Images from Monstercam

Last year I installed a motion detecting camera outside the cabin.  The goal was to determine how much time the deer were spending in the orchard. The short answer turned out to be - A lot!  I also figured out they were pretty much living under one of the trees in the yard.  I know that the back fence had to go up (and it has since then), but I had no idea the ruminants spent so much time in my yard.

When I installed the camera, I was hoping for images of cougars, javalina and maybe a coyote or coati. Instead, the camera took hundreds of pictures of deer.  And one cow. By the front door.  I did get some fleeting night photos of the local javalina.  Cute little guys, although they did eat all my pumpkins two years ago.  Grrrrr.

garden hightlights 2012

We're moving into spring and I'm always hopeful for the new year. Last year (2012) was difficult because of the massive fire (see previous post) and the following dry summer.  We had problems with the old well (as usual) with the new issue of ash and fine sediments plugging the pump.  As a result, the orchard was without water for most of the summer and fall.  In spite of this, the remaining trees did remarkably well.  Some of them are absolutely thriving.  And then, there are the happy surprises.

I've included a slide-show of some of the highlights of the 2012: 

The young apple and pear trees were full of blossoms a year ago.  Sadly, no bees around the week of bloom.  A few apples bloomed in 2011 and 2012 was the second year for the pears.  The pear trees are still tiny (less than 4') but for their size, they pop with blooms.  Last year we had our first apples.  Tiny, but sweet and with an apple times ten flavor.  Most of the apples are for cider, but these were eating apples and that's just what I did!

One of the happy surprises was an antique rose of unknown vintage growing gangbusters without any water all year.  The original cutting is from the ditchbank at my Mom's house in Los Lunas. This is one of those floppy, hot pink roses and the original plants are about 100 years old. They have a lovely strong rose scent and bloom only once in the spring - Mother's Day week without fail. This plant represents my only successfully rooted rose cutting. The little fellow is planted on the north side of the orchard wall, and having less solar radiation and water loss is probably the key to survival.  I'm very happy that this plant has accepted it's new home.

Along the lines of trees, I've planted various herbs, native wildlflowers and grasses.  My favorite flowers are the red and blue salvias.  The plants were from Plants of the Southwest in Albuquerque and did remarkably well considering they didn't have water during the hottest part of the year.  By accident, I managed to do all the things to plants a desert gardener is not supposed to do!  In spite of this, the salvias keep blooming - I'll be buying more because they are fantastic with the herbs and eyelash grass.

My last image shows the lavender 'hedge' about 3 years in.  Considering that these plants started as 6" cuttings from IL, they look really good.  I have two lines of lavender between lines of trees and once I get rid of the weeds, the orchard will look very nice.  I'm considering planting another line of lavender, but because of the success of the salvias, I may put in a solid line of salvias instead (for the hummingbirds).

An upcoming post will outline the plans for the garden this year.  Stay tuned...

Garden Update July 2011

This year has been an incredibly dry one.  Right now, the monsoon rains have begun and things are not as bad as they were during the spring and early summer (recall the AZ fires not too far away).  When I arrived at the cabin a few weeks ago, I was pretty depressed to see how dry things were. The upside is that there are no weeds - none - zip.  The downside is that trees in the orchard were suffering mightily.  Only the lavender (see @ left) was doing well.  I have an automatic irrigation system set up, but when your well runs dry, it doesn't do much for you.  Yes, indeed, the well has gone dry.  Not a surprise really.  The well is about 40 years old and one of last shallow ones left in the valley (currently the pump is @ 35 feet).  My neighbors are super nice and are letting me run a hose to their pump to keep my trees alive until I get a new well drilled.  As it is, I lost seven trees - a tough blow.  Being a biologist I can rationalize the loss in terms of natural selection - only the truly desert adapted will survive.  Thank goodness I planted so many varieties.

Dead pear tree.

I estimate the garden and orchard were without water for 3 weeks of 100 degree weather (and yes, that's quite normal for the Gila, not a heat wave).  It's interesting to see how some of the trees are perfectly happy and some died a tragic death.  The truly sad thing is seeing the shriveled fruits on the branches.  Sigh.

Happy pear tree.

The vegetable garden is a total bust.  No beans and chile this year!  As every gardener knows, each year brings different hardships and I'll have to start over once again.  On the bright side, when I left, the indigo seedlings were doing ok.  If the rains have been steady I might have some indigo plants to harvest.  We'll see...

Garden Update / May 2011

Boxes of chilies, off the plane and ready for planting

Another gardening year begins in NM, or more accurately, began last month.  The big issue this year will be the drought (so far no rain since last November) and the browsing in the garden and orchard as they search for food.  My sister checked the garden this week and said some of the lavender plant have been ripped out and the veggie beds have evidence of "tampering".  The footprints were from javalina, and I know they move around a lot looking for water when the creek stops running. Things are going to be tough until I get the fence up in back and the wall up in front.  Sigh.

