Another run to Home Depot

It's getting hot already....96 degrees and it isn't even noon yet. This morning I planted some vinca (Home Depot had another 89-cent sale on six-packs) under the thinned-out orange tree. I bought 10 six packs and probably should have gotten three times that number. Oh well, what is a day without a run to Home Depot? I think we have some Home Depot stock, or at least I hope we do.

Summer changes in the garden

I pruned the orange tree today...removed some of the lower limbs which were hanging down to the ground. It looks more like a tree than a giant bush now, I should be able to plant something under it (haven't decided what yet) and we should still get plenty of oranges. The grapefruit tree looks like a bush too, but I am more reluctant to prune it as it seems more fragile than the other citrus trees and I would hate to accidentally kill it since my mother enjoys grapefruit so much. She still takes a big boxful back on the airplane, even though she has to pay extra to do so.

The first zinnia opened up today, and the orange daylily has also started blooming. The Confederate Jasmine behind the patio pond is still blooming, and the two Carolina Jessamine have started to come back, even the one I thought was probably dead. The birds have pretty well finished off the last of the peaches, but I enjoyed the first apricot a few days ago. There is apparently one plum this year at the very top of our Santa Rosa plum tree, which is wedged in between two rosebushes. Whose bright idea was that? Although we have had the tree for several years, we have never seen any plums. It may have helped that we put in another plum this year which will help pollinate it.

We are still struggling to the get the irrigation system right. There was a big puddle in one spot this morning, and other places aren't getting enough. I thought one day without watering had killed the parsley and mint I planted under the almond tree, but it seemed to bounce back after getting watered. I changed the system to come on every day. Supposedly you are not supposed to do that, but I haven't found any other way to keep things alive.

More garden wanderings

Pole beans are coming up nicely. We're trying a different support system this year- an A-frame trellis that will hopefully be sturdier than the rebar-and-string supports we tried with the snap peas. Speaking of which, there are about a dozen volunteer snap pea plants coming up. It isn't the right time of the year for them, but I'm leaving them alone to see what they will do. There are also melon seedlings coming up under the lemon tree, and lots of green tomatoes. The nasturtium border looks pretty ratty, but I decided to leave it in place and see if it works to shade the landscaping bricks so that the tomatoes and other vegetables don't suffer as much from reflected heat. (This was a tip I learned in a gardening seminar we took through Phoenix Permaculture Association)

I pulled out the sweet peas that were under the peach tree yesterday, which have pretty well stopped blooming and are dying back anyway. These are volunteers that have self-seeded every spring for several years, and it isn't even the best place for them. There isn't much for them to climb on, other than the peach tree, and they block the entrance to the gazebo. I think I'll save some of the seeds and put them in the pots under the old gazebo off our back patio- see if they will grow up the metal supports.

The grape vines on the arch behind the pool have really taken off...one of the vines has reached the top of the arbor already. They seem to be doing much better than the older vines along the fence behind the lemon tree, perhaps because they get more sun.

On sharing and thinning

In past years, we have attempted to shield our peach tree from the birds with netting, in various configurations and with varying degrees of success. Usually what happens is the birds manage to find their way under the netting anyway, get trapped, and then we make a general snarled mess of the netting trying to release them. Also, it is rather troublesome to get under the netting ourselves in order to pick peaches, so we are derived of some of the spontaneity of plucking and enjoying a ripe peach when wandering through the garden. This year we decided to forgo the netting and share with the birds. I think I've enjoyed more fresh peaches this year than when I tried to keep the bird from enjoying them also. They are extremely ripe and juicy now, and in a few days will turn mushy, so I picked a big bowlful and refrigerated them in order to prolong their peak flavor for a little longer, and I'm letting the birds enjoy the rest. There are enough to share, and I have further been rewarded by visits from some attractive and interesting songbirds. I'm not enough of a birdwatcher to know what kinds they are, but they are not pigeons or grackles, which is what I seem to see the most of around here. Apparently pigeons and grackles don't like fruit, for the only birds I've seen eating it are much smaller and generally much better behaved.

I thinned the apple tree today and tried to be a little more aggressive than we were with the peach tree. Even though it is a little late for thinning to affect fruit size, it should be better for the tree. If we don't thin it, there are so many apples that they weigh the branches down and sometimes even break them.

There's a lesson in this somewhere....about not being greedy and trying to hang onto so much for yourself when you can't possibly use all that you have...and about how sometimes it is better to thin out your excesses, so that they don't weigh you down. Or something like that.

Annual Update

Surprisingly, some of the cool season-annuals are hanging in there in spite of 100 degree afternoons. I planted marigold, allysum, petunia, snapdragon, and stock in late March when Home Depot and Lowe's were having some kind of price war on spring annuals- 99-cent six-packs! The marigolds are the ones that are struggling the most, even though they supposedly like warmer weather, but I have never had much luck with marigold transplants. It's overseeded with warmer season plants- lots of zinnias coming up that should be in bloom soon, and a mystery "hummingbird/butterfly" mix. And hopefully marigolds- when I deadhead the transplanted marigolds, I scatter the seeds in bare spots. You can't see them, but there are herbs planted in there along with the flowers- chives, oregano, basil, rosemary, and lavender- and a Japanese eggplant!

Peach season is here!

There's far too much depressing stuff on the news today. It made me think of an old Vietnam-era protest song:

Blow up your TV,
Throw away your paper,
Move to the country,
Build you a home.
Plant a little garden,
Eat a lot of peaches,
Try to find Jesus on your own.
Well, we live in the suburbs, not the country, but there are few things more sublime than eating a fresh peach, just plucked from the tree and warm from the sun. Too bad prime peach season only lasts for a few weeks and it's a race between the birds and me to see who can eat them first.

This year we tried thinning the peaches the way you are supposed to do, although we probably were not aggressive enough. Most are pretty small, slightly larger than a golf ball but not as big as a tennis ball. But they are certainly delicious!

Of pruning and life

I've been doing a lot of relentless pruning this week. The Carolina Jessamine that we planted on the block wall behind one of our ponds seven years ago hasn't looked so good lately. There was more dead undergrowth than green vines, and fewer blossoms. I'd pruned one of them almost to the ground- the one on the end that is easiest to get to- a few weeks ago and it is happily putting out new green shoots. So I finally decided to attack the other two, which required straddling the pond rather precariously, and taking the tangled mess out chunk by chunk. The wall looks bare now, but I think it was the best course of action in the long run.

I also took out a lot of Mexican primroses that were growing behind the lower pond and into the hibiscus bushes. They are in full bloom now and beautiful, especially since the hibiscuses aren't blooming very much yet. However, they were already encroaching on one of the new raised beds, so I felt I needed to take them out before they dropped seeds, or I'd face the same problem I have in one of the older beds.

While I was working, I thought a lot about pruning and life and the fact that I have no contract next year. Maybe a little (or a lot) of pruning is necessary to bring out the best in people- a chance to get rid of what is unsatisfying and unproductive, like my overgrown Carolina Jessamine, or deceptively easy and attractive, like the invasive Mexican primrose. Maybe.