New Steps Project

Shortly after we moved into our house, the back steps began settling. And then settled some more. In the end, we had a set of three steps, each with a different vertical height. For the uninitiated, it was almost always a cause for stumbling. Not only was this dangerous, it was an eye-sore.

Sure, we could have some guys come in and "mud jack" the steps back to where they should be, but I decided the steps were ugly enough to be replaced. Or simply buried, which is what I opted to do. So one of my projects this summer was to build some bigger, more attractive steps around the existing steps, and to provide a more consistent height for each step.

I decided to bury the steps because: (a) I didn't know what to do with all the concrete I pulled out of there, and (b) I didn't have much spare soil to fill in the steps. Leaving the steps in place made sense.

After redesigning the pond, I was left with many large cement blocks which could provide the step material. First I made the lower ring of steps around the existing steps.

Then I built up this layer with soil and other left-over blocks and built the second layer. More filling and the landings were covered with left-over flagstone to match the patio.

The resulting steps are not perfect, but they are much better than the original cement steps, and now the height of each step is a consistent 6 inches.

Sunset Beauty

On June 12 of this year, Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano blew its top, offering many locations around the world beautiful violet and lavender sunsets. I haven't witnessed any of those yet here on the high plains, but we do get our fair share of beautiful sunsets. The best ones happen this time of year when the sun sets more to the north, which gets it away from Pikes Peak and allows it to drop lower into the sky.

Here are a few shots taken within the past week from my back yard. These were taken on three separate nights. Enjoy!

Winter Scallions

Last summer I tried to squeeze in a second crop of scallions, since we eat so many of those buggers. But I got them out too late, and they did not mature before winter came. So I left them, thinking I would dig out their wilted, dead carcasses come spring time.

I'll be damned if those things didn't survive all winter long! They even grew. Slowly, but they grew. This picture was taken in April:

Yeah, they don't look like much, but let's see how you look after spending all winter outside.

A couple weeks ago we finally harvested them. I have to admit that they were a little tough, but after grilling them with a blast of olive oil, they weren't too bad.

This winter I am going to experiment with growing scallions in the greenhouse. Daytime temperatures are much warmer in there, but the nighttime temperatures aren't much different than outside because the greenhouse offers little in the way of insulation. However, with proper watering, I think I will be able to actually grow some edibles throughout the winter.

Other plants might work as well. A couple years ago I left a parsley plant out all winter, and it also survived. Parsley is biennial, though, so it didn't live past the next summer.

Do any readers out there know of other vegetables I can grow throughout the winter? Spinach? Cabbage? Please comment and let us know!

Robin, or Robin Hood?

I love birds. Really I do. I find their singing and chirping relaxing and it's enjoyable to watch them flit around. But, dang it, those buggers would strip my garden bare if I let them.

The worst offenders are the robins. They don't seem to eat bird seed, of which I put out plenty. But they love my strawberries. I put a net over the plants and yesterday one robin managed to get inside the net. Then it couldn't get out! Its foot had gotten tangled up in the webbing. I ran out there with scissors and cut the netting around the foot so it could get out. I'm sure it still has the netting around its foot like an anklet. Serves it right, stealing my berries. (This was probably the same klutzy bird that blundered into my window well as a baby chick and couldn't get out. I had to fish it out with a pond skimmer.)

Today a black bird ate the only two cherries I had on my young cherry tree. It nibbled all around and left the pit still attached to the stem. Didn't even say thank you.

So my questions to readers out there are: do I need to protect my blueberry bushes? This is the first year we have any berries, and they are still green.
And are there any better ways to keep birds out of my berries? I don't want the birds to leave, I just want them to leave my plants alone!

Wildlife Galore

Wow, such an animal parade wandering through our little neck of the high plains! The pond I'm working on isn't even done and it's already attracted a frog.

To be honest, this guy showed up when the original pond was still in place. He didn't actually "show" up because I never saw him. But I sure heard him. All night long this poor guy croaked his heart out, yet never did he attract a mate. I searched for him in the grass and bog garden, but his sound was hard to follow. I believe there is a evolutionary reason for this. (I also read that when threatened a frog will always hop to the left. Or the right. One of those.)

So now, many weeks after the pond disappeared, I see him in the new pond. It's not even a pond. More of a pool (think kiddie pool). He looked stuck, as the steep walls offered him no avenue of escape. I put in a large rock, and an hour later he vanished. If he hangs around, I will call him Houdini.

What's interesting to ponder is how he got to my yard. There is a swamp/pond behind the houses across the street. As the bird flies, or frog walks, it is a good 100 yards away and a drop of 20 feet from my front door. So this frog decides to leave the swamp, climb up a 20 foot slope, cross the front and back yards of a neighbor, cross the street, work its way around my house to the backyard, climb up several steps, and ta da! Another pond! I still can't fathom that journey or why.

Hats off to Houdini. May he live several years and drive my neighbors crazy with his bureeps.

A Duck Parade

It's actually quite rare to see any wildlife in our neighborhood. We have no squirrels or rabbits. Birds are relatively scarce (due to a lack of mature trees) and no deer (thank goodness for my garden). All we get are the occasional fox and now ducks!

While out working in the yard, I kept hearing this "cheep! cheep!" Then the dog started acting weird (ok, more weird than normal). And there they were, marching down the sidewalk.

According to the woman who had been following them, they started at the neighborhood park where there is a reflection pool (a very shallow pond), about a ½ mile away. My guess the chicks hatched up there and now they were looking for a new home.

This woman following them was doing what most humans do when they see wildlife: they try to feed it. What is it about wildlife that makes people want to feed it? She had a bag of something that looked like Cheetos and was tossing them at the ducks. Thankfully the ducks ignored her and the junk food she was trying to force upon them. (I wonder if she was a nutritionist? Heh heh. See this)

So they marched. There is a neighborhood "swamp" behind the next row of houses, and this is where she was leading her chicks. I had to stop traffic as they crossed the road, but once they headed down the slope towards the marshy grasses, all was well.

Strawberry and Greens Harvest

The first of the June strawberries are in! And, as in previous years, the fruits are weird looking. As you can see, they are small and more oblong than circular. Despite their somewhat grotesque appearance, they are very tasty, both a little sour and sweet, and juicey. The ones we have been getting in the store are large and dry.

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Our other early harvest are some of salad greens. Spinach and arugula were sown directly outside on May 7, and they are now ready for the salad bowl. I had my first home grown salad, with a sprinkling of our strawberries, yesterday. Delicious!

Here is what one of the vegetable beds looks like now. Up top is the spinach and the arugula is next. The middle of the bed is mache, another one of our favorite salad greens. In front of that, and barely visible, are bell pepper plants, which have just started sprouting. 

Early Summer Gallery

It is an amazing thing when the yard slowly comes to life after the long, cold winter on the high plains. It's easy to forget what the trees and plants look like. Spring and early summer growth always appeal to me most because the colors are more vibrant. Please enjoy these photos, which showcase some of the plants gracing our landscape.

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These are volunteer violas that have migrated  from the neighbor's yard.

The ugly irrigation tubing is an unfortunate necessity in the arid West. I try to bury it, but it always works it way back to the surface.

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This is the inside of my greenhouse. The growth on the ground is spearmint.

2 years ago I planted some mint seeds in a small pot. Some of the plants flowered and went to seed before I could stop it. Now look at it.

Obviously, mint can be quite invasive. But it is probably my most successful crop, and I hardly ever care for it. I walk all over it and never water it. This plant has survived 2 winters.

I harvest it from time to time, using it in recipes and teas. I plan on trying to grow it outside the greenhouse and see if it will spread as a ground cover.

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I thought the colors here were wonderful. These are young pine cones on our blue spruce (which is actually green).

When cones are this young, they have this reddish-purplish color. Combine that with the magnificent blue sky and the green needles, and you end up with a great photo.

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Although I say I am not a flower person, I do have my favorites. Top of my list are johnny jump ups. Not only are their colors gorgeous, but these tough little guys survive all winter. I will often find blossoms poking out through the snow in February.

The flowers are also edible! Drop a few into a butternut squash soup and it looks fabulous.

We planted some seeds a couple years ago, and we just let them reseed themselves. Now they are all over the yard. This particular bunch have grown very tall and like to nestle up against the same blue spruce
pictured above.

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Most people think all columbines are blue and white. Not so. Here are some red ones.

They are a bit finicky about where they grow. They tend to like some shade, so I have this plant positioned so that it gets mostly morning sun and that's it.

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There are lots of things crammed into the back corner of the yard. In the upper left you see the corner of the greenhouse.

Next to it is a pear tree. This is very healthy Bartlett specimen which I hope will fruit soon.

Then there is one of my 4x4 raised garden beds. It is virtually impossible to grow anything in the native soil here, so the best approach is to build on top of the native soil. I fill the beds with potting soil, since these beds are pretty much huge pots.

The next tree is a flowering plum. As the name suggests, there will be no fruit, but it does have gorgeous flowers in the spring. The purplish foliage color offers a nice contrast to all the greenery.

Along the ground are our strawberry plants. These also do well in the high plains. They are the June bearing variety, and true to their name, they are currently loaded with berries. Soon I will have to put down the netting because I can tell the local robins are waiting for them to ripen.

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This is one of the lupines in the front yard. Their blossoms don't last long, but as you can see, they are quite stunning.

We have a variety of colors that look really nice. Pink, white, blue, etc.

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Here is another lupine, just to show the subtle difference in colors.

These plants also self seed and we have little seedlings all over the yard, even down in the basement window wells. However, these young plants haven't flowered yet. I don't know how old they have to be before they can put on a show like this.

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This last photo just shows that woolly thyme can flower. I had read that it is very rare to flower, so here's an example of such a rarity.

Now if only Bigfoot would walk through the yard...

Pond Update

The pond, as it was, is no more. Although tempted by the thought of raising my own trout, I decided to get out of the fish business. However, I love the sound of gurgling water, so the new design is to greatly reduce the pond to a small pool to catch a cascading stream.

Here is what the pond looked like while being dismantled. I had a difficult time keeping water out of it because of all the rain we've had this spring.

I had to use the pump constantly to get the water out. I eventually ruined the pump with all the grit and sand, which probably chewed up the motor.

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As you can see in this next photo, the pond has been filled in, requiring 3 tons of fill dirt. The dog is quite surprised, as hours ago this area used to be a 4-foot hole. (Or maybe she's just interested in the foreign goodies that came in the fill dirt.)

In the bottom right, you can see the small pool filling with water. This is a couple feet deep in the middle with 2 shallow shelves where I can set some potted water plants.

The dirt area where the dog is will serve as an extension to the patio, complete with a raised fire pit structure and some seating. To add interest and depth, I decided to keep this area lower than the main patio, kind of like a sunken living room. This not only reduced the amount of fill dirt needed, but it maximized the stream flow by allowing the pool to be lower.

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Here is another shot, this time looking towards the stream. As you can see, the construction of the stream is also a work in progress.

