Two Gardens In Santa Fe

Permaculture Workshop in Chimayo

2010-06-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Deep Earth Healing, June 2-5 2010

Integrating elements of Permaculture, nature awareness, tracking, meditation, earth-based traditions and activism; a four day workshop held in Chimayo, NM

Joel Glanzberg and Starhawk

The Road to Chimayo
Driving my mini van, Lolla the Rolla, I had plenty of extra seats and had offered to take folks to the event. I met up with four enthusiastic young folks at the co-op in Santa Fe and we headed north to

Led to unexpected lushness in the bosque of Rio Santa Cruz

Swift water flowing over a beaver dam

A huge old cottonwood near the river

Shady camp sites on the land

My bivouac

The participants gather

Starhawk

Rapt attention

Ancient acequia provides abundant water

water which can be used to grow fruit trees

Yerba Mansa

It wouldn't be Chimayo without a few classic cars in the yard

Geese posted near the entry on guard duty

Pit bull on guard duty

Kids rise to the challenge

We break into small groups to record the givens of the site

Reconvening

Fox Walk

Joel talks about stream dynamics

Creating fire with a fire drill

Late March in the High Desert

2010-04-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

After a long, snowy winter, spring finally began to overtake winter in the very last week of March here in Santa Fe. The Crocus and Iris reticulata were the earliest blossoms, along with hellebores and chionodoxa.

With the weather too chilly to start seeds outside, we turn to the greenhouse to jump start the garden. Here Dahlia has sown lettuce seeds thickly, and then transplants to one or two per pot when the first true leaves appear. This technique is useful when working with older seeds of uncertain viability. The little transplanting tool shown is perfect for moving delicate seedlings. The key to success in transplanting is to use a gentle hand!

Mrs. B purchased this light bench a few years ago and it is just wonderful! The lights can be easily raised and lowered. It's on a timer to optimize the light.

Just after sowing, I like to cover the trays with clear plastic wrap. This keeps the soil evenly moist, especially important with tiny, surface-sown seeds. Once the plants have sprouted it can be removed.

Watering tiny plants is another delicate operation. I try to just dribble water around the plant without actually hitting it. These seedlings are in 2" pots, which will be adequate up until it's time for them to go into the ground.

Even better than plastic wrap is a flat with a clear raised cover. These keep the plants in a higher humidity than we have, even inside the greenhouse. Many plants benefit from this environment, but they must be gradually hardened off to accept the harsh reality of outside life.

At LQ the greenhouse also serves to overwinter many of the tender potted plants which are placed around the garden after all danger of frost has passed.

Unfortunately, in spite of our most diligent efforts, by spring we invariably have insect pests in the greenhouse. The populations of aphids and white fly, as well as scale and mealy bugs, soar once the spring sunshine begins to warm the greenhouse. Air circulation, yellow sticky traps, and hand-picking are the controls we've used. This is usually enough to keep the seedlings safe from attack, but we have had trouble with a few particularly delicious crops.

The rock garden is one of the earliest places to color up in the spring. Rocks store and reflect heat, giving nearby plants a bit of an edge.

Helleborus species have received a lot of attention from plant breeders lately, resulting in glorious early blooms for our gardens. These tough survivors do surprisingly well here, as they tolerate alkaline soil, drought and cold.

What more could we ask for? The bees certainly appreciate it!

Brilliant yellow crocus brighten the garden in early spring, a promise of the wonders to come.

Chionodoxa carpet large areas beautifully, increasing by seed and bulbils annually.

The earliest daffodils are up, trumpeting revelie to the rest of the garden.

Another lovely crocus; I believe this one is called "Lady Killer". Works for me!

As I walk around to the north end of the property, I find that the snow still lies deep.

Yet even on the cold side of the garden, I discover delicate Iris reticulate varieties popping up in sunny spots.

The Iris is a wonderfully varied genus, and plant breeders have added countless variations to the different species. It's easy to find a spot for these tiny early marvels.

Here another delicious crocus positively glows with radiant beauty. All this is just the beginning of what is proving to be a most wonderful year in the gardens at LQ.

A Brief Personal History: My Journey as a Gardener

2010-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

After having published numerous entries here about gardening, I thought it might be about time to tell how I came to this passion. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and went to college at UC Santa Cruz, majoring in art. On the campus I discovered the wonderful student gardens established by Alan Chadwick, the respected English gardener who introduced raised-bed French-intensive gardening to the United States. I was inspired to plant my first veggie garden in the back yard of the house I rented with friends while I went to school. The rich Santa Cruz soil rewarded me with bountiful yields in spite of my lack of knowledge, and so I was encouraged to continue gardening.

I first met my husband Steve in Santa Cruz, California in 1974, while we were both living at a communal household called "The Farm". The old Ohio-style house sat on five acres of the most delicious black topsoil imaginable. It was owned by a disciple of Alan Chadwick, who saw it as a kind of "Five Acres and Independence" scenario. I had moved there after returning from a six month sojourn in Guatemala, where I lived among impoverished indigenous Mayans eking out a living in a steep mountain valley. After seeing first-hand how important gardening really was, I was determined to learn back-to-the-land skills. When I saw Steve single-handedly clear the land of thorny blackberries to open up space for a vegetable garden, I was impressed. Once we had danced together our future was set!

This is a photo of The Farm taken this past winter. It was considerably funkier when we lived there! We know many devoted organic gardeners who honed their skills on this site, including Dahlia, the intrepid veggie gardener at LQ (seen below on her last birthday).

By the fall of 1976, Steve had taken me back east to "see snow". We had the good fortune when we first arrived in upstate New York to encounter a group who had purchased 432 acres of south-facing hillside near the hamlet of Truxton, in Cortland County. They intended to create a community land trust on the land. Today Common Place Community Land Trust continues to be home to 23 adults and 8 children in 14 homes, but we were the first.

