After Words

Deskified

Working from home is da bomb.

I’ll still be overjoyed when I can finally retire. Tired doesn’t begin to cover it.

The new desk was already posted on FB a few days ago, so she’s not really news. She’s such a huge upgrade from what I was using before! She had to live on the carport  until last weekend. It was a project and a half to move everything around. In the process, though, we got rid of a lot more crap.

☑ Check off another overdue organization/declutter project.

☐ Still to do: move over our files from a set of god-awful ugly stacked filing cabinets. I’ll be happy as a clam when we can wave goodbye to them. Other than the soon-to-be-relocated files, the file drawers aren’t holding a lot: miscellaneous manuals, a few office odds and ends, cables and cords, and so on. Here’s hoping it’ll be easy to find a nice midsize cabinet or chest to pick up the slack, sooner rather than later.

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Lemon Tree, Very Pretty

Our baby lemon tree has been meh for a long time.,, That is, until the last 2-3 months or so.

Below is when we first planted it vs. now.

It’s still only a little more than waist-high, but man… has it ever filled out!

This is the first time I’ve been able to see it from my desk without standing up. Here’s hoping we can get a brother or sister tree going for it. Our yard is obviously better than the weed jungle we started with. The front yard is mostly nekkid, though, and I’m determined to get more plants out and growing, if it kills me.

And it may.

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Going to Bed

Speaking of greening up the front yard…

☑ We ordered a galvanized Raised Garden Bed, today, for the front. BIG check mark for finally ordering one! (Link goes to Amazon. It’s an affiliate link so if you spend five bucks I might possibly get 15 cents.)

It has excellent reviews and I had enough points on one of my credit cards it didn’t cost us a penny. Color me an ecstatically happy camper.

June’s too late in desert to plant almost anything, so for now we’ll focus on filling it with clippings from the impossible-to-kill tree/bush growing at the corner of the house, adding compost, and dust on just enough dirt to keep it from stinking the place up. We can fill it about halfway with the clippings/compost mix and put garden dirt on top of that, then top the whole thing with mulch until winter. The branches will break down and create more mulch, enriching the soil along the way. I learned by building up the soil for gardening, we’re also making it less attractive to ants. #Win-win!

Willow or Won’t I

I ordered more willow acacia seeds. I went through all the soaking/boiling water/etc. and they were stashed in my desk drawer to sprout.

My old desk drawer.

When I cleaned out the drawers of the old desk, I moved the baggies with the seeds and cotton pads to someplace nice and safe. You guessed it: I haven’t got the foggiest idea where I moved them. So I’m back to square one with the wishful willows, much to my irritation. Normally I’d say they’ll turn up sooner or later, but I suspect they were accidentally tossed out. Thankfully they’re not ridiculously expensive to replace. I ordered them from eBay, here.

If I can get an acacia  to grow, I’m may also order some thornless mesquite seeds from the same seller, since he/she seems to specialize in desert-friendly plants. Or heck, maybe olive seeds. Olive trees definitely grow here. We’ve kind of taken the guerilla approach lately – throw everything at it and hope something sticks. A few things are sticking, so huzzah!

The Ants No Marching 2-By-2

The ant population in the back yard is waning, if not fully gone.

G declared open and malicious warfare on the ant hill. He’s been hitting it 2-3 times a day with different attack plans. If he doesn’t wipe out the colony, it won’t be for a lack of trying. The most recent battle plan entailed digging partway into the hill, hitting it with three sequential kettles full of boiling water, and backing it up by dusting the perimeter with diatomaceous earth. We’re doing our level best to avoid poisons, because of the birds and bunnies we see out there every day. We also don’t want to risk injuring any bees or other beneficial insects.

Getting There

Other than the dearly-departed bird-of-paradise plant, and the rabbit-chewed Mexican petunia plant, the greenery in the back yard is looking surprisingly good.

I didn’t realize how much the oleander has grown until just a few days ago, when it occurred to me it was about double the size of the hole G dug for it. It was no more than half the width of the hole when he planted it. The bell peppers are even growing and blooming again. I’d given up on them completely, to the point I’d decided to just turn ’em under and be done for the season. The day I went out to chop them down, I saw blooms on them again. Maybe they heard me plotting their murder and decided to give it one last go.

The tomatoes are tomato-ing enough we had plenty to add to a nice chopped salad a couple of days ago. There are at least half a dozen more starting to ripen, and a dozen or so babies still teeny and green. With temps finally edging up toward 110º this week, though, we may not get many more before they cook on the vine. I’m happy with what we’ve achieved this year, all things considered. G thinks it’s awesome we’ve been able to harvest ANYTHING from the back yard garden this year, and I agree with him.

I need to harvest the usable spinach before it burns up, too. It’s an unusual strain, so hoping it can be used the same as regular leaf varieties. I’ll wash it, cook it, and let you know.

Once it cools down this fall, I’m planning to rotate in some spring onions and probably some turnips, maybe a few other root plants, since they do well in our mild winters. Wish me luck!