Spring Arrived, and Passed By at Ghost Dog

FYI: This post was written back in March, but not published til now.  Sorry for the delay.

So far, this has been a quiet spring.  Winter was dry, little snow at the house and not much up in the mountains.  Everyone in town has an underlying tension about the possibility of flood, but the plants and animals continue on as always.  The sycamores and cottonwoods are greening up, the fruit trees are blooming (the first time all have bloomed).  The weeds are sprouting and the lizards are out basking.  I caught the first grasshopper of the year - a very nice specimen. My skills at keying out insects are rather poor, but I think this is a Red Shanked Grasshopper (Xanthippus corallipes).  According to my grasshopper books, these guys winter over as immature adults and are common in the spring.

This hopper was not happy with my attempts to open its wings and pose its legs at the same time. It is difficult to tell from the photo, but this fellow is very colorful.  The hind legs are a nice bright orange (easily seen), but the top of its abdomen and head are a rich marine blue (not so easily seen).  I know not many people like grasshoppers, but they are wonderful.

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 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 Orchard AND the Vinyard?

Everything old is new again....

A few years ago, my sister introduced me to a wine from Ponderosa Winery.  It was a nice table wine called Vino de Pata (literally, wine of the feet).  Two years ago, we went up to the winery and asked to purchase a few bottles.  The answer was no - there was no more Vino de Pata and may never be again!  My sister and I were pretty unhappy. 

The owner of the winery related the tale - sadly, a typical one in NM today.  The grapes for that particular wine were grown in a single 10 acre field in Corrales, NM (just north of Albuquerque and along the Rio Grande).  The grape variety was an old one (Léon Millot), not commonly grown anywhere anymore, and the vintner didn't know of any other NM sources.  That particular 'vinyard' had likely been planted over 60 years ago.  The owner of the field decided that he just wasn't making enough money on the grapes, so he sold the field to a developer who plowed it up, built a huge custom adobe home on the spot and sold it for over a million.  Tragically, this is happening everywhere in the Rio Grande Valley - people want to move there because of the agriculture and beauty, but they tear it all up to build a giant house. 

Well, I thought, we can try to make our own wine!  Why not, grapes grow pretty well throughout NM, and there are some old vines at my Mom's house (20 miles south of Albuquerque) that have thrived on total neglect for the 35 years she's lived there. We have no clue what variety are, but we're fairly sure they are wine grapes.  The vines are old, and date back to the building of the old part of the adobe house (around 1910), but every year that the horses don't eat them, there are small, tasty, sweet/tart, purple grapes on the vines.  

This past march, while visiting my mom, I cut 12, foot long branches for rooting.  I wasn't too hopeful because the vines seemed really desiccated.  When I came home to IL, I stuck the vines into a pot of damp sand, forgot about them, and was surprised a month later, to see roots!  I potted each little vine and they sprouted leaves soon after (see photo above).  I kept them growing in harsh conditions (lean soil, very little water, tons of sun & heat, no fertilizer) all summer/fall because they will have a hard life at Ghost Dog Orchard starting next year.  Tough little plants, they have thrived and are now dormant in the basement.

The plan is to plant these grapes along the back wall next spring.  I will extend the drip system a tiny bit so each little vine has water, but that will be it.  These guys will have to tough it out and climb the wall.  I have no doubts that they will do a good job.

The next step is to put in a heavy duty trellis and plant some Léon Millot vines the year after.  Vino de Pata, here we come!

The Orchard - Fall Update

A happy young apple tree

This past year was a wet one. The area received rain regularly through the summer, which is rare, so the weeds were exuberant. Of course, the garden and orchard are on a drip system, but I could tell everything was pretty happy with extra water- growth everywhere was pretty lush.

Esapliered fruit trees have a tough time their first few years because they are pruned so extensively during the growing season. In the spring, before buds swell, I prune to encourage growth of new branches. Because the trees rarely do what I want, or expect, there is usually some heavy pruning around June and then some more pruning in July or early August.  After that, I don't prune again because I don’t want to encourage late growth susceptible to winter damage. This past year, I easily pruned 50% of the new growth on the trees.


Still in training - only a Y.



The final shape - a double U.

The result's are encouraging. Many more apples are achieving their final forms (a double U shape). The remaining trees are in a Y form and just need a bit of length in the branches to pull down and tie into a U. The stone fruits are doing really well, and even my reluctant peach (Rio Oso Gem) grew vigorously. A few apples have put on some height and are over 7’ tall.  At this point, the tree branches are still small enough to be caged in chicken wire. After next year, the trees will be too big for cages, so I'll have to buckle down and put up a fence. Yet another project!

A 7' tall branch in front of the a perfect NM sky.

Who is The Ghost Dog?