The winter of '76-'77 was the worst in 100 years, and we spent it in the old farmhouse on the land. It had been abandoned in the midst of renovations ten years earlier. There was no insulation, tarpaper siding...and only a wood cookstove for heat. We stayed warm by cross country skiing during the days, and slept under ten wool blankets! Each morning we had to clear 4 to 6 inches of snow off the plank that covered our open air toilet. It snowed every night for 40 nights without a break. Great cross country skiing, however!

The following spring we gained our first housemate, an avid gardener, naturalist, and good friend named Scott Luscombe. The first thing we did was salvage some old windows and empty 55 gallon metal drums and cob together a greenhouse, where we started seedlings for our dream veggie garden.

We established a the garden in front of the old barn, in soil which had been growing enormous burdocks and poison hemlock plants; both indicators of fertility. Our bumper crops of corn and winter squash were a local wonder. Country Gentleman shoepeg corn plants reached over ten feet in height, amazing the farmer who rented some of our fields to grow corn for silage. Ultimately, as more folks came to live in the big old house, we expanded into a productive organic market garden, laid out, of course, according to French Intensive principles. Our beautiful, diverse, and unusual fresh produce really knocked their socks off in the big city of Cortland at the farmer's market!

As you can see, we opted for funk! See the rather bizarre structure on the left? We called that "the barn that landed from outer space"; looks strange, but our cob-job kept it functional for a good many more years!

We loved our rustic life, but after four years on the land, Steve decided to return to college to get a degree in agronomy. He felt called to spread the good word about organic agriculture! So in 1980 we moved to nearby Ithaca, where he earned a master's degree in Veg Crops and Agronomy. While we lived in an apartment in the middle of town, we still kept a plot at the community garden for growing vegetables and herbs. I still use the trowel we won for having the most aesthetic garden!

After graduation we tried to stay in Ithaca, where we had many good friends. But there were no jobs there in Steve's field. The last place we lived in the area was called Fun Acres. Our friend Barb Martin (seen above in a shot taken last fall with her flock of heirloom turkeys) ran her own gardening crew both then and now, and has been a real inspiration to me.

Steve took a position at the Rodale Institute Research Center near Kutztown, Pennsylvania. This was serious Pennslvania Dutch country, and "if you're not Dutch, you're not much!" In spite of not fitting in with the locals, we were determined to make a life for ourselves. We found the perfect little house, a 150 year old two bedroom home on 1/2 acre in the village of Stony Run. The place must have always been owned by gardeners, for it was blessed with many mature ornamentals, including the most amazing wisteria I've ever seen.

It was an idyllic period. We adopted our twin daughters as tiny infants after we'd settled there, and when they were 18 months old I took a job where Steve worked at the Research Center, setting up and managing their bookstore/ visitor's center. This was located in a charming old one-room school house on the property. While there, I began collecting gardening books, and started applying my artistic sense to garden design. I designed and installed gardens around the bookstore, including a circular herb garden and a big rainbow cutting garden full of annual flowers. I put together a series of lectures, including many of the well-known authors of Rodale books, including Jeff Ball and Rosalind Creasy.

One of the tour guides I worked with was an avid gardener named Barbara Pressler, who ran a small nursery from her home called W.C. Fields (the joke centered on an outhouse in the garden). Her place was a wonderland! Here we are at Barb's when the girls were about three. Her friend was showing us a rather sizable serpent he'd caught, much to my delight (I've been a herptiphile since forever!). The girls have never shared my enthusiasm for reptiles...can't understand it!

At the bookstore I dried herbs and everlastings I grew in my gardens, and used them to create wreaths to sell. Sometimes I taught classes. Barb used to quiz me on the Latin names of plants. "Quick, Moria; what's this one?" "Umm...Erigeron...no...Eringeum, uh... planum?" "Very good. Now this one?" It was a real crash course!

Our yard became an oasis of beauty, and between improving our garden and those at the visitor's center, I was learning a lot. Our favorite project was a hand-dug pond (Steve dug, I told him where to toss the dirt! We are an excellent team!). Good friends in Ithaca, Wylatt (seen below in a recent photo lifted from his Facebook site, playing his flute to the trees in Hawaii) and Mary (with whom we dined last fall on a visit to Ithaca)

This duo created one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever experienced beautiful garden out of a former trash heap. They ran a small nursery, starting many hard-to-find perennials from seed, inspiring me to try new and unfamiliar ornamentals. I'll always be grateful for the Kirengashoma palmata they sent home with me!

In addition there were many outstanding gardens nearby to visit, such as Longwood. You can see how all these elements came together to educate me in horticulture.

I was becoming a gardener!

In the above photo you may recognize my brother Russ, who visited us from California. Here we are checking out the demonstration gardens at the RIRC. It's an idyllic scene, but fate was soon to turn our Pennsylvania Paradise into a nightmare. I'll never forget the day I learned that Robert Rodale, the idealistic and visionary leader of the Rodale Institute and Press, had been killed in a car accident while visiting Russia.

(Photo courtesy of Seeds of Change)

No one had expected this tragedy, least of all Bob himself. The vacuum left by his demise created a chaotic power struggle, and all the joy and hope that Steve and I, and many of our friends and co-workers had felt while working at the Rodale Institute fizzled away. Soon many of us were hunting for jobs elsewhere.

That's when Steve accepted a position with Seeds of Change, the nation's largest organic seed company. We sold our beloved home, packed up our belongings, cat, dog, kids and all, and moved to New Mexico. It couldn't have been more different! Of course we kept gardening. But soon after our arrival the high desert was deep in a prolonged drought. We were saving bath and dish water for plants, and still losing things. It was time to relearn how to garden!

In 1998 we built our house, choosing a site overlooking the Santa Fe River in a cohousing community; which was a link back to our time with the community land trust in upstate New York.

Now we were on the land once again.

While Steve became involved in the art and business of seeds, I took a job at a local native plant nursery, Plants of the Southwest, pictured above. This wonderful resource is the creation of Gail Haggard, an extraordinary, intelligent, devoted woman. I worked there for about a year, during which time I gained a feel for how to garden in this challenging environment.

