This weekend was a garage-sale marathon, leaving no real time for photography. Therefore you get a short entry with only a couple of pictures. The cropped photo at the top was taken in Magdalena, New Mexico, not far from the Very Large Array Radio Telescope facility. I took it during our trip home from the Midwest a couple of years ago. Everything else is more recent, but I’m in the mood for some greenery and the Magdalena photo fit the bill.
After failing FOREVER to grow anything in the front yard, looks like we finally cracked the code. We have to buy pot… er, pots, and garden soil. More specifically, we’re buying and filling various raised beds for our bigger stuff whenever possible. The photo below was taken with my phone, midday today. If the light was any harder it would be a rock. My sincere apologies for the crappy quality. I only wanted to brag a little, because getting stuff to grow here (other than weeds) is hard.
For perspective, this planter is 48″ long and 24″ wide. While the giant lantana (the pink-flowering plant at left) is bigger for now, our baby moringa (right) will likely far surpass it by next summer. That variety of lantana tops out around 10 feet, max. Moringa trees can reach well over 30 feet, which would make me insanely happy. (We’ll cut the lantana back this winter and it’ll come back much fuller next year. All our first-year lantanas are splindly right now.)
This duo will outgrow the planter within a year or two. Hopefully by the time they do, we’ll be able to hire someone to build a larger surround made from railroad ties or cinder blocks, something along those lines, and reuse the galvanized frame elsewhere in the yard. I was gonna say we need something closer to 6’x6′, then my brain engaged. Realistically it should be nearer 10’x10′ or 12’x 12′. We might get away with 8’x8′ if we’re lucky and keep things trimmed.
In the meantime, I’m tickled we finally have not one; not two; but three trees alive and growing in our yard. The moringa in the planter seems happy. The lemon tree (not shown, to the right in this picture) is a ginormous green ball this year. The moringa we recently transplanted into the back yard is a bit droopy. The leaves are still green, though, which is a good sign. Temperatures are ideal — daytime highs in the 80s, overnight in the high 40s and low 50s. G keeps watering it. I imagine it’ll perk up before long.
The greenery by the front door, in the background of the photo above, are the jade plants G bought for me for Mother’s Day not long after we moved in. Other than watering them, we’ve ignored them. They seem to thrive on near-total neglect.
My kinda plant!
The dark red planters will be used for green onions again this winter, and maybe a couple of leafy herbs tucked in around them. I learned that lesson last year: skip the flowers, which won’t live. Green onions, however, will grow like crazy and look surprisingly good from the street. They’re even tolerant of the mild freezes we get here. The bonus is cutting off what you need for dinner and they grow right back. When they ultimately bolt and flower, the blooms are cool. After all, they’re a type of allum.
Among the goodies we bought at this week’s garage-sale marathon are another large galvanized tub and a midsize galvanized bucket. Naturally, they’re earmarked for planters. Not sure yet where the latest ones will go or what will go IN them. The back yard is getting progressively more full. We eventually hope to add pavers, too, but they’re not this year’s priority.
Below is a recent picture of my friend’s “parent” tree to our moringa babies. It’s about 3 years old this summer. That’s a standard eight-foot block fence behind it. So while her tree still isn’t crazy tall compared to the stuff in green-belt states, it’s pretty damned respectable for a 3-year-old tree. A couple of these in the yard will provide shade and help build a drastically better ecosystem for surrounding plants.
Incidentally, my friend said she only watered this behemoth once or twice during the hottest part of summer. Most cactus need more frequent watering than that!
If can build a decent green space by the time we put this place up for sale, it will have a tremendous impact on the home value. I feel like this year we’re finally making visible progresss on our gardening goal.
LATE EDIT:
I watched this and now I want this. (I’m missing two fingers on my left hand.) I’d want it more steampunk than cyberpunk though – antique-brass fittings and leather-look. But the light – oh HELL yeah.
