Desert/Water-wise Gardens

Posted by Robert Dailey

Gardeners can save money and conserve water by using a newly-developed rain monitor.

The new Vigoro automatic rain monitor works in conjunction with any electronic water timer, sprinkler, soaker hose or drip watering system. In addition to measuring rainfall, it can shut off the systems when enough rain comes down.

It requires no batteries. Gravity and water pressure are the keys to operating the monitor. Gardeners can add it to their irrigation system quickly and easily.

No batteries? No external power source? What runs it?

It’s so simple, that gardeners will wonder why someone hasn’t thought of it before.

When enough rainfall occurs, a float inside the monitor lifts up and closes the water path between the water source and the system, shutting off the flow. It doesn’t need complicated adjustments or settings. In fact, it doesn’t need them.

It’s small

The rain monitor is 4.5 inches wide, 6 inches long and 2.5 inches high.

There are no replaceable parts.

Made completely of plastic, the little rain monitor and regulator will last about two years and has no moving parts except for the inside float, and the couplings at either end.

Cost? One major chain is offering the Vigoro Rain Monitor for $14.97, which is really inexpensive.

Related articles of interest:

1. Waterwise Drip Irrigation
2. How to Set Up Drip Systems
3. Types of Drip Irrigation

Posted by Robert Dailey

Pinyons are native to southwestern (and western) North America. In the U.S. they span from California to Texas, and from Wyoming to New Mexico.

In Mexico, they span most of the country, but are more prevalent in the northern states of Taumalipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahulla, Chihuahua, Sonora and Baja Norte.

Generally growing in higher elevations but they can also be found in lower areas.

The adult trees are long-lived and slow-growing, impervious to dessicating winds and blazing sun of arid regions, and are xerophytic.

However, the seedlings are tender, need to be grown in dappled shade or on eastern or northern hillsides, or on the eastern or norther sides of structures.

They also need regular watering, but, are sensitive to too much irrigation. They need to be protected from animal damage, because chipmunks, porcupines and mule deer love the tender needles.

It takes about a year of care to establish a pinyon seedling.

The seedlings love well-drained soil, but don't do well in heavy clay soils.

Articles about the care and planting of pinyon seedlings, as well as pinyon diseases and insect enemies can be found at the sites below.

Read about care of pinyons here:

Planting and Caring for Pinyons

Pinyon Insect Enemies

Pinyon, The Edible Pine

Posted by Robert Dailey

In my last report, I had planted my little hardened seedlings before the USDA last frost date for my area.

Now, local weathermen are predicting a hard freeze tomorrow night. Sure! They’ve been wrong before. Just because I might have jumped the gun a little. I’m convinced it’s a conspiracy to deal a coup de grace to all us gardeners who are already near death with winter cabin fever.

Who cares if the weathermen are right and I planted about a month too soon. I’ve got a plan. It’s worked before…well, it almost worked before (I suppose I’ve jumped the gun a couple of times in the past. Okay, more than a couple. Okay, okay, a lot of times. But my heart is in the right place.)

I’m refining my technique. Of course, I refuse to buy all those fancy water towers that go over the plants and protect them from frosts. I’ve got my own methods.

Last year, I planted several dozen tomato plants, along with several bean varieties, eggplant, cucumbers, cantaloupes, bell and jalapeno peppers and a few other things. Using my exceptional method of getting past the last frost, I actually saved two of my tomato plants, and at least one eggplant. Maybe the rest of the plants didn’t make it. I never had much success with cantaloupes anyway.

Posted by Robert Dailey

It’s warm outside (close to 70 degrees F) and I’m itching to get out there and plant something.

My seedlings are doing fine, and ready to put into the ground and I’m not going to resist the temptation to wait until all danger of frost has passed. It’s about a month before the USDA’s last frost date for my zone, but the USDA has been wrong before.

I’ve got tomatoes, cukes, string beans, cantaloupe (which I’ve been trying to raise for years without success), lavender, basil, oregano, garlic chives, some broom grass, gourds, coneflowers, hollyhocks, snapdragons, and something else that I forgot to label, coming out of the ground. The veggies and the herbs are past the cotyledon stage and ready to put into a bigger pot, or for cabin fever victims, right into the ground.

