EcoNewMexico.com

The garden can be full of surprises. An interesting vine sprouted a few months back. Although I didn't recognize it, I decided to let it grow. My theory is that with as many wildflower seeds as I've sown I try to give any new plant a fighting chance to prove it's not a weed. My bet paid off with a Morning Glory.

Are you wondering about the railroad construction stretching from downtown past La Bajada hill to the south? All that construction is a big clue that the New Mexico Rail Runner Express is coming to Santa Fe.

On July 31, 2008 the Environmental Protection Agency issued a PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) permit for the Desert Rock Energy Facility in New Mexico's Four Corner's region. In response, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Attorney General Gary King announced their intention to immediately file an appeal of the U.S.

Blossoms on Delicata Squash (Cucurbita pepo) vines in the garden. Delicata (a.k.a. Sweet Potato Squash) is a heirloom variety with great flavor, but it is uncommon in the grocery store given its softer skin which doesn't stand up well to rough handling. So far it's been pretty easy to grow for us and forms the base of our Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash) garden bed.

More Info:

Wikipedia - Winter Squash

Here's another plant that serves many purposes in the desert Southwest. Cholla (genus Cylindropuntia, family Cactaceae) grows in the plains and foothills across the Southwest. It's a native species, closely related to the Prickly Pear, that grows in thin soil and on hot, dry sun-baked locations.

Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

Those were the simple directions at the end of The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a straightforward and direct answer to the question "What should people eat?" Yet somehow, that wasn't clear enough for a lot of people. What is food? How much is too much? What kind of plants? Etcetera and so on. So, Michael Pollan wrote In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

In 1988 James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Space Institute for Space Studies, told the U.S. Senate "It's time to stop waffling ... and say that the greenhouse effect is here and is affecting our climate now." Unfortunately, very little has been done by the U.S. goverment in the past 20 years to address the causes of global warming. Congress and the U.S. have been given a second warning.

Got Garlic?

Freshly harvested Allium sativum L. (i.e. Bosque Early Garlic). I dug these bulbs up yesterday evening and they are now hanging up to dry. The laundry room is quite aromatic at the moment. My wife informed me that we will be planting 'three times as many' after seeing the ten garlic plants I pulled up. I have no argument with that whatsoever. I may have to try a few different varieties like Spanish Roja or a hard-neck garlic.

More Info:
Wikipedia: Garlic

While I was watering the garden yesterday I saw something lurking in the leaves. It was a Coccinella septempunctata hunting for prey amongst the Allium Schoenoprasum. If your garden Latin isn't up to speed - I saw a Ladybug on a Chives bloom. It's nice to know that beneficial insects have found my garden and are chowing down on aphids and the like.

More Info:

Coccinella septempunctata - Ladybug

Allium Schoenoprasum - Chives

Have you ever walked past an empty lot in your town and thought, 'What a waste.' You might just be a guerrilla gardener in the making. In every town and city I've ever known there are vacant lots and open patches of land that fill with weeds and trash due to neglect. What if you decided to 'adopt' an otherwise ignored patch of dirt, plant some seeds and let it grow?