Early Spring - Annual "who poppin'?" Edition

brain fog b gone

I am constantly being humbled by the garden. The garden is a patient teacher, slowly goading its student (me) to its insightful will by basically giving zero shits about what one thinks they know about natural systems and latin names and other silly stuff like that. The plants know when to grow — they are clocks, they are sex-mad, hungry, sleepy, autonomous and opportunistic entities and my spritzzzing them with the hose when i think they might like it probably has little to no influence on their wake up time. They are snooze button slamming flora.

i am learning, slowly, to be patient and wait for them. like a kid on xmas morning who gets up before everyone else, giddy, only to stare at wrapped presents under the tree for hours in the dark. it is an especially difficult practice in an immature garden, cause let’s face it, there often is not much going on (at least that can be seen). DISCLAIMER: gardens in Tucson, AZ grow on turtle time compared to what one might be used to in say los angeles, what happens in 3-6 months to a Salvia clevelandii in pasadena has taken 2.5 years in downtown tucson. but it’s all good. juliette rings the bell.

this garden is our personal garden. it is a hot mess in many ways, but there is some logic to its mayhem.

The Approach (PHaZE 1)
Phaze0NE is about building the soil structure. the enitre yard was compacted inorganic urban fill. lab tests came back v saline w/ lots of sheet flow during rain events. this is not a scientific process as much as an intuitive and well intentioned tinkering process. the general steps we have taken over the last 3 years have been…

1. restrict vehicular access in back yard (reduce soil mechanical soil compaction)

2. create topography (subtle basins and sunken areas for rainwater capture)

3. mulch 2 hell (the entire yard has 6”+ of (free) arborist wood chip mulch)

4. weed n’ seed (remove invasive weeds and add native flora seed and plantings)

5. chickens (for better or worse these avian angels scratch and shit everywhere)

6. irrigate (drip emitters on select trees/shrubs, rain tank via hose to fill basins)

i’m bad and can’t help myself so i’ve been planting things all over just to see how they grow in different settings, but really this faze1 is about just getting settled and trying to get water (away from the foundation of the house) to saturate the soil on-site and avoid wasteful run-off.

the plants have done a whole lotta nothing really for 3 years, BUT i think this spring might be when they show us what they’ve been cookin down below (root building, i hope). native flora seed mixes have come up with more and more success each season and so far this Spring there are lots of new volunteers all over and in obviously greater quantities assisted from previous plants that had gone to seed themselves. so like, the 1 gallon penstemon parryi i planted now has voluntees coming up in a 10’ radius. the arborist wood chip mulch is starting to noticably break down into a richer humus-y compost and mix with the inorganic soil. the soil beneath the mulch layer stays moist for weeks after a rain and i think that is really helping the seedlings along. earwigs and ants and termites and grubs and rolli-pollis and their fungi friends are very present in the mulch throughout, but especially in basins where moisture pools. it is a good scene. and like the chickens are little back-hoes with their talons excavating and mixing the soup contstantly while adding their poops while they go. too bad they eat most every green thing they can see (they avoid salvias thus far, which is interesting, but makes sense). we have been adding cedar dune fence around planting areas to keep their nibbling beaks at bay, with marginal success. regardless, i think the soil is benefiting from thier putzing.

OK. that’s it. here are photos. i’m just now finally feeling somewhat like functioning human after beening brainfog bed ridden with COVID v.2024 (the sequal) and needed to dust the cobwebs off berfore turning my attention to pressing teaching related needs. now that i can write in somewhat coherent complete sentences again, i will leave you with some images from around the garden and get back to the grading.

peace b w/ u & u & u,
stay healthy,
ceasfire now!

-E

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March 2021. no mulch.

March 2024. mulch! (and drip irrigation on select plants, 2x week)

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and the award for best picutre goes to…

poppy report!

millienial pink.

cholla buds? flowers? hats? wait and see.

100’ of hose from the 1750 Gallon cistern (which is full, so i have to drip it regularly to free up space for any late in the season rains). this parkinsonia florida is about to leaf out!

screwbean mesquite is leafing out. i had to re-plant this tree in situ since the nursery soil mix that it came with was way too organice and the whole tree was not properly seated. i did an experiment were i mudded in a good amount of sandy inorganic fill around the root ball to give it a solid foundation. worked like a charm. tree stakes tree shakes, sa·yo·na·ra.

sus doesn’t want me to put more things in the ground. she is right. we have phazE2 coming someday and that will require propper garden planning. so i’m scratching my itch with potted specimen. looking lively i like to think.

i see you ficus palmeri.

goes to Nacapule Canyon once. potted up this little eco anarchist (green/black) pot my mom made in 2020 with a little Bursera microphylla. Agave murpheyi pups rooting out. found barbed wire centeped pendandt dangling to set the mood.

compost heap v2.0 getting the propper slam dance by these hardcore mother cluckers.

paitently waiting for Julietttttte! to arise.

flowers for mom. <3