Learning to garden in the desert…

The desert is an extreme environment… hot, dry, and possibly the worst, windy… not a breeze, a severe hot dry wind that tears at leaves and desiccates all… 

There are plants, local plants that have adapted to “the place” but as a human, there are plants that I like/love/treasure which are not locally adapted which I would like to grow, here, where I live, in the desert.

The house came with some landscaping front and back, desert adapted plants… but the side yard, maybe 12’ wide and 60’ long is a blank slate.   There is room to garden but it is a limited space, a challenging space…  There is a covered lanai protected, paved opening onto the center of the side yard.  A covered space with a table, chairs, and soon a overhead fan… 

The side yard is oriented roughly north/south… so it is shaded from the worst of the sun… and the worst of the wind, but within the space the wind creates eddies and swirls.  

I want a lemon tree… I want raised beds…. Maybe a lime...  Some decorative likely planted mostly in woody herbs, others with vegetables… Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and melons… all heat friendly but all still difficult in this place of extremes.  In the center between the lemon and herbs and perennials at one end, and the vegetables at the other I want a water feature and a fire pit…

It is challenging my knowledge of plants and how to care for them…  near San Francisco, I struggled with cold weather making it hard to grow tomatoes… Here it may be too hot in the summer for a tomato to set fruit…  In SF a hard frost was near unknown… Here frost is an issue… we can get snow… and will get a occasional killing frost… The lemon tree will get a set of c-9 clear Christmas lights as a heating unit for very cold weather… 

As I plan and work on creating a design, I have started some plants in pots… two tomatoes… (both cherry tomatoes both with fruit set) rosemary, parsley (flat leaf and curly!) and thyme and basil.  There are geraniums and other ornamentals… Geraniums seem particularly adapted… They are an easy plant… a favorite of my Grandmother in Pasadena (aka an old lady plant), and common in Tina’s Peru… now common in my yard in Henderson.

Today I picked up more very large pots… tarragon and oregano plants, geraniums in three colors…

I have the beginning of a plan… dividing the space into three areas… 

The front most having two corrugated galvanized planters, (already purchased) a square one with a lemon, and maybe nasturtiums in the planter… around the edges, outside the planter I want a wild planting… softening the edges…   the edges… the second long and narrow… eventually mostly planted in perennial herbs, and maybe a artichoke… but this first year with some sunflowers and cucumbers as well.

The center a landscape with a water feature (hot tub or just a fountain and pond), a fire pit (likely portable, wood burning) and large potted plants… a place for the BBQ… portable seating… (California friends have suggested an evening gathering… I need the outdoor space, the fire pit… )

The rear will be two large raised wood beds… vegetables… possibly some flowers… it may require shade overhead… 

Today’s project (beyond successful plant shopping) was to dig trenches for the drip irrigation lines… I had them roughly dug when I encountered a water line… a drip irrigation line… on a existing timer…  by some strange bit of luck, I didn’t damage it… just found it and traced it across the front portion of the garden… So instead of trying to dig a trench for a new irrigation line, I am cutting into the existing line… making all much easier… A trip to the hardware store found the parts needed to cut into the “found” water line…  along with a price list for soil and decomposed granite for around the galvanized planters…. So progress was made… 

As a result of the water line “find” and in search of plants and inspiration, late today I visited an independent nursery (Star nursery), Home Depot, and Lowes… I found herbs and information about soil delivery at the nursery, large pots and some geraniums at Home Depot, more plants and irrigation parts and Lowes… where I found myself in line with a new neighbor… new houses lead to visits to hardware stores and chance meetings at hardware stores or home centers as well as visits to desert gardens and research and such… 

Let the gardening begin.... 

Winter thoughts

Winter has descended on Southern Nevada…   It’s a cold grey day…  with a high of 47 degrees today… but the it will top 60 all next week…

Reports from the north suggest there is snow in Carson City, more in Reno and lots more on Donner Pass…  Here in the south it is all about protecting frost sensitive plants…   On the eastern seaboard they are in the mitts of a named storm…  We forget how good we have it here.  Still, once acclimated to summer heat, 47 degrees, especially with a wind, (and god knows we have wind) is cold… so we reserve our right to complain.

