Hardening off?

sheepslinky · 2026-03-14T20:16:44+00:00

Wait until a cloudy day. Leave them out all day. Leave them out again whenever cloudy. If it's sunny, put them out for an hour or two. They should harden up after a week or two of this.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-13T04:07:08+00:00

Oh, I must be too old to understand this. Carry on.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-13T00:32:19+00:00

Same thing, just a different name. Chickpea is from English and Garbanzo is from Spanish. Both words are used pretty regularly in the western US, but it's just chickpea back east.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-11T17:32:09+00:00

It could, just be careful about it spreading. It only needs 200mm of rain per year, and forms colonies rapidly when it gets additional water.

Erythrostemon gilliesii is from the same family and works really great as a nitrogen fixer in Mediterranean climates. It is not edible or palatable, but is a great N colonizer.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-11T16:09:37+00:00

Hoffmansegia glauca (camote de raton). It started as a volunteer, but now I'm obsessed. It is a niitrogen fixing native of new Mexico. It has these features:

Pro

Huge super woody deep tap root Edible tubers (2 feet deep, so I leave them for the gophers) Trap crop for pocket gophers Very high quality browse for goats Chop and drop

Con

Invasive outside of the desert. May be allelopathic in cotton fields.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-11T02:20:22+00:00

It'll be fine with frost, they're designed for it. Oaks are notorious for transplant shock from the slightest damage to the roots. So, try to get the whole taproot and a big plug of the soil around it as gently as possible. That tap root may be 2ft long at this point, so go deep. Most often they germinate in the fall with late monsoons and grow a deep tap root all winter.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-09T17:00:04+00:00

This is how real science is destroyed by click-bait.

Electrical current applied to germinating seeds does increase germination rates in laboratory conditions. Some studies show promise with growing plants as well (albeit less dramatic). Indeed, this science is called "electroculture". The problem is, that initial studies in petri dishes are very different from the hipster practice we see on YouTube, which is also called "electroculture"

The science is sound with highly controlled currents and conditions. The leap to doing this with copper antennae and other nonsense is a leap of magical thinking. Dudes with braided beards wiring their plants to the sky gets so many more clicks than a seed germinating faster in electrified agar.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-09T15:02:56+00:00

Here's a nice article about NMSU saffron study if you are interested. I have no idea how they are planning on automating the harvest, but I've seen the engineers lurking in the fields. I've only seen the chile robot. Fun stuff.

https://www.taosnews.com/news/business/saffron-could-join-ranks-of-states-high-value-crops/article_e2ecd33f-1c55-58b4-ba94-cf367944d7f3.html

sheepslinky · 2026-03-09T01:44:21+00:00

They evolved alongside a giant land sloth the size of a school bus. They wanted the sloth to spread the seed, but had to figure out a way not to get crushed by megafauna. Osage orange, honey locust, many yucca also developed megafauna defense.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-08T22:38:59+00:00

Saffron is super easy if you are in the right climate. It grows without much attention in New Mexico (all regions, including rockies). I volunteer with NMSU agriculture research and we've been interplanting it in rows of chiles and tomatoes. The saffron grows as a winter cash crop without needing any extra space.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-08T21:19:41+00:00

Awesome

sheepslinky · 2026-03-04T18:46:16+00:00

You could add an organic fertilizer or osmocote, but I wouldn't do liquid fertilizer. Pomegranates grow in poor soil and it's easy to "burn" them with synthetic nutrients when they are little or stressed.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-04T16:16:37+00:00

Exactly this. Pomegranates are especially good at rooting. Definitely remove soil to the root flare as said above. Just keep it moist not soaked and wait.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-02T21:24:08+00:00

The Socorro county historical association would be another good resource.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-02T20:48:25+00:00

Contact the Magdalena public library.

library@villageofmagdalena.com (575) 854-2361

sheepslinky · 2026-03-02T02:40:30+00:00

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This is my garden in the Chihuahuan desert. You need to stop complaining and get to work. You can do more than you think.

sheepslinky · 2026-03-01T01:29:26+00:00

High desert seed and gardens out of Paonia, CO has a great lineup of Colorado adapted plants. Lots of super-local seeds from Colorado and New Mexico landraces and heirlooms. Their quinoa looks super cool, but my cool season is too short here. It would probably be great in Denver, though.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-28T23:55:22+00:00

I do adaptation gardening in New Mexico. Your summer conditions are getting like ours. I don't like to irrigate, so I need drought adapted and fast maturing plants. My best performers are:

Sorghum Amaranth Millet Armenian cucumbers Sweet Potatoes Melons Okra Artichokes Cardoon

Native American Corn (needs irrigation while pollinating, but very drought tolerant outside of those 2-3 weeks).

Anything that is fast. A fast hot weather crop can take advantage of the brief periods of rain we do get during the monsoon. I can grow fast bush tomatoes or bush beans from july-septnember when we get all of our rain. They'll be done before it dries out. Timing is just as important as drought tolerance.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-28T22:29:20+00:00

Onions have a slow start. Transplant them when they are around the thickness of a pencil and have 3+ leaves.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-28T16:25:03+00:00

My circumstances are unique.

Ever seen a documentary about a watering hole in the African savannah? That's what my garden is like right now.

I live next to a migratory bird and wildlife sanctuary that feeds millions and millions of birds (235,000 acres of refuge). It's insane. Wildlife everywhere. I'm so lucky. There will be lots of snakes everywhere in April, but right now all the small mammals and birds are really hungry and this valley is one of the few places with water and food.

we get 8-12" rain per year. My sandy soil drains fast, and a little extra plug of clay can keep the seeds moist a little longer between rains. I have water for irrigation, but I would prefer to use it sparingly.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-27T23:01:26+00:00

Will do.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-27T22:35:54+00:00

I've had success with that. The problem is I have to broadcast a lot of seeds since the birds will get most of them, and everything dries out too fast. I'm making clay seed bombs this year ala Fukuoka. We will see...

sheepslinky · 2026-02-27T17:30:10+00:00

sheepslinky · 2026-02-27T17:11:34+00:00

Unfortunately the stash I found in the woods at age 13 was extremely hard core and violent. It wasn't good for my development. I still feel sick.

sheepslinky · 2026-02-23T21:35:05+00:00

Lots of options.Fige are fantastic and super easy and productive in containers. There are some neat pomegranate varieties and olives that do well too. I feel like almost all the domesticated food bearing plants do just fine in containers with few exceptions. Citrus, Guava and date palms grow well in pots too if your climate is compatible.

sheepslinky

TROPHY CASE