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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Observations: Spring 2011

This spring has been a good one.  Why do I say this?  It is not because of the spring wildflower show, which hardly happened this year.  It is because the weeds have stayed down and the temperatures keep bouncing back to cooler degrees after short bursts of unseasonable warmth.  Last spring was a great wildflower show, but wildflowers also mean weeds.  The fall and early winter rains that cause good spring wildflower shows did not happen.  So instead, this is the perfect spring to get a lot of yard work done.  Things we have accomplished so far are severe pruning (1/4 to 1/3) off of several mesquite trees, removing cholla, creosote, and bursage out of proposed gathering areas, and the building of two out of nine vegetable garden beds.  The lack of herbaceous weeds and the somewhat normal temps have been a big plus during all of this heavy yard work.

Much of this work has been done in the past; however, it has been a few years since some of the areas have been cleared and they had almost fully grown over with plants.  Since I plan to marry on our property and I now have larger gatherings thanks to John’s large family and many friends, it was time to clean out.  The tree pruning should be done every few years to help shape the trees and remove the weighty new growth.  Now we have gathering areas, camping areas, and shade trees to rest under. 

In conjunction with the clearing, I have put in many hours designing and implementing a kitchen garden south of the house.  I plan to use this not only to grow much of our food, but also to act as a test garden.  Below are some of the pictures and renderings to explain my plans.



Early stages of veggie bed build using reclaimed free brick and homemade compost.



Good luck with your endeavors!   I'll keep you posted with how this all goes.