Okay, maybe there’s going to be another frost…maybe not. I could have sworn I saw some buds on a pecan tree I drove by yesterday. Of course, I was driving pretty fast (at least the constable thought I was).

Everybody knows that pecan trees absolutely will not bud until the after the last frost. Well, at least that’s what I was told by this old gardener. I did, however read recently that some pecan trees in another part of the state were damaged by frost last year, so I guess the pecan tree frost meter may be a bit of an old wives’ (or in this case, old gardener’s) tale.

The pecan tree story really doesn’t make any difference. As my wife and friends say about me (somewhat unfairly, I believe), “he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, and damn the consequences.”

So now, my green little organic veggies are nestled in my raised beds, mulched well, and ready to begin their joyous ascent toward adulthood and reproduction.

Posted by Robert Dailey

Drip irrigation systems are made of plastic and are easy to lay down. Unlike other systems (installed sprinkler systems for instance), drip irrigation systems do not have to be trenched or buried.

Water Conservation

Drip systems go a long way toward conserving water. They deliver water directly to the root zones of plants and prevent evaporation. Gardeners interested in water conservation and waterwise gardening should think about installing drip system.

Drought

Drip irrigation extends water supplies during droughts or extended dry periods. In some areas, drip irrigation systems are exempt from drought-imposed water restrictions.

Water Sources

Drip systems can use just about any water source: cisterns, wells, ponds, tanks, municipal water sources or collected rainwater.

Readily Available

There are many drip irrigation systems available commercially, each essentially providing the same results, but with small variations. Some are very inexpensive, others cost more. Some are very simple and others a little more complex.

Installation

With just a little reading and research, (most of it on this site) a do-it-yourselfer can properly install a drip irrigation system. And most manufacturers carry fairly good installation instructions in their packages.

Posted by Robert Dailey

My friend Bill was wearing a maniacal grin as he approached a stand of spirea drooping over some unruly boxwoods. In his hand was one of those orange-colored electric trimmers…you know the kind. They’re about two feet long with a business end that reminds me of a sawfish. (I actually caught one of those shark-like creatures when I was about 10 years old, but that’s another story.)

An unrolled orange electrical cord was a telling sign. It told me he intended to attack just about every green, and possible every living, thing within the reach of that cord. The neighbor’s labradoodle was looking on with real apprehension.

Bill pulled the trigger on the trimmer and the jaws of death sprang into life.

At this sound, Bill’s wife, Carol, burst through the back door. She was shouting something and gesturing frantically, first at me and then at her husband.

“Bob, stop him,” I finally heard over the menacing whine of the toothed machine. “He’s gonna kill something…again.”

Just before the trimmer’s teeth touched the spirea, Bill looked over his shoulder, an even broader grin on his face. I thought “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as he turned back to the job. Bits of chewed up, shredded plant pieces spew into the air. Carol put her hands on her hips then looked at me and finally, in despair, at the ground.

Me? No, I’m no hero. Especially when my Bronx friend has a living hedge trimmer in his hand.

Later, after the heat of the moment was over, and he had turned off the trimmer “It’s ok now, Bill,” I said. “The spirea can’t hurt you anymore. Give me the trimmer.” With that, I gently removed the trimmer from his hands.

Posted by Robert Dailey

Water being taken into and evaporating from plants, is called transpiration. Transpiration also includes the taking in of carbon dioxide, which is essential for photosynthesis.

Moisture in The Soil

The water that plants take in comes from moisture in the soil. Roots take in this water, which also contains dissolved minerals, through osmosis. These minerals are necessary for the plant to produce food, to reproduce, to store food, and to continue to survive. The water also helps keep the plant turgit, helping it to stay upright.

Xylem

The mineral-rich water solution moves up the plant through the xylem. It is taken up into the leaves where, mixed with carbon dioxide and sunlight, it creates food for the plant through the process of photosynthesis.

