Intro

2011 Garden

Hello All--I suppose I should first explain the title and purpose of my blog: ABQ comes from the aviation acronym for Albuquerque New Mexico and I included it in the title hoping other local or high desert gardeners would find the blog and provide insight or at least learn from my mistakes.  Last year my sons and I planted a garden for my wife on Mothers Day, but she was busy working on her masters degree, and I ended up inheriting the day to day operations.  Since I'm retired, I'm also the primary cook in our family and the joy of picking fresh vegetables and cooking them the same day was very rewarding and tasty.  I've been learning how to cook for the past four years and I have a few recipes and methods of cooking fresh vegetables that I will also pass along as time permits.
This year the garden will be my primary responsibility and I've been trying to learn as much as possible about all the different aspects of it.  Last year we bought all our plants locally but this year I'm trying to start them from seeds, so I'll be posting more on my setup and results.
Also, with  last year being my first, I used commercial non-organic fertilizers but no pesticides. This year I'm going to try using more organic methods for fertilizer, primarily from the three compost containers I now have.