The editing gardener

My neighbors must think I'm crazy. I stand overlooking the yard. I kick aside gravel mulch and measure distances between seemingly meaningless points, large strides for longer distances and foot-to-foot for the shorter ones. I stick a shovel firmly in the ground and admire it from several different angles. Maybe I am crazy.

My thoughts are often consumed with gardening, and lately especially with the ornamental areas of my landscape. As I started this blog, I envisioned the front garden would be a low maintenance landscape filled with low-water-use shrubs that were not often planted in this area including big sage, chamisa, and mountain mahogany accented with hopefully reseeding wildflowers. Now (I almost wrote "in the end", ha!) I really think that this type of landscape would require a vast amount of space to really shine, far more than the small area available.

So now, not even one year into the process, I am already changing the plan in the front garden. The area closest to the house will be planted with a grouping of red bird of paradise, accented with ocotillo and a large yucca. The area near the street will be shaded by a palo verde and underplanted with some yet to be determined combination of cacti, succulents, and/or wildflowers. A path of some yet to be determined material will lead from the sidewalk to the front door.

These changes are not made without regrets. In moving the former plantings from the front garden, I especially noted just how much I loved the big sage. I love the color, the texture, and the smell. Maybe I can squeeze one of them into the front garden. I think it's time to do some more landscape-dance measuring and pacing.

Plastic Ground Cover

In El Paso, it is quite common to use impermeable plastic as a ground cover in hopes of keeping down the weeds. The plastic is then covered with a coarse gravel mulch to make it more attractive. My house came with this plastic and gravel mulch in the front yard, the side yards, and around the perimeter of the back yard.

In preparing the garden for the birds, I decided to remove this plastic. Since the area was already weedy, I was worried that taking the plastic out would cause even more weeding difficulties. On the other hand, I felt it was necessary to remove it for the health of the plants and for improved drainage during the summer rains.

It's been about two months since planting that garden, and the weeding has been quite minimal. What few weeds there have been were very easily removed by hand. I believe this is because removing the plastic gave me a better opportunity to remove all the Bermuda grass rhizomes in the initial weeding before planting.

With the beginning of summer rains, we are now in all-out growing season for the Bermuda grass. I was a bit discouraged when I saw a few blades of grass in this new garden, but I wasn't about to give up easily in this area that is currently my favorite in the landscape. I went for my trowel but found I didn't even need it. The stray blades of grass were from seeds, and they hadn't yet grown their extensive network of rhizomes and roots; they were quite easy to pull out by hand.

It is a difficult task, but I've been removing the plastic from other areas of the landscape and have had similar results. Gardener or not, I think if one is able to do some rather easy weed pulling on a weekly basis, impermeable plastic is best avoided.

Mulberry ban update

Today, the city council voted unanimously to delete from the agenda the proposal to lift the ban on mulberry tree plantings within the city.

Urban Trees - Part 2

Tomorrow, the El Paso City Council will consider a proposal to lift the ban on mulberry tree plantings. The ban has been in place since 1992 because the trees produce a great deal of wind-born pollen that aggravates the allergies of many city residents.

The mulberry has many things going for it. The tree provides a dense shade that can significantly cool the area under its canopy. When planted near south- and west-facing windows, it can reduce summer cooling bills. Since the tree is deciduous, the same tree will allow heat from the sun during the cooler winter months, reducing heating bills as well. Mulberry trees are well adapted to the desert environment; they tolerate the heat quite well and require very little water.

Beside the allergen problem, the mulberry has another attribute that makes it less useful as a residential tree. Left to grow naturally, the tree can become quite large and outgrow the boundaries of all but the largest residential lot. This will become even more of a problem because most developments in the city since the ban was put in place have very small lots.

Since the trees can get so big, it is a quite common practice to prune the tree down to its trunk, a practice sometimes referred to as topping. Not only is this practice very unaesthetic, it is also quite dangerous. The pruning wounds immediately subjects the tree to disease and decay, and the new growth stimulated by the pruning is weaker and more prone to wind and storm damage.

