Doing what I can

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

I was too obsessed yesterday with trying to figure out what might be wrong with the apple tree to either enjoy or do anything constructive in the garden. Today I think I will make better use of my time by digging out the Bermuda grass that is threatening to infest this raised bed and choke out these snapbeans.

I've done what I can about the apple tree. I've gone through three separate disease keys from the Cooperative Extension services in several Western states, and although I'm not 100% certain, I think it is likely some kind of crown or root rot brought on by our archenemy of poorly draining clay soil, and there's not much I can do about that. Mike reminded me that before we planted the apple tree, we dug down about three feet in an attempt to improve the drainage, and amended the native soil with compost. That was the general wisdom ten years ago, but since then recommendations have changed. One of the results of backfilling with heavily amended soil is that the area will sink over time as the compost decays, resulting in a sunken area. The sunken area is really obvious now that the grass is gone, meaning that when we water, it pools right next to the trunk and stays there, opening the roots up to various infections.

The first lines of the "Serenity Prayer" above are well known, probably because of their adaptation by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs, but the last part isn't as familiar to most people. For some reason, I was reminded of the thoughts behind this prayer today. If I'm going to be a successful gardener, I have to work with my backyard as it is, heavy clay soil, extreme heat and all. I'd rather have better soil and more moderate temperatures, but this is what I have to work with. Trees may die, but there are other things in our garden to enjoy, and perhaps the difficulty of coaxing beauty from a less-than-ideal situation adds to its appreciation.

Water lilies in bloom

The water lilies have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. I've seen a yellow bloom in addition to the white ones seen here, but haven't seen the pink one yet. They do much better when I keep the cattails cleared out. Interestingly, algae ceases to be a problem once the water lilies emerge from dormancy.

The cattails and umbrella plant are supposed to stay confined to a container, but they keep escaping and if left to their own devices will totally take over the pond.

Don't sit under the apple tree...

I'm becoming concerned about our Ein Shemer apple tree, especially so soon after losing our mature apricot tree. It has blossomed, but is rather late to leaf out and the few leaves that have appeared do not seem healthy. Some young leaves show signs of interveinal chlorosis, which is a sign of iron deficiency, and some have scorched-looking leaf margins, which could be a sign of sodium buildup in the soil.

I'm also wondering if it has been affected by our recent conversion of the grass paths to gravel. We put it several drip emitters around the drip line of the tree, but I'm wondering if the feeder roots, which were used to getting water from the lawn, extend beyond the drip line.

In an effort to cover all possible bases, I sprinkled Ironite, blood meal, and gypsum around the drip line, and am following that with a deep watering of the entire area around the tree, going all the way to the patio instead of stopping at the drip line. (Deep watering for trees means until I can push a soil probe in the ground 3 feet deep in multiple areas) And then we will just hope for the best!

Interview in the garden

This morning we met with Cathy Cromwell, a Master Gardener who has written several books on gardening in the desert. Last year she sent an email out to the Master Gardener listserv looking for people who combined edible with ornamental plants in their home gardens for an article she wanted to write for Phoenix Home and Garden magazine. When I mentioned this to my retiree lunch group, some of them persuaded me to send in pictures of our garden for consideration, so I sent a link to this blog. It didn't work out for her to come last year because we had so much frost damage, but she contacted me a couple of weeks ago and said she'd like to see our backyard and interview us.

I was really nervous about the interview, because she is such an experienced and knowledgeable Master Gardener and I thought our garden was probably too eclectic and imperfect to be magazine-worthy. However, she put me at ease by saying "I don't know what you were worried about", and we sat out on the patio while she asked us questions and typed notes on her laptop. At the conclusion of the interview and yard tour, she said she thought it would make an interesting article, although it might not be published for another year. She is concerned that she might not be able to schedule a photographer to come out and take pictures for several weeks, and the garden won't be at its best once the heat sets in.

