About the Episode:
Are you ready to get your gardening gloves out? Master Gardener Wendy Blair tells us all the tips and tricks on gardening in New Mexico. When to plant, what to plant, and how to keep it healthy. This is a perfect episode for the spring season. Hope you enjoy it!
Links
Soilutions
Fine Gardening: Wendy ‘s Albuquerque Garden
Follow Wendy Blair on Instagram
UNM Vegetable Gardening
I Love New Mexico blog page
Bunny’s website
I Love New Mexico Instagram
I Love New Mexico Facebook
Original Music by: Kene Terry
Featuring:
Wendy Blair
“My name is Wendy Blair, and I’m a Master Gardener from Albuquerque, New Mexico. My family moved here from Los Angeles in 2011 and bought a home on an acre North ABQ. The house was plopped in the middle of the lot with very little curb appeal or plantings. I’ve always loved gardening but had no idea what an amazing (but challenging) climate I was moving to.
In the 12 years we’ve lived here, we have completely changed our landscape. With approval from local agencies, we diverted an arroyo that went through our land. This enabled us to install a nice-size yard space. We’ve put in pergolas, a lawn, a cutting garden, a pool, a chicken coop, a small orchard, a moon garden, a raised vegetable garden, as well as a Japanese-themed garden. The jewel of our home is the Spanish-themed courtyard we built in 2017. It has a gorgeous fountain, a fireplace, a grapevine-covered pergola, and a pizza oven.”
Episode Transcript
Bunny : (00:00)
Hi there. I’m Bunny Terry, and you’re listening to the I Love New Mexico podcast. Whether you’re a native new Mexican, who’s lived here for your entire life, or you’re just considering a visit, this episode is for you. Join us as we share a lot of New Mexico stories, talk about all things New Mexico, and include topics like what’s magical here, where you ought to visit, what’s happening, and the things you absolutely cannot miss in the land of Enchantment. We’re excited that you’re here, and we can’t wait to show you what an amazing place New Mexico is, because let’s face it, I love New Mexico. My guest today is Wendy Blair, and I’m really excited to talk to you, Wendy, because you are, um, your topic is one of my favorites and it’s one of my favorite activities. I grew up on a farm in Eastern New Mexico, which a lot of our listers know, but I am a huge fan of gardening and farming and agriculture, and you have, um, you know, besides, um, becoming a master gardener in Albuquerque, you’ve also, um, taken a piece of property there and turned, turned it into what sounds to me like an oasis. I’d love to hear, um, how you ended up in, in New Mexico, and a little bit, a little bit about you. Tell us your story.
Wendy: (01:36)
Thanks, Bunny. Yeah, my name is Wendy Blair. I have been gardening all my life. My grandfather was a farmer in Ohio, and my dad loved to garden. I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and I lived there most of my adult life. Um, in my late thirties, we moved to Los Angeles, uh, for my husband’s work, and we were there for about two years, and it never felt like home to me. It was crowded, lots of people and the people there weren’t super friendly. And after a couple years, we really realized that city living in Los Angeles, even though we were in the National Forest near Pasadena, it was beautiful. It just wasn’t for us. And as my husband was looking for other business opportunities, that led us to Albuquerque. And we came and, uh, interviewed in January, and it was the January where the pipes froze at aps, and it was super cold, and I wasn’t used to the cold. And we came here and, you know, in the winter, everything’s kind of brown. And I thought, oh, I don’t know. And my husband said, I love this company. I love the people. I, I think it’s gonna be great. And so we moved in June, and at that point, uh, we have five kids. Our youngest were 18 month old twins. And then we had a three year old, and then we had one in, uh, elementary school and, and middle school. And it took about six months of living here. Before this was just home for us. It, New Mexico was so beautiful, the four seasons we have here and all the opportunities I saw to garden and really take this house that, by the way, my husband had to choose on his own. We picked it because of the schools here, and, um, it was just a house that was plopped in the middle of the dirt. And, but I saw so much opportunity because of just the wonderful climate we have here. So little by little, we started working on the land first, um, as opposed to inside the house, because with little kids, you know, things, uh, , they don’t always stay nice and perfect and, and, uh, and change. So, and, and then when you go to remodeling, one room just falls into the other. And, and so we felt like with the backyard and the yard, the outdoor space, we could just work on that as we could. And so that’s what we began to do. And, uh, the day we moved in, I knew that we were close to the mountains, which was something that was important to me. I’ve always lived by the mountains. Um, I lived at the base of the South Mountains in Phoenix. I lived at the base of the Angeles National Forest in la. And so the mountains were a huge, the sandias were a huge selling point for me. And the first night we lived here, I looked out the window and I thought, we have city light views. I had no idea that we were gonna have a view of the city lights. And it was just so beautiful. And from, you know, that day forward, we, we started planning our outdoor space, and as I said, we have five kids, and I wanted to be able to have a place for them to play.
Bunny : (04:52)
So, Wendy, I, we have a lot of listeners who have never been to New Mexico and, and listeners who are even elsewhere in the world. And I think that a lot of people, and maybe this was true of you when you were a child, a lot of people think that New Mexico is this flat Barron desert with, um, no changes in climate and no changes in topography. And I I think it’s cool that you, I be, I raised my kids in Albuquerque, so I know sort of where you’re located, but I think it’s important for people to get that New Mexico has all seven, all all but one of the seven tempera zones. We don’t have a tropical tempera zone, but there’s, there’s a huge variety in in the topography and the landscape, and, and there’s an opportunity to, um, to create an oasis in, in what, um, people haven’t been here before. Sees this vast desert, don’t you think?
Wendy: (05:55)
Oh, absolutely, certainly. Well, and there’s a big difference. New Mexico, Albuquerque, we are in a desert, but we’re a high desert. We’re at a higher elevation in Phoenix that’s a low desert, and which is basically at sea level. Different things grow here. But we do have four seasons when I have my friends from the Midwest are like, you can grow lilacs, lilacs love Albuquerque, they love New Mexico, they love the temperature. There are so many things that need, um, a vernalization or a frost period. Uh, we can grow stone fruit, uh, we can grow. I grow cherries and apricots and nectarines and peaches. Those things need a, a certain amount of time of freezing temperatures as do lilacs. We have beautiful pine trees, but we also have beautiful, deciduous shade trees that are amazing. And so living in a high desert climate gives you those opportunities. We are aired and dry, but we also are cooler at night. We cool down at night, we have warm days, and some days are even hot, but we do cool down at night, and that is a big difference between a high desert climate and a low desert climate. So there are, there are many types of deserts.
Bunny : (07:13)
Yeah. I interrupted you a while ago when you started to say, we have five kids, and I got the impression that you were gonna talk about how the outdoor space was so important when you moved there.
Wendy: (07:24)
Oh, of course. Yeah, with five kids and, and dogs, we wanted a spot to, um, to let them be able to roam and be outside. And because we’ve got such an amazing climate, we can be outdoors almost year round. I’m outdoors almost every day working in my garden here. I love to be outdoors and being in New Mexico, it affords me to be able to do that.
Bunny : (07:50)
So let’s start from the beginning. You had a bare piece of ground and you immediately started working and you started working the soil. Let’s just pretend, um, we’re talking to somebody who, um, is in the same situation you were at the beginning when you first moved to New Mexico. What were the things you did that ensured that you could create what I can see on, on my screen? I know people are not, um, watching this, but on the screen I can see this you know, trees and bushes and greenery behind you. What, where did you start?
Wendy: (08:26)
So we’ve started, our house is on a slope, and, uh, you know, it, it is, no, obviously we do live in a desert and water is not as abundant as it is in, on the east coast. So I had to really be responsible with my water usage. First thing I did was I have, I have canals or people around the other parts of the world, scuppers or rain gutters that come out of my house at, at everyone. I have a rain barrel to collect any of the natural moisture that we do get. So I have rain barrels. We also, um, it’s, it’s called permaculture, and it is a way to landscape, uh, your surroundings using, um, little waste, being responsible with the environment. And that is really important to me. Everything that we have is on a drip system. I do live on a well, so we do have a shared well with three other properties.
