Earlier this year, I lamented the sloppiness of my front yard mesquite tree. Has the tree cleaned up its act? Nope. Take a look at what’s all over the branches. Not just spring leaves, but the beginnings of quite a pod crop… And where are all of those yellow fuzzy things going to fall? All…
The winter of 2013-14 was a warm one in Tucson, Arizona. To the point that my hot pepper plants survived the brief cold spells of January and February. But for some yellowing in aged leaves that are about to fall off, the pepper plants are in great condition. And they’re producing! I’ve been pleasantly surprised…
With daytime temperatures reaching the nineties, my gardening thoughts are now focused on summer. Time to get the summer seeds planted, starting with okra in this basin. The lattice of branches is there to keep the feral cats out… Can’t get through the summer without basil. Seeds in this pot… Now, a quick check on…
This past Sunday dawned bright and sunny. Typical Tucson weather, and it was perfect for a bicycle ride. So, I boarded the Official Bike-tography Bike and joined 20,000 of my best friends on Cyclovia Tucson’s South Side route. This five-mile ride featured a little bit of everything. Kids learning how to ride a two-wheeler. A…
The gales of yesterday brought a stranger into town. Its name? Well, it’s called Rain. A real rarity around here. It left a little bit of evidence in my garden… A few minutes after I took this photo, the rain ran away from Tucson. So much for our warm welcome and unforgettable hospitality. In other…
My “No Gas” photo print has made the bigtime! It’s in today’s “Arts Speak” show at the Tucson Museum of Art. Here are the specs: Archival-quality 19.5” x 29” Giclée print in 38.5” x 29” frame. Which begs the question: How do you transport something that big when you don’t have a car? Meet the…
Have you been for a ride on The Loop? It’s an off-road path that’s being built around the Tucson valley. The Loop will make it possible for cyclists, walkers, and runners to avoid motorized traffic. This past Sunday, the first-ever Old Pueblo Gran FUNdo took to The Loop. It was a windy morning, no doubt…
Found three uprooted globe mallows during yesterday evening’s walk around the neighborhood. I’m trying to re-root them in a pot… Will they make it? I don’t know. Call this project an experiment.
Looks like it’s time to wrap things up on the winter gardening front. My kale is going to seed… This weekend’s forecast calls for big drops of water falling from the sky. That’s what people in wetter climes call R-A-I-N. Looking forward to it!
At this time of the year, my mesquite tree is a bit of a slob. It’s losing its leaves, which means that my yard is full of duff. Here’s what I’m talking about… If the tree limited its duff sharing to the yard, I’d be happy. But no. Duff on the driveway. Duff on the…
After I did a little hand washing, I put the laundry outside. Where it dripped all over my porch. Which is right next to my thirsty container garden. Time to give three of those cilantro pots a little drip irrigation…
I had the best of intentions last fall. Neat, orderly garden rows. But nothing sprouted. Time for Garden 2.0. Where seeds sprouted wherever I tossed them. Looks like this Jumble Garden thing is working…
Been in a long-term drought here in Southern Arizona. Thus, scenes like this are always welcome. Especially in the garden…
We had one of the warmest Januarys on record. So, Tucson’s plant life responded by blooming early. Here are two eager beaver plants from my yard. First, the aloe… And the feathery senna. How could it pass up a party like this?
Here’s what’s growing in my side yard. And it’s almost salad time! In honor of this milestone, it’s time to make some salad dressing. Here’s my recipe for Salad Dressing Picante: One part vinegar to three parts oil Grown-and-dried-on-the-premises rosemary Grown-and-dried-on-the-premises red chili peppers (coarsely ground with mortar and pestle) Salt I don’t have hard-and-fast…
Winters in Tucson are interesting, to say the least. For example, consider what we’re dealing with right now: A week-long cold snap. Daytime temperatures have barely reached the fifties and the nighttime lows have hovered around the freezing mark. Today’s forecast high is 61. I doubt we’ll get there. Time to check on how my…
Here’s the finished project, the end result of many weeks of harvesting and drying the mesquite beans from my front-yard tree… Thank you, Desert Harvesters, for doing the milling, and to Patty Goble for transporting me and beans to this event. This is what we came back to my place with… The raw materials? Three…
To think that, when I first attended the Swap Meet 25 years ago, it was a monthly bicycle club meeting held in a University of Arizona auditorium. I doubt that more than 100 club members attended. And now look. It attracts thousands of people, who fill several city blocks. There also is a still life…
So, here’s my back porch, all ready to receive hordes of Watershed Management Group Home-Scape Tourists… For the first hour of the tour, things were slow. Then I got slammed with visitors. About 50 in two and a half hours. No time for photos once I got busy, but here’s the set from last year.
A solo exhibition of images by Martha Retallick Borderlands Brewing Company 119 East Toole Avenue Tucson, Arizona 85701 October 12 through November 9, 2013 Tucson, AZ – September 19, 2013 – Meet Martha Retallick. She’s short of stature, slight of build, and doesn’t have an athletic bone in her body. But this tiny Tucsonan has…
On Wednesday, September 4, the University of Arizona, Tech Launch Arizona, and Startup Tucson hosted a breakfast meeting with U.S. Rep. Ron Barber. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, including capital availability for undergraduate entrepreneurs, UA-community cooperation on technology transfer that creates high-paying jobs, and pending federal legislation to aid innovative small businesses…