Garden Dreams

So sorry for the lack of posting. I really want to try to be better about that but all of a sudden it got beautifully warm here (though unfortunately they are forecasting snow), which of course has lured us outside to work on the long list of projects we need to get done around here leaving little time for blogging. Here's the garden area freshly tilled by hubby.
We've been dreaming of a big garden at the new place ever since we first laid eyes on the property, about a year ago. At that point, it consisted pretty much of a mixture of overgrown weeds with beautiful poppies mixed in (plus, luckily, a nice variety of trees).

Later all that green turned to a golden brown & made us very nervous late last summer when a nearby brush fire forced us to leave in a (luckily brief) mandatory evacuation only one week after getting the keys! Needless to say, my husband has spent many many hours (if only we had a tractor) clearing weeds the past several months, so as we see hints of spring things are looking much better here on our little homestead.
Back in January, we planted 7 bare root fruit trees (2 golden delicious & 1 pink lady apple, 1 peach, 1 pear, 1 nectarine, & 1 plum).
Hoping all goes well with those, as we plan to add more next year.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to glean off the knowledge of some of the areas veteran gardeners to improve our chances of success this year. The owner of my favorite local organic farm was gracious enough to spend some of her valuable time sharing her knowledge relating to what to grow, when to plant, etc. Last month I attended a garden club meeting where I got a couple of great ideas and most importantly spent an enjoyable time talking with other local homesteaders. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make last nights garden meeting but am hoping to get some notes from the presenter, Mona. On a recent Saturday I spent nearly two hours in a free class at a local nursery taught by a favorite blogger of mine, Amy. I learned so much & feel a lot more confident about our garden's potential! Among other things I now know how to be more prepared to give our garden a fighting chance against the many quail, rabbits, & gophers that have all been exploring our newly tilled garden area...got some shopping & work to do for that of course, but I'm starting to feel more confident about gardening here in the mountains. Prior to attending that class, I liked the idea of doing some raised beds in our garden area, but now I'm eager to start at least 4 of them which will make crop rotation simple. We'll be planting directly into the ground as well (we've actually ordered a big roll of Agribon fabric & plan to use pvc pipe to hoop some in ground rows to allow us to plant a little earlier & protect the plants until they are bigger & stronger), but I'd like to continue to add more raised beds each year until they make up the majority of our garden space. I ordered a bunch of seeds but have been a bit nervous about attempting to start them indoors since I don't yet have lights set up, but after reading some recent posts of fellow bloggers, I'm going to give it a try utilizing the light from the amazing number of windows in our house. I think I waiting too long to start most of my tomato plants unfortunately, so I did buy a few of those from a nursery.