So, stay tuned and I'll let you know what happens! And if you're looking for good books on gardening, here's a list of Cathy's books:

Composting for Dummies (author)
Desert Water Gardening for Beginners (author)
Desert Gardening for Beginners (co-author)
Success with School Gardens (co-author)
Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening (co-author)
Better Homes and Gardens New Garden Book (co-writer)
Sunset's Gardening in the Southwest (contributing writer)
Desert Landscaping for Beginners (editor)

Luncheon in the garden

In my previous life, I was a high school science teacher and guidance counselor. A number of my former coworkers are retired now and we try to get together for lunch once a month. Usually we visit different restaurants that we have heard about and want to try, but for the last two years we've had a spring garden party in our backyard.

Because the garden is always changing, it's a different experience each time. Last time it was the hollyhocks that dominated the scene; this year it was the roses. My friends are all really good cooks who like to experiment with new recipes, so the menu is always changing too. One of my friends put together a cookbook for us to share recipes, along with some pictures of our garden.

The weather was as close to perfect as it gets: temperatures in the mid-seventies and no wind. We had a good time eating, visiting, and enjoying the garden. Some people picked citrus to take home with them, and cuttings of sweet potato vines to try at home. I didn't get any takers for the dozens of volunteer tomato plants that have come up, though.

We had our lunch under two canvas pop-up canopies. They function nicely to provide shade, but we have to take them down if the wind kicks up, or they will sail away, wreaking general garden havoc in their wake. (I found that out one monsoon season when I was using them to shade July tomato transplants) One of Mike's ideas for a future garden project is to build a pergola on this side of the house to provide a more permanent shade structure for the patio area.

Honeysuckle in bloom

I like to choose plants for their fragrances as well as their appearance. This Hall's honeysuckle is planted on the block wall behind our gazebo, and has begun to bloom this week, adding its sweet smell to the potpourri in our backyard.

It has flourished in this location, and now covers several sections of wall. In fact I have to keep trimming it back so it doesn't hang over on the HOA side of the wall. Personally, I thought it looked nice, but apparently someone complained about it, so I cut it back from their side of the common wall. I let it hang down on into our front yard on our wall, though.

Since I really would prefer to look at something green and growing than bare block walls ,I've tried several kinds of vines in various locations. The two that have done the best are this one and snail vine. Snail vine has attractive purple flowers which have a longer blooming period, but it dies back in cold weather. The honeysuckle stays green year round.

It's been rather unseasonably cold and windy today. I ought to appreciate it while it lasts, because 100-degree days are not too far in our future. However, my retiree group is coming over tomorrow for lunch in the garden, and I hope the weather cooperates and is pleasant.

April Overview Photos

Panorama taken from the middle of the side patio. I don't think the sky is really this blue; it must be an IOS thing.

It looks quite different from earlier photos of this area since we took out the grass pathways. It was pretty when it was green, but labor intensive to keep looking nice. I'd rather put my labor into things other than grass with nice colors, smells, and tastes. The apricot tree is conspicuously absent. We replaced it with a "fruit cocktail tree", mostly because we got tired of running around to nurseries looking for a replacement apricot tree. The new tree has peach, nectarine, apricot, and plum grafts. I've not been impressed with what I've heard about fruit cocktail trees; they're more of a novelty than anything else and if they aren't pruned rather aggressively one kind of fruit will take over. But it was this or wait another year, and on this one the apricot branch was the thickest, so we'd be just fine with it taking over. Mike did some work on the raised bed that will hopefully improve the drainage situation and give it a fighting chance.

Panarama taken of the pool side of the yard. I don't think the pool is quite that green, either.

Since last year, we added another pygmy palm in the space where the sour orange tree was behind the waterfall, and replaced a bare-root peach tree that didn't make it through the summer. We're being treated to an early display of rose blooms this year. We usually cut them back in January and don't see roses until Easter, but they are in their prime now.