There I met my good friend Susan Westbrook, who was the manager. I will always be grateful for her wisdom and guidance, generous spirit and unflagging good humor!

At this point I am moved to mention some of the many talented and generous people who have helped to educate and inspire me since moving to New Mexico.

To Bob Pennington, owner of another terrific source for xeric plants in Santa Fe, Agua Fria Nursery, for always sharing his vast store of knowledge and experience, I offer my thanks.

The founders of Seeds of Change, three of the most brilliant horticulturalists I've met:

Dr. Alan Kapular, botanist and plant breeder

Rich Pecoraro, Farmer Extraordinaire

Gabriel Howearth, seen here with his partner Kitzia Danel, co-founders of Buena Fortuna in La Ribera, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

All of these folk have created rich, healthy and diverse gardens and shared their vast stores of knowledge with open hearts.

To Gordon Tooley, owner of Tooley's Trees, and his friend and associate Paul Brian Jones, I send heartfelt thanks for their knowledge of tree care.

One day I received an unexpected offer of a job tending the garden of an older English woman near Canyon Road. When I went for the interview, we talked easily for over an hour. It wasn't until her daughter came in and over-enunciated her words that I learned that this lady was completely deaf. She watched me work in her herb garden for a little while before she decided to hire me...I guess I passed her test! With my talented crew I've been caring for the gardens at LQ for eight years now.

Mrs. B is more than my client. She is a dear friend, and it is an honor to be able to call myself Head Gardener at LQ. She has a remarkable amount of gardening wisdom stored in her head, and we both enjoy cooking up plans for revitalizing the grounds at LQ together.

I also want to thank my mother, Elsie Wright, for creating beautiful gardens for me to play in as a child. Who knows if I ever would have become interested in gardening without that exposure?

And of course, to my wonderful, wild and wacky spouse, my best buddy and life partner Steve...well, I just couldn't have done any of it without you, my love!

It's been a crazy, wonderful ride, and I'd do it all again if I had the chance. I still have many gardens and art yet to create, so life is full. My dream gardens include a "retirement" to a permacultural paradise on a tropical coast where I can raise mangoes, swim (with my mertail) with dolphins, and drum with my friends. If you read this (not so) little autobiography all the way through, you are indeed a friend, and welcome in my garden any time!

Garden Ornaments

2009-12-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

With today's blog entry, I would love to inspire my readers to add a touch of interest to their gardens by incorporating objects'd arte (or otherwise!). For many years, Mrs. B. has gathered unusual objects to add interest to her gardens. Well read, with a keen sense of humor, and an appreciation of the written word, she likes to put these things together in ways that offer the visitor to the garden some pithy content. While the plants are the stars of the show, sculptural elements are the supporting cast. They add little comments that make you think.

The greatest concentration of sculptural elements at LQ may be found in the "Funky Shui Garden", located in what might normally be called the back yard. Here a collection of pieces which derive from many of the world's religions may be found. Together they form an "Ecumenical Garden" which offers homage to the spiritual yearnings of humanity.

If you click on the above picture, you can get an idea of how many oddments are shown off in this area. Everything from gazing balls to a mock Egyptian sarcophagus, from a bas relief Madonna and Child to a carved wooden bear. But it all ties together into the overall theme. In the enlarged view, incidently, youcan also see what looks like flying snow, but is actually petals falling from the enormous chokecherry tree behind the wall in the next garden. This is the same tree shown in full bloom on the front piece of my blog.

Although we try to arrange these objects in some kind of logical order each spring, when we bring them out of winter storage, they sometimes mingle inappropriately. Here the Indigenous American area rubs elbows with a Catholic church. Well, those two religions actually did rub elbows, and in fact still do, so maybe it isn't that inappropriate.

The Funky (Junky) Shui Garden is so full of interesting objects that it really deserves its own blog! That will come at a later date.

Each garden at LQ is expected to carry some meaning or significance, or at least a joke. Here an astrolabe offers a grace note to the Knot garden. But if it's not a garden, what is it?

In the center of the Funky Shui garden stands one of my favorite pieces: a moon dial that no one knows how to interpret. This delightful folly rests in the midst of a bed of catanache (perennial candytuft) in full bloom. We sheer this promptly once the flowers fade to stimulate a second flush later.

Four ladies (goddesses, perhaps?) converse in the garden of one of Mrs. B's daughters. The tendency to add interesting ornaments may be genetic! Metal objects, unlike ceramics, can remain in the garden all winter, and are an important addition while the plants are dormant during the winter months.

This little shrine was set up by one of the renters on the property, so maybe that decorative tendency is just something we learn. By creating a shelter to keep off the rain and snow, this clay sculpture can probably remain outside for the winter without breaking. It's the repeated freezing and thawing that wreaks havoc on ceramic pieces.

The quintessential Santa Fe icon, a kiva-style ladder to nowhere, rests against an adobe wall beside a bed full of hollyhocks. Ladders like this were used by the Anasazis in their multi-storied pueblos, and you can climb them if you visit the cliff dwellings at Bandelier, about an hour NW of Santa Fe. (I'll be posting a blog soon about these remarkable ruins soon on my other site: www.exploringaroundsantafe.blogspot.com)

The vegetable garden wouldn't be complete without a scarecrow or two. Their faces were carved years back from wood by one of the workers at LQ. They used to both be male, but the closer one is a transexual. They are quite happy together, but really don't help much with crows. The owl is actually much more useful in that department.

Our scarecrow couple sometimes like a change of scene. This covered wagon is one of many left in Santa Fe from the days when this was the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail. It is in better shape than most, and can still be rolled.

LQ fronts on Canyon Road at one end, where a particularly nice gallery rounds out the property. There the garden features an ever-changing display of sculpture pieces. Note the stone retaining wall holding the slope behind the children; it was beautifully constructed by skilled Mexican stone masons by dry stacking carefully fitted rough cut rocks.

In another garden in town, I spotted this emblematic sheep's skull. I relate this thematically to the ladder pictured above. Georgia O'Keefe deserves credit for popularizing both of these icons.