Wendy: (09:25)
So I am not on city water, which is helpful, but anything that I have, any plant that I have planted and dug, I always amend the na natural soil or the native soil with compost amendments. And, and then things are mulched. What mulch does when you put it on top of your plants, it not only suppresses weeds and keeps the roots cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but it really conserves the amount of water that you put on that plant. So it’s just not evaporated. We have heat that evaporates water. We have wind that evaporates water. So if you water your plant on a, a windy day, um, and you don’t have any mulch to keep that water in, that water is lost. So there are ways to maximize the amounts of water that you use. I talked about drip and irrigation. We have done so much work to, uh, utilize drip irrigation also in our backyard. We do have grass, and I know a lot of people talk about, you know, everybody should take out our yards and we need to be, we need to escape. For most people who escapee, they’re not putting in native plants that that grow. What they’re doing is they’re taking out all their grass or all their landscaping and they’re replacing it with rocks. And what putting rocks on on your land does is it just retains the heat. That heat can bounce off the side of your house. It can make your house warmer. You could be using more air conditioning or swamp cooling, which is still something out here. So it still is usually using more resources. You may not have to water things as much, but you might be having to pump your air conditioner more because you’ve just increased the heat around your house. Or when people move into a house and say, oh, I need to X escape, and they’ve got some existing mature trees and they take out the, the plants that are getting water around that tree and they replace it with rocks, a plant’s, a tree’s roots will go out. If you look at the canopy of the tree, that’s pretty much what you have underneath the ground. And if you take that water out and replace it with rocks, not only are you taking out, um, watering that that tree is getting that’s 10, 20, 30 feet away from the tree that the tree is utilizing, but you’re also increasing the heat on top of the roots. And then eventually when that tree slowly dies, people wonder why. And now you’ve lost a huge shade tree that may have shaded your home. So it’s, I, I think landscaping here, especially in a desert environment, it has a lot to do with, with responsibility for water usage. But also knowing your climate, your area and your micro climates. Every yard has a microclimate, even in the smaller home you have, you know, you get the sun on the east side of your house and as it goes over, you know, it heats your home and, and ends up, and your hot sun is on the west side. Well, that, that east side of your home, those plants and those roots are cooler. You can have different plants on one side of your home that love morning sun, but would really burn in our high elevation. Um, it’s, you know, they would burn in your high elevation, so they wouldn’t do well on the west side of your house, but you can grow them on your east side of your house. Um, for example, I love to grow PS and p Andes love morning sun, but they can’t take the UV rays that come with living in a high elevation. Um, and that’s, that’s a big, that’s something big here. You go to the garden center and you see a plant tag and the plant says, the plant tag says full sun. That’s not necessarily the case in Albuquerque where my house is. I’m almost at 6,000 feet. And just like you or I, our skin burns more in a high elevation. That’s the same with a foliage for a plant. So, um, as we can’t put sunscreen on our plants, we can keep them shaded in, in, you know, the, the high hot afternoon heat.
Bunny : (13:35)
I never, ever, um, thought about that, that I honestly, I mean, I’ve, I’ve gardened all my life and I never thought about, um, morning sun versus afternoon sun. Another point that I wanna make to people who are listening and, and I frequently think of people who have just moved here. Um, lots of times, if you go, and I will not name names, but large box store nurseries are geared to wherever that company is situated. And I know there’s a large box store, hardware store that has a big garden center that is based in North Carolina, and you go in and, and there are all these plants that would grow well in North Carolina, but are not going to grow particularly well in New Mexico, or they’re not going to be as, um, as likely to bloom in North Carolina, or I’m sorry, in New Mexico. And I only know that, cuz I lived in North Carolina for about, it seemed like about 20 minutes of my life. And I came back and I was like, what in the world are all those plants doing in my local big box store, um, hardware store? So I do think it’s, um, it pays to do some research. It pays to perhaps frequent a local nursery rather than a big box store. I mean, I’m, I’m curious to know, um, and, and I also want us to talk a little bit about, um, if you’re new to New Mexico, paying attention to Frost states because, um, in Santa Fe the weather is beautiful right now, it’s, it’s mm-hmm , it’s, it’s a, it’s incredible. And yet I wanna tell people don’t go to the, to the nursery and buy a bunch of bedding plants because our last frost date is May 15th. And anything you put in the ground, amazingly, you can’t look outside and think it today, but anything you put in the ground, um, whether it’s your tomatoes or your annuals, is likely not to make it through the first week in March. I’m curious, I’d like, I’d love to hear your opinion on all of that.
Wendy: (15:48)
Oh yeah, of course. Well, um, there are hardiness zones throughout the United States, and if someone were to Google U S D A hardiness zones, and, uh, you can put in your zip code and we’ll tell you exactly what your hardiness zone is, and the hardiness zones are, um, uh, it will help it. Well, that determines what zone you’re in. We’re in A seven B, and so that determines your last frost date. So my zip code in seven B, it says that, um, uh, the last tristate is, is, um, May 15th, like you had said. And depending on where you Google, they’ll give you a little bit, uh, answer here or there. But zone B or zone seven, where we’re at basically means that we don’t get below, um, I can’t remember exactly the numbers, but, but they’re, they’re based like a zone three would be Minnesota, but a zone 11 would be Arizona, zone 10 is California, you know, in general. So it’s, it’s how frost tolerant or how cold tolerant things are. So we are in a zone seven, so you should plant plants that are a zone seven or, you know, or three to seven, like I can plant let me guess here. A p and e would be probably a zone four to seven. So we would be at about the hottest zone that you could plant that plant at. So if you just look up your hardiness zones, and most plants will tell you what zone they’re good to. So that’s a real easy way for you to figure out what plant would work in your area. But you also have to consider, even you, you still have to consider morning sun versus afternoon sun. If something says, um, that it’s good in zone seven, but it says to plant in full or partial sun, you probably are gonna wanna plant that in in morning sun. Um, but we have natives that are beautiful that grow here. You can grow well, roses grow amazing in full sun here. Um, uh, Yaro Pessin, um, Artemisia Catman, there’s, there’s so many things that grow really well here in New Mexico and, and take our full hot sun. So it’s, but you would be better off going to a local plant nursery where people are, are more educated on plants as opposed to going to big box stores, big box stores, you’re right, I don’t it’s not necessarily the where the box stores located, but it’s where the, the growers that they’re getting their plants are located. Most growers are growing out of, out of California. So as, as warm as it is there, it, they don’t have the high UV that we have. They’re not at a high elevation. So you just need to look at your plant tags and research.
Bunny : (18:46)
And tell me about, um, I think the way I understand it is one of the things that grew out of this, this space that you bought and what you were doing is, um, that you then decided to take the master gardening course, um, which I have, I have friends who have done that. Um, in fact, in fact, the governor did it. I knew we were good friends when she took the Master Gardener course. So I’m curious to know, um, what, what led you to that and what it entailed, because I know that’s a pretty intense level of study. Talk to us about that.
Wendy: (19:23)
Yeah, I actually wanted to take the Master Gardener course for years. Um, but I had kids in school and it, and the schedule that they used to have wasn’t very, I wasn’t good for my schedule. Um, then C O V D happened and my kids were home and I had, and my kids were a little older and I thought, well, maybe I’ve got some time to do that. Well, more of the coursework is online, which really helped for me. And because in the past a lot of people couldn’t do it unless they were semi-retired or retired or, or had a job that, you know, had different hours. So, um, yeah, it was something that I wanted to do for years, but in, uh, in 2022 is when I completed the course. And it’s wonderful. And Master Gardeners, um, for people who don’t know are, it is a national, actually an international group. And it’s in every state in the United States and in Canada. And it is a cooperative, uh, organization through land grant universities all over, um, our country and Canada. So our Land grant university here in New Mexico is nmsu and cuz there are Ag school here and what it entails here, at least what I can tell you in New Mexico is there is 16 weeks of coursework that you do. And that has been offered for the last few years. It’s been offered online, which is great. And it’s, it’s just like a university course. So if anybody takes a university course and they’re online on Canvas, it’s the same thing. And you have a week to complete your, uh, the coursework for week one, week one, you know, one week as permaculture, one week as, uh, um, entomology. You learn about bugs, you learn about trees, you, I mean, soup to nuts, you learn, there’s, there’s a week that covers most everything that you can can in gardening. And so you do, you complete that coursework, but then there’s also classes that you can take locally. Like for us at the Garden Center, the, um, Albuquerque area Master Gardeners. There are classes that you can take there as well, um, in your intern year, which I did last year. Um, there’s also some in-person meetings. You have a mentor that helps you with your classes or any questions you have. And then the biggest part of being a master gardener is being a volunteer. Um, 40 hours are required of volunteer, of, of Master Gardeners every year. And it’s, um, and there are a list of approved, um, opportunities. I’ve worked at the Rio Grande Nature Center. I’ve worked at, uh, the library that has a rose garden, the Garden Center. There are festivals, there’s, I’ve worked at the Albuquerque parade of Gardens. There’s all kinds of opportunities and fun things to do as a master gardener. Master gardeners also are required to work on a hotline. People can call in with their gardening questions and get in touch with a master gardener who can help them with their gardening questions for serious gardening questions. We can even actually send a crew out to take a look at, um, at, at your physical space if there’s something that can’t be answered on the phone. And we have a, we have a gentleman and we’ve got a crew of people who do that as well. And that timeframe is usually, uh, we start in, I think it’s March through October, is something we offer.