Darwin's first day at home

Seventeen years ago, I adopted a tiny puppy from the shelter. I didn't want a big dog, and this guy fit into my cupped hands; I thought he would stay small.  Well, he must have been taken to the shelter with his sisters at the earliest possible time; he may have been barely five weeks old.  In any case, Darwin (the best dog on earth!), grew into a lanky, but muscular, very handsome fellow.  Based on his physical and personality characteristics, my husband and I deduced he must have been a basenji/shepherd mix.

Darwin was an amazing dog. I could spend hours describing his talents, intelligence and personality; just take my word for it, he was a one in a billion dog.  I know everyone says their dog is special, but even non-dog lovers were struck by Darwin's intelligence and his presence.  My sister described him as "creepy smart."  He had an extra dose of charisma that could not be ignored.

Happy days with Darwin

About five years ago, Darwin went blind over a period of three to five days.  He was diagnosed with SARDS - untreatable.  For a sight hound (like a basenji), the loss of sight was devastating to his world.  It was heart wrenching to see him trying to understand and cope with his new world, but failing again and again.  Perhaps if he were younger, it would have been easier.  His frustrations were vented in a variety of ways, but the most difficult was Darwin's new obsession with chocolate.  After one last, horrible bout with desserts, he died November 1, 2007.  Almost Dia de los Muertos, how fitting.

The orchard was named for Darwin (my ghost dog, the best ghost dog on earth!) because he is there with the trees.  The roots of each apple, pear, peach, cherry and plum were dusted with his ashes when they were planted.  So, some of him is alive again, part of each stem and leaf.  Each time I visit and tend my trees, I am visiting Darwin.  Each time a tree does something contrary or something spectacular, I am reminded of Darwin who did both with regularity.

Ghost Dog Orchard

About three years ago, I consulted with my sister about what to plant in front of the house because it is quite a big space.  I’ve always wanted a garden in the front, but wanted to consider other possibilities. I don’t remember much from our conversations except that she wanted cider apples and I agreed it would be a fun experiment.  Little did I know.   

Ghost Dog Orchard before trees

Because the house is designed to be passive solar and the orchard would be in front of the house, I decided to train the trees into espalier form.  This would maximize the number of trees, but minimize the shadows falling on the house in cooler months. The trees are planted in four rows running north-south.  Apples and pears are being trained to a double U form, whereas stone fruits are being trained into fan shapes.



Because I live 1500 miles away from the house, the process of planting the orchard was somewhat absurd.  For best selection, fruit trees should be ordered bare-root in early spring (and I needed very specific varieties). But, trees planted in the fall transplant better.  Another sticky wicket is that espaliered trees must be pruned and trained extensively their first two years.  So, I ordered my trees at home, pruned, trained and nurtured them in 1 gallon pots for seven months, then wrapped them up tightly and drove them cross-country to NM in the back of my pick-up.  Fifteen trees in 2008, 13 in 2009.  Crazy? You bet.



The process began early 2008 when I ordered my first 15 trees- all dwarf apples and pears.  I requested the smallest trees possible because they must be cut down to 18” upon arrival.  The bare-root trees arrived in March and they were spectacular.  (I highly recommend Trees of Antiquity)  the trees were amazing, the selection is fantastic, and the people are great).  I was nearly heartbroken to prune them down to size:

Apples before pruning

Apples after pruning

After the trees were transplanted, they were tied to bamboo poles which were tied to wires.  The wires and posts are temporary and will be removed when the trees have their final shapes, about five more years.  If you squint, you can see the bamboo poles on the wires.  After two years, the trees are still small because they are pruned so often (about every two months) and 1/4 to 1/3 of the recent growth is removed each time. 

The orchard in winter, very quiet.

As the trees grow, the new branches are covered in chicken wire cylinders.  For the most part, branches that escape are allowed to be eaten by deer (next door neighbors, they sleep across the fence) as a form of natural pruning.  In the following photo you can see where deer have browsed above the chicken wire.  Apparently they don't stretch their necks because foliage above head height is untouched. 

Deer damage 2010
 

The trees below show two stages of growth.  The tree with the diagonal branches will be left to grow 'as is' until the branches are long enough to pull into a 90 degree angle.  Pruning the tips of these branches will cause two side shoots to grow and these will be grown at a 45 degree angle The second tree has reached this stage on its left side, but not yet on the right.  Once the final shape is reached, the tree is allowed to grow to its final height (6-8 feet).  Side branches are removed and shoots are carefully pruned multiple times per year. 

Apple tree, 1 year after transplanting

Apple tree #2, 1 year after transplanting

So, at this point, 2 1/2 years into the process, a few of the trees have reached thier final shape, about half are halfway there, and the rest are being very stubborn.  Stubborness seems to be a varietal trait, because all the specimens of a particular variety behave the same way.  This is comforting because it makes me feel that I'm not causing the problem. 

More updates later....