Elsewhere in Santa Fe, someone got creative with...what? Barrel hoops? And whatever that central object is. But it looks nice and probable was not expensive. Found objects are great! Here's a unique statement full of imagination and whimsy.

At my own home, I needed a place to display a small collection of glass insulators and antique bottles, some of which were found at TP while we were digging the garden. A rustic fence, made of Siberian elm branches (those weed trees aren't completely useless!), which provides a modicum of privacy while lending support to two roses and a clematis, offered a place to show them off in the sunlight.

Ornamenting your garden space is a great way to express yourself and use some of those odd-ball things gathering dust in the garage. If you liked it enough to keep it, put it out there! My rock collection is also displayed in the garden, as are interesting pieces of driftwood, a whole earth flag, and a license plate which offers the name Pan. It's all shown off in the tiny area behind the elm fence, and it is all showing who we are. Get creative and above all, have fun!

Planning the Vegetable Garden, Part I

2009-12-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Now is the time to start imaging the garden for next year. What worked in the garden this year, and what didn't? Did you learn that no one in your house really likes turnips? Then either leave them out of the garden altogether, or perhaps try one of those new Japanese hybrids that promise to be as sweet as a melon. Didn't grow enough broccoli? Give it more room in next year's plan. Ran out of lettuce? Plan to plant successively, and intercrop with other things.

Then there are the longer term design issues. Maybe you'd like to create a shady sitting area from which to contemplate the garden while sipping a lemonade (I recommend it!). A potting area outside of the greenhouse, with a trellis for shade, could serve to harden off the seedlings you intend to start indoors in late winter. Now you can think bout what you want, and soon you can pull out some graph paper and start designing and mapping the garden.

The vegetable garden differs fundamentally from perennial, ornamental gardens, and requires an annual planning process. How you want your garden to function will determine what kind of layout you'll have. A well-laid-out garden means that everything is visible and easy to access.

Dahlia, the dedicated vegetable gardener at LQ, runs a tight ship. She and I were comparing notes one day about how we thought one should lay out the beds in the veggie garden. We'd already worked together for a couple of years at that point, and found we got along well. "Of course the beds should be permanent, so you don't have to redo them every year. And of course the beds should be double dug to work the soil deeply, but then never stepped on so that they don't get compacted. And they should be straight, so it's easy to use row covers and trellis systems. And so of course the paths should be wide and straight; four foot wide beds are exactly right." Several more "of courses" followed; we were in agreement on everything!

"You know," said I, "I learned vegetable gardening in Santa Cruz, where I lived on a small, 5 acre farm in town, which was owned by a disciple of Alan Chadwick (you can google him)." "The Farm on Ivy Lane??" asked Dahlia in disbelief. "So did I!" It turned out we had lived in the very same room at the Farm ten years apart. No wonder we agree so well! This little oasis was also where I met my husband, Steve. But his approach to planning a veggie garden is very different from mine, as you'll see in the next blog. Perhaps this is because at LQ we are trying to make a garden which works for the owner, the other residents, and for tours. That's what I meant when I said above "how you want your garden to function will determine the layout".

The beds in the LQ veggie garden are permanent, with established paths. They are carefully prepared each spring. Cover crops, sheet compost, and/or finished compost is dug in, then the beds are raked smooth. The beds are slightly raised, but because they are never stepped upon, the soil remains loose and friable, allowing easy penetration of rainwater running off the more compacted paths into the tiny air pockets in the soil of the beds.

At the entry of the veggie garden is an especially formal section we call the "potager" (POH-tah-zhay, which is just French for vegetable garden). In this area cut stone defines raised beds which form a symmetrical pattern in front of the greenhouse. Each bed is carefully planned for maximum of aesthetic delight, as well as for crop rotation and most desired crops.

As the plants grow, the two foot wide beds allow access to all parts of the garden. With the bed width set at four feet, it is easy to reach into the center of any bed from one side or the other. Mulch on the paths eliminates mud as a problem.

By contrast, the veggie garden at TP grows rather by topsy. There is a nice wide path down the center, but some beds become inaccessible as the season progresses and the plants grow. I find that sometimes I can't avoid stepping in a planting area to get to the plants behind it. Still, it's productive!

One of Mrs. B's delights is to always add a touch of whimsy to her gardens. Here a sculptural plant stand forms the centerpiece in a potager bed. Note the many edible flowers, such as Tagetes minuta, or "Tangerine Gem" marigold, which tastes like orange peel in a salad and adds color.

The LQ vegetable garden in high summer, with the corn tasseling, and flowers blooming all around. Flowers are not "just for pretty" in the veggie garden. They serve as alternate food sources for a wide range of predatory insects and pollinators.

Take some time to dream about the garden now. It's good to keep a journal throughout the growing season, tracking how the various varieties did, what problems you encounter, how the weather was. I'm not as good at this as I should be; I try to keep it in my head, which definitely has its limitations! Next year I hope to keep the garden journal as a part of this blog, which should help all of us!

Bringing In Potted Plants For The Winter

2009-12-01T11:19:00.001-08:00

When the leaves start to turn gold in the fall, we keep a sharp eye on the weather reports. Of course there are tomatoes and other tender veggies to harvest, but at LQ there are also many potted plants which have spent the warm months outside, and now must go back inside before the first hard frost.

Every pot must be dealt with in one way or another. Indoor space is limited. Some plants are destined to be treated as annuals (some are!), others are separated into individual pots to be re-grouped in the spring. The plant stand in the foreground is a temporary washing station.

Note the blue post-it on this pot. It has my detailed instructions to the gardening crew on how to deal with this pot. It will let them know if they need to wash the plant, spray it with neem oil and/or BT (bacillus thuringiensis), and put it in the cool alcove, the greenhouse, the laundry room, or the sun room. Each space has its own winter "climate", and it makes a big difference where the plants go.