Bunny : (23:02)
That’s crazy. I had no idea that that was available. Um, talk. So I want, because we always wanna give people something to take away in terms of attractions. I want, I’ve been to the library that has the rose, um, garden. Talk about that because that’s, so if you’re visiting Albuquerque and you just wanna spend some quiet, tranquil time somewhere special, I want ’em to know how to find that.
Wendy: (23:33)
Well, actually, my very favorite place to go to Sea Gardens in Albuquerque is a vile park. And I have visited one of my things that I do because I am a garden person. Every city that I go to or that I’ve lived in, I go to, um, the, the gardens, the, the botanical gardens. Um, Phoenix has a beautiful one. I, where I lived in LA I lived right by two amazing world renowned botanical gardens, um, and Descanso Gardens and Huntington Gardens, and they’re amazing. And the Albuquerque Bio Park is right there along with them. Our bio park is probably one of the most special places I think that we have in, in Albuquerque. It is so beautiful. Um, things for kids, the children’s fantasy garden, the train, the big grassy area in the middle. And then you have, uh, the Spanish garden, the Japanese garden in the back, the farm. If someone wants to go see what Albuquerque gardening has to offer, all they have to do is go to the BA park.
Bunny : (24:37)
These still have that crazy butterfly exhibit.
Wendy: (24:42)
Yeah. The last, I used to take my kids all the time, and they have a newer gra uh, butterfly exhibit, at least the last time I went. And it’s past the trains, and you can go inside and they, they bring in, um, butterfly, the caterpillars and larva from all over. So you can actually see them, um, hatching, you know, through a certain time in the spring. I can’t remember what it is exactly, but probably right about now. And, and then it’s back by a really beautiful pond that you will see dragon flies and frogs. And that’s a gorgeous, a gorgeous space. But, you know, the Garden center on Lomas is also very beautiful walking the grounds there. It’s very beautiful. And, um, you know, at, at this point, the, the Rose garden name is escaping me, but that is beautiful too. Oh. But there is a beautiful rose garden at the bio park. It’s incredible. And it was new just a few years ago.
Bunny : (25:37)
Wow. I don’t know about that. That’s happened since I was there, so mm-hmm. , we’ve gotta go back there. And for people who are traveling and have kids, it’s also the same location as the aquarium.
Wendy: (25:48)
That’s right. The bio park is, is three different, um, properties, but, uh, the zoo is a little bit further away from the, the botanical garden and the, um, the aquarium. But yeah, you, that’s a two for one almost. You can, you can go to the aquarium and you can go to the botanical gardens on one at one property.
Bunny : (26:09)
Okay. So let’s, let’s think about very, so if you’re brand new to gardening in New Mexico and you are, um, you wanna start with a, like, you have a budget to, to put in, um, five or six plants that will start to grace your garden and create an environment, uh, and I would, and I’m sure we’re talking perennials, but what are the things that you would suggest to somebody who’s moved to Albuquerque or even Santa Fe, that Rio Grande corridor in the last year, and, and they’re thinking, what’s, what do I have to have? What do I absolutely have to have in my garden?