The new house is weather tight, so am hiding inside… thinking about outdoor chores…  Playing Music… And the music recalls an issue..  

These words from Mark Knofler’s  Baloney again playing on Pandora…

We don't eat in no white restaurants
We're eating in a car
Baloney again, baloney again
We don't sleep in no white hotel bed
We're sleeping in a car, baloney again
You don't strut around in these country towns
You best stay in the car
Look on ahead don't stare around
You best stay where you are
You're a long way from home, boy
Don't push your luck too far
Baloney again

Said to have been inspired by an old black guy who Mark knew who explained that touring the Southern states in a choir required a certain sacrifice to segregation.

Sadly, there was a recent time where the color of your skin meant you COULD NOT… could not stay in hotels… could not eat in restaurants… Here in Las Vegas, Sammy Davis Jr could not stay at the hotels where he preformed… instead he had to stay at a west side guest house… a boarding house, a kind of ethnic B&B.

We have one preserved guest house, evolving into a museum the Historical Harrison Guest house.  In a world where we are accused of having too many house museums this would be one with a special message, speaking to an issue of local history.

In the time of President Obama, it is easy to forget or deny that there once widespread segregation.  As an old white guy I like to think that is now somewhat past that issue… I am not sure if I am write, but it’s a nice thought… But if not completely, but moving there… we need to remember… remember that in the past it was not a kinder gentler world…  and the Harrison Center might be that place to remember here in Southern Nevada…

Back to the weather… even when grey in southern Nevada it is not grey… the cold skys lead to ice clouds, and the high winds create wonderful patterns...  we are surrounded by mountains, and they along with broken clouds create spectacular sunrises and sunsets…  both photos from the library window… 

New Years thoughts…

I was invited to a dinner party on Dec 30^th… a wonderful dinner party, with good food, and good wine, and  lots of (good) interesting conversations… The kind of conversations that make you feel like all is worth it… From a connection from Nevada Arts… 

The hostess handed out a sheet with questions… it was not clear if we were to answer them or just discuss them… at our table one answered… the rest discussed… and one question resonated… “What Did You Change this Year….”  Paraphrasing… I didn’t bring the sheet home… and didn’t transcribe it… 

And, I realize that the answer was that I remade myself…  At the end of last year (2015) I was in a failing marriage, living in the San Francisco Bay area… Retired… a house husband serving as cleaning lady and cook… and now, in late December 2016, now as I write this in early 2017, I am living in Nevada, in my new home, with a job I love… I have found new friends… friends that invite me to dinner parties… Fiends to go to lunch with… maybe friends to go on a date with… but still have the family… family in SF, in Tucson, in Virginia… Family… 

I have lost things… my close connection to the Bay Area… to friends there… but have gained things here in Nevada to compensate.

New Years was at home… but not just at home… at my nearby neighbors… they of Philippine heritage…. With Philippine food… spectacular food with their friends, now neighbors… and now I have new neighbors across the alley… My block is evolving into a neighborhood.

In the park across the street, there was a last 5K race of 2016, then a first 5K race of 2017…  all racing up the street in front of the house… 

At (near) Midnight the “Strip” and the entire valley erupted in fireworks… all visible from the balcony… All of concern to the dogs, my roommates… For the first time Miss Elliott slept on the bed, not beside… and she is not good at sharing… so I and Peaches had to work around her… finding our spaces to sleep about the dog…

Today I cut down cheap Ikea book cases… I set up the stereo… I unpacked boxes and set up shelves in the garage…  

There is more to do… Assembling the Ikea book cases… work benches in the garage… blinds for the house… landscaping… and at some point I have to go back to work…

Reports to follow… 

Randy

Back Home in Nevada

Having traveled to Tucson for a wonderful Christmas celebration with nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great nephews and brothers and sisters in laws (my sister-in-law Toby is a charter member of the “out-laws” those members of the greater Smitt clan who are in-laws rather than direct descendants including myself… we have our own union and everything) and misc. other family and possible family and friends of family, Monday morning it was time to head home to Nevada.

