Droughty conditions and watering again

We don't like to water much;  we've designed our landscapes (yikes, it's now plural) to be largely self-reliant on rainfall, but a very long spell (weeks and weeks, maybe a month or more without any rain), and pushing 90°F temperatures through the end of September has even hardy natives looking wan, not to mention those from moister sites and higher elevations.

So I'm dragging the hose around, my gardening companion has gone to the mountains this weekend to water newly planted trees and shrubs in our landscape there  (he also has vegetable harvesting duties, and watering the raised beds, too).   So, we're hoping for some decent rain with the cold front that's coming in tