Las Vegas Gardening

11/10/2020: My Alaska peas...my only goal with these guys is to cook rice with these peas. THAT'd bring me back to my childhood memory...

They look good so far! Keep growing, peas!!!

09/26/2020: It's almost October, but it's still 100 degrees in Las Vegas. I anticipate the temperature to drop in a few weeks, though.

So, today is the day to get rid of these basils and Egyptian spinach plants! Oh, that's my boy, Ren.🐶 He just wants me to play with him while I clean up the garden....

I got rid of basil plants in the morning, but the bees were all over my Egyptian spinach. I kind of felt bad to get rid of them while they are working hard....

So, I decided to waite til the evening to finish the job. They may get disappointed tomorrow morning, but I still have the pepper plants with full of flowers so hopefully they will enjoy them instead.

09/01/20: My pepper bed is ON FIRE!! I think there are 5 or 6 pepper plants in this bed. Definitely over crowded but they don t seem to care!

Today, the high temperature was less than 100 degrees for the first time in who knows how long. The peppers will start producing again and I cannot wait!

08/25/20: My fig tree put three little fruits for the first time! This is Black Jack variety, which is similar to Brown Turkey except this is a semi-dwarf tree.

One of them got picked by a bird but we could get one small one to ourselves. It was a bit underwhelming. I guess it could stay on the tree a bit longer😋

08/23/2020: I know I know....They aren't good pictures. It's too hot to take a good picture here in Vegas 😜

The top picture is the "Before" and the bottom one is the "After" picture. The Before picture was taken back in April.

I guess this pandemic gave me an opportunity to finally care for my lemon tree and it's working.

Vegas has been experiencing a crazy hot week and here is my solution. This actually works really well to protect the tree from 115 degrees temperature every single day.

I know it looks funny....but hey, it works!

07/11/20: My blog here is all about gardening. But today I'm writing to record here that we paid off our mortgage on 07/09/2020!

To celebrate our milestone, I put together a hand roll sushi party for just two of us. It took us 10 years and 6 months to pay it off. We like the debt-free lifestyle and we are now truly debt free at the age of 37 and 42.

It was a weird feeling to pay it off. A sort of underwhelming but I feel the weight on my shoulder slowing going away....

07/04/20: Happy July 4th! It looks like today is going to be a pesto day. Okra has been productive daily, too. It's important to eat slimy mucilagenous vegetables! I usually eat okra with Egyptian spinach. They do go well together.

Since we have plenty more to harvest, I decided to dry them.

1: Soaked them in water for about 30 min to kill all the bugs. I made sure all the leaves are underwater by putting weight on the top.

2: After lightly drying them with a towel, I tied them up and hung them upside down like the picture here in the sun room. I thought about drying them outside but Las Vegas is way too dusty for that.

One day later....

Vegas is so dry that these will get dried up pretty quickly.

Tow days later...

Some of the leaves are already crispy. By tomorrow, I'm sure they will be all done.

Looks like my youngest boy, Ren, enjoys the basil fragrance ❤️

Oops, his big brother, Bernie, wants to enjoy the space, too! But Ren doesn't wanna move!

Well, I guess Bernie won.😅

06/08/2020: Confession - I SUCK AT GROWING TREES 😓 My lemon tree is following the trend of Tiger King and showing some tiger like patterns on its leaves.

Based on my research, this means the tree is lacking iron and/or magnesium. It's possible that the soil pH is too basic, too. I have given the soil acidifier with iron and magnesium.

It doesn't look like it's working but it's not dying, either. This tree is so tiny but it's the biggest it's ever been. I know....it's sad lol

06/06/2020: It's that time of the year! Basil time!

Instead of a typical pesto pasta, I made pest rice. Pine nuts are super expensive so I mixed in some squash in the pesto. I thought it will mellow the flavor and make it creamier and it sure did!

As a veggie grower, there is no better feeling than to cook what I grow. You know, some restaurants brag about being Farm-to-Table, but the truth is....my own Garden-to-Table is way more fresh and more satisfying.

06/04/2020: It looks like one of the squash plants is Early Prolific Straightneck Squash. It has nice soft yellow color but when you hold it, you feel the tiny needles sticking out from the skin.

05/31/2020: This year, there was an infestation of ladybugs in our backyard. Now they are making babies!

We live in the desert, but it's possible to grow vegetable and many other plants. Eventually, little creatures will start making your backyard their home, too.

Here is the sunset from yesterday! Isn't it beautiful?