My last entry was called “When it Rains.”
It seems Mother Nature took my title as a request, and went out of her way to fulfill it. We have a backyard pool, as you can see. The picture at the top of the post was taken with my cell this morning, edited for clarity and size. Here’s the un-edited version (resized only):
Same scene – less contrast and visibility. I guess I’d call it misty? Hazy? It’s been so long since I lived where rain was a normal thing instead of a special occasion, I can’t decide which term fits best.
This is our second day of steady rain, which is normally a good thing. Our usual rain arrives in “mini-hurricane” form: crazy high winds driving a ground-slamming downpour. This one’s been mostly wind-free, but came down at a steady pace for more than 24 hours straight. I figured it was slow enough we weren’t going to see any street flooding, so it was all good, right?
Right?
Right?
Wishful thinking, as it turns out.
Our back yard isn’t the only pool around. The two main drags are shut down as you come into town, shown on the map below. In theory you can get around by taking Battaglia, on either side past the closures. In reality, there’s flooding beyond the map in both directions. The road south dead-ends past the mountains – assuming it’s also not closed before you get that far, at the Greene Reservoir crossing. Regardless of what the map says, if we’ve got street flooding this far north, I guarantee there’s 2-3 feet of water running over the roadway at the Greene Reservoir crossing.
Fortunately we don’t need to go anywhere tonight. I suspect if that much road is closed, the houses and businesses nearest Battaglia may also be in need of an ark. If I remember right, the grocery store/post office building sits lower than the roadway.
I’ve initiated attempt #2 to grow our own personal forest in the yard. Moringa seeds are soaking in a jar on the kitchen windowsill. (24 hours in a cup of water, followed by 2-3 weeks inside a sealed plastic bag in my office drawer.) I had no problem getting them to sprout last time, but transplanting them was an epic fail.
This time there will be changes.
I’m beginning them at a different time of year, for starters. Also, soon as the seeds sprout, some will go into pots indoors, some will hit the ground directly.
This species is native to the deserts of northern Mexico – which is around the proverbial corner from where I live. Moringas aren’t happy in “good” conditions, like the potting soil where I tried to plant them previously. (Not counting the one that went from pot to ground and bit the dust within 24 hours. That was its own disaster.) They don’t like being over-watered, either. So we shall see what happens if I plant a few of them directly into the ground and proceed to ignore them. One of my friends took the “plant-and-ignore” approach. Below is the two-year-old moringa tree in her back yard.
Yes, they do grow that fast, and yes, they get bigger. They top out around 25-35 feet, which would be a terrific size for our property. If we can keep two alive in the back yard and two in the front, it will provide a tremendous amount of shade and establish better growing conditions for less-sun-tolerant plants grown beneath their canopies.
I’ve got two-dozen seeds and I’ve got time, plus my friend is trying to get at least one baby tree going for me, a direct offspring of the healthy toddler above.
Moringas thrive in the ridiculous heat of our summers… once established. Hence the earlier-season start. They don’t like freezing temps, though, so I’ll definitely keep a few of them in pots indoors, at least until mid-January. A hard freeze is extremely unlikely beyond then.
Most of the world struggles to find plants that’ll grow in the shade. Here we have the opposite problem. Not many plants can tolerate the full potency of Arizona’s summer sun. If we can get a few trees established, we can put out planters with petunias, dusty millers, maybe some pansies. A lot of annuals become perennials here if they have shade and enough water. We’ve got two big galvanized tubs already earmarked – but you can’t put anything in them without protection from the summer sun’s death-rays.
It’s late and I’m calling it a night.
Good luck with the rain and the trees. I hope you don’t get any higher flooding. At least you can stay home for a few days.
The water’s already gone way down and the roads are open again. Part of the issue yesterday was thanks to road construction on the main drag. When it does rain here, any dirt roads transform to impassible mud roads.
I have tree/bush plans myself (spring, of course for my locale). I have a Weigela at my house that needs a serious trim and I will be taking some to camp to fill in where some bittersweet was removed…as well as 2 small but old trees. Hoping it takes off as well there, because this one is 6 ft!
It’s tough to find ANY plants, other than native cactus, that can cope with our summer temperatures. (We definitely don’t want cactus.) If this doesn’t fly, my next option will probably be Arizona ash. We had one of those at our previous home and it did fantastic.