I got up at what I thought was early, but was in fact not… for while Nevada is on Pacific Time, Arizona is on Mountain time, and it was an hour later than expected or that my internal clock identified.   

A shower and a cup of hotel coffee later, finally, the dogs were loaded, with their baggage (their suitcase containing dog bowls, a water bowl, and food was larger and heavier than mine, which only containing clothing and a toothbrush and such…) and we were on the road at 7:33… (a.m., I wasn’t that late)  Northbound for Nevada… I had picked up gas the night before, so in the glorius words of

I didn’t make it far (28 miles, 8:00) before I found a place to explore… the Pima Air Park… a place commercial aircraft come for storage, but also to die… a field full of commercial aircraft… Delta was particularly well represented, as were light blue 747’s that I suspect came from Korean Airlines… there was one TWA 747 seen… It was particularly tattered…  This was a place where some planes are sold, refurbished and repainted, while others suffer the fate of so many wonderful machines… the good parts are removed, and remainder is scrapped.   One 747, freshly painted for “National” was fired up… likely a ground test… it would escape…  The site included a picnic area, dormitories, and a motel… at least according to signs… several of which stated that roads were closed... (luckly, not my path)

Beyond the Air Park were cotton fields… now harvested with wisps of cotton remaining on the plants… My childhood memories include cotton fields and cotton gins outside Bakersfield on the way to the Kern River… several photos were taken.

I was back on I-10 northbound by 8:23… a 8 mile detour… only to encounter a particularly nasty truck accident near Red Rock… one semi had rear-ended another.  One trailer damaged the cab of another demolished…

49 miles out I reached Picacho Peak… again I exited, looking for any evidence of a Civil War battle, the western most fought… The battle of Picacho Peak was fought here on April 15, 1862…  

In February 1862, the “Arizona Rangers” (at least half Texans, others from what is now New Mexico) totaling maybe 100 men, had raised the Confederate flag over Tucson… they were a off shoot of the force under General Sibley, which attempted to take New Mexico for the South (unsuccessfully).  In April the California Cavalry marched east to counter the invasion… the line of battle that day was likely only 10 confederated against 12 Union cavalry.   The Union lost 3 men, including their commander, while the south suffered two men captured.  I found little evidence on the ground… as might have been expected from such a significant conflict.

 I returned to the Interstate...

In Phoenix I detoured to visit a hobby shop run by friends…  They are 4 blocks off the interstate…  I may have bought a locomotive… then back on the road… 

A bit before Wickenburg we (dogs and I) stopped at a rest area… the girls needed to rest and walk about.  A few miles later in Wickenburg I thought about stopping for fast food, but the lines were monumental, and hunger lost out to the need to proceed northward.  Wickenburg is home to a couple of traffic circles… which work well if motorist understand the system, but today the road is full of those unfamiliar, and so they are a place of confusion… 

Beyond Wickenburg, there is snow along the highway in the shadows… Snow likely from the 24^th when I was south bound along the same road… Snow was visible up higher on the plateaus, hills and mesas.  I tried to take a photo but the phone, my camera for the trip was uncooperative… 

A bit further on at Wikieup (home of Snoopy on a rocket…) I stopped for gas… fuel that would carry me home… I was now back in the Joshua Tree desert…  

The trip beyond was uneventful… on to I-40 westward to Kingman where I choose Historic Rt-66 along Andy Devine Blvd instead of the interstate… then northward… past Santa’s Land and Cloride… the view today very different without the storms of two days before… Dropping into the canyon of the Colorado River, then across and back home in Nevada.

Back in Nevada, traffic in Boulder City was terrible… I, with local knowledge took Industrial to avoid the worst traffic at the corner, rejoining the highway near the railroad museum… Just after 3:30 I crested Railroad Pass, and took the off-ramp for Boulder Highway… I stopped at Smith’s Market for supplies, then home… (411 miles later) where I found the Christmas lights off… the sensor misbehaving… I fixed the lights, checked the mail, brought the trash cans in and took a deep breath… 

I was (am) home.