The preformed pool can hold 90 gallons of water. I am pumping it up to another preformed header pool, which holds about 5 gallons. This water then gurgles down a series of steps I built underneath the old pond liner.

In the end, the black liner will be all covered up with rocks. I am using left-over moss rock from previous projects and small river rock. I am discovering to my delight that when the river rock is wet, there are some very beautiful colors and patterns.

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This picture shows the stream portion. It is not much to look at now, but it does sound wonderful while running. A video with audio will be posted as soon as it is all done.

The challenge will be to cover up all the black plastic liner and the header pool, while still keeping the look natural.

I would like to tuck some plants here and there, all to make it look natural.

More photos to follow as the project progresses.

Day Camping

Since we're still bringing our landscape back to life after the long winter, my wife and I had a lot to do over the weekend, and we didn't want to take up an entire weekend backpacking. But we were itching to get out in the wilds and away from the house. So we did the next best thing: "day camping".

The idea is quite simple. You load up your backpacks, hike out to a pretty spot somewhere in the wilderness, set up camp, and then relax. Perhaps explore around the area, have some tea, read a book, or take a nap. Fix an early dinner, break camp, and then head back to the car.

(Trail heading towards the hills)

As silly as it sounds, it is really enjoyable. The key is to pack just what you need (or want). We did pack a tent, just in case an afternoon thunder-boomer rolled in. We brought our sleeping pads for camp lounging. We brought a stove and cookware for dinner and afternoon tea. What we didn't have to bring was night-time "winter" clothing, sleeping bags, change of clothing, or lots of food. This extra space in our packs allowed us to bring other items that would be foolhardy on a real backpack trip, like a hefty pair of binoculars and a large hardback book.

(Valley below us in the Lost Creek Wilderness)

We really didn't do much but relax and explore the immediate surroundings of camp.

We returned to camp for a quick dinner. I experimented with one of my backpacking creations which didn't turn out that well, but I choked it down nonetheless. After striking the tent and packing up, we hiked back down to the car.

(View from atop Lizard Rock)

All in all it was a fun and relaxing trip. I recommend those who are short on time but long on cabin fever to give this a try.

Take better care of your lawn

Have a lawn? Although I don't have an exact statistic, my guess is 80% or more of homes have some lawn. What is sad is how many of these home owners don't know how to properly and efficiently manage their crop of grass.

I have lambasted the standard American lawn as one of the greatest wastes of our society (see this article). Personally, I think they should all be ripped out and replaced with basketball courts. Even a swimming pool would use less water in the long run. But if you had to have a lawn, if you can't live without your crop of grass, then please do it right!

There is lots of crime in my neighborhood. Not crimes against home owners, but crimes against their lawns. Lawn abuse is an awful problem, and I see terrible wastes. If there was a lawn police, there would citations galore!

(Time to mow)

A Cut Above the Rest

The biggest abuse I see on lawns is improper cutting height. Most people cut their grass too short. Here on the high plains, the sun can be brutal. Not only are we closer to the sun, but the air is thinner with fewer clouds, giving us more UV radiation. The suns cooks the grass mercilessly. It's not so much the grass blades you should worry about, but the roots. The roots are just like us: When they get hot, they get thirsty. When they can't get the water they need, they become stressed and suffer.

When you cut your grass too short, you are exposing the roots to more of that punishing sunlight. The grass blades aren't there just to look pretty. They are there to collect sunlight for photosynthesis, which gives the roots life. In the process of collecting this sunlight, the grass blades are also shading the roots, keeping them cooler. Cutting too short makes your grass more susceptible to heat and drought, and forces you to water more.

People should go for about 2½ to 3 inches in length for their grass. Yes, that's the length after cutting. For many, this means putting your mower on its highest setting. You are not maintaining a putting green. A longer blade will make your grass healthier and lusher. You may think this will cause you to cut more often, but I haven't seen this as the case. I typically cut my grass every 12 days or so, whereas my neighbor cuts his every week, like clockwork. He also cuts it down to about 1 inch, often "scalping" his hilly spots.

Water the Roots, Not the Blades

The other abuse I notice is shallow watering. For healthy grass, you want the roots to go deep into the soil. This is true for any plant, especially trees. When a plant develops shallow roots, it suffers more from heat and becomes totally dependent on surface water. In the West, adequate and reliable surface water must be artificially provided by you. If you miss a day or two, your plants will suffer. Deep watering encourages deep roots.

Sometimes I see people walking around their yard with a hose, squirting a little water here and a little water there. Guess what? This does absolutely nothing except moisten the grass blades. Most of that water will evaporate. For a deep watering, you need to saturate the soil down about 6 - 12 inches. How long to water depends on many factors, like your soil type and watering system. Experts say you should water for an hour, sometimes two. While this may seem like a lot a water (it is), remember that deep watering allow you to water less frequently.

Which leads to the other watering abuse I see often: Watering too frequently. As mentioned above, shallow watering results in shallow roots, which require more watering. Roots are lazy; they won't plunge deep into the soil if they don't have to. If you keep watering them every day, they won't, which means you have to water every day, else your grass will suffer. Not only is your grass unhealthy from this watering pattern, but you get a constantly damp surface, which encourages weeds, fungus, bugs, and mushrooms.

Be Smart with Smart Irrigation

Some homeowners take advantage of irrigation systems with timers. I know of people who set their timer once in spring and turn it off in fall. Throughout the summer they never look at it. Certainly if you go on vacation, you should rely on your timer. But if you are home, why do this? Your watering schedule should not be based solely on time. Your grass is not like some 500 pound gorilla sitting in your yard; you don't look at your watch and say, "Oops, it's time to feed Mongo." Your lawn's watering needs are dependent on weather, not time. Lots of wind and sunshine and low humidity will mean higher water needs. Cloudy days or rain means lower needs. And as you know in the West, the weather changes daily, so you can't stick to a regular watering schedule.