Stomates

Stomates are small pores, usually on the underside of leaves, which take in carbon dioxide. Transpiration keels the plant healthy, helps produce oxygen which is expelled through those same stomates.

Transpiration Rate

The rate of transpiration is directly proportional to how large the stomates are open. The stomates open and close through the action of two guard cells, which expand and deflate in accordance with the plant’s need for carbon dioxide intake. Since sunlight is necessary for photosynthesis, and no photosynthesis can take place at night, most plants close their stomates to some extent during the night. But plants do expel oxygen through these stomates at night.

Cloudiness, temperature, humidity, wind and a number of other factors can influence the opening and closing of stomates.

Posted by Robert Dailey

The place where the water stops is called the “wetting front.”

In most soils, it is possible to scrape away the wet layer of soil and uncover dry soil underneath.

How far into the earth that water penetrates depends upon a number of variables.

Amount of Water

The most significant variable is the amount of water placed on the surface of the soil.

Permeability

Permeability of the soil also has a bearing on how deep and how fast water permeates layers.

Root Zones

In gardening and agriculture, it is not important to saturate all layers of soil. It is only necessary to wet the layers of soil through the root zones of plants.

If enough water seeps into the soil, and it reaches all levels of the root zone, then the plant can intake enough water to survive. If it only reaches one half of the root zone, plants will suffer and perhaps die. Even if the plants do not die, they will be stunted and their seed production will be reduced or eliminated.

Penetration

Ligh rains or irrigation may only penetrate a quarter to a half inch. Heavy rains will move much deeper through the soil, perhaps as deep as 10 to 20 inches. When water seeps into the soil a half inch or less, it’s easy to scrape aside the wet soil and find the wetting front. However if the wetting front has reached 20 inches or more, it becomes difficult to find the wetting layer.

Indicators

There are wetting front indicators which can be purchased. These work in various ways, but generally they are stuck into the ground and pop up when the wetting front passes the bottom of the device.

Posted by Robert Dailey

Stomates are tiny (microscopic) pores on leaves. There are generally more stomates on the underside of leaves.

Two “guard” cells flank stomates and regulate their opening and closing. When conditions are right (when photosynthesis can occur), the guard cells swell with available water though osmosis. This opens the stomates. When conditions are not favorable for photosynthesis, the guard cells evacuate water, and this closes the stomates.

There may be up to 45,000 stomates on one square centimeter of a leaf.

Photosynthesis

Stomates take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is necessary for photosynthesis.

Transpiration

When water in the form of vapor is lost through stomates, it is called transpiration. Loss of water can be considerable. Some trees can lose up to 500 liters of water in a day. Heat, wind, humidity, day length, cloud cover, type of plant and many other factors contribute to the loss of water vapor. affecting loss of water Stomates generally close during the night, in times of extreme temperatures, or when there is not enough water being taken in by the roots. This decreases transpiration.

Respiration

However, plants will sometimes keep stomates open at night. During this period, they release oxygen into the air, since no photosynthesis occurs at night. This is called respiration.

Posted by Robert Dailey

Spring comes on, banging against the steps and pounding on the door: “get out and plant something,” it says.

As the spring sun slides in through the crack in the curtains and the birds wake up to Aeolus’s warm breath, guilt comes sweeping across the rug, under the sheets and up into the brain.

“Get up, Your Laziness,” it mocks. “It’s the greening of the world and you’re missing it.”

Padding to the kitchen and then to the backyard. Smell the grass, taste the coffee. Robins instead of towhees hop through the garden, searching for worms and grasshoppers instead of seeds hidden in the snow.

No writing today…just tasting, smelling, feeling. It seems a long time since the sterility of the snow stifled sound and smell, but it has only been a few weeks.

Daffodils poking up through the ground. Sweet hyacinth.

Little buds on the chokecherry and lilacs and green poking from the feet of the coneflowers and coreopsis. Good things now. Good things to come.

Barefeet on a warming slab of pink sandstone, toes hanging over the edge tickled by a sprig of thyme growing in the space.

Enormous desire to feel dirt under the fingernails and hands in the soft earth.