My summer garden was so disapointing that I just gave up for a bit. Despite all my attempts to garden effectively with specific water allocations, the garden just didnt prosper.
Im going to get snarky here: while the city of Napa still got away with green lawns and water running freely in the gutters from overwatering, I got my rent raised with the excuse that the property owner was getting fined from all our water consumption. Seeing as I was using grey water for the most part combined with limiting my showers, using greywater for most of the toilet flushing, and using the DIY ollas that I posted about earlier, this didnt make sense. I dont know if anyone in my building was using more water, but I really dont think so.
But whatever.
The ollas worked, but I didnt plant my seeds and seedlings close enough. I had used a diagram found online, and the roots did indeed find thier way to the containers, but everything should have been planted closer to the ollas and it was just too hot. Very little thrived. The beans were sick. The tomatoes were sick. I got blossom end rot and all the plants were stunted. My garlic was small. The bugs were out in full force. Very little had a chance out there. Oh, a few things did alright once the weather cooled down. I found out that Snapdragons are a wonderful drought flower! And my Kale and Cauliflower did alright eventually. But I was a very sad little gardener for the most part.
So "Fuck That", I said when I stopped grieving. I spent all winter researching new ways to go about having a thriving vegetable garden in a desert. What I came up with were keyhole gardens. Raised beds with a compost basket in the middle and based on permaculture. So I have been working on raising my beds with found objects and cinder blocks. Ive been collecting rocks and bricks bit by bit. This bed is ready to fill as soon as I grab a few more cinder blocks and fill in some edges..
They wont be very high to start with, but I never know how long I'll be able to garden out here. I'll raise them higher next time if I can.
Im also making new little beds in my back yard that will have little compost buckets scattered here and there. As soon as I get my truckload of soil, my neighbor Homirah and I will be planting a whole new garden that hopefully with the use of keyhole technology, compost buckets, and better use of the ollas from last summer, will give us way more bounty. And she can help me rig shelter from the sun for our tomatoes. It has been raining a lot and the reservoirs are filling. So that is promising. The aquifers are not filling, though, and this will be bad.
I am a determined woman in a desert land.
Im going to get snarky here: while the city of Napa still got away with green lawns and water running freely in the gutters from overwatering, I got my rent raised with the excuse that the property owner was getting fined from all our water consumption. Seeing as I was using grey water for the most part combined with limiting my showers, using greywater for most of the toilet flushing, and using the DIY ollas that I posted about earlier, this didnt make sense. I dont know if anyone in my building was using more water, but I really dont think so.
But whatever.
The ollas worked, but I didnt plant my seeds and seedlings close enough. I had used a diagram found online, and the roots did indeed find thier way to the containers, but everything should have been planted closer to the ollas and it was just too hot. Very little thrived. The beans were sick. The tomatoes were sick. I got blossom end rot and all the plants were stunted. My garlic was small. The bugs were out in full force. Very little had a chance out there. Oh, a few things did alright once the weather cooled down. I found out that Snapdragons are a wonderful drought flower! And my Kale and Cauliflower did alright eventually. But I was a very sad little gardener for the most part.
So "Fuck That", I said when I stopped grieving. I spent all winter researching new ways to go about having a thriving vegetable garden in a desert. What I came up with were keyhole gardens. Raised beds with a compost basket in the middle and based on permaculture. So I have been working on raising my beds with found objects and cinder blocks. Ive been collecting rocks and bricks bit by bit. This bed is ready to fill as soon as I grab a few more cinder blocks and fill in some edges..
They wont be very high to start with, but I never know how long I'll be able to garden out here. I'll raise them higher next time if I can.
Im also making new little beds in my back yard that will have little compost buckets scattered here and there. As soon as I get my truckload of soil, my neighbor Homirah and I will be planting a whole new garden that hopefully with the use of keyhole technology, compost buckets, and better use of the ollas from last summer, will give us way more bounty. And she can help me rig shelter from the sun for our tomatoes. It has been raining a lot and the reservoirs are filling. So that is promising. The aquifers are not filling, though, and this will be bad.
I am a determined woman in a desert land.