Dr. John York, an El Paso allergist quoted in today's El Paso Times story (not a permanent link; should be good for a week), "did not recommend lifting the ban on the mulberry tree but suggested that the city also ban further juniper plantings in the city." While native junipers do indeed cause serious allergy problems, plant cultivators have solved this problem. Almost all the juniper trees available in nurseries are female cultivars that do not release pollen. Further, they gather the wind-blown pollen from their male counterparts.

Like junipers, mulberry trees also have separate sexes. If plant breeders made available a dwarf, fruiting mulberry tree, it would be highly useful in the El Paso area. Until such trees are available, I think city residents should consider alternative trees.

A Full Life in a Small Space

While on vacation, I read the book A Full Life in a Small Space: and Other Essays from a Desert Gardener by Janice Emily Bowers. Through a series of 16 well-written essays, the book gives a glimpse of her path from an "I'm not that kind of botanist" to an avid desert gardener of a small suburban plot.

Like most desert gardens (including my own), Bowers's small plot is a contrived arrangement of plants that would not grow in the harsh desert environment without the frequent shade of a busy gardener's shadow. Bowers's realization that these gardens are nevertheless intricately woven into the natural world from which they were claimed makes for some fascinating reading.

My copy of this book was purchased used from an Amazon reseller and is now available at PaperBackSwap. Both sites are a good place to find low cost books and to pass along books that you have read.

Intervale Compost Products

After a second visit to The Gardener’s Supply (is that snickering I hear?), we drove through a bit more of the Intervale area and saw a few organic vegetable garden plots. Next, we turned into the large composting facility and were met with a noticeable, but not overpowering, sour-sweet odor. Every website I have read about composting claims that a well-managed compost pile either does not smell or has a pleasant odor. I suppose this is to encourage novices like me to start a pile, and while it may be true regarding finished compost, it is certainly hogwash when it comes to the process. A composting pile smells like what it is, decaying organic matter. It is not the permeating methane smell of dairy farm waste, but it certainly does smell. The good news is the smell was not noticeable just outside the facility, even downwind.

The even better news is that what would have otherwise become landfill waste (and would have smelled much worse there) is converted into a very valuable garden resource. Compost improves our clay soil physically by improving drainage, allowing the oxygen plants need to be better accessible to their roots. Compost also improves the soil chemically by providing plants with nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and other nutrients essential to growth. Finally, compost improves the soil biologically with its many microorganisms that assist plants in obtaining the nutrients they need from the soil.

In sum, composting is probably the most beneficial activity an organic gardener concerned about the environment can undertake. It reduces landfill waste and provides considerable benefits to the soil. However, compost can smell like rotting vegetables, so it is best to site the pile away from the neighbors. It looks like it is time for me to find a new location for my own pile of future “black gold.” Even if I don’t have an odor problem, the compost pile is mostly neglected in its current location. I hope that I will give the pile more attention once it is moved to a less hidden location.

Gardener's Supply Company

While in Vermont, I made two garden-related visits: one to the Intervale area in Burlington, and one to the Vermont Wildflower Farm in Charlotte.

Intervale is home to The Gardener’s Supply Co., a retail nursery and garden store; several organic garden markets whose produce I saw for sale in a local shop; and a commercial composting facility.

The Gardener’s Supply Co. is by far the largest retail garden center I have ever been in with row upon row of seeds, tools, composters, accessories, decorative items, books, and plants. If there were a store like this within driving distance, I could give up my internet shopping addiction. Or maybe not.

I was dazzled by the demonstration gardens. The ornamental gardens were filled with beautiful plants I could never grow here in the desert; especially impressive during this time were the peonies. I could be jealous, but I will just remember that I can grow better watermelons here.

Despite the lack of melons (which they are probably pulling out of a greenhouse now just to spite me), the vegetable gardens were also impressive. There was a disappointing lack of negative signage, but people left the ripe strawberries on the plants just the same. One west Texan, however, did nearly step on the leopard frog under-gardener and then his partner furthered the terror by chasing him down for a photo. She was unsuccessful so all you get is text.

Behind the demonstration water garden, I spied a trailhead for what I understand is a gravel bicycle trail through the Intervale area. I have a sneaking suspicion that even my bikes would love this nursery. "Save us from this garage hell," I hear them cry. "We want to be free."