It is important to wash and spray the plants before bringing them in, to ensure that we aren't introducing any pests or disease organisms which tend to proliferate indoors. Note tiny insects on underside of this leaf. Washing and spraying must be thorough, and prune to reduce size, remove any dead or damaged leaves at this point. Wait until spring to fertilize.

A pot like this will have its plants potted up separately. By spring they will all need larger containers.

Some plants never make it outside. These orchids aren't particularly happy in our dry climate, but a daily misting and setting them on top of a grate over standing water helps.

When the plants come inside the sunroom becomes a wonderful tropical paradise. In this picture you can see fuschias, pelargoniums (commonly called geraniums), begonias, amaryllis, hibiscus, and thunbergia (black-eyed susan vine). Other plants are added specifically for fragrance. Besides local nurseries, a favorite source for potted plants is Loggee's Nursery, which has a wonderfully enticing list of tropicals.

This geranium (pelargonium) has absolutely delicious bicolored blossoms!

An unusual fuschia with orange flowers which contrast fetchingly with its burgundy stems and foliage.

This hanging streptocarpus is one of Mrs. B's favorite pass-along plants. It is almost always in bloom, and its velvety leaves hang down on stems at least three feet long...a real show-stopper!

Here's an amaryllis I missed in the last blog. This is one of the shorties I said I felt were out of proportion, but now that I look at it, it's kind of cute!

This delicate begonia looks as good out of bloom as it does while blooming. A gift from some visitors, it always gets pride of place.

Plants which don't attain the show place of the sunroom may be relegated to the greenhouse. This building was retrofitted from the old duck house, and has a low ceiling fitted with skylights and large windows on the south side. I call it "the cave", as it is rather dark for a real production greenhouse. Nevertheless, plants love it, as you can see! It is really ideal for overwintering, as it never freezes and stays cool and moist. A fan helps circulate the air to reduce insect and disease problems, and when it gets really cold we turn on an oil-filled space heater. On sunny days we open the door so it doesn't overheat. Simple.

A gorgeous salvia, which is tender in our zone 5b, is well worth keeping in the greenhouse for another year.

Geranium bud about to burst. Plants are rotated into and out of the house as they go in and out of bloom. Geraniums (pelargoniums) are one of the plants pestered by cabbage loopers, and it is important to spray them with BT.

At my home the prize for fragrance goes to the sansevieria (sword plant, mother-in-law's tounge) a plant which blooms rarely but when it does, it perfumes the entire house! It sits on my bathroom counter year round, and was propagated from my mother's plant. I have it planted in the old green glass steamer I used to hang over when I was congested as a child, so the whole thing is really very nostalgic!

I bring in tender perennials as well, but really don't have much room for them. They crowd my studio all winter. Someday we plan to add a greenhouse outside these doors, and then, watch out! Plant heaven!

Amaryllis; Indoor beauty for the winter

2009-11-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

With its huge, brilliant, long-lasting blooms, amaryllis is well worth cultivating. This is especially true when you can keep them year after year. With a little space outside to fatten the bulb over the summer, you can make these beauties a treat you look forward to every winter.

Set in a pool of sunshine in our kitchen in deep winter, one Amaryllis bulb provided this glorious sight.

While not fragrant, these bulbs more than make up for that deficit with huge visual appeal!

In order to keep your bulbs blooming each year, it is important to think of them as a crop, rather like an onion. After all frost danger in the spring, take the bulbs out of their pot and replant them in a well-prepared garden bed with ample sun, water, and nutrients. Allow them to grow there until just before the first frost in the fall. Then repot them (they may need slightly larger pots) in well-drained potting soil and bring inside. Remove only damaged leaves; do not take off all the foliage. With this treatment you can have flowers every year from the same bulb, which makes the rather hefty price tag ($8 to$20 each) a little more tolerable!

These African flowers have been greatly altered by many years of selection, particularly by Dutch plant breeders. They come in a range of colors, from white, pale pink, apricot, coral, orange, scarlet, red, burgundy, to almost black. Lovely blends, stripes, and picotee markings have been achieved, and some have a green throat, which I especially like. Some are quite tall, and with their top-heavy blossoms may require staking. Much shorter varieties are also available, which may be more practical. To me these look a bit out of proportion.

Fancy double flowers with ornately recurving petals and delicate coloration are the ultimate in amaryllis beauty. I love the sculptural quality of the huge petals. I have also been amazed by the iridescent rainbow sheen on the petals in the sunlight seen only with close examination. These are almost magically enlarged flowers, making me think of Georgia O'Keefe and Alice in Wonderland. How could you not love them?

In winter when the gardens in Santa Fe lie dormant, we keep 20 or more amaryllis bulbs in separate pots in a sunny laundry room for Mrs. B's delight. Each year it seems she can't resist getting one or two more. As the buds begin to emerge we bring them into her sunroom, where they are placed to good advantage.

With the grande dame amaryllis blooms interspersed among other winter flowering plants, such as hibiscus, jasmine, and bougainvillea, the sunroom becomes a glorious jungle! Some of the plants are deliberately chosen for fragrance, which makes up for the showier blossoms' lack of scent.

As you can see from the bouquet of freshly picked daffodils, this photo was taken in April. The Amaryllis collection at LQ comes into bloom over a five or six month period, which means that one or two bulbs will be in bloom at any given time throughout the cold months. Note the stakes on these long-stemmed flowers, as well as the abundant foliage, which I feel adds to their appeal. So this season adopt an amaryllis, give it a good home with year-round love, and it will return that love with a gift of beauty that will brighten your winters for many years to come!

More early spring bulbs from LQ

2009-11-18T13:18:00.001-08:00

Now is the last chance here in the high desert to get bulbs in the ground. As long as the soil is unfrozen and the bulbs are in good condition, you can still plant. The rule of thumb for planting depth is to dig a hole three times the depth of the bulb length. A pinch of balanced organic fertilizer, and some bone meal will help to keep the bulb nourished, and promote future bloom. Allow the foliage wither naturally so all the energy will go back into the bulb. The best situation is to have bulbs planted with perennials which will cover the fading bulb foliage. True geraniums work perfectly, but there are many other choices.

