Busy Spring

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Busy Spring
I had specific plans for my spring gardening 2006 but they abruptly vanished the day I found a large damp spot and one very healthy brittle bush on top of the concrete septic tank. There were no broken irrigation lines or pipes to cause the moisture. A little digging and I new the septic tank had backed up with none of the sewage making its way into the house. I knew I had a problem because I had the tank pumped a little over a year ago and was told everything looked okay. Sure the tank looked fine, it was the stone filled leaching field that had filled up with mesquite roots over the past 25 or so years.

There is no neat and tidy way to get a new leaching field dug. You have to bring in a back hoe and it needs plenty of room to move around. That meant I had to cut down a mature tangerine tree, and two mesquite trees. A third mesquite, near the leaching field, may be chopped down in the future, once the new trees I planted grow in size. I also had to move several small saguaros and any plants I wanted to try and save. It was a lot of work and not really the type of rushed gardening I enjoy.

After the leaching field was installed I had a huge pile of rock and dirt that I, with some hired help, had to sift and then move. More hard work. Finally, once the land was put back to its original appearance I had to plant new trees, ocotillos and drought tolerant plants. I also relocated the saguaros. I'll also have to keep everything well watered while they get established. In the meantime I get to once again gaze out at my neighbor's two storage sheds, new chain link dog run and assorted "stuff". You really don't appreciate the trees until they're gone and you have to run all the branches through a chipper/shredder.

Desert adapted trees know how to look for the moisture they need and a leaching field offers plenty of moisture.

Somehow I managed to find time to work on my side yard where I went in a different direction going from mostly native plants to a bit more of a green oasis by planting an Australian willow (Geijera parviflora), western redbud (Cercis occidentalis), and Texas olive (Cordia boissieri). I also constructed some low fencing with a gate and added five, four-foot posts to display some of my plants while keeping them away from the local wildlife including the rabbits and javelina. I have a real problem with invading leaf eating ants in the side yard and it's a constant battle to try and keep them under control. The ants have defoliated many a shrub and have no problem climbing into the trees for the leaves they like. I'll have to keep a watchful eye for the ants until the new plantings become established.

These may look like fence posts but they are actually supports for small platforms where I will place potted plants for display.
The Harris squirrel decided the plants weren't out of his reach and with a leap of faith made it to the promised land.
The posts were supposed to put the plants out of harms way. Quail also continue to eat the succulent leaves.

In the front yard, I had a wrought-iron gate constructed to help keep the javelina away from some of my potted plants. The rabbits and pack rats will still get in but they eat the foliage and don't break pots leaving a trail of destruction as do the pesky javelina.

The vegetable garden had a very late start. Several of the beds still need to be prepared and may not see new plantings until fall. I was a month late planting my tomato plants and squash. I could have planted my bush beans a few weeks sooner and I can 4 tell it's going to be a long hot summer because the animals are challenging me for everything I'm trying to grow. It's a bit discouraging but there is a drought and the surrounding desert vegetation is struggling. The local wildlife will eat what they can find.

A little more bulky looking than I wanted, this gate will help keep the night time javelina away from some of the potted plants.
The snap dragons still looked good in early May.

By late April I usually have most of my large pots transplanted with summer annuals like portulaca, vinca, purslane, caladiums and zinnias. Not this year. In early May the zinnias remained a bit over grown in their flats, some with blooms, waiting to be transplanted. The caladiums had hardly pushed through the soil surface in their containers in the greenhouse. Any portulaca, vinca and purslane I wanted to plant still sat on the table of a garden center somewhere.

Snap dragons, pansies, Iceland poppies, carnations, dianthus and sweet alyssum were still in the pots from my fall plantings. The geraniums were beginning to show their age and usually get moved into the greenhouse over the summer.

There is still a lot to do around my garden to get ready for summer. Some of the drip irrigation needs to be repaired and the smaller pots that require too much summer watering need to be emptied, cleaned and put away till fall. I still have a few shrubs that need planting but now I have to decide if I'm better off waiting until fall when it will take less water to get them established. Besides all the gardening, the house needs painting, inside and out and I'm not that anxious to pick up a paint brush nor am I willing to pay someone else to do the work.

Too many projects and not enough time to get them all done before the summer heat settles in. Maybe I'll have to wait until next fall or even next winter. A cold glass of iced tea, a nap in the hammock, and the hope for some home grown tomatoes with fresh basil seems much more appealing than all the projects I had planned. I'm beginning to think I could use a vacation from gardening.(2006)