The ""Art" of Gardening

   

I was stunned to find out that Plumeria's

love the desert. I joined the Plumeria

Society here and find it makes me a

better gardener in general!

      

I have had a garden since I was in grade school. My German father disliked yard work of any kind and my South Dakota born mother thought it was beneath her. This from a woman who made us read Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette - and tested us no less!

     I managed to eek out a few vegetables and flowers along the fringes of our house. I never forgave my father the year he painted the house and got paint drops all over my garden. Many of the vegetables became inedible. 

     We rented our house in Portland and the landlord provided us with a lawnmower to mow the yard. We were on a corner lot with our house on 67th, a large open space and a duplex on Glisan with a backyard as well. The beast was self propelled and dragged me every week around the yard much to my dad's delight. It meant that he didn't have to do it. Since it rains all the time the grass was green pretty much the whole year. Only a silver thaw or snow relieved me of my duties.

     I had a pretty good "green thumb" and no matter where I lived, there was a garden. When we re-did the entire back yard in our San Gabriel Valley home, I had them build me five 4' x 8' raised garden beds to replace the ground garden I already had. I got more than enough zucchini, other squashes, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and much more.

     They put in an irrigation system but it had to be turned on and off which was a drag if you were gone a few weeks in the summer.

This is typical of all first floor units in my complex.

     When I moved to Palm Springs in January of 2016 I had already become an orchid killer. No matter what I did, both in Alhambra and now Palm Springs, I would get lovely blooms from the plants I bought, they would finally fade away and then die. No matter what I did, I could never get one to survive the initial blooms. In disgust I finally both a plastic one at IKEA. Now and then it gets a bath in the shower.

      When the opportunity came to purchase a condo in the complex where I was renting, I decided to approach the seller and see his unit, behind mine. I was not prepared for the yard it offered. I have yet to see a condo with a yard like this. Even though we had the same inside layout, I had a long narrow concrete patio and he had a yard! Not including his patio, the yard measured about 25 ft. deep and 45 ft. wide. I did have a long narrow patio with a balcony above my bedroom door. There were many succulent and cactus type plants but it was apparent no one had a garden. It had a palm tree, a massive rather rare cactus and  an old, mature lemon tree. I had seen my neighbors back yard years ago but was surprised at how much more space I had. I later learned it was built for the original builders son who lived here for many years before selling it to the board member I purchased it from.

This was the original back yard as it was when I purchased my condo.

     I had two months on my lease left when I purchased my condo so we had to two months to gut and rebuild the kitchen, add fans in each room and for me to get everything painted. Then there was the moving. After that frenzy I had no stomach for what I knew would be another major project - creating a new garden complete with irrigation.

     I was, however, getting ready. UC Riverside has a campus in Palm Desert and offers some great gardening classes open to all. I attended several paying particular attention to growing in the desert. Your summer is our winter. Many plants cannot take the relentless heat. So we plant in October for a harvest in the spring. Weird, no? As I write this it was 111º yesterday, it will be 109º today!

     Since I had brought a plumeria branch with me, I heard about and started attending the local Plumeria Society meetings nearby. As you can see above, they thrive here in the desert. One member has one 20 ft. high. They appear to be just about everywhere. I now have five! They love the heat, hate wet feet and once established can put up with the heat. They love sandy soil and hope you ignore them rather than drown them. I learned much about planting, anything, from them.

     This year I decided the time had come for a garden complete with irrigation. Talking to our maintenance man here at the condo he made suggestions on what could be done and admitted that my unit had flooded. We came close last year when we got an inch of rain in an hour and water lapped at the dining and bedroom doors. The fake wood is cupped from flooding in the past.

     His first step was to put in a French drain so that will never happen again. However, it was done when I was on a trip so I returned to see a huge pile of sand in the yard. I guess the hole was big enough for coffins and then had to be filled with rocks and gravel. The sand came from the hole.

     I returned home to what looked like nothing had happened. However, he replaced the pavers and, I discovered, had also installed the irrigation system that was on a timer! I could just imagine myself watering three times a day out here when it gets up to 122º like it did four times last year. Now I could get 4 emitters to a line coming up through the soil or along the patio walls! I could put them in the pots that needed water and near plants in the garden knowing that now they would get three short waterings a day. I can adjust it of course but for now we will see how it works.

    One of the things I learned was that you could use concrete blocks for a raised bed garden. I liked the idea because it wouldn't rot, there were no bad chemicals to get into plants and it would be easy to move or change. A trip to Home Depot for costs also showed that you could get not only dead grey but pleasant tan blocks, not that different from the stucco at the condo.

   The only bad thing was that the only dirt we had was, well, sand, the same sand that came out of the new French drain. So reluctantly I had him put the sand in around the irrigation risers and then before I planted added amendments to the soil though I am sure it will not be enough.

     It would have to do for now as I knew that I was taking a chance planting a garden this late in the year. As you can see (right), the irrigation is in place, the sand filled in the raised portion of the wall and after adding amendments and putting the irrigation nozzles  in place felt I was ready to plant. This was in May.

   I bought corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, large and cherry, several squash and watermelon along with chili and sweet peppers at the nursery. From seed I tried green beans, pole and bush, corn, and several flowers but other than the corn and beans the others have struggled. Then something, who knows what began eating the pole beans. I have had some luck with soap, oil and water sprays but whatever they are, they are relentless. 

     As you can, the back yard seems well organized and things are growing. The corn is to the top of the wall. The corns seeds are not all that far behind.

   

     The last thing I wanted to do was to compost all my scraps. I have been amazed at how much green debris there is from cooking. I had another area to the right of my gate of dirt that I could also brick in and look for an easy way to compost. I found two plastic bins that are adjustable on Amazon and have started putting table and kitchen scraps in it. Looking online to see what you could compost I was startled to find newspapers, used paper towels, kleenix and other items were also suitable besides green items. They all needed to heat up and break down of course, but already the volume of what I throw out has decreased substantially. I am trying to get our maintenance man to put grass clippings in now and then. It sure makes it easier to get rid of leaves, weeds and other things you otherwise would have to drag over to the dumpster, that's for sure.

     What happens next? I really don't know. I am keeping a kind of mental record of this first try. Some things seem to be fine, others, mostly due to insects feasting, are struggling. I wanted to plant flowers to ward off some of these problems but can't find what I want and they are struggling growing from seed despite being planted first in seed pots.

     However, now that I have started this adventure I realize that gardening, just like painting or drawing or doing any of the other arts is an art that is every bit as intensive of our attention. As the weather heats up I will hide more and more in the A/C of the condo and nurse my new garden in the early morning and evening, avoiding the heat of the day!

     I will add updates as something more happens.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!