A wonderful naturalizer, over the years Scilla siberica has filled out this border edge nicely, creating a swath of deep blue-violet at the edge of this raised bed.

Besides coming in a wide range of colors, popular hyacinths have the additional attribute of being richly fragrant. Plant them where you can catch a whiff!

One of my personal favorites, Puschkinia scilloides is a little-known charmer originating in Turkey. To fully appreciate the delicate blue line etched into the center of each crisp white petal, it's necessary to go in close. Puschkinia is easy to grow in well-drained soil.

Anemone blanda, also known as wind anemone, brightens a shady border. The bulbs of this lovely spring ephemeral are particularly difficult to distinguish top from bottom. When in doubt I plant it on edge. It is available in white, pink, and dark blue as well as the clear light blue pictured. Here it is paired with muscari armeniacum, for a color echo. This is listed as a Zone 6 plant, and Santa Fe is officially Zone 5b (the warmer part of Zone 5). I find that you can push hardiness by planting near a wall or pavers. I have seen a definite warming trend over the past ten years here, and many Zone 6 plants are surviving well. It is always a gamble, but often worth trying.

Muscari "Valerie Finnis" is a particularly elegant variety with its bicolored flower heads. It sets off Narcissus "Thalia" to good effect. Note the guest supping nectar.

Fruit trees in Santa Fe

2009-11-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Santa Fe is high and sunny, which makes for a pleasant four season environment, but causes problems for fruit trees. The intense sunlight can trick the trees into blooming much too early. Then a cold snap or snow is bound to come along and kill the poor innocent little blossoms, leaving us with no fruit! This picture was taken on April 2, and the apricot , always adventurous, is already starting to burst into bloom.

Here is the grand old apricot at LQ, a week later, in full, glorious bloom.

That same year, at TP, the apricot in front of our house has already had its blossoms blasted by freezing night time temperatures. But as long as some buds don't open until after a killing frost, there is still a chance for fruit. The blooms which are turning brown had frozen, but new ones open each day. Hope springs eternal!

But that night it snowed, and the blooms were burdened with an inch of snow the next morning. No fruit again!

Two days later we got yet another snowfall. Don't get me wrong; I love spring snows...we always need the moisture! But we've yet to pick a single apricot from this tree, and it's 11 years old! The problem is the placement. It is on a south-facing slope. This means it gets a lot of direct winter sunshine, and blooms earlier than it should. Best to place early bloomers on a north-facing slope or on the north side of a building to avoid this problem.

And here is another beautiful show on April 16th of crabapple blossoms. Some trees seem more tolerant of cold than others. We always get crabapples!

Pruning Fruit Trees

2009-11-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

I am no expert on fruit tree care, but local nurseryman Gordon Tooley of Tooley's Trees is. I attended a very good workshop he gave a couple of years ago in early March on pruning, and I thought my photos from that day would provide some useful illustrations for a winter task which many find confusing.

In this shot we see a young tree, probably about three years old. It has already been pruned the year before for shape. Take note of the angle of the branches; they spread out from the trunk with a wide angle. Just three or four well-spaced main branches is desirable. However, the water sprouts from the base of the tree must be removed.

Gordon held onto every little branch he cut, rather than dropping them on the ground. Between trees he sprayed his pruners with a bleach solution he carried in a spray bottle. All this was for disease prevention. The pruned branches could be used for grafting if one was that ambitious.

He pruned to open up the interior of the tree, and to eliminate crossed branches. As a rule of thumb, there should be room for a bird to be able to fly through a fruit tree without brushing its wings on the branches. Fewer branches means that the tree sends more energy to the fruit, so it gets bigger. It also means better air circulation for disease resistance, and facilitates harvesting.

Where three branches emerged from one point he has cut one out to leave the two which were the best placed. Note that the cut is near the trunk. A well done cut like this is placed barely outside of the ring at the base of the branch. This ring, if left intact, will continue to grow, allowing the tree to seal the cut over time. He also removes branches growing at too tight an angle, which would result in a weak joint that could later break under the weight of the fruit.

Here's an example of a poorly done cut from the year before. It was made too far from the trunk, and the bark peeled away as well. These flaws are the result of hurried, careless work, or a lack of knowledge. Such mistakes can open the tree up to disease. A cut like this can lead to heart rot and shorten the life of the tree. Look for the "dotted line" that shows you where to make your cut.

Here's a well-established orchard which had been neglected for many years. The trees have become overgrown and are now producing undersized fruit. They need thinning to return to productivity.

Originally this tree was pruned properly, and has a nice shape, but it needs a good thinning to restore it. A bird would have a tough time flying through that tangle! A stricter standard calls for being able to throw a cat through the branches...must've been a cat-hater that came up with that one!

Here you can see water sprouts which were allowed to grow. Obviously, even if you wanted to keep some to fill in a hole, there are too many for the tree to support. Suckers like these can rob the older well-placed branches of water and nutrients, and will eventually take over.

Timing is important for pruning. Late winter is a good time, as disease organisms are dormant and not liable to get into the cuts. The lack of leaves makes the branch structure obvious, and eases the entire process. However, winter pruning does cause sucker growth.

One of Mrs. B's favorite quotes from one of the English garden writers she loves (sorry I've forgotten which one) is "growth follows the knife". It's quite true. Whenever you prune you are liable to stimulate a reaction in the tree to produce more vegetation. This is a survival mechanism, to tolerate browsing by herbivores. It hasn't been long since trees had BIG herbivores with which to coexist and coevolve (giant ground sloths...think about it!). But if we prune we need to continue maintaining the trees to optimize their form for production.

Animals at TP

2009-11-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

Here's our dog Cassidy, thwarted by the Cadillac of Compost Bins. The old compost pile was still there when the bins were first made. A pile needs to be at least four or five feet tall in the center when it is first built in order to have enough mass to hear up properly. It can be any length, and is always tuned in one direction: towards the garden. New material is added at the end away from the garden and finished material is removed at the end closest to the garden. Handy that way. But the dogs tended to dig up tasty scraps and made a mess of things, so the new bins were built.

About ten years ago a Mennonite family moved to TP and brought milk goats and chickens. Although they have since moved on, the goats and chooks remain.

There are now separate co-ops for each. A few families take care of the chickens and gather eggs. We like to let the chickens run in the goat pen, as we get a lot fewer flies when they can scratch around and eat the larvae.

Our goats are sable Saanens, the largest dairy goat and heaviest producer. These are our second generation, born here, and around seven years old. We love the milk! The co-op for the goats is made up of a mixture of TP residents and neighbors. These goats happen, by an odd coincidence, to be descendants from the herd we used to get milk from in the Santa Cruz mountains when we lived there! This is Becca, looking expectantly for a treat.

Here is Kat with the three kids she had this spring. As you can see, they love tree leaves and bark more than anything, making them useful in controlling the very invasive Siberian elms that were introduced to Santa Fe before they knew better. More on these elms later. Anyway, I have to give the goats credit. We have a nicely self-contained system thanks to them. We get loads of milk and cheese and yogurt, and a handy source of manure for the garden to boot!

Composting

2009-11-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

A good compost pile is the backbone of a good garden. I like to have a hot compost, above 140 degrees Farenheit, preferably. The hot temperature is the result of microbes digesting the organic matter in the pile. Hot compost kills weed seeds and pathogens. However, some people prefer cold compost, which is easier to make, but takes longer. Anytime you put together a large pile of organic matter and water it will eventually decay. Don't feel daunted if you can't put up a Cadillac Compost Bin like we have. Just a pile will work, as long as it is big enough. Compost happens!

We used to just have a compost pile, which worked but was messy, especially after some of the community dogs developed a taste for rotted kitchen scraps. So the community agreed to invest in some really fine bins. I based the design on the ones we had been using at LQ, which Alec, the compost king, had built. But these bins are even better. There are four bins, each four feet wide and six feet deep by five feet high. The front is made of 1" X 10"s which slide into place between grooves. Between the bins there's a similar system in the front half of the dividing separation. The back half and the outside are reinforced wire mesh.

My husband Steve, the reigning regent of the veggie garden at TP, has taken on the composting duties as well. He likes seeing the magical transformation of waste into black gold. Finished compost is black and crumbly, with no smell. It is essential for organic gardening.

There are four bins in all. We use the left bin, Bin A, to accumulate chopped organic material. Kitchen scraps not fed to the goats and chickens, like onions, coffee grounds, and citrus peels go into the small tin trash can so he can properly integrate them into the pile. Bin B is the newest pile, made from a mixture of the goat and chicken pen mucked out material, the chopped weeds and prunings from bin A, and kitchen scraps all. These materials are layered like lasagna, watered as they go in. The whole pile is topped with a layer of straw or dry leaves.

The compost gets turned twice a year. It's a big job and does take some muscle. Definitely better with a few folks taking turns...that's one of the advantages of cohousing. Before the biannual mucking, we turn the piles to empty Bin B so it's ready to receive the new compost. Bin D, on the far right, is the oldest, and has been emptied by then. So the pile in C goes into D, then B is turned into C, leaving B empty for the new pile. The compost goes mostly to the veggie garden, which is close at hand. Some makes its way to the ornamental gardens as well, adding valuable nitrogen and organic matter to our sandy soil.

Here Steve turns the pile from one bin to the next. You can see how useful the removable slats between the bins are. The turning speeds up the process, as material that had been squashed on the bottom winds up on the top, and everything is mixed up, making material more accessible to the tiny organisms that are working on it.

I often liken building a compost pile to making bread. Both depend on biological activity to work, and require a familiarity with getting the right balance of ingredients. As Steve turns the material, he fluffs it with a practiced toss of the pitch fork. This adds air into the pile, which is necessary for biological activity. Meanwhile I add water with a hose. I use a brass shut-off valve to control the spray and am careful not to overwater, which would cause the pile to go anaerobic. It should feel like a damp sponge. Without any water, there would be no decomposition.

Because our manure comes from the goat pen, it is often trampled into hard layers. Here he breaks up the clods with a Japanese farmer's hoe, which we got from Seeds of Change. "Get the right tool for the job!" sez Mr. Natural.

On one of our Community Days, we see another cohousing resident cutting sunflower stalks into short lengths before they are put into the bin. This is an important step; chopped material breaks down much more quickly, and doesn't cause problems when turning the pile.

The finished product enriches the veggie garden in the early spring before planting. We love our compost bins; now we have a neat pile and no more sick dogs! The soil here is very low in organic matter and the sunlight is so intense that it burns it up quickly. If we didn't make compost we'd have to buy it to be able to do a vegetable garden. But since we have the animals and lots of organic waste at hand, it makes sense to nourish the land, and ultimately ourselves, this way.

A trio of Narcissi

2009-11-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

A fancy more-than-double daffodil, possibly Narcissus minor var. pumilus, known as 'Rip van Winkle'.

A modern hybrid daffodil...this one appears to owe some of its genes to Narcissus poeticus.

My favorite of all this genus is the perfectly formed 'Thalia'. With its graceful swept-back petals it reminds me of a white dove in flight. This is a modern hybrid of N. triandrus which dates back to 1916. It does better than many others in our climate, and is especially elegant under early white-blooming shrubs in dappled shade.

Unusual species tulips at LQ

2009-11-04T16:48:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure of the identity of this diminutive species tulip. Can anyone help?

Another unidentified shortie. These were probably all purchased from McClure and Zimmerman, so I can figure it out by reading the catalog descriptions. This is where good permanent labels are valuable, or good mapping and organizational skills. I confess, this is part of why I am blogging: to make up for my lack of the above!

Tulipa tarda with Scilla siberica makes a nice combination. Both are from central Asia.
Tulipa saxatalis is from Crete. As you can see, many of these blbs come from dry, rocky places. They appreciate a place that bakes in the summer.

Tulipa clusiana is a tall, graceful beauty native to Iran. Who knew?