Here is what I've learned from the experts, and my lawn does quite well. I wait until my grass is really thirsty. You might say it's on the brink of death. Then I water it. As cruel as it sounds, this is really the best technique for your grass. You know the old cliché: "What doesn't kill us will only make us stronger." This is true for your grass.

So how do you know this "brink of death"? Wait until your grass begins to wilt. It might take on a bluish-green tint, and footsteps don't spring back immediately. During this wait, you might get lucky and you get some rain. Rainwater is always better than city water, so take advantage of it when you can. But when no rain has been seen for awhile, and my grass is on its last gasp, I water.

I have an irrigation system with a timer, but I shut off the automatic watering when I am home. When I determine that the grass needs watering, I set the timer to go off the next morning around 4:00 am and have it run for 30 minutes (I have a small yard with lots of spray heads, so it doesn't take an hour to saturate). Early morning watering is best because that's when the wind is light and the air is at its maximum humidity level. The idea is to saturate your soil with the least amount of water being blown away or evaporating.

After I water, I let several days pass before I watch for the Grim Reaper again.

With deep, infrequent watering, I water on average every 7 or 8 days. I say "average" because sometimes it's 4 days, and sometimes it's 2 weeks. With monsoons or hot, dry spells, it is impossible to have a set watering schedule. I water when I need to, and don't water when I don't need to. I save water and have healthy, beautiful grass. It's that simple.

We've had a fairly wet spring this year and I have only watered the lawn once this year. In contrast, my neighbor waters every day. Sure enough, he has mushrooms and plenty of runoff, which goes into my yard. I'd tell him, but I kind of like all the frogs and dragonflies that have gathered there. Mongo likes to play in the water, too.

Waste Not Want Not

When I see trash bags full of grass clippings, I see a tremendous waste. The EPA estimates that yard waste amounts to 18% of the garbage that goes into landfills. That figures increases to 50% during the growing season. What's worse, this "waste" is free, organic fertilizer, thrown away by ignorant home owners.

So why do you bag? Many people like the look of a perfectly manicured and clean lawn. Some don't like the unsightly piles of clippings. Others believe that uncollected clippings cause thatch. And everyone else does it simply because that's what they've always done, without thinking about it.

Unless you are a museum curator or a golf course groundskeeper, I invite you to rethink your formal garden with its perfect symmetry and manicured lawn and hedges. Since the 1990's, the trend is to have yards look like they want to look--natural. Stop following the style of Victorian lawns.

If you cut your grass and get huge piles of clippings, I have to ask why are you cutting so much? You should never cut off more than a third of your grass. A mulching lawn mower will chop up your clippings into tiny bits and spew them back down into your lawn. These bits decompose and provide a slow-release source of nitrogen. It also builds up your soil, improving its water-holding ability.

Grass clippings also do not cause thatch. This myth has been debunked years ago. Thatch is formed when dead roots and stems build up faster than can be decomposed.

Although the clippings provide some nitrogen to your grass, your lawn could benefit with a little extra fertilizer. I usually give my spring lawn a light sprinkling of fertilizer to jump start it after the long winter. After that, I put the spreader away and let the clippings work their magic for the rest of the summer. My eventual goal is to retire the fertilizer completely and rely on "compost tea", once I figure out how to adequately distribute the liquid.

The only time I ever catch my clippings is when I have been away, or the rain has been nonstop, so when I finally get a chance to mow, it is already very high. Even with mower on the highest setting, this will amount to clumps of clippings, which my dog loves to eat (and invariably throws back up). So I do bag this. However, I put the clippings onto my compost pile. There really is no need to ever send your clippings to the landfill. If you have no compost pile, find a neighbor who has one. I'm sure he or she will gladly take your clippings.

Fishing the Black River

"What has fishing got to do with High Plains Harvest?" you might ask. Fishing is just another way to harvest food from nature's bounty. I am not a fish eater myself, but I admire those who engage in one of the oldest human industries to put food on the table, far older than cultivation of the soil. Think of it as cultivation of the water.

Please enjoy another great article from guest blogger Paul Curry.

An Arizona Fisherman's Guide to a Great Weekend

The trouble with fishing Arizona lakes, at least on the weekends, is that you don't get away from all those two-legged critters and the fish you'll catch are all stockers. Maybe you're still thinking about where to go fish without a crowd this weekend? No crowd means you have to work for it. Go try the Black River in Arizona's White Mountains.

Yes it's a drive, but if you want fine trout fishing and some peace, go to Wildcat Crossing in the Apache National Forest and start walking. The place is south and a bit west of Big Lake on forest road 25. Traveling either up or down river, you'll find fine habitat and great scenery at a pleasant 7,000-foot elevation. Don't forget your "water boots" as you'll spend plenty of time crossing the river.

Upstream, where Fish creek joins the Black is a good spot to try. After all, it is called Fish creek. Often, some fish feed just down river as the creek spills some food into the bigger water. I'm mostly a spin-caster, but even I have taken fish on a fly rod at this spot. The farther up you walk, the narrower the gorge becomes and the fewer people you'll see. The Black has cut through some substantial volcanic formations all along its way to meet the White River to form the Salt River.