Wendy: (26:52)
Well, everybody says the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, but you can’t do that. So plant a tree today. And those are a long term investment, but what I find is after three years, they start looking pretty good. After seven years, you’re gonna have a full, a full grown mature tree. And no one ever thinks they’re gonna be where they’re at for three years, five years, 10 years is that you’re forever home. What I find is we’re usually there longer than we think that we’re gonna be there. But I think if, if you can do anything, it would be plant a tree and, and get irrigation to that tree. First thing. I think your infrastructure is the important thing. If you were to move on to, uh, a home and it’s a blank slate, I would consider what your winter interest is. And winter interests are things like, um, conifers or evergreens, something that you’re gonna be able to look at in the winter and it’s still going to be beautiful or give you some structure. Then I would, so here they’re pinons, they’re slow growing, but we’ve got Austrian pines and ponderosas. Those do really well here. And they’ll give you privacy and shade all year round. Then I would say go in with your des deciduous trees, your shade trees, whatever you find, uh, are are beautiful. Um, ash trees do pretty well here. Chinese pist dash. My favorite trees are crab apples. Um, I love crab apples because they are four season interest tree right now behind me, you can’t see. Um, but I have, uh, in my courtyard, I’ve got three crab apple trees and they are in full bloom. I’ve got one with beautiful white blooms and one with pretty pink blooms. So in the spring they’re, they’re blooming and then they have gorgeous green leaves all summer long. And then in the fall I have fall color, and then they eventually lose our leaves. But I crab apple trees are so beautiful to me and they’re a four season interest tree. So if you don’t have much space and you wanna plant a deciduous tree, look for something that would give you four seasons of interest. That would be my first recommendation on, on anything to get, um, second going in roses. Roses love it here. They, and they aren’t prone to a lot of the diseases that they get in other parts of the country. They love our dry heat humidity will, will give roses, black spot and mildew and all kinds of things that, that really make their performance suffer, not here. Roses, love Albuquerque and New Mexico in general. I think those would be my top.
Bunny : (29:40)
So there’s another thing I wanna, I wanna touch on real quickly is if you have pests in the garden, say you have gardens, say you have roses and you get, um, is it mites? What do you, I can’t remember what you get from
Wendy: (29:53)
So spider mites, you don’t, pests are gonna be everywhere. It just, uh, you can’t get away from pests if it, um, you know, in the, on the east coast, they have Japanese beetles that kill everything here. Spider mites are, are bad. And, and I’ll tell you that spider mites come out and they will eat everything. You will see spider mites, not now, but you will see them when it’s hot and dry. When it is hot and dry as when you’ll see spider mites and actually you won’t see them. You’ll see what they’re starting to do when you have them really bad, you’ll get a, you’ll get some webbing on your plants. If you take a hose with a a, a high pressure nozzle, you can spray off a lot of spider mites. Um, but it just comes with consistency. There are some products they can use for spider mites, but they’re hard because they become resistant to those pro uh, to those things. Spin is an organic, uh, deterrent. You can use. Spider mites are just, PEs are kind of a, they’re fact of life. We get aphids, but when the aphids come out, your pre mantis are, are starting to hatch as well. So there’s natural predators too to, um, lace wings are perfect, uh, natural predators, uh, to, um, to some of the pests we have here. So unfortunately they are, they are a fact of life. It’s just trying to manage them as best you can.
Bunny : (31:20)
I love the idea of just, just using a high pressure hose. I, and it seems to me that when we had aphids on our roses, I live in a different house now. I did a little like dawn soap and water, mild, mild, um, something that I would spray every once in a while. That’s not perfectly ecologically sound, but it Sure. It’s not like putting a poison out, so.
Wendy: (31:45)
Right. Well, and, and if you do use a pesticide insecticide, they always say it’s best to try to use it. Um, at sundown after the pollinators have gone to bed, now, you know, that is, that is what’s recommended. Is it still on your plant after they wake up? Possibly. But you’re, you’re really lowering your chance of, of killing your, your, at least your daytime pollinators. Um, and then it will, that pesticide will soak down in, get what you’re trying to to kill and then hopefully be gone by the morning when your’re pollinators come out.
