Winter Seasons

The weather has shifted.  It is starting to be coolish in the morning.  Winter here is short.  Before long I will be prepping for Summer Season.   This time I did something new, I planned.  Especially after the bug-hell I have been in I thought I should spend a little more time getting ready for winter. Plus I am hoping to cut down on the mystery plants. So I've consulted my Magic Garden Companion Guide, picked my winter veggies and Viola! A garden map to end all Garden maps:

Classy right?

So what did I pick and why?
Well first of all Aphids, Aphids Aphids.  The reason I have had so many aphids is because I have had so few beneficials.  I have had so few beneficials because I have no habitat for them.  I have started an "overwinter" garden (which will also be my main garden next year) but thought I would try to pull in some regular plants that might help.

Carrots: Attracts a TON of beneficials such as parasitic wasps, (see my first one HERE!).It also attracts lace wings, assasin bugs and "big eyed bugs" (whatever that is). It also provides added water to the soil (a must here in the desert). It grows really good with Peas and other winter veggies.

Beets: Add tons of minerals to the soil. Also a good companion plant to brassicas (brussels and cabbage).  They are improved by Garlic.

Onions: Supposedly keeps aphids away. I'm not sold on this as I have put in TONS of chives around my more aphid infested plants. But maybe a stronger allium would help. I will also be marking at least two to go to seed.  I think the flat white flowers will attract lots of the beneficials that I am missing.

Garlic: Not only another aphid resistor but also something that will help the orange tree-who knew?. So I sandwiched it between the beets and the orange tree.

Peas-now here is where things got tricky tricky. Supposedly peas and onions are not friends in the garden (despite making a tasty treat in the kitchen). So I pulled them apart a little bit, hopefully this is enough.

Not on the Map-Dill, and Coriander- Both are good garden plants.  Also both taste good. Also Dill and Cilantro are closely related; seems good right? Well maybe not. They cross pollinate.  I have dill growing in the overwinter garden; hopefully that will be far away enough to put some coriander in the garden but where? Carrots and Dill don't play nice, does that mean Coriander won't either? I'm going to need more research to figure this out.

Also I forgot to add Broccoli from some bizarre reason. I think they will go where the lettuce is and the lettuce will be sprinkled around the garden like basil was during the summer. OH yea and SPINACH, forgot that too, i'll find a spot somewhere...

Cha Cha Cha...CHIA

Any one remember this:


I do...(and in the spirit of full disclsoure, I had one, I think a looney tunes one?). So why are we remembering terrible infomercials from the 90's? Because I never grew up Because I am trying to grow one again! I have tried growing chia seeds in the past, we never got very far-which is incredibly frustrating seeing as they GROW WILD IN THE DESERT! (useful wild western plants).  However there is incredibly little information on growing them. Why do I want them? Well glad you asked:

Omega 3x6 baby                                

See-healthy!

Chia seeds are amazing-besides being a delicious sprout to add to salads, they are are high energy food. They have protein, fiber and fat and are a whole grain food you can absorb (which makes them beat out flax seeds) and they are incredibly high in anti-oxidants and have Omega 3 and Omega 6 (I don't make this stuff up )They get "goopy" when you add them to liquid (technically called mucilaginous but that sounds gross.) and so when used with chocolate milk you get a rich desert. I add them to iced coffee for a delicious drink/snack halfway through the day.  My husband adds them to his protein shakes when he rides his bike.   However they are HARD TO FIND.  There has been a chia seed shortage) due to limited growers and natural hardship. This is just another example of how important your own foodshed is.  These little seeds are costly as well, I can find them at Costco for 6.99 a pound but the grocery store has them for 10.00 a pound.

So over the next few months I am going to figure out how to make these guys grow. I am growing from my last purchase of seeds from costco (http://nutiva.com/chia-seeds/). I have some sprouts going in sheltered spot and as they get bigger I am putting them into the garden. Follow along!

Where I started:

growing chia seeds: This is a great article to figuire out needs/size/temps/harvest

Desert Harvesters: A lot of sites say the flowers are harvest in the spring but Desert Harvesters guide tells me to plant in the fall-and they are one of my garden bibles here in this hot pot

"the baby plants". I put in small pinches and this patch has been thinned like crazy-i have probably pulled 50 seedlings out of this batch. These are some fertile babies, almost every seed I planted sprouted. 

Toddler Babies: These guys have been transplanted into the garden. They almost died the other day when after two nights of rain were no match for the sunny 100 degree weather.