We received our six blackberry cuttings in the mail this week along with an elderberry tree. They are all obviously dormant and cut back very small with their roots intact. We hurriedly prepared their holes with some added compost and gravel for drainage. In they went in the warm welcoming sun. I suppose we were a bit anxious and premature in the season as the sunny spring like days shifted to a massive snow storm dumping nearly two feet overnight. A fine welcome to our new plant friends. Oh well, toughen em' up for a long productive life in angry high desert weather.

Our spoiled starts on the other hand live in the lap of climate controlled luxury, and are off to a great start looking at the snow covered landscape from the inside of a south facing window. Shanna built an awesome grow space for them in the living room equipped with a grow light for extended hours...who needs furniture any damn way? So far we have started kale, chard, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and onion.

Next on the agenda is to obtain more wood to finish up our beds and for the chicken coop to be designed and built sometime in March. A local feed store here sells a nice variety of baby chicks starting early next month which we will brood indoors for five weeks or so. Also, we will need to purchase a large amount of compost and humus to add to our raised beds. Luckily there is a local company that sells and delivers it by the yard...yee haw.

Big Preppin'

Hey all...We have raised beds!!! 3 out of 5 thus far have been built. This was all free redwood and fir "doneage" lumber and although many of the boards had some warping, a little persuasion of support posts and a copious amount of nails straightened em right up and made for some very attractive frames. The craftsmanship got progressively better as I worked out the kinks along the way. We have also cleared yet more gravel creating a blank bed awaiting till

ing and amending just off the east side of the deck...which, after an access path, will give us an additional 80 sq. ft.

I totally believe in water free xeroscape yard design, especially in such dry climates as here, but words to the wise...don't ever plan on changing things once your rock is in place. This wasnt the nice little pea gravel you can just shovel around either, these were the golf ball size river rock that require one to hand pick it all. I can feel the ballooning of my blood vessels just thinking about such a pain stakingly involved job. But its done.

Another big step came in tearing out 100s sq. ft. of some notorious ground cover in a prime sunny location along the eastern fence line. Due to a good rain yesterday the soil was quite pliable and with the help of a white hot fury for progress and shovel, we managed to clear it all out in a couple hours.

To our dismay, the invasive ground cover concealed a rock laden soil, seemingly made that way by some maliciously minded landscaper of years past. There's a chance that its just the native soil, a good chance...but seeing as how we have another 400 sq. ft. of beds to till near by, I'm gonna pretend they were put there by evil hands. But as all unforseens lead to new ideas, we have decided that a fine hedgerow of hardy blackberry bushes will call this spot home. Perrenials rule! Plant em once, enjoy for years.

Next on the agenda is to obtain some 2-3 year old berry bushes and get them in the ground soon, build a couple more 20'x 4' raised beds, till up their footprint, order a mountain of compost to mix in all the beds, and get some early spring seeds started indoors. Yee-Haw!