Bunny : (32:24)
So Wendy, tell me what’s next? What are you, what are you planting next? What are you, um, what, what’s next in your garden? Do you do vegetables?
Wendy: (32:32)
Yes, I do vegetables. There’s always something that’s next. I’m, I’m finishing cleaning up my beds and malting for the, um, for the season. Mulch is super important cuz I don’t like to, to weed well, and I don’t use anything to kill my weeds except for pulling ’em by hand. So important right now is, is mulching everything. Uh, yes, I am starting my vegetable garden right now. Um, and that’s a big deal. But I am putting, I have new raised beds that we made this year, and so I’m working on putting irrigation in before I plant too much. So, um, I’m gonna get the beds irrigated. Uh, I have seedlings that I started to, I want to then put out into those beds, so I’ll be ready for the season. But I’m always doing something what I’m looking forward to. Um, right now all of my bulbs are up.
Wendy: (33:19)
My daffodils, my tulips. I’m enjoying those. My ps are coming up. I’m seeing, uh, buds on my roses. So, um, there’s, there’s always something to do in the garden. I do a lot of work, but I also enjoy it as well. Um, I love spring and, uh, but I think fall is my favorite because all of the annuals that you’ve planted now are, you’re able to harvest them. You’ve got your flowers up, your, everything is green. Um, but I don’t know, I think there’s always looking something to look forward to in the garden, no matter the season.
Bunny : (33:57)
I agree. I agree. And we are going to, just so people who are listening know, we’re gonna, um, add some links. We’re gonna, I, I especially like the idea of adding that phone number that, um, people can use to contact a master gardener when they have a little panic in the garden. Sure. Um, whether it’s your rose garden or your vegetable garden. I’m, so, I mean, I’m so excited to hear that because I’m, I run into stuff all the time, but Wendy, I think you gotta write a book or stuff, business or something. You’re,
Wendy: (34:30)
Well, you know what’s funny is, is that a lot of inspiration and information I get is online. Um, I do have a, um, a blog. It’s on Instagram. It’s called 5 0 5 Garden. I go over what I’m doing daily in my garden. I talk about things that grow well here, but, um, you could search on Instagram or Facebook, any kind of plant that you’re looking at, and you could see where it’s growing, who’s doing it? Well, I, there’s a lot of people that I follow internationally because they’ve got beautiful gardens nationally because they’ve got a lot of great information, and then there’s a lot of Instagramers here that are showing things that they’re doing in their garden. So you could look, I and I run Albuquerque Master Gardener’s Instagram as well. And I, uh, I talk about the classes that are offered gardening events in the community. So if you were to follow, uh, Albuquerque Master Gardeners on Instagram and Facebook, people could find the information there. I do work for a loyal, uh, a local compost company. I believe heavily in amending the, the native soil we have here, um, mulching. And I’ve, I started working there about a year ago, but I’ve been using their products for a decade in my yard.
Bunny : (35:52)
What Is that company?
Wendy: (35:53)
It’s called Soil-lutions. It’s in the South Valley. We compost, uh, we make compost and then we use the compost that we make as a building block for the different soil blends that we offer, and people can buy that in bulk. Uh, we also have it bagged in local nurseries, and you can also get it in one cubic foot totes through just sprinklers. And we are so busy right now. Oh,
Bunny : (36:16)
Okay. Yeah, I bet you are. Well, Wendy, this has been so much fun. I wanna go out and start playing in the dirt.
Wendy: (36:25)
Yeah. It’s my favorite thing. Yeah. I’m always have dirt in my thing in my fingers . So, but it’s my favorite place to be as well.
Bunny : (36:34)
Okay. Well, so maybe we should talk again in the fall about, um, what you do to start getting ready for winter. I think this is really helpful information, especially for people who haven’t lived here all their lives.
Wendy: (36:47)
Sure. I would love that bunny. Okay,
Bunny : (36:50)
Let’s do it. Thank you so much for taking time to share your knowledge and to um, get folks ready for this. This is the season right now when they needed to hear this.
Wendy: (36:59)
This is the season I
Bunny : (37:00)
Really appreciate.
Wendy: (37:01)
Yep. Thanks Bunny.