The peas are blooming!

Okay, I'm not trying to rub it in but my little snap peas started to bloom today!

I'm just so excited!!! I can't help it!

I've spent 58 winters in Minnesota and I'm enjoying the daylights out of being able to grow a winter garden in a warm climate for the first time.

I planted transplants from the nursery and also seeds so that I can find out which works best. 

You can see the seeds have germinated too (down at the bottom of the picture).

The lettuce and spinach is growing and I could probably pick enough for a small salad but I'll wait another week or so.

And I can't help but add a picture of the lavender lantana that is taking over, it's hard to photograph because the sun is so intense here and these just don't seem to come out well but you get the idea. There are mounds of them!

I quit gardening in Minnesota several years ago because we live in a dense oak woods and I've had my fill of picking off deer ticks, wood ticks and fighting mosquitoes and gnats and I'm not too crazy about coating myself with chemicals to keep the annoying things away. We never had deer ticks when I started my garden 26 years ago and I've been treated for Lyme's 3 times, luckily caught almost immediately. I have friends who have been hospitalized because of Lyme's. We've found many dead birds due to West Nile and are on the DNR's list to treat our little swampy ponds.

So I quit! I only put plants in pots now and I stay away from the poor pathetic weed infested perennial garden that I used to enjoy so much.

At least in the desert whatever creeps, crawls or slithers is not looking for me and my blood!

The neighbors here tell me "we have mosquitoes" Ya...right, they've never been to Minnesota!!! 

I have never seen one here yet!

It has been so much fun to dig in the dirt again and watch things grow, I've had more fun with this small little garden and I'm learning about gardening in the desert. I know we'll be adding more raised beds as time goes on.

I planted a tree this morning! It's called  Desert Sweet Acacia. In spring they are covered with small yellow ball shaped flowers and smell wonderful. Only I didn't know they come with inch long thorns but I got it in the ground without getting stuck!

I found a picture of the flowers...

I'm seriously thinking of trying an orange tree...I can't even imagine walking out and picking an orange for breakfast!

The forecast is for rain this weekend and Arizona is in a drought along with southern California. They need it badly so we'll see if it really rains or it ends up just a sprinkle like it normally does.

(It will be below zero in Minnesota for the next 5 nights, it could possibly end up the coldest winter on record. I'm so thankful I'm here)

Thanks for stopping by!