One old bed and one new, before planting

The garden is in and growing well.  We have 5 varieties of chile this year, along with some beans and squash.  Last fall, the javalina ate all my pumpkins and in their rummaging tossed a few popcorn cobs around.  My sister said some of the corn is volunteering this year and I'm happy about that.  Last year was the first time I ever planted strawberry popcorn, and it was hands down, the best popcorn I ever tasted.

This year I made two new vegetable beds and they, along with last year's bed, were augmented with manure from Sally, the horse next door.  Because I have limited fencing, only two of the beds were planted.  Still, that's a lot of beans and chili!

Grape cutting with cobble mulch & deer protection

The fruit trees are ok, but the dry winter was tough on them.  I turn the irrigation off in Nov, so they had no water through mid April, when I turned on the system again. It looks like I may have lost a few, but it's too early to tell for sure.  My sister reports that some of the trees are sprouting now, but she can't tell if it's from above or below the graft union. If those trees are gone, I think I'll plant some blackberries in their places.  Amazingly, the one tree (a peach, Rio Oso Gem) that has given me the most trouble from the beginning (poor growth, resists training, ect) is doing really well; silly tree. The grapes from my mother's house are quite happy and very cute. 

The gardening year begins...

Sprout soon little peppers!

I’ll be heading out to the house at the end of the month to get the garden ready, but the first step is to start the seeds.  This year, I’ll try a variety of vegetables (mostly traditional, regional crops) to see how they survive with little attention.  However, the main crop will be chile.  I’ve started about 250 seeds and the hope is that they will be ready to transplant at the beginning of May when I go out again.  These little seeds have no idea what adventures await them!

The Locals: The Flora

We're in the thick of winter and thinking of green things and flowers.  I am desperately missing the heat of summer (I love it).  To warm up my thoughts, I've selected a few photos of flowers from the house taken this past summer.  It was a very wet year, so plants that normally don't survive had a chance to flourish.  Enjoy the pictures.

Sweet Four O'clock (Mirabilis longiflora)

This is one of my favorite wildflowers at the house.  It grows under the junipers in two separate areas of the property, both quite shady.  The plants are a bit lanky, and the branches snap at the slightest touch, but these traits are easy to forget in the evenings when the lovely flowers open.  If you are familiar with garden four o'clocks, these are similar, but imagine the petals (which are fused) being a degree more translucent and the throat extended in an almost hallicinatory manner.  I don't understand how the flowers manage to avoid floppiness, but they are held upright and glow all night.  As with other four o'clocks, the first frost causes the

Sweet Four o'clock (Mirabilis longiflora) to collapse into a pile of sticks.

My sister and I have gentle arguments about this flower. She loves it - I'm not so sure. It is quite common and can form generous colonies in a short time.  When the flowers are open, your mood is quickly brightened by the happy surrounded by yellow daisy-like flowers.  But then, summer advances, water evaporates and the plants quickly finish their life cycle.  You can see one of the cute little puffs of seeds below the full blown flower above.  Those puffs look soft, downy,.... friendly.  Don't be fooled!  The seeds work their way into every stitch of your clothing starting at ankle level (where the majority of the puffs are found).  With amazing, quiet and efficient skills, the seeds find their way into every cloth item you own - even inside the house!  The simple task of walking across the yard becomes similar to assessing a land-mine field. The short happy daisy season seems years away.  It is at this time that I decide no more daisies! - next year weed barrior for sure.

Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)

Globe mallow is one of my favorite NM wildflowers.  It was widespread where I grew up and a pink form was common at our house.  This plant looks good all the time with zero care.  Because of this, and it's nearly constant flowers, I'm pretty lenient about letting it grow wherever it wants to.  My big mistake this year was to let a volunteer grow in the interstices of rocks bordering the vegetable garden.  Normally, the plants max out at about three feet.  With the addional water from the drip system, the volunteer grew over five feet tall and was about three feet wide - a very healthy individual.  I'll never get rid of it because they have extremely deep tap roots. 

Wild Morning Glory (Evolvulus arizonicus)

Many people think morning glories are pests because when they have enough water they become lush vines that can choke out other plants.  I don't water them, so I just come across a pretty flower here and there among the other forbes.  A nice effect.

Mexican Hat (Ratbidia columnifera)

Mexican Hat is becoming more popular with gardeners because it's pretty tough, flowers alot and is good for birds.  The form seem in catalogs and nurseries has brick red petals, sometimes with a yellow edge.  You know you have the Gila form if the petals are all yellow; it's only found in NM.  This plant was a volunteer that grew next to one of the apple trees.  It's lucky - when I lay down the weedcloth this spring, this guy will be within the uncovered zone.  I'll get to enjoy it for a few more years.

Bird of Paradise (Poinciana gilliessii)

If you travel through Phoenix or Tucson in the summer/fall, you'll can't help but notice a shrub with brilliant orange flowers -its become ubiquitous because it requires zero care once established.  It is the Sonoran form of Bird of Paradise and can be found throughout its eponymous Desert.  The Chihuahuan form is yellow with red stamens.  It will grow in Albuquerque, but is happier in warmer climes, so it's more common south of Socorro.  It's still pretty flashy, but this shrub never seems to look quite as lush as it's relative.  A nice shrub and a good hummingbird plant.  We have tons of these at the house and they flowered well during the wet year.

