The Unc-tanical Gardens

[nattynattygurrl]

Wow!! Just amazing, Unc!! Your garden must be spectacular in person!!
Being in the (high) desert myself, I find a lot of inspiration here!
I’ve been meaning to tell you…the last time I was at the nursery I bought some little succulents…
I saw them, thought of you and your thread, and decided to get a few!

They look pretty rough after transplant…Any tips or suggestions for a new succulenteer?

Looking forward to continuing to watch your garden grow!

 

[unclefishstick]

the first rule of succulents is if you are unsure if you need to water them dont...
the first one,looks like a burros tail and a grapto-something or other,im betting it an intergenetic hybrid of some sort,that should go in a shady spot away from direct sun,the burros tail is quite fragile but the little pieces root easily.
the second one is some aeoniums and looks to be a sedum and another pachy something....that should get some full sun to do best.

basically it comes down to not over-watering them,let the medium get almost completely dry before you water,but water thoroughly when you do water

 

[Mr.Fastcast]

I'm wondering if your going to make some prickly pear jelly,or? I've never tried it myself.Looks good though.

 

[unclefishstick]

it takes quite a lot of fruit to do that,i see a couple big fat fruits forming up but its only going to be like a dozen total.plus i want to watch someone deal with them before i go eating anything off a cactus.im sure its pretty simple but i have never done it before,eaten plenty of nopalitos but not fruits..

 

[Mr.Fastcast]

I've had some jumping cholla before,back in 1990 I think.Anyway you cut off a piece and set fire to the needles.Then cut off the outer skin and enjoy.

It was actually good tasting!

The jelly's can be kinda pricey,since their geared towards the tourist crowd/snow birds.

Did you like the napalitos?

 

[unclefishstick]

i dont go out of my way to eat them,but really them dont have all that much flavor to them,sort of like a green bean almost...

i should already know all that kind of stuff by now as much time as i spent out in the mountains,i always knew how to wildcraft food all the other places i lived...

 

[unclefishstick]

spent the morning getting the veggie beds thinned out and getting the tomatoes pruned and staked which im sure i could have done a month ago...easy to get sidetracked taking care of plants here for some reason.....cabbages were a total loss,just covered in some kind of aphids or mealy bugs,probably a better fall crop around here...got the barrel composter working,seems to be breaking down nicely.picked up a couple of barrels to hopefully collect some rainwater...if it ever rains again....

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[unclefishstick]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[Biosynthesis]

Great seeing your beds overflowing and you getting some veggies already! Plants are loving what your doing for them. Keep it green!

 

[unclefishstick]

certainly learning a lot this year,i dont expect any sort of overflowing cornucopia of produce to flood from the garden but so far not so bad,the hottest part of the summer is coming,and then the monsoon will hopefully bring something this year.
yup,good old rodale,they certainly lay it all out for the new organic gardener in a very simple way,that and a couple of local garden guides to tell me what to do with my regional soil conditions have all been very helpful.
i think a truckload of compost and say a ton of aged manure from the dairies and i can start producing enough biomass for the compost pile in another year or so,luckily this year i have grass clippings from 2 neighbors to help things along,so hopefully with the barrel composter working i can get through the dried pile i already have a bit at a time.

 

[unclefishstick]

managed to find one the cactus from the wish list

Leuchtenbergia principis

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

 

[captain planet]

Looks like its shootin pistils..... Keeping that one to close to the growroom, thinks it's herb! Lol

 

[unclefishstick]

i was just reading up on it,turns out this will be a good full sun likes it hot type of cactus,they have a second one im going to snag since these are fairly uncommon and its a good sized mature specimen and it was only 4 bucks! the pot its in cost 3 times that much!

 

[captain planet]

Haha that's awesome! The pot it's in cost 3 times as much

 

[unclefishstick]

picked up a bunch of plants today including some native grasses,another flowering bush type native whose name i promptly forgot,a honeysuckle and another lavender plant,spanish this time,a couple of larger bushes whose name i also forgot and of course a couple of cactus including a nice old man of mexico,last one they had in this size,say about a foot tall..

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[unclefishstick]

trumpet vine is what they are called....all installed along with the native grama grasses..makes a nice accent against the yuccas...

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[greenmatter]

i have never lived or tried to garden in a desert, but i guess if i had to i would make things work. i hope i could make it work as well as you have unc!

i'd be trying to make lemonade from what life gave me ........ while you were smiling and making gin and tonics in your private jungle

awesome work

 

[MildeStoner]

Looking great! Totally forgot to return with a full body shot of my crest..
What are those behind the Cephalocereus?

 

[Biosynthesis]

Nice trumpet vine. Was wondering if that was what it was in your first picture of it uncle. thanks for clearing that up. Mine has to be 20 years old at least. Grew it from seed from the neighbors when I was a teenager. Unfortunately it isnt as big as yours after all these years, ha ha ha. apparently it didnt get planted in the proper environment. This year it is sending out nice vines and hope they reach out of the spot I have it in and reach for the sun. 2 years ago it had its first flowers. Quite pitiful actually. They grow into trees around here overtaking houses with their vines on occasion. Mine needs sun, but i am not digging and moving it again. last year the vines reached about 4 foot. Ha Ha. You say they are indigenous to the desert? Aside from moving it to a sunnier location, can you give me any pointers.

 

[unclefishstick]

i have never lived or tried to garden in a desert, but i guess if i had to i would make things work. i hope i could make it work as well as you have unc!

i'd be trying to make lemonade from what life gave me ........ while you were smiling and making gin and tonics in your private jungle

awesome work

its been a learning experience for sure,but thanks to finding a couple of good regional planting guides and learning about my particular soil type and whats actually going to do well and what will need some help...im not too far from being able to stop watering all the time...i still get by with 60 gallons or less between the front yard and veggie gardens,the bulk of the landscape watering is those showy but resource greedy flowers....its getting there...a couple of bigger trees,one evergreen and im thinking a desert willow,that will provide some shade and create nursery spots for more delicate plantings,plus i have already gotten a bunch of hummingbird and butterfly attractors,many of the native wildflowers are food sources for local and migrating birds,plus the local plant people are very cool and deserve to be supported for having these native and xeric species available sun grown and fully hardened off...awesome folks..

Looking great! Totally forgot to return with a full body shot of my crest..
What are those behind the Cephalocereus?

im going to assume you mean the smooth skinned ones? Lophocereus schottii var. monstrose or a totem pole cactus

Nice trumpet vine. Was wondering if that was what it was in your first picture of it uncle. thanks for clearing that up. Mine has to be 20 years old at least. Grew it from seed from the neighbors when I was a teenager. Unfortunately it isnt as big as yours after all these years, ha ha ha. apparently it didnt get planted in the proper environment. This year it is sending out nice vines and hope they reach out of the spot I have it in and reach for the sun. 2 years ago it had its first flowers. Quite pitiful actually. They grow into trees around here overtaking houses with their vines on occasion. Mine needs sun, but i am not digging and moving it again. last year the vines reached about 4 foot. Ha Ha. You say they are indigenous to the desert? Aside from moving it to a sunnier location, can you give me any pointers.

heat,they like heat,your soil is probably too rich,it likes low organic content/high mineral content soil,plenty of sun,and not too much water,here they will get to be 15-20 feet tall...not a true native but a naturalized species,comes from mexico maybe 100 miles south of here.

apparently a good hard pruning in the spring will help it to grow more vigorously during the summer...