Category Archives: Secret Garden

Behold the luffa! Heat tolerant, with big yellow blooms that reach up to the sky and attract so many bees, it spreads out into a beautiful and interesting vine – all this and funny little gourds. What’s not to love about this fascinating plant? My luffa vine has been so wonderfully… weird. I started itContinue reading “Ode to the Mystical, Wonderful, Showy Luffa Vine”

It was a rare chance to get stuff done without the kids. The kids like the glamorous part of gardening, the kind that sucks us all in at the beginning. Digging in the dirt. Planting the pretty flowers. Picking the pretty flowers. But, today was all about maintenance. I was glad they were being shepherdedContinue reading “I got my garden on today!”

March came in like lion and is still roaring. It was gusting 36 knots the other day, and the forecast indicates more. Every morning I check outside, worried about what the wind did to my plants in the night. I have learned that the secret garden unfortunately becomes an absolute wind tunnel in the springContinue reading “The W Word”

The season is beginning to transition here in the desert. The lows are hanging out around the mid 50s, and the highs are in the mid 70s to 80s. We’re about to get a heat wave where the temps will be in the 90s. I can only hope that my garden established itself enough forContinue reading “You’re Getting Warmer!”

My winter garden is winding down. I was absolutely lazy this year and barely lifted a finger, but I feel like I had the best results ever. This came from knowing my garden space and repeating some things that worked, as well as my usual “just wing it” attitude when it comes to my plants.Continue reading “Now Showing”

Welcome to seed palooza, where everything gets dumped into the secret garden and forgotten about. I decided it was time to plant all my seed packets and start over. This stuff needs thinning. I have no idea what it is. Carrots? Dill? I know there’s some beets in the middle and sunflowers someplace, but beyondContinue reading “I Have No Idea What I Planted Here”

Yep, that’s a tiny broccoli head right there in the secret garden. Salutes for the lieutenant! I need more raised beds! Broccoli takes up a ton of space. I have 4 plants total that survived. Two are about this large, and a third is in the same bed that I shouldn’t have planted so closeContinue reading “Broccoli!”

Gusty winds are predicted through Monday. Here’s how I’m protecting my teeny tiny plants. I live in the desert. It gets windy here! It gets really gusty, and all that blowing dust can take you by surprise. Many a day have I squinted at the sky, wondering if it’s pollution or dust. Streets close, theContinue reading “Battening Down the Hatches”

What to do when a volunteer pops up in the wrong place at the wrong time? I say let it be. This is Malabar spinach growing in Bed 1 of the secret garden. I’m not sure if it actually qualifies as a volunteer since it’s seeds that I planted and forgot about. It was justContinue reading “Well, this is inconvenient…”