Things I Like for Garden and Home: Garden "Channel"

So, welcome to my new blog! Here I will post images of various recipes I've made, various goings-on in my garden, various items in my eclectic house-wares collection, coupled with as much witticism and insight as I can muster. Oh, and I'll also ask questions of those who share these same interests.

I'd like to start by saying that I've been outside watching my garden grow, as it were, and things seem to be doing just fine, but I am still nervous about seedlings making it through the night since it is only April 24th. We're in Albuquerque, so there is a chance of a frost still, and the wind does blow pretty hard this time of year, so this causes me some garden anxiety. I began many seeds inside about six weeks ago and some of the little seedlings have been moved into their own little pots. My husband built me a cold-frame and I started some mustard greens and kohlrabi in it six weeks ago and just today I moved some of the larger plants into the regular garden alongside the beet, chard, carrot, and collard seedlings that emerged from the soil about three weeks ago. I weeded out some little seedlings to give the new plants more room to grow, but neither patience nor solid garden know-how is a strength of mine. What I lack in gardening education, I do try to make up for with either, a) dedication, or b) obsession. That is why this post is called "garden 'channel.'" When my garden really takes off, in usually early June, I spend a lot of time staring at the plants in the garden. My husband will occasionally come out, while I am inspecting my tomato plants, and say "so, what's on the tomato channel today?"

I am already tuned in to my garden channel and I am sure many of you are too (tuned in to your own, that is). So, I will post below some images of what I'm growing, and if any of you have any suggestions or comments, I'd be most appreciative. I guess I'll ask for advice on one thing before I move on to the photos.

Here in Albuquerque, where we live in the high desert at an altitude of nearly a mile, my compost pile did not rot down over the winter. This last year was my first foray into composting, and I didn't get the thick, rich compost this spring that I expected to pull out of the bottom of the pile (I guess I didn't inherit the composting gene from my Grandma Rose, who was a master at it in the Bronx). When I dug out at the bottom, what I encountered was dry leaves. My supposition is that we didn't water the pile, so it didn't stay moist enough to rot. So, we've been watering now for a month or so, but I wonder whether we should cover it with a tarp to hasten the process. Advice is most welcome on this.