Last spring, my wife and I took a few days backpack trip down river from Wildcat and had a very nice trip. Downstream is easy going for about three miles. You cross the river here and there and walk amongst some big Ponderosa pines upon the benches along the Black. In about two miles you hit a big bend in the river where the rock formations are quite stunning. The resulting pool is the size of a small pond. This is a fine spot to fish and even see some ducks. Great blue herons, ospreys and hawks are common along the Black. If you see a large raptor with a straight leading edge on its wing with rounded tips and a big white head and tail- then you've just seen a bald eagle.

I chose to fish farther down river, but there are plenty of good spots to fish without making an expedition out of your day. But, then again, what does the river hold farther down? Play it safe, tell them you'll be back by dark. That way you have all day to enjoy a great place without being too rushed.

After the first three miles of easy walking, the route dances along the Black amongst rocks, willows and New Mexican locust trees. The route eventually becomes a traverse above the river. Soon it becomes a climb and then you're on another bench looking down on the water. This process repeats as you hike farther down river.

Look for those bends where fast water dumps into a recovery pool. Throw your bait or lure in that fast water upstream and let it come down in a natural way to the pool. Let the water take it into that pool and wait for it- wham! There you go, bring 'em in. Repeat. Move on to another pool once you spook them.

Tried and true bait includes nightcrawlers, grasshoppers and crickets. Panther-Martin #2 spinning lures work great as well. If you are playing catch and release, consider using barbless hooks to keep those fish healthy. It pays to keep an eye on your GPS unit's "best" hunt/fish times based on the solunar tables, yes it really does work. Be stealthy in your approach to the river to fish it. Having the sun at your back and in the fish's eyes also helps you see better and keep a darker profile to the fish.

If you go up to the Black River you'll see a beautiful place that boasts some really good fishing. Keep an eye out for some elk, deer and black bear, as it's their home. If you don't see all sorts of hawks and some great blue herons, then try looking up from your fishing! Enjoy your trip, leave no trace and respect the land.

Showcase - Iceland Poppy

I'm not really a flower guy, unless you can eat them, but I don't snub my nose at pretty flowers that grow with a minimum of fuss. Iceland poppies fit that bill here at zone 4-5. Some do survive the winter, but they are biennials, meaning they live two years at most. However, they propagate themselves through seeding.

We started by planting mostly red poppies, with a smattering of white and orange. It seems the latter two do best here; we no longer have any red ones. Over the years, poppies have popped up all over the yard through their seeds blowing around. They tend to gather at the eastern end of the yard; the direction the wind tends to blow.

The white ones are particularly interesting because they remind me of eggs. The individual blooms don't last more than a couple days, but if the plant is healthy, it will send up flower stalks continuously all summer long.

Once the flower disappears and the bulb dries up, you can open it up and harvest the seeds. Or you can let Mother Nature do it. They grow quite well in rock mulch as well as in wood mulch as you see in the next photo.

The orange poppies are quite brilliant, more so than my crappy camera can capture. Here you can also see the flower buds dangling on the stalks, waiting for their moment to explode.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that all parts of the plant are considered poisonous. Luckily the dog has shown no interest in them.

So next time you're walking through the nursery and see some Iceland Poppies, or seeds for same, give them a try. They require little watering or attention, spread themselves readily without being a nuisance, and are quite pretty to look at.

Gardening in Prescott, AZ

Today I welcome a guest writer and dear friend for several years, Paul Curry. Paul and his wife Kris bounce back and forth between homes in Phoenix and Prescott. Prescott qualifies in every sense as high country living: it's high, dry, windy, and gardening there is anything but easy!

New High Country Gardener

Part one: Preparation

Do you have a vegetable garden? This year I am a "first-timer" gardening in Prescott. More people may be getting back to "basics" since the economy has taken a bad fall. In early April, I recall an article in the Wall Street Journal where the author illustrated the challenges of keeping the "cost of vegetables" within reason. This is not at all an easy task. Then there is the effort, most know producing vegetables requires some real effort. For me, it connects me with the land and my grandparents who had to produce food. They had not the luxury of our supermarkets filled with so much produce.

Consider our climate here in Prescott, you may have noticed but it's a bit windy. Actually, this could be Prescott's own little secret, as is the smog of Phoenix. More Prescott secrets: we have a community blessed by dogs with excellent vocal cords and skunks that remind us who owns the night in summertime. At least a little wind won't kill you. But then again, it makes gardening let's say, more challenging. Coupled with very low spring humidity, a stiff breeze will dry out tender vegetables.

So if you are undertaking a garden here in Prescott and you are up near or on a ridge- make use of wind blocks when you place your garden. My new garden here has no effective blocks, so I set up some farm fence stakes and wire-tied some sun shade material to it - now I have at least some wind protection. Then right after that was accomplished, my neighbor suggested I plant a big rose bush to block her view of my new project. Looks like I'll have to win her heart with some summer squash, or some of the 258 zucchini that will come out of that one zucchini plant I have?

Think about sun and shading. The earth tilts on its axis as we change seasons. At least I can recall that from high school physics. So perhaps you have noted where in your yard you have enough sun throughout the growing season to support a vegetable garden- according to a Watter's Garden Center handout that is five to seven hours of sun per day. You can always provide shade, but most folks cannot manufacture sunlight- if you can, please contact the U.S. Dept. of Energy, as they have a job for you.

Let's talk dirt. No, not about the neighbors, but the stuff you need to actually grow things. Unless you live on the bottom lands near a stream bed, your soil likely does not look like good thick loamy black soil that my Aunt Margaret had back in Blackhawk County Iowa- that's where the soil is some seven feet deep and grows corn seven feet high. Yes, I do recall actually hearing the corn grow back there in summer. At the age of five, that was more than a little creepy for a city kid. Either buy some good garden soil or work like crazy with your roto-tiller along with mulch and other products to amend the soil you have. For me, I live near the top of a ridge with compacted fill…I opted to build containers and fill them with soil I bought from Mortimer's Nursery.

One benefit of small containers is that you can move them. I would need the linemen from the Prescott High football team to move the 4 ft x 8ft x 2 ft high wooden planters I built and filled in- all without the blessing of a big yard-bucket loader. They are not going anywhere. But if you get some black plastic buckets from a nursery (cheap) or pricey clay pots then you can use a two-wheel moving dolly to make adjustments as the seasons change and as your squash plant grows into a monster, which it should.

Well, as May 16^th is the date of the average last frost according to the National Weather Service and since we are now 10 degrees above normal temperatures- I'd say if you haven't already got your garden going, well, now is definitely the time. Next article I'll fill you in on my planting from seedlings I grew in April. I'll also find out how many hungry rodents I have in my yard and if they made it past some defenses. Remember, a successful garden is one where you had the produce for dinner.

Paul Curry

An Indoor Greenhouse

In a previous article, I talked about indoor gardening. One of the challenges I faced to growing produce indoors was providing my plants with enough light. In wintertime, the sun is sporadic and short-lived, and not many windows provide southern exposure. In spring and summer, the sun is too high to even shine in. And I have another problem: the dog gets into my plants, as potting soil is a tasty delicacy for her.

So I have come up with an idea for an indoor "greenhouse", or in my case, a blackhouse:

The neighbors who can see this contraption through the window must surely think we're up to something very strange. What this is one of those portable closets that zip shut. I got it at Target for $40. It has a steel frame with a zippered cover completely enclosing it. There are two hanging racks from which I suspended two 20-inch plant lights I purchased at Lowes. With a shelf rigged up in the middle, I can get two levels of plants going in this little plant house.

Here it is open and loaded:

The lights are suspended via a crude pulley system that will allow me to raise them as the plants grow. Both lights are plugged into a 3-plug extension cord, which sneaks out the back of the closet and into a outlet timer. I have the timer set to come on for 15 hours a day so I don't have to worry about turning the lights on and off manually.

With it zipped up, this closet retains what little heat that is given off by the lamps. Moisture can gather in there, too, and the dog cannot get into it. It can literally go anywhere in the house, since the lighting is all artificial. The whole setup cost about $80.

The photo above was several weeks ago. Here are those same two plastic containers as of now. The one in the front is watercress, and the one in back is various salad greens:

One change I would like to make is to double the lights. It seems that one bulb is not enough per shelf, and the plants are bending as much as they can to reach the bulb. Early results also indicate that scallions do not thrive in this environment. Full report to follow once the experiment is complete.

Go Native

I had somewhat of an epiphany the other day regarding the fish pond. As you remember, I am at a sort of crossroads with what to do with the pond, as I have successfully killed two batches of fish (in two separate ponds, but in the same climate). The sad story is described here.

Although I love the idea of having fish-- they're relaxing to watch and they eat bugs --I don't want to make a habit of killing innocent fish. I seriously considered scaling back the pond dramatically and make it just a little water fountain feature. Still nice, but a pond has more "cool" factor.

Then it struck me as I worked on my post for Earth Day thoughts. In one of my thoughts, I suggested people stick with native plants, because native plants are naturalized, acclimated for the climate, and thus they can survive with minimal fuss and resources.

This same thought can apply to animals too. Why raise goldfish and koi in Colorado when they are more at home in tropical environments? What I need to do is raise fish that are native to Colorado. Like trout!

Trout are freshwater fish that inhabit cold mountain lakes and streams. Well, I am neither in the mountains, nor is the pond very lake-like. The biggest concern is that the pond may be too warm.

After some research, I learned that rainbow trout don't mind warmer water: Between 50-65° is ideal. I usually keep a thermometer in my pond throughout the summer, and I noticed the water barely got up to 70°. This is mainly because the pond is on the north side of the house and only gets about 6 hours of sunlight a day, maximum. In the winter it get 0 hours. The constantly running waterfall also keeps the water cooler as the pump draws cooler water from the bottom and circulates it. And there are always ice cubes.

I remember seeing a small trout pond in Estes Park a few years ago. There was a little food dispenser there, so I tossed some food in. Never before had I seen such a feeding frenzy! The water boiled with dark fish exploding to the surface to get the food. Either they were starving or those fish are plain WILD. It reminded me of some piranha movie. Their aggressive nature was fascinating.

So now I may have an option to still have fish in the pond. I need to do some more research, like where to buy trout, what to feed them, etc.

Earth Day Thoughts

Happy Earth Day everyone!

I long for the day that every day is Earth Day. We should be eco-conscious in everything we do, every day. It should not be something we do once a year, like making New Years resolutions.

But since it is today that we celebrate the Earth, here are some thoughts of how we all can help.

1. Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. Yes, this has been a mantra chanted over and over for years, but the fact remains that many people still throw away things that can easily be recycled. I continue to read how much trash we generate as a society, and at some point we will no longer have a place to put it all. Even things like yard waste, which would naturally decompose, cannot break down very well in a landfill.
2. Start a compost pile. You don't need a fancy, store-bought bin. Just get some chicken wire and form one. Or use an old garbage can. As I mentioned above, yard and vegetable wastes sent to the landfill cannot decompose naturally, and when they do, they give off more greenhouse gases than normal. Even if you don't garden, a compost pile is still the responsible thing to do.
3. Grow native plants for your landscape. Trying to grow bamboo in the desert, or an orange tree in the mountains is foolish. Growing non-native plants usually means extra water and fertilizers to make it survive conditions it's not meant to survive.
4. Minimize your lawn. See my article Lawns are so 19th Century to find out why having a huge lawn is thumbing your nose at Mother Earth.
5. Don't wash your car every weekend. I have at least two neighbors that wash their cars (all of them) every weekend, religiously. In the winter, if the temperature gets above 60°, they're out there washing away. This is a huge waste of water, and sends lots of soap down the street, which eventually ends up in our ground water. Come on people, they're just cars! They're not decor inside your living room. I typically don't wash my car until vegetation starts to grow on it.
6. Plant a tree. Or two or three. Trees are our friends. Sure, this isn't Arbor Day, but who cares. Bare root trees are available at garden centers right now. They're cheap and can enhance your landscape tremendously. They provide lovely shade in the summer, clean the air, give us oxygen to breathe, and generally are cool.

If you have any other suggestions, please post a comment!

Winter Gardening

By about December, I start to miss growing my own produce. Yes, the global market allows us to buy most of the produce we want throughout the year, but we really like to grow our own food. Even when it is 0 degrees outside, with the wind howling and snow piling up, you can still grow some things. No, not outside, but in that "greenhouse" you live in. If you have houseplants that you keep alive all year, then you can grow vegetables as well.

So, what can you grow? Well, smaller plants mostly. I wouldn't recommend trying to grow corn, for instance, or even tomatoes. Everything you grow will have to be in some kind of container. You'll likely want to focus on plants that can be eaten as "babies", like leafy greens or carrots.

To grow vegetables indoors, you need a few things:

1. containers
2. space
3. growing media
   
4. light
5. moisture
6. warmth
7. food
   

Containers

I like to reuse old containers. My favorite are the large yogurt containers. I drill three holes in the bottom, insert a round cut-out of landscape fabric, and then fill with potting soil. The landscape fabric lets water drain out the holes, but keeps the soil in. I also keep most planting containers I get from the nursery or garden center. Just be sure to clean them thoroughly between uses, otherwise you could spread soil-borne diseases to your fragile young plants. Another good container candidate are those large, clear plastic tubs you get lettuce and spinach in.

Space

How much you want to grow will determine how much space you need. If you simply want to grow a small pot of basil, then your needs can probably be easily fulfilled. However, if you want to grow something larger and/or more of it, you will need to find some dedicated space. It would be nice to have a sunny spot in a south-facing window, but this is not always practical. See below for light considerations.

Growing Media

Your media, also known as soil, should be sterilized. This means to be weed-seed free and without any soil-borne diseases. Plants, just like humans, can pick up diseases from a dirty environment. It's hard to envision clean soil and dirty soil, but soil can contain very many things, both good and bad. Failure to heed this may result in damping off, a condition where an otherwise healthy seedling rots at the soil surface. When this happens, the stem at the surface turns dark and emaciated. The plant is pretty much dead at this point.

If you purchase your potting soil, and you are sure it is of good quality, you can use it without any preparation. But if you like to mix your own media from old container soil, compost, native soil, etc, then you might consider sterilization. The most common way to do this is to cook your soil. This smells really awful, so it is recommended you do this outdoors so you can share the smell with your neighbors. I'll cover this technique in a future article.

Light

For light, sunlight of course is the best option, but many homes cannot accommodate 8 hours of sunlight each day, especially in the winter. You also want to be careful about putting your plants close to a window. The micro-environment next to the window is one of the most dynamic environments in your house. During the day, when the sun is shining in, it can get quite warm. But at night, it is quite cool next to the glass. Plants prefer more consistent and slower changing temperatures.

The only recourse then is to use artificial lighting. Fluorescent bulbs work best as they don't generate much heat and are economical to run. You will want to run them 14-16 hours a day. Try to get a fixture that can hold two bulbs, and get one cool white tube and one warm white tube. GE makes a bulb specifically for plants and aquariums. You will need to be able to adjust the light so that it is constantly 3-4 inches above your plants. As your plants grow, you will either need to raise your lighting or lower your plants. I will post an article soon with details on a miniature greenhouse for your indoor plants.

Warmth

(All temperatures are given in Fahrenheit.) Germinating seeds work best at temperatures between 65º-75º. Some plants-- like sweet pea, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower-- prefer cooler temperatures around 55º. Be sure to check the seed instructions. Once seeds become plants, the best temperatures are between 60º-65º at night and 70º-75º during the day. If your household temperatures are dramatically cooler than those, then you may have to run a space heater in the room.

Food

Fertilizer should never be given to young seedlings. A seed contains just enough nutrients to get it going. But once its true leaves have popped out, you could give your plants a light dose of plant food. Personally, I'm pretty lax about fertilizing (read: lazy) and I don't do it very often. But remember that potting soil doesn't offer much in the way of nutrients as good ol' dirt does, so it is probably a good idea to fertilize with an all-purpose fertilizer once in a while.


This was just a brief introduction to getting some plants going in your house. Many of these ideas apply to seedlings you intend on transplanting outdoors when the temperatures warm up, but they also work for plants you intend on leaving inside. Over the next few weeks, I'll try to expand on some of these ideas.

Know your Frost Dates

In a previous post, I mentioned taking full advantage of your growing season by knowing your latest spring frost and the first fall frost. After more research, I have realized that the link I provided to gather this information is not very complete. I have since found a better reference.

Go to this site to get more complete information of frost dates for your area. This site provides data for three different temperatures-- 36, 32, and 28 --and three different probability levels. I would avoid the 90% column, as most seedlings can't handle frost. Cold hardy plants can be put out in the 50% probability date, and everything else should wait until the 10% date. There is still a 10% probability of a frost, so you should always be prepared to protect your new plants should a cold snap hit.

