Speaking of gardens...

Today I took some more shots of the 25X50 foot garden I put in this summer. [there are more pictures here]

Until the summer monsoons hit, I've had to water every evening. It's come out well. In this picture, you can see carrotts, onions, peas, lettuce, cucumbers, and the main item, six rows of corn.

A few of the lower rows were over run by bind weed. A New Mexico weed that can lay dormant in the ground for up to 50 years. It's insidious. All the tractoring and roto tilling must have awakened it.

I roto tilled in a huge load of sheep manure that had been well composted [no smell] that I got from a friend who is a weaver [Three Bags Full] and raises her own sheep. So ther is ample supply. Sheep manure is better than cow manure.

I've had no problem with rabbits, but the grubs and grasshoppers are eating up a storm.

Second Summer, 3rd snake

I think there must be a nest around here somewhere. Friends up the valley haven't seen any for quite a few years. This was a 3 or 4 year old snake [ going by the number of rattles - 2 or 3per year ]. I shot this one with snakeshot in my Ruger Bearcat .22 - this was July 17th, this year. Shortly after that the monsoon rains started, so we've had afternoon thundershowers most days since then. Great for the gardens.

All three snakes have been by the water dishes by the back yard pump. The two German Shepherds alert me when there is one in the yard. They instinctively do not like snakes.