Red Spiderling (Boerhaavia coccinea)

It's easy to miss red spiderling, there just isn't much to this plant.  Low to the ground, threadlike stems and leaves, but brilliant fushia flowers.  They are a joy.  Some consider this plant to be a pest, but it never grows in anything resembling abundance, so I leave it alone.


Buffalo Bur (Solanum rostratum)


I will end with buffalo bur, a plant that made it's first appearance at the cabin this year. It's a member of the Solanacea; pretty clear from the flowers. The rest of the plant is just amazing. "Spines" emerging from the undersides of each leaf, gazillions of spines on the stems and seed pods. It was dangerously beautiful. The intriguing aspect of this plant (besides that I had never seen it before) was that it (and nothing else on the property) was covered with potato beetle larvae of various stages. I've never seen so many and it gives me pause about growing potatoes in the garden.

For more info about native plants of the region, try the website Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness compiled by the Western NM University Department of Natural Sciences and Herbarium.  It helps to have a general knowledge of botany, but it is a very thorough site.

The Experimental Garden - Stage 2

As described in a previous post, I decided to plant a long distance garden - long distance since I live 1000 miles away. Yes, I know it was a crazy scheme. So, I returned to the garden two months after planting to see how things went. I admit that I should have gone back at least once before this, if only to weed, but this is the way it timed out.
When I arrived, at the end of August, it was the beginning of chile harvest in the north. I thought that if there were any chilies to be had, they would be on the plants by then, since the site is much farther south. I wasn’t too worried about actual harvest because I could always leave the chilies to ripen to red, or even longer to dry on the plant. Well, happy days!, there was chile to be harvested.

The most shocking aspect of the garden upon arrival was the immensity of individual weed plants. Many were alfalfa, a good nitrogen fixer (natural fertilizer), so I wasn’t too worried by that. The concern was the size of the plants (6'-7' tall), which easily shaded out the chilies and other vegetables. Next year, I’ll definitely use a weed barrier.



before weeding - scary!



after weeding - whew























I had planted six different varieties of peppers with varied levels of spice and adaptation to climate. I thought it would be a good idea to experiment to see what would grow well under the unusual circumstances. Interestingly, some varieties just died, while others did really well. The winners were a new hybrid (NuMex Conquistador from Seeds of Change) and the old standby Espanola (which is adapted to a northern NM climate). In any case I had a suitcase full of chile to take home with extra to distribute to relatives in Albuquerque.

NuMex Conquistador

Espanola

A beautiful sight!  Fresh roasted chile.

The beans were a huge success; the plants had died by August, but the pods had dried and were full of lovely beans. I planted two pumpkin plants (Winter Luxury Pie, the best!) and had one baby pumpkin. There was some deer damage earlier in the year, so the plants had a traumatic start. Th corn (strawberry popcorn) seemed ok, but they had been heavily shaded out by the massive alfalfa, so I don’t know how many little corns I’ll get.

A lovely young pumpkin

Overall, a huge success! Next year, more chile, more beans, and I think I’ll go with native blue corn instead. Probably a pumpkin or two. Definitely weed barrier, and perhaps less water and more manure for the chile plants. Live and learn; happy gardening!

The Experimental Garden - Stage One

Living in the midwest presents a series of difficulties to someone who grew up in the southwest.  Although there are many topics I could discuss here, I'll restrict myself to chile - a topic of great importance to any native New Mexican.  Growing up in NM where chile in all forms is ubiquitous, then moving to a place where it is unknown, provides an untenable situation.  At first, I tried growing it, but the mid-western climate and NM chile varieties just don't mix; the plants seem to need higher temperatures and less humidity.  After three years of failed garden experiments (tiny fruits with none ripening to red), I gave up.  My sister, who lives in WY, has a similar similar situation (i.e. no chile), but caused by a short growing season.  Enter the crazy long distance chile solution! 

Before the vegetable garden - just native grasses and "stuff".

Just north of the orchard and east of the house is a perfect spot for a veggie garden.  Because the orchard is just 10 feet away, it would be simple to add a drip line over to the veggies.  I had my contractor, Kenny, deliver a load of sifted soil (fantastic - no rocks!) and I built three raised beds with rock walls.

Wrapped and ready for the suitcase

The next step was to start the plants.  I purchased five varieties of seeds and started them at my home mid-March.  At the beginning of April, I loaded all the young plants into a suitcase (yes, you read that correctly!) and flew them out to NM.  I packed them as carefully as I could and surprisingly, they survived without any squashed leaves.

Plants with drip irrigation system on

The chile children were planted along with some corn, beans and pumpkin seeds. Everyone was watered well, the automatic drip system checked and re-checked, then I left for home! 

Chile bed #1 - note the cage to help protect the plants

The beds were covered with hogwire to deter deer predation.  In the end, if the deer want in,there's not much I could do.  The plants were checked during a visit in June, but I don't know how things look now. The whole chile thing is an experiment, so if I get a reasonable harvest, I'll consider a sturdier fencing system next year.  I'm going for a visit soon, so we'll see how everything did.  Updates coming soon.