The above site will also list your freeze free period, in days. It's important to understand this number because it defines your growing season. The length of your growing season determines what you have time to grow or how many harvests you can squeeze in. For my area, my freeze free period is 134 days, at 50% probability. What this means is it will be very difficult to grow plants that have long times to maturity, like cabbage and broccoli. Time to maturity information is provided on most seed packets, but you can also go here for days to maturity on most common vegetables.

In order for me to grow tomatoes and peppers, I need to start seeds indoors so that as soon as the danger of frost is (mostly) over, I already have seedlings ready to be planted.

For those of you planning to start seeds indoors, NOW IS THE TIME for most areas. This will be my weekend project; I can't put it off any longer. Now get planting!!

Lawns Are So 19th Century

As Spring comes nearer, many homeowners are getting ready for the yearly resuscitation of their lawn from the long winter's nap. They are preparing the sprinklers, the fertilizers, the de-thatchers, the aerators, sharpening and tuning lawn mowers, etc. But I have another suggestion: Get ready to kill you lawn.

Ok, everyone put down your guns and sickles. Take a deep breath and hear me out.
 
When I lived in Arizona, having a lawn was a luxury. Not only do you have to contend with the concrete-like soil (caliche or hardpan), you have to water at least once  a day and over-seed with a winter crop every fall. In other words, it just wasn't practical. It is very rare to see a lush lawn in Phoenix except on a golf course (and there are plenty of those). Most people landscape with cacti, gravel, and fruit trees. Unfortunately, some homes landscape strictly with rocks, giving rise to the term "moonscaping". Some moonscapes even use unnatural colored rocks, like blue or chartreuse. But this approach is not what I am advocating.

Having spent those years sans grass changed my way of thinking about lawns. A lawn is, quite simply, a stupid thing to have. You can't eat it. You have to water it constantly. And to top it off, you have to, uh, top it off (mow it). Believe it or not, but grass is the largest crop grown in America, and it is pointless. The only thing it is good for is it's nice to look at and walk on.

Many people will claim they have lawns for their kids to play on. But let's be honest: how many kids are actually out playing in their yards? In my neighborhood, which is a very typical middle-income, working class neighborhood, most of the kids are either inside playing with their Wii, or outside playing on the street. The only people I see walking on the lawns are the fathers pushing their mowers across it.

I believe the American lawn has gained the status of the fabled 1970's living room, which became a showcase for the nice family furniture and decor, but nobody ever "lived" in it. The same is true with the lawn: we expend huge amounts of time and resources simply to admire it from our kitchen windows. It's something every home owner thinks they HAVE to have because your father had one, and his father had one, and his father....

If you go back enough fathers, you'll likely end up in Europe and England, where we can squarely place the blame for our lawn love affair. But realize that across the Big Pond, it is mostly cool and wet--the perfect climate for a lush lawn. And back in the Victorian era, when gardens and lawns really became popular, many people had sheep to crop the lawn. Last I looked, my HOA doesn't allow sheep, and try as she might, my dog tends to throw up anything she eats.

In the 21st century, we have growing concerns about the upkeep of lawns. Water is a precious resource in the West and Southwest, and it is becoming more and more scarce and expensive. If scientists are right about their global warming predictions, the West will get even drier. The other obvious resource in jeopardy is the gasoline to power our mowers. And please don't forget the noise and air pollution caused by these mowers. Many of my otherwise lovely Sunday mornings have been spoiled by the incessant drone of lawn mowers and their putrid exhaust.

I used to have neighbor who specifically picked out a one-acre lot on a cul-de-sac so he could have a large lawn. Sure enough, he has a huge back yard, where 95% of it is grass. This man spends as much time and resources on this "crop" as a small-scale farmer. But whereas a farmer can take his crop to market and reap the rewards of his hard-earned efforts, my poor neighbor mows his lawn every week and puts the grass clippings in the trash. Isn't that wonderful? Think of the time he could save if he cashed his paychecks into $1 bills, ran them through a paper shredder, and then put those in the trash. So what about his kids? They spend most of their outdoor time playing in the street.

Hopefully you are getting the idea of how ridiculous and irresponsible it is to keep a lawn. I don't wish to insult those of you who have a wonderfully manicured lawn, which is something you undoubtedly take great pride in. Heck, even I have a lawn, albeit a small one. My intent is to get people to rethink their lawn. Please don't accept a lawn as the status quo. Is it really necessary, or is it there simply because you think that's what you're supposed to have in your yard?

In this era of "green" homes and yards, the lawn is the #1 evil in terms of waste. It's time to think about evolving your ideas of what a typical American yardscape should be. In future articles, I will present some ideas I have learned about this yard revolution. I invite others to share their ideas and what they have done.

In the meantime, here is a web article by Sunset magazine on this very topic. Included are 14 ideas of how to transform your yard to a lawnless oasis:

http://www.sunset.com/garden/earth-friendly/lose-the-lawn-low-water-landscaping-00400000041830/?PromKey=XET&iid=newsletter-ss-033109

Foxy Visitor

Since we've been on vacation, the backyard has been dog-less for a week. This apparently was enough time for a little red fox to find comfort and make itself at home. This also explains who dug up the dead koi I buried in the ground in a feeble attempt to enrich the soil (read about that sad story here). I guess I ended up enriching the diet of a fox.

I took a lot of photos because any kind of wildlife outside of birds and bugs is quite wonderful in our yard. Here is just a sampling of the little fox's sun bathing: