I've always had a garden....or at least tried to have a garden in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. I've never had a great one. We always had high hopes of a beautiful vegetable garden, with huge Beefsteak tomatoes and abundant zucchinis, but I guess since we were working, watering sometimes didn't get done, the soil was hard clay, probably didn't get amended enough, and nothing really ever flourished. I also blamed the foggy weather that headed right for our house on a hill across from the Golden Gate Bridge. Then the drought happened and we resorted to planting native plants and grasses that we got at Annie's Annuals, a magical nursery in Richmond, right near the train tracks. It's a good thing we did, because those plants are still thriving! Now that the house is rented, I don't have much control over that garden, but the perennials that I planted are still holding on.
Our lifestyle has changed, and this year the change has really kicked in. This is the first year that our retirement dream of spending winter in Palm Springs and summer in Tahoe has seemed to fall into place.
This picture of the Palm Springs garden was taken in late December! We have access to a little garden next door to our place, that we share with our neighbor, who has a Kelly-green thumb. The really crazy thing is, that in this climate, we were stunned that we could plant tomatoes in November! The kale and chard that we planted thrived and we felt so healthy. We planted collard greens too, and enjoyed eating them, when suddenly the plant sprouted a lovely cauliflower! I had wondered if it was okay to eat the abundant leaves on cauliflower, and now I can tell you they are NOT poisonous, and they are delicious, steamed with some kale and chard, and served with butter and salt and pepper, and maybe a little vinegar if you're so inclined.
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| Makes your mouth water, eh? |
We'll have to start again from scratch when we come back in mid-October though. The temps that go up to over 125 degrees during the summer don't allow many things to keep growing. We pay a neighbor to try to keep the orange and lime trees that we planted alive while we're gone. And then there's the hibiscus tree that went in this year. Others have installed automatic watering systems, so maybe that's a project for next year.
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| a giant Lupine near the pool |
In the summer, when in Tahoe, I've been doing what I call "stealth gardening", since I saw in the condo rules that we shouldn't be changing the landscaping. Well, the sprinkler system kept going on regularly, and I just couldn't stand it! I figured if I put some native plants in next to the sprinklers in front of our place and near the pool, who could complain? But here I was watching to see if anyone was looking from their porch just waiting to report me. In the next three years, I didn't get reported, but I did gradually get thanked for beautifying the place. Folks came by and talked to me and told me how much they appreciated my taking it upon myself to spruce up the place. In fact this year, at the meeting of the HOA, (home owners association), I confessed to what I had been doing, and was given a title. I AM the Beautification Committee.
That made me bold enough to go out and buy a little gardening seat, and an "old lady" grocery cart to put my soil and supplies in. No money was offered for my services, just praise, but my husband Doug says he's supporting the arts and my hobby since I enjoy it so much. I've loved going over to the local Nel's Garden and Hardware to buy my plants at such good prices.
Sometimes I go to their "clearance rack" to try to save a little on the damaged plants.
So, I've just kept on planting next to the already spouting sprinklers. The day I "came clean", I told the board of the HOA that I had visions of planting a mass of hollyhocks near the pool fence to fill in when the existing lilies had passed. Running off to the garden center, I bought 2 six-packs of promising looking hollyhocks and planted them. The next morning, I discovered they had all been devoured by voles, their young lives cut short by ravenous critters that are related to field mice and moles! Heartbroken, I went to the internet to study up on these destructive rodents, or "little bastards", the name I've coined for them.
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| The garden ravaged by vole holes and trails. |
Turns out, they had made themselves a home in a system of tunnels under the juniper bushes near where I had planted my doomed hollyhocks. It was suggested online that putting granulated garlic, crushed dried chili peppers, or cayenne pepper in the hole when planting would deter them. I made a concoction of all 3, and then also left a dose on top around the plant. There was also an idea, about scaring them away with a predator. I saw a neighbor brushing masses of fur off his German Shepherd, and asked him, rather awkwardly if I could have his dog's fur to put down the vole holes. He started leaving little gifts of balls of fur on our patio table, until he moved and I lost my supplier. Going to Petco's grooming department didn't do much good, since all they had was hair from poodles that day, and it didn't seem to work as well.
Hearing that voles don't like plants with yellow flowers, my neighbor and I invested in dozens of daffodil bulbs, which had thrived the year before. I was also told they didn't like mint, but our voles have different tastes, I suppose, because they thought it was delicious!
Another idea presented to me was JuicyFruit gum, which they are supposed to choke on, but they ignored it. Fire crackers down their holes was a notion that we rejected, along with poison. But no, we're trying to stick to non-violent methods. Besides, we don't want to have the death of a family dog or cat on our hands.
The rest of the garden was thriving when we left in the fall, so it will be interesting to see what revives after a snowy winter. I look forward to walking along the path to our place, head down, watching for any new growth.
So after so many years of being a frustrated gardener, I can't say that now....except for my nemeses, the voles. The little bastards.
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| A baby squirrel taking advantage of my water bowl. |
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| Glorious foxgloves. |
So, I've just kept on planting next to the already spouting sprinklers. The day I "came clean", I told the board of the HOA that I had visions of planting a mass of hollyhocks near the pool fence to fill in when the existing lilies had passed. Running off to the garden center, I bought 2 six-packs of promising looking hollyhocks and planted them. The next morning, I discovered they had all been devoured by voles, their young lives cut short by ravenous critters that are related to field mice and moles! Heartbroken, I went to the internet to study up on these destructive rodents, or "little bastards", the name I've coined for them.
This picture of the Palm Springs garden was taken in late December! We have access to a little garden next door to our place, that we share with our neighbor, who has a Kelly-green thumb. The really crazy thing is, that in this climate, we were stunned that we could plant tomatoes in November! The kale and chard that we planted thrived and we felt so healthy. We planted collard greens too, and enjoyed eating them, when suddenly the plant sprouted a lovely cauliflower! I had wondered if it was okay to eat the abundant leaves on cauliflower, and now I can tell you they are NOT poisonous, and they are delicious, steamed with some kale and chard, and served with butter and salt and pepper, and maybe a little vinegar if you're so inclined.
