Tips for a High Desert Garden

13 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in Arizona, Flagstaff, gardening, high-desert, vegetables

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(My sister lives in Flagstaff, Arizona and has a beautiful and bounteous vegetable garden every summer. Here she shares tips on how to successfully garden in a dry, cold, high-altitude desert. Thanks for the advice, Cathy!)

Vegetables grow best in raised beds.

Many people have tried to garden in the high desert of Flagstaff, Arizona and failed. Although there are Ponderosa pine and wild grasses in abundance, and the climate is cool, the area is arid, the wind blows, and the soil is rocky. There are also numerous rodent species that eat all of the greenery in an unprotected garden. All of these factors must be taken into consideration to have a successful garden experience.

To start a vegetable and flower garden in Flagstaff, one must make raised, wooden flower beds about 6 feet by 3 feet x 2.5 feet. The beds must have tight wire mesh fencing on the bottom to keep burrowing animals from coming in and eating the plants, roots and leaves.

The flower beds must be filled with enriched soil, that can be made prior to the garden season. Large bags of garden soil can be bought at any nursery, along with bags of potting soil. Mix together in a 2:1 ratio. Next add a bag of steer manure , or even better, about 40 pounds of good, seasoned horse manure. All of this should be well mixed and put in the planters, leaving about 3 inches from the top. Add some Miracle Grow Fertilizer on top of the soil in the raised beds, and the beds are ready to plant.

A sprinkler system must be installed in each of the beds before planting. Spring planting in Flagstaff must be after the last frost. I try to plant by May 15, using plastic “Walls of Water” to trick the tomato plants into growing faster. These can be purchased at any nursery. The plastic sides are filled with water, and the tomato plants are planted in the soil inside of the walls of water. The plants don’t freeze using this technique.

We also put PVC pipes in the garden beds, at each corner and in the middle of each side. The height is about 3 feet from the top of the garden bed. We cover the garden bed and PVC pipes with black bird netting to keep the rodents from jumping in the garden and eating it. The netting hooks on to the side of the wooden planter all around to allow access to the beds.

Occasionally, we find a squirrel stuck in the netting by his legs. Not a pleasant sight !

During the season, fertilize twice with miracle grow or fish oil. I have had some luck using Mole Mix sprinkled on the ground , to keep the rodents away. The crops will start to be ready by July 10, with 3x weekly soakings. Crops last until September 15, when there is a typical hard freeze. Potatoes and carrots can be left in the ground until the end of November, and then harvested.

“Establish the Canopy” — How to Have a Rainforest in your Own Backyard

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Australian shepherd, dog, garden, palm trees, squash, summer, tomatoes, Uncategorized, vegetables

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First, my headline is misleading. This is not really a blog about how to grow a rainforest. This is a blog about why I don’t garden much in the summer in San Diego.

San Diego summers mean beach, visitors, house guests, theme parks, no rain, watering, restricted watering, the beach, house guests, theme parks, visitors. Should I continue?

I go into maintenance mode. Plus you need a break! We could grow something amazing and significant here every month of the year. When I first started gardening here and realized this, it was a little overwhelming. Then I hit summer–I remember running around trying to garden while my house guests ate breakfast. It was stressful. I had to stop trying to have a perfect yard and let things be (as best I could).

Watering is still a priority and my vegetable garden, which really needs fertilizing.

But once you get things growing, you can take a rest.  Here’s my favorite story about that — One day at my old house, while I was walking through the neighborhood, I found a house that intrigued me. There was a stand of unique lime green palm trees in the front, some orchids growing in the shade and other tropical. I walked by there every day, trying to figure out this interesting house and the palms, which I realized also grew to enormous heights behind the house. I told my husband about it and soon he was walking by there too and we discussed it, trying to figure out what was going on. The person had a license plate on his/her car that said “Palms.” Clearly this was not some minor experiment in horticulture. This was serious.

Well, one day, my hubby being the kind of talk-to-strangers with ease guy that he is, got us an invitation to tour the property. It was in fact owned by an expert in palm trees and his wife was a landscape architect.

The backyard contained a bona fide rainforest. It was tremendous. They had bought the house next door and knocked out the walls so the rainforest could take over two back yards. They had what must have been 60 foot palms with a treehouse half-way up. I think there were hundreds of palm trees of all varieties and paths and orchids and impatients and all kinds of wonderous flora.

Our tour guide explained, “Once the canopy was established, it was easy to grow all the other rainforest plants beneath it.”

That stuck with us. In our wonder, we found a bit of humor. We repeated the phrase because it was so far out and so ridiculous to us–being from Michigan and Arizona–that someone could establish a rainforest with a canopy right in our neighborhood.

We use that phrase a lot in our marriage. It comes up two or three times a year one of us will say to the other– “Once the canopy is established,” and laugh.  It has become one of those inside jokes that only the two of us can understand. And that’s nice. But really, back to gardening, I think once your garden gets to a certain point, it can keep going with only a little bit of care here and there and a few seasonal clean up days. If you think you don’t have time to garden, consider that. Once you get your “canopy” in place, you can just watch it grow.

Anyway, that’s what I am saying about my garden right now!  Good thing, because I have a house full of guests waiting for breakfast!

Here are some pictures from my vegetable garden and one of my naughty puppy. I really need to fence her out of my vegetables–that’s one job that really shouldn’t wait.

Ohio Garden 1953

15 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in cabbage, Father's Day, gardening, Ohio, tomatoes, vegetables

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Two posts ago, I wrote about my brother’s garden. Today, I think I uncovered the “seed” of his inspiration for growing things.  Look at my father’s garden in Dayton, Ohio, 1953. My father was at Wright-Patterson Airforce base–very far from the deserts and llanos of southern Arizona, but likely more familiar to my twenty-five year old mother, who hailed from that part of the country.  In a vacant lot next door, my father “farmed” this garden. That’s him on the far right:

Now here is my mother–I made her photo large since she is so pretty, but something is eating that cabbage:

Now here are the greatest photos of my dad showing my brother how to plant seeds. He must be around one-year-old.

Those are the seeds of inspiration! And a nice ancestor garden story to think about this weekend while you are working in your own garden. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

California Native Plants and Other Backyard Beauties

09 Saturday Jun 2012

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New hardscape for yard prior to planting.

I haven’t officially unveiled our backyard. Well, what can I say, I’m waiting for my plants to grow in. Realizing this will probably take a year, I have decided to suck it up and forge ahead. Please ignore all the patches of dirt. You know that makes me crazy. I feel I have to fill every empty spot, but it is impossible at this point. Maybe next year?

I also haven’t really embraced native plants. I know I should. I have planted them though in the new backyard. Some I am excited to see. A few I am thinking will already die and some I think look bad (after just two months).

What I Iove the most so far are the Annie’s Annuals plants. They are growing and blooming in just two short months. It’s unbelievable that they come in a box in the mail. They are wrapped in plastic and you have to unwrap and plant them in the provided pots. Then you have to water them and let them sit a day before you plant them. When you order  six boxes of them (I was giddy), plan to have them arrive when you have time to spend the next day planting!

They are grown outside in California so they say you don’t have to harden them off. And they have done remarkably well.

Here they are (names of the plants are below the photos):

Clarksia concinna “Pink Ribbons” (above)–I can’t believe it’s blooming already. It is for both sun and part shade, deer resistant, drought tolerant. All zones. They have a feathery pink flower and light green leaves. You can see two in this photo.

“Bush Ladybells,” Adenophora potaninii, beautiful, shade plant that grew so fast and has amazing blooms and Lime green Nicotiana alta. (No photo yet.)

Pink Mimulus, Mimulus lewisii x cardinalis (now they have green caterpillars. Argh!). Clay tolerant California native is doing well. It has almost tripled in size since I planted it. I hope the caterpillars don’t kill it.

Granium maderense–this is a huge stunning plant . And I’ve heard from other gardeners that it self-sows so I am really excited to see what it does. It is supposed to grow 4′ X 4′. It hails from the Canary Islands, something exotic. That’s nice!

Verbena Bonariensis (yikes, these are scaring me a little–they are sticking up all over my hill, but they are blooming a tiny purple flower.) I was supposed to pinch them back to make them full, but I didn’t. Oh well, there’s always next year. I think I need to plant something in front of them. (Please ignore the dirt. This is where our “fake” riverbed is supposed to go so I didn’t plant a lot here.) Send me some rocks and I’ll start building it.

Also blue springs penstemon (amazing blue color) and some very nice light blue Mrs Kendall Clarke geranium pratense.

My natives, which were selected by my garden designer Shellene Mueller, include:

Mimulus (orange) perfect for shade, low water and clay soil. The other pink Annie’s Annuals mimulus is right next to it (its leaves are lighter green and bigger.)

Carpenteria californica–I’m really excited about this. I love the waxy dark green leaves and can’t wait to see the big white flowers. It is supposed to be tolerant of sun or shade, grows in dry, clay–perfect for my hill. It was super hard to find. All of the wholesale nurseries told me they didn’t have it, but I found it at Walter Andersons. Surprise!

I also have Ceanothus Centennial, which i see all over our mountains. Mine looks a little scraggly and pale yellow. I think I am giving it too much water. Note to self: take drip system off these.

I also lavender, salvias, australian rosemary, thyme, yarrow, Lamb’s ears, coral bells, and penstemon of various types. Fruit trees: Anna’s Apple, Saturn peach, and a pomegranate. I mean to plant the pomegranate eight years ago when my daughter was born–well, I’m a little late. You know the saying!

But here is one of my favorites–the new Koko Loco rose from Weeks Roses. This rose is amazing and getting lots of complements. When it blooms it is latte colored and then fades to a brown lavender color. It smells good and seems hardy. It’s beautiful.

My Brother’s Garden

02 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in chickens, dog, gardening, squash, tomatoes, vegetables

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My siblings aren’t competitive about dogs or gardening. No, not at all, which is why my brother keeps emailing me pictures of his vegetable garden and poems and stories about how this year he’s got a  grade “A” plot.

So I told him I’d blog about his great garden to make him happy. After all,  grumpy lawyers need happiness in the form of great homegrown tomatoes, endless abundance of zucchini and other garden produce. A garden is a great outlet for stress relief. To me nothing could be more peaceful than working a long Saturday pruning, watering and planting in the garden. Also, cooking and eating the food you grow is a great byproduct of the joy gardening brings. I also enjoy feeding caterpillars to the chickens—get ‘em girls.

My brother, who is much older ( I don’t know why I say that here, but it seems to tie in. I’m trying to say he is very wise.) Anyway, he says gardening is genetic, and I wonder if this is true. Perhaps. I’d love to know what you think. I can’t say because obviously, as I’ve written, gardening runs in my family. All of my three siblings garden and have their own specialty. Wildflowers and vegetables for the mountain woman, whose winters are snowy so her growing season is short; herbs, roses and flowers for the preschool teacher who lives in desert dwellings; and of course, my brother, who is famous for tomatoes grown in the urban jungles of Phoenix, Arizona.  Just look at his pictures and you will agree.

He taught me that there are two kinds of tomato plants—a “determinate” type and the indeterminate type. I had one of the indeterminate type in my front yard once. It would not die. It was an heirloom and made beautiful purple fruits. It quit producing in winter but kept growing and growing lush green foliage until one day, I don’t know why, I pulled it out. I should have transplanted it, but I didn’t.  Now I wish I had.

I thought homegrown tomatoes mean instant sweetness, but I now have one in a pot that makes the worst tasting tomatoes. It makes a lot of them, but they are garbage. Maybe because they were grown in a pot. Who knows. Hey, brother, do you know? If you answer, I will know that you read this.

To make my brother happy, here are his photos and his poem.

See how high the tomato tree grows,

into the sky like hairs from my nose.
If it was a bean stalk, I’d be Jack,
But instead no tomatoes I lack.
So gather ’round and we’ll sing a tomato song
Put the soup on and we’ll be along
to grill sandwiches so cheesy

and slurp soup that makes me queasy.

Here is his tomato tree:

Here is the harvest — already!

I like the fence around his garden to keep out his tomato-eating dachshunds. And I am jealous that he already has produce! Look at all that!

For the record, even though my tomatoes are mealy, my dog is still the best dog on earth. He would never eat a tomato.

Garden Party

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in bohemian, champagne cocktail, chickens, cupckaes, garden, garden party, gardening, honey, insects, recipe

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We recently remodeled our backyard (or almost) and it looked so nice I decided it would be fun to have a garden party.  Often my ideas are bigger and more complicated than I can execute, especially when we weren’t done with the sprinklers or clean up. I scheduled the party early May, and had to reschedule it, making it very confusing for all my friends. The actual day of the party the weather was beautiful–perfect, sunny yet cool weather that San Diego often lacks in May (typically, we have what’s called “May gray,” when the marine layer sits over the beach for most of the month) so we were lucky. And it was wonderful fun!

The theme was “bohemian garden”, something I made up and wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but I got to use a lot of my odds and ends from inside the house and cook a lot of eggplant dishes. I made lemon squares and honey cupcakes with honey buttercream frosting from the recipe on the Romancing the Bee blog–really yummy!

Oh yes, we had a drink called Le Romantique, which is a champagne cocktail served at one of our local restaurants. My husband bartended (thank you for being the lone man! Apparently, we were really loud and scared the dog into hiding inside or maybe he didn’t think eggplant caviar was worth begging for).  Anyway, we made our own version of Le Romantique with rose water, raspberry vodka, pomegranate juice, simple syrup, champagne and real edible rose petals my sister brought me from England. The rose petals looked so good in the drink that had a friendly visitor drop in for a drink (see slideshow below).

Everyone visited the chickens and the new chicken coop and took photos in my hanging photo frame. You can see it hanging here in the tree next to the paper decorations I made.

Here are more pictures. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! Thank you all for coming!

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Cute Coop

25 Friday May 2012

Posted by in chickens, compost, garden, gardening, Uncategorized

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Two months and two weeks after our chicks arrived, they spent the their first night in their deluxe new purple chicken coop.  It also happened to be the night of my birthday, and there is no birthday present like getting chickens out of your house! Thank you to my hunky husband for building me a beautifully constructed, painstakingly perfect chicken coop. I love it!

Now here’s the construction dude. He looks happy because he is almost done building this. He spent a lot of late nights in the garage working on it. Really, he wasn’t that happy about it, but he looks happy in this picture.

 

Now the dog is a different story. He doesn’t like the chickens in a coop. He thinks they should be free-range. Look at him here staring them down as only a herding breed can do. Is he going to eat them or is he trying to protect them?

He may be in a down position because of his arthritis, or he may really be wanting to be near them. He loves them in his own special, bossy, I’m the king-of-you kind of way.

Actually, the chickens have given him a new lease on life. He’s almost died in January, and I think they are giving him a reason to get up in the morning. He wants to be right in the middle of everything we do with them, which is typical Aussie behavior. But if he thinks the chickens are mis-behaving, he tries to heel them by biting their tail feathers, and my vet told me that could be potentially life-threatening for a chicken so I always have to be careful.

It’s always exciting around here on our little Point Loma farm!  Happy Memorial Day!

Gardeners: Take a Photo!

21 Monday May 2012

Posted by in garden, gardening, roses, Tucson

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I had a great idea to write a blog about all the women who had influenced my gardening. I was going to put pictures of them in their gardens next to a description of what they liked to plant and how it influenced me. I started asking family members for photos of my Grandma Vi, who loved to garden, and Grandma Betty who had a tidy rose garden in her patio. Also my mother, who loves her poppies. I am planning to call it Ancestor Gardening, and I’ve already written the first one about my mother and her poppies—but guess what? No one had a photo.

Why? I guess the gardeners were too busy gardening!

My mother’s neighbor helped me out and  took a photo of my mother with her African Daisies. (She had taken lots of photos of her flowers over the years, but never one of herself in the place she worked so hard to make beautiful.)

I sat down with my mother on a recent trip and culled through family photos, searching. I thought we’d find one of Grandma Vi in her garden, or at least her garden—a little farm she created in her backyard—she had planted so many citrus trees, berries, pine trees, roses, you name it.  Nothing. Nada. Nope. Not one photo. The closest thing I could find was a photo of me at 18 months, my grandma and her sister holding me in front of a prickly Pyracantha bush not the beautiful lush plants I remember so well.

Then I found one of my mother, my grandma and me in front of one of her favorite roses. President Lincoln. I knew it because she talked so much about it as I was growing up—”Abe Lincoln” she called it; she loved that rose. At least a few of its rich red blooms peeked out from behind us. But the rest of her garden is only in my memory.

“We were too poor for a camera,” my mother explained, as to why she has no photos of her childhood. But by the time grandma had bought her house, paid off her 1950s fin-tailed Cadillac and planted her back ½ acre with about 90 roses – all earned by waitressing and managing the soda fountain at Walgreens—you’d think she would have taken a picture. Probably she was too busy watering all those roses with a hose—irrigations systems were not easy to come by, and in the desert of Tucson, she spent a lot of time watering.

My Grandma Betty was the same when it came to delinquent photography. I can’t find a single picture of her in the beloved rose garden she had tended and later had a gardener care for. She loved cut roses and had many bouquets throughout her home. When she died I inherited several vases and frogs—those funny spiky flower holders. I imagine them full of her roses. And I wonder if there were pictures we threw away that would have shown me the flowers she loved.

I finally found one of her standing in the patio, next to the rose garden—I think there is a vase of her roses on the table, but that’s all. Well, I did find this other one of her next to a painting of her flowers. I’m sure those are her flowers in the vase because I recognize the parrot statue. It was a white marble bird bookend that sat on a table in her livingroom. She must have gathered the props for her still life from around the house. Love the 70s decor and outfit!

  My mother also found some photos from Ohio that are much older. These are ones from her ancestor garden—from her Grandma Hahn, a farm wife in Darke county, Ohio where Annie Oakley was from. She influenced my Grandma Vi and my mother. Grandma Hahn, I learned, loved her garden. She had it fenced to keep the chickens out. There are some lilacs and some irises.

Sigh. Please, people, if you garden, take some pictures of yourself in it. Someday so relative of yours may want to see it. Or if you have some photos of a favorite spot in your garden, pass them to someone in your family who values gardening—even if they don’t garden now but you suspect they will one day.

Now, what photos of me do I have in my garden?

One:  from the day before I gave birth to my second daughter. It was Easter. I am enormous and wearing a giant pink pregnancy top that is out of fashion. I can’t find it and that is making me upset.

Two: a creepy one of me in a bathrobe, hiding behind the flowers at my old house. I look sort of elfin. I think I’m making that weird face because I don’t want my photo taken.

Okay. To do list: Have photo taken of me in front of Austin roses.

Thank you.

Stay tuned: now that I have a few photos, the Ancestor Garden story will be coming shortly.