Does a post consisting entirely of the words “sad and pathetic” suffice? Oh, fine. Let me wallow in garden-pity while I regale you with my tale of woe.
Eep! Ignore that water runoff, will ya? Thought we’d fixed that!
That’s the view from the front. Not quite as pretty as most of the larger sunflowers have either cut or picked through by the birds. We’re leaving them up until the smaller heads are gone too. I’ve really enjoyed the birds this summer, although now that their food source is dwindling, they are beginning to forage in places I wish they wouldn’t.
Here’s the views inside the gate. These photos doesn’t do justice: it’s worse than it looks. The cukes have all died but we’re leaving them in place as mulch for now. The ants demolished the corn, and the pumpkins. We got what we could from the plants but it wasn’t much (handfuls of chick feed and one pumpkin). They are working on the melons now.
I’d like to blame it all on the ants but I really can’t. It seems no matter how much we compost or amend the soil, everything is depleted of nutrients. My best, uneducated guess would be based on how green and lush the ash tree looks. I’ve never seen it more beautiful! I’m sure it’s really enjoying our added attention to its soil, even at the expense of everything else.
Based off our “success” this year, I think replanning and replanting the front with nitrogen-building perennials is the best way to go. Once they are established, plugging in some edible annuals won’t be a total waste of time.
Here’s the backyard orchard. It’s doing pretty well with several deep waterings a week, although the more shallow-rooted alyssum underneath didn’t agree. We may go back to drip irrigation so that we can plant more under the trees. There is one tree that seems to be the least happy and most attacked. This morning I noticed many of it’s leaves seem to be stripped. None of other trees have a mark. I can’t find a sign of anything but I haven’t tested the soil yet. Hmm…
The 2×2 square foot gardens in the middle are “compost gardens” – as in, we amended the existing soil with compost, added some nitrogen building legumes and watched a whole bunch of other plants pop up from the compost. 
Above would be the raised beds. Remember the last photo? Apparently, the heat doesn’t stop the tomatoes from growing. Unfortunately they aren’t growing much along the lines of edible. Our basil is still rocking, as are the jalapenos. But we’ve only gotten enough grape-sized tomatoes for a couple snacks and a meal or two, and only enough romas for ONE spaghetti dinner. 
But I’m too nervous to prune and they are newly covered in blooms so we’re letting them do their thing.
Hopefully we’ll add more raised beds this fall around the “orchard” and onto the other side of the house. Lots of trellis in mind to climb anything possible.
This is the tortoise habitat which houses one of the grapevines. We’ve finally made it through a summer without losing our entire vine to grapeleaf skeletonizers, but it was close. Most of our desert plants have died, except for the honeysuckle shown near the bottom.
:sigh:
There ya have it. I’m trying hard not to be depressed over it. It has been a learning experience at least.
This is great! I will read your blog regularly, and follow what you are doing. I have a young sons, and we garden together frequently. I love how you have grown edibles all around. I am working on taking out our lawn a bit at a time (using the lasagna method), and replacing it with various plants and vegs. What I see in your photos is inspiring.
I think it’s great. Naturally you will fail sometimes and sometimes you will succeed but it’s all trial and error. Be happy that you’ve accomplished something and set yourself up for success rather than failure.
Aw thanks Gillian. Glad to know someone is inspired by it!
But you’re totally right. It’s been seriously enlightening and I’ve learned so much, including not to expect perfection. All things considered, from where we started, it’s so awesome that things even grew! And we’re getting better and better. 
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Jessica, you’re a serious pity-party-pooper.
Quit being so hard on yourself! I think it looks great for a first time garden in Las Vegas! Also, the best time for growing stuff is actually ahead of you, not the middle of summer. I was getting great tomatoes all the way past Thanksgiving, so chin up and prune back the tips of the vines, so the plant will put it’s energy into the fruit and not more vine. You’ll see. Get some fall crops in, like kale and peas and well pretty much anything else not dependant on light cycles for fruiting. Carrots, lettuce, garlic, maybe even potatoes. You’re not done with gardening yet in las Vegas!
Thanks Miranda.
I have a hard time remembering that when everyone’s blog is full of yummy stuff and my yard is giving me aphids and anemia. I’ve been looking forward to the fall garden but what you say about your tomatoes has me really hopeful! As soon as we get back from GVC we plan to get started with new plantings. See ya soon!!
I think it’s looking pretty good. Las Vegas is not an enviroment you can compare to most others so don’t look at what other gardens look like and feel bad. I know I read a lot of blogs from the southern states and was totaly bummed when my upstate NY garden was nowhere close to producing yet.
What do you use for mulch? It looks like wood chips or straw? I have found for us that grass clippings work great. I know that you don’t have any grass but do you have neighbors whos clippings you could snag? Around here people have to put the lawn clippings out in big brown bags, maybe do a midnight mulch run and get yourself some! lol
I should email you some photos of my UNgarden this year… I’m surprised I haven’t gotten a ticket for not keeping the weeds down. LOL
Chin up for sure! Do you know how hard it is to create a healthy micro-ecosystem within a larger eco-system that’s all out of walk?! (Well, of course you do
Not only are you learning, but nature takes sometime to sort things out Herself.
Our most favorite (and in our opinion) and wisest farmer and permaculturist Sep Holzer literally walks around with a huge bucket of 40 different kinds of local seeds and just throws them. He said he learned everything he knows from watching where the seeds and plants want to grow and how they naturally interact with each other.
So when we get our land….big bucket here we come
God it is a bit sad knowing that you put so much energy (and money) into it and hoped it would ‘feed’ your family more than just one dinner or two. But you know what? You are learning. It takes some people years to grow a successful garden. Those Dervaes people probably didn’t have a good first year either!!!
Chin up sweetheart and just grow what veg doesn’t mind the hot temperatures.
I love that idea that nature takes time to sort itself out……..of course – that seems perfectly reasonable! I think you’ve done an amazing job and I am awed and inspired. Gardening is never done in one season………it’s a never ending project.
Hello! I just stumbled upon your blog while I was looking for a toothpaste recipe. I love it! I love that you have a garden instead of grass. I live in Vermont and I often get frustrated by the people who have sprawling lawns and not a single garden. This is prime farming land they’ve build their houses on and they still buy all of their produce from the super market! How wonderful that you have found a space to grow in your yard. You’re doing a great thing, and even if it is frustrating at first, you’ll only get better at it as time goes on.
reading everyone’s notes of encouragement is so great~ the beauty of blogging. The disappointments of a bad harvest are pretty immense, though. i was really hard on myself last year, my first real year at gardening, but i’ve let up this season. we are still learning, and you’ve learned a lot- i’ve learned a lot from you!
Gardening sustainably in Las Vegas must be tough. I feel for you, mama
I’m a new reader so I’m not sure if this is your first year with this garden?? We had a HORIBLE year with ours on our new homestead. The silver lining is that we were told that our soil never does will the first year you try to grow from it, no matter what you do, however year 2 is always a winner. Hold onto that for hope, I know I am.
lmao. I had to read back over the post because I thought I must have missed soemthing. Erm… it’s great! I bet other bloggers post their successes more than their failures too. I think your garden is fab. I remember the first photos of just hose and bits laying out the design. This is wonderful for the first year. You know your tomatoes? Do you prune off the lower stems/leaves? Helps focus the nutrients to fruit bearing stems.
i think it looks marvelous. maybe i’ll post a pic of my garden so you’ll feel better, we lost all our tomatoes to the blight.
it’s good though that you are already planning for next year. we are all gathering life lessons from our gardens methinks.
I think I will plant only pretty pole bean and make them into a teepee for the girls next year, support my local farmers at a CSA and plant herbs instead!
Hmm, it seems a pity-party is a great way to get some free gardening tips! We are working on our first real garden, too, and it’s tough! We just bought a bunch of plants, and Phillip just has this attitude of “well, hopefully they won’t die.” But I’m more like, if I’m spending money on it, it better survive!
At least you have hope for your tomatoes. Our season is almost over and we’ve barely had anything. Oh, well. Here’s to learning and trying again!
I am aching to send you photos of my first vegetable garden (which I always show when I lecture to garden groups) because this is where it all begins. You are like 500 miles ahead of where I started, and in a far-harsher climate and soil condition. Wow.
What I see in these photos is pure passion and unbending will (and a lot of dirty fingernails and aching body parts).
awww, i’m sorry to hear that your garden didn’t go as planned. It sounds like you have a valid plan though for next year, which is great!
our first attempt at a garden bombed- everything died except some carrots. sigh. oh well, next year we won’t try to grow garlic in a container.
It’s funny how people often think that their own work is not as good as it should be or could be. I think your garden is just beautiful. Its natural and inviting, and it makes you want to squat down and get your hands in the soil. The kind of place I would love to linger with a hot cup of coffee and maybe a fresh buttered bagel! Thanks for the terrific article.
You know, this time of year with this kind of heat and things start to die back. I think with tomatoes you can increase yield next year adding eggshells and coffee grounds, maybe. But overall looks nice!
I must say I had total failure in our community plots this year. They put us in the mostly shade under a tree, measured the plots incorrectly and so our plots didn’t get tilled by the large equipment (and sod wasn’t removed), did a crappy job with a home model teeny tiller, didn’t put topsoil on our portion since it was tilled after the massive truck did the new soil. We had solid tree roots, huge clumps of grass, rabbits eating everything, moles burrowing, huge branches falling out of the tree and crushing things. And I PAID to have those plots. And to start hundreds of plants from seedlings. And the lady was, uh, well, it gets a few hours of sun, must be YOU. Um, my plants at home are huge, productive, green, and with half the plants I’m getting 300%+ more harvest than all of my plots. Uh, not me. So, just telling you my bad community garden story as commiseration.
Yours looks MUCH better than the comm. garden plots. He he.
In my own garden I have tried to rely mostly on Horse Poo and compost for my fertilizer.But have not been satisfied with my results. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0820060818512.html
and I am taking this in consideration