Question and Survey About Gardening/Landscaping

[El Diablo]

FL,

While I am an urban non-gardener, there are definitely many 2+2ers who are into this stuff. Post away!

[FeliciaLee]

Thanks, guys, for the interest.

My pics look horrible, because something is wrong with our digital camera ($20 Walmart crap).

But here is a kind of introduction post I wrote recently on a self-sufficiency forum. Maybe this will help get a thread started:

We moved from a 3.5 acre lot to a one acre lot. On our 3.5 lot, we were about 65 miles outside of Washington DC in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was awesome and I loved it, but basically we were just struggling to get as far away from DC as possible, while still being in the "DC area." We worked for AOL, mostly telecommuting by 2000, and wanted just a little piece of rural land in order to get away from an urban setting.

We retired from AOL in 2002 and put our house up for sale, always having said that if things went to crap at AOL, we were going to move out west, to Arizona or New Mexico and live a simple, rural lifestyle. That is exactly what we did.

In September of 2003, we finally closed on our new house in Golden Valley (it took a year to sell our old house and make the move). We immediately started looking into solar and were told it would take "at least" 20k to even get us started. Yeah, right. Someone was just trying to make a killing. We only use about 1.5-2 watts per day. We decided to do it ourselves, but still haven't quite gotten there due to some huge setbacks which I'll get to shortly.

We had to do some repairs on the house we live in. It was only about three years old when we bought it, but the original owners were a young couple from California and they left some damage. From what I have heard via the neighbors, the husband was a former motocross racer, who was forced into retirement after he damaged his knee. The backyard was built into a motocross track, so that would tend to support the story. It looked like an amusement park (of dirt) back there, and we leveled it shortly after moving in.

He and his wife came to Golden Valley in order to work at the casinos in Laughlin, NV, which is about 25 miles west of here. They didn't like casino life and wanted to move back to California, so they just simply stopped making house payments and left. The bank in Oklahoma repossessed the house and made no real effort to auction it or aggressively resell it. So it stayed vacant for a year. We got it for a song, and it has tripled in value during the past 2.5 years.

Although the couple did none of the normal damage associated with repo's, it was still in need of repairs. All of the lighting fixtures had been removed, as had the refrigerator. Some doors and walls had holes and needed patching. I think maybe the husband had a temper. The carpet had to be completely ripped up. We did all of the repairs ourselves and the interior took about six months total to get into top shape again.

Luckily, we don't have grass, so lawn is not a problem.

We have our own septic tank and the water comes from a group of community wells, which everyone shares. We pay by the gallon and it's just like city water, only tastes a heck of a lot better. Our bill only runs about $20 per month, and we use as much gray water as possible. We have no water rights, so digging a well is not allowed.

Our house is all electric, so gas isn't an option.

Just as we were really getting into a simple, self-sufficient lifestyle and settling down, I got cancer. It runs in my family, the whole rural, inbred, bad gene thing. I figured I'd get it sooner or later. My brother had already been through it at only 24, and took a few years to recover because it was so advanced when he finally got treatment.

Anyone from Arizona can agree that medical care is horrible here, and definitely in the dark ages. I've never experienced such backwards thinking. There is a Mayo Clinic in the Phoenix area, and I should have went with them in the first place, but I didn't, so I got some really icky treatment and care (or should I say non-care), and learned a lesson.

I'm still alive, though, so no whining from me. It just kind of set us back a year in our mission.

Now we are at a stage where we are still living very simply, have no wants or needs, and just want to keep moving along that path.

I finally have a garden this year. I have cherry tomatoes, red onions, yellow onions, basil, gypsy peppers, strawberries, Thompson grapes, crooked neck squash, sunflowers, aloe vera, lavender, okra, two plum trees, blackberries, raspberries, chives, oregano, sweet potatoes and cucumbers.

Some have died (cukes, basil [basil provided for a year though]). Some are struggling to survive (okra, strawberries, plum cutting). Some have yet to provide any food (grapes, sunflowers, black & raspberries, sweet potatoes) and some are doing very well (tomatoes, squash, gypsy).

Gardening in the desert is kind of the opposite as gardening in most other US locations. We cannot really keep much alive in summer, but we can garden the other three seasons. The "spring" foods do better in winter or fall. The "summer" foods do better in spring. Most everything dies, goes dormant or must be brought inside for summer.

We only get about 10" of water per year, and it is very warm and dry with high winds most of the year. Instead of protecting my plants from frost and cold, I have to protect them from wind. We are constantly building windbreaks, but it takes so long for evergreens to grow here, and it will be years before I see a real lack of huge winds, due to not wanting to just go out and "buy, buy, buy." I want to do as much of it myself as possible, instead of just buying thousands of dollars worth of evergreens, trees, shrubs, bushes, hedges and ground cover. I'm trying, instead, to make cuttings of the things I already have. It's a slow process, with an acre of bare, flat, desert sand, in a valley of high, dry winds. Ornamentals are all xeriscapes.

We have recently started making our own adobe bricks or "cob." We use our sandy soil, old, dried "hay" made out of chopped up tumbleweeds and water. They seem a little brittle, but we are working on it

Glenn is studying up on trying to get us some cheaper solar material so that we can be more self-sufficient. He has an engineering background, so I'm hoping we can buy secondhand material and do most of it ourselves. He also found specs for turning our water heater solar, so he is trying to get some of those materials from Freecycle.

We have a small solar oven, but Glenn says it is not working optimally, and refuses to let me try it. I can warm some things up just by putting them out into the sun.

We have already done as much "passive" solar possible. We built our own solar shades for the windows, use ceiling fans, rarely use the heater and have low energy appliances. We use clotheslines for our dryer during almost the whole year.

So there you have it. Probably a long, boring introduction, but the best I could do on a moment's notice.

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Performify]

Hey Felicia,

I'd raise my hand in answer to your question. I did my own landscaping, maintain my own yard, etc. Three level terraced rock walls, low-maintenance plants, japanese red maple trees, etc.

Its not something I'm hugely passionate about, but I'd certainly participate in the odd thread from time to time. And i'll participate in this one... i'll try to snap some pics this week.

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
...........

So there you have it. Probably a long, boring introduction, but the best I could do on a moment's notice.

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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NOT boring at all. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Really great news to hear that you’re doing so well! Nothing like getting out and communing with nature......incredibly good for both the body and the soul.

I’ll share my story with you, as it’s similar, but very different because of the huge difference in climates where we respectively live.

I’m an hour west of Boston. In 1980 I bought a ‘fixer-upper’ on 10 acres in a small town here. Its’ main claim to fame is/was its’ prolific apple orchards and farms. As with everything else, things change, and it has now become one of those snotty bedroom communities that cost a fortune to buy into, with an influx of people who have more $$ than brains.

Originally, there was a ¼ acre backyard, and the rest of the property was very heavily wooded. More than 5 acres is wetlands/swamp, and you really can’t do anything with it, other than enjoy the flora & fauna present. Plenty of deer, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, bobcat, mink, coyotes, woodchucks, and all kinds of birds.......including a number of different species of hawk and just the other day we had 3 bald eagles circling overhead. We’ve had both black bear & moose sighting in the town, but I have yet to see either on my land.

The woods were so thick that you really couldn’t get a ‘lay of the land’, so I slowly cleared them out ........by hand, as I was concerned about negatively affecting the land had I done it in the conventional manner......bring in the dozer and blow everything down. Besides, there were many species of trees present, and I hate cutting down trees unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

It took me over 2 years to clear enough of the thickets out to get a feeling for what I really had. By hand, I took out more than 300 5’ -15’ sumac bushes. Have you ever cut down a sumac bush? The wood cuts as if it was iron.....keeps you in good shape!

Once I could see what was actually there, I ended up bringing in the big dozer, and very carefully grading the land. It’s on a gently sloping hillside, so I ended up rough terracing it, without taking down a single tree. Fortunately the dozer operator was an ‘artiste’, and he did a terrific job. We ended up clearing about 3 acres, and since then I have been slowly ‘improving’ it. There is a mix of black walnuts, oaks, maples, elms, birch and cherry trees. Over the years, I have transplanted a number of the black walnuts and they are now over 40 ft. high. They are prolific fruit bearers, and the squirrel population loves them.

At the same time, I re-habbed the house. Over the past 26 years.....four additions and virtually new everything...did all the work myself. There is not a square inch inside or outside of this house that does not have my fingerprints on it.

Now is the fun time. All of the major work is done, and it’s time to do the gardens/landscape, and that has been my focus for the last 3-4 years. Just this past month, cut out the side of one of the terraces, and put in a 12 x 30 irregular bluestone patio, with a 3’ high backing wall of yellow granite. I am in the process of filling the crevices between the bluestone with all different kinds of herbs, mosses and low ground cover. Keeps plenty of dirt between my fingernails!

The gardens/flower beds are going in, a little at a time. I have plenty of room for a veggy garden, but won’t do that until the rest of the stuff is done.

I’ve got to pace myself, as I’ve had two major spinal surgerys in the last two years. Doing all of this is great physical rehab, as long as I don’t overdo it....my body lets me know when I push the envelope too far!

I wish I could give you some advice about what you’re doing, but the climate difference is so huge, and I know nothing about what works or doesn’t in your neck of the woods.


I’m out to put in some more plants in a few minutes. The weather back here for the last too months has been incredibly wet.....We’ve just set an all time record for rainfall in two consecutive months, and all this water has really affected what one can, and cannot, do.

In any case, enough of my story for now......Sorry if it’s boring to some, but one of my personal passions in life is to create something out of nothing, and landscaping/gardening allows me to do this.

Keep up the good work......

Myrt

[FeliciaLee]

Great story! Thanks, Myrt!

[FeliciaLee]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was a kid, I thought working in the garden an onerous chore, but now that I'm in my dotage I find that I enjoy trying to make things grow. I think there might be some interest in a gardening thread. The posters are from such a wide variety of regions that they might be interested in what others are doing.

I live in an area with 10" of rain a year, so I'm interested in xeriscaping (my plumbago is blooming like crazy). I've been following your projects in your blog and hope that your garden survived the storm...

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks! Lots of leaves fell off of the gypsy pepper plant, but they had brown spots before the storm, so I'm not sure what caused them to fall. The brown spots can be so many things (bacteria caused by dry, hot wind and too much sun seems to be the most likely cause, imo). The plant is still producing, though, so who knows!

I lost one more okra plant and I think the habanero is toast, but it was toast before the storm.

The squash seems to love the horrible conditions. It thrives and actually looks more healthy after some catastrophe, lol. Go figure.

If you want some xeriscaping links, feel free to PM me. Arizona sent me a ton of free stuff, and maybe Texas has some kind of program, too. Some states even send you the plants for free!

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Mermade]

I'm definitely interested in gardening and landscaping. I know nothing about desert landscaping so I couldn't contribute at all there.

We have vegetable, herb and flower beds. I also have any number of projects going on. Minor stuff--I just put down some weed blocking fabric and mulched with redwood compost in all the front beds. I planted some larger flowering bushes in the back: white mystery gardenias and some barely pink (I forget the name) camellias that I hope will eventually fill in and cover a sort of unsightly part of the yard. Major--There are three larger landscaping projects that I'm thinking about doing over the next couple of years. First, we're making up plans for a treehouse we're going to put in a huge tree we have in the back. Second, we don't really know what to do with a patch of our back yard that got overrun with weeds. I killed it off and was planning to reseed in the spring, but I didn't get around to it. The problem is that we've got a bigger problem in that area. In the big rains we had year before last much of the topsoil was carried to the back of the property making that lawn area unlevel. Establishing a new lawn will help prevent further erosion but we are also kicking around the idea of putting in a small retaining wall before leveling that area of the yard and then seeding or sodding. Meanwhile we've got a big dustbowl back there until we decide what to do. The third thing we've got is an area that is completely shaded by two enormous trees. Grass doesn't grow back there. I definitely want to make some beds and put in some shade flowers but beyond that I'm not sure. I vacilate between putting in a pattern of brick or stone with plants between (baby's tears, irish moss, or somesuch) or maybe putting in a dry bed running to a small recirculating pond. I probably won't get to this project until next year at any rate, so I have time to think about it.

[Ray Zee]

my gardens are just getting going up here in northern montana. but the asparagus is coming in by the handfuls every other day. i share the garden with weeds and mice as much of it is mulched with about four or more inches of leaves and hay. that keeps the ground moist at all times under it and doesnt let it dry out and get rock hard. the mulch turns to soil each year and makes it good growing without any fertizers or herbisides. the bugs are no problem as the plants are healthy and healthy plants resist bugs. miracle gorwn ones dont do so well in that regard.
my sweet corn is going gangbusters and is about 4 inches high. that is great as you usually cant plant it till june first. global warming seems to have moved up our growing season two weeks. tonight rhubard strawberry pie.

[judgesmails]

Four inches of mulch sounds like a little too much. If you cut it back to 1.5 to 2 inches it may help keep the mice away. Then replenish the mulch during the season as it starts to decompose.

[diebitter]

A heard an old Cockney saying the other day that reminded me of all you who prefer growing veg to flowers.

"Flowers is nice, but it's taters what feeds ya"

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