Heading south for Christmas

Christmas is a time to travel to see friends and family… so early (or not that early) Saturday, Christmas Eve, the dogs and I hit the road southbound, heading for Tucson Arizona…

We had run the last of the Pajama Trains the evening before… and of course the locomotive broke down as the second and last train was to leave… we fired up a back up locomotive, and made the run, only a little late… Note to self; We know what the first project will be on Tuesday when I return to work… 

It was a cold damp cloudy morning, threatening rain… not the quick violent flash flood inducing rain that is common in desert summers, but instead a continual all day rain…  The kind of rain common in Northern California, but thanks to the Sierra, rarely found in Southern Nevada.  Tradition suggest I might call it a dark and stormy day… 

Heading out of town, I grabbed a coffee at McDonalds in Boulder City…  across the street from the railroad, but didn’t stop...  A few minutes and only 10 miles later, a bit before 9:00, and only 21 miles from home I crossed the Tillman bridge and the Colorado River into Arizona…  The clouds were low, and there was snow on the mountains, mostly lost in the clouds…  As soon after crossing the border I started to see Joshua trees… I was no longer in the Las Vegas Valley, but in a different desert…  The road, Hwy 93…  was in poor condition… there were potholes, and no shoulder…  It felt like a minor secondary road, but there was too much traffic…   Soon it started to rain.  At first a mist, but eventually just rain… with wind… 

North of Kingman I passed the sad remains of Santa’s Land… a one time road side amusement park, now abandoned…  Little remained beyond a couple of buildings and a sign… A sad sight indeed on Christmas Eve.   I stopped and took a couple of pictures… I needed a jacket and a hat.  It was cold and wet… 

By Kingman the rain was heavy, and the roads in town were flooded…  I didn’t take any time to wander, but instead hopped on I-40 eastbound, climbing towards Flagstaff.  Lighted freeway signs were warning of an accident ahead and heavy snow…  It continued to rain…  

Just before the Hwy 93 turnoff the rain changed… as the signs had promised it was snowing… not yet sticking, but snowing…  Just in time I took Hwy 93 south, towards a lower elevation…  A sign on the highway proclaimed “Future I-11 Corridor”  as I dodged potholes…  I saw my first Saguaro catus of the trip… still a different kind of desert, then soon after a sign saying that this was the “Joshua Tree Parkway”...  Along the Joshua Tree Parkway, in Wikieup Arizona I paused at a unique sculpture… Snoopy and his desert wandering brother Spike riding a rocket Slim Pickens style… Because nothing says this is an interesting place like a comic book dog on a rocket… 

The rain continued, and by now the normally dry desert washer were carrying water, in most cases a trickle, but in some a mini maelstrom of muddy angry water…  As the elevation dropped, and the land flattened the desert was awash in standing water…  

Driving through Phoenix was slow… Hwy 93 is just a city street with traffic signals and cross traffic…  You pass by the gated and safe Sun City, then though industrial areas with auto body shops, auto auctions and likely if not Christmas Eve, good taco trucks.

Finally onto I-10, in the rain, with crazy drivers trying to go too fast, and the visitors trying to figure out where they are, driving too slow and suddenly changing lanes as they figure out they are in the wrong place… It was a challenging mess to navigate.  

Now south of Phoenix, on what is normally a fast drive… but it is still raining, now raining harder, with high winds and the road is now awash, and everyone’s tires are throwing water in the air, creating a near whiteout.  The big trucks are particularly bad… their sprays of water hit with the force of a fire hose,  scaring drivers and seemingly pushing you sideways towards the shoulder.  It was a slow drive.

The storm finally breaks as I reach Tucson… just ahead the line of clouds end, and there is sunlight peaking under… but it was a tease, for the storm was moving south, and it soon caught up when I stopped… 

I found my hotel, then went in search of some supplies… I was out of dog poop bags… I found the needed bags, then picked up some other goodies in time to check in and make it to Jay’s house…  Of course I had forgotten the time change at the Arizona border… so instead of early I was just on time to go to dinner… at least its an hour I will get back tomorrow when north bound… 

Now, its time for family, and a deep breath…