We planted quite number of species tulips in the rock gardens at LQ. This charming little one looks like Tulipa fosterana, which originates in Central Asia. The higher elevations of the Southwest US have much in common climatically with that region. We order species tulips from McClure and Zimmerman, since they propagate their bulbs, rather than collecting from the wild. Such collecting can have devastating impacts on wild populations, and we need to avoid purchasing from any company that does it.

Old Reliable

2009-11-04T14:12:00.001-08:00

Tired of flat tires, broken handles, and cheap fittings that don't hold up? Just get one of these! My husband's grandfather's wheelbarrow, with its metal wheel, has never failed us. It sits outside year-round and gets zero maintenance. Good luck finding one, though...it has to be almost 90 years old! They just don't make 'em like they used to!

Donkeytail spurge

2009-11-04T14:04:00.001-08:00

An invasive alien, donkeytail spurge is often welcomed for its early show of brilliant chartreuse bracts and unusual form. Granted it's pretty, granted it's xeric, but it gives me and many others a rash horribly reminiscent of poison ivy and so I don't encourage it. It will self-sow abundantly if you let it. Here it is in bloom in early April. Note the ant sipping nectar in the close-up (click on image to enlarge).

Fall is the time to plant bulbs for spring beauty

2009-11-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

Rock garden narcissus stand out if placed before a large stone.

In this shot daffodils grace the foot of a young maple. The land at TP is still in transition, as it has had one home or another in construction every year since 1997. While this garden hasn't had the consistent care of LQ, every new planting gives a delightful gift of beauty to the folks who live here.

Color in the early spring at TP

2009-11-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Here are English Violets and Aubrieta, both hardy perennials which tend to self-sow where happy, like the rock garden. Aubrieta is easily grown from seed, but little seen in this country. I bought seed many years ago from Chiltern's...a wonderful seed company out of England. The violets are fragrant and will rebloom in the fall. They make a delightful nosegay!

Exquisite!

Kaufmanii tulips are among the earliest bloomers, and tend to multiply.

Before they even begin to flower, some Greigii tulips sport beautifully patterned foliage. Their big, bright flowers only add to the show.

Red Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum rubra) fill a crevice with color all year long. Many succulents have colorful foliage through the winter and are hardy and xeric. These plants are also called House Leeks, referring to their traditional use as a plant grown on green roofs, a function for which they are admirably suited.

TP in early spring

2009-11-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here the pleasing sculptural curves of a chitalpa are accentuated by a late March snowfall. This is a wonderful tree for our region, a hybrid of catalpa and chilopsis linaris (desert willow). The catalpa lends hardiness, the chilopsis drought tolerance. And because it is a sterile hybrid, once it starts blooming in early summer, it continues non-stop with abundant orchid-like blooms until the first frost!

The plaza at TP, with its fine view of the Sangre de Cristos Range. As you can see, the garden is still dormant in early March. Santa Fe has wildly fluctuating springtime temperatures. Strong sun and warm daytime temperatures can push plants to bloom earlier than they normally would, then late snowfalls can often bury the flowers. Many early bloomers are fortunately equipped to survive such abuse, and usually come through with flying colors...literally!

The variety of bulbs at LQ

2009-11-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is Tulipa turkestanica, an unusual, graceful little species tulip with the delightful habit of self-sowing where happy. The seed heads are decorative as well, so you won't mind letting it stay to ripen and drop its seed in the garden.

Chionodoxa Luciliae, Glory-of-the-Snow

2009-11-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

By early April many more bulbs are emerging. These plants have a neat system of storing enough energy in a bulb to estivate (go dormant) in the heat of summer, as well as being able to survive frigid winter conditions. It is not surprising to learn that many of our familiar bulbs originally evolved in areas quite similiar in climate to that of New Mexico. The Caucasus Mountains, The Arals, The Drakensbergs all have native species which naturalize very well here.

Subtle beauty in March

2009-11-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

Here is Crocus chrysanthus "Blue Pearl", a particularly ethereal flower, which glows in the reduced light of late winter/early spring.

Another lovely crocus

2009-11-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

This one is Crocus vernus. I love flowers which display contrasting veins.

Early crocus brighten the dormant garden

2009-11-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here is Crocus chrysanthus "E.P. Bowles", already starting to fade when this shot was taken on March 14th.

Early spring at LQ

2009-11-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

The first bulbs appear as early as February. Tiny Iris reticulata is usually the first one to pop up through the snow. I like to place them near a path, against a rock where they will be appreciated. This picture was taken on March 6th.

Transplanting onion seedlings

2009-10-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the awesome vegetable gardener at LQ, Dahlia, transplanting onions seedlings into the garden. If you want to save onions through the winter, it is important to grow them from seedlings, not sets. Seedlings can be purchased from several seed companies (of course I like getting organic ones from Seeds of Change!), or you can grow your own. I start onion seeds in 2" pots in late January or early February in the greenhouse. They can be grown in groups of three or four without thinning; in fact they like to be a bit crowded! New Mexico has a great climate for growing onions and it is a reliably successful crop at both gardens.

Well-prepped beds in the veggie garden at LQ

2009-10-31T17:09:00.001-07:00

The veggie garden at LQ on April 9th, 2008 is beautifully prepped and groomed. Cover crops have been turned under, compost mixed in, the beds raked and leveled. It is time to begin seeding or transplanting hardy vegetables. The last frost is still 5 or 6 weeks in the future.

April at LQ

2009-10-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

In early spring the show begins at LQ. Not a fall passes that Mrs. B, the owner, fails to purchase new bulbs for spring joy. The result of over fifty years of bulb planting is a fantastic display of amazing variety.

The Two Gardens

2009-10-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

The two gardens in Santa Fe are both on private land. For that reason I will refer to them only as TP, the cohousing community where I live, and LQ, the estate garden I have managed. It is possible to arrange tours of these gardens through me, from mid-April until mid-October. Please email me if you are interested. Tours can be for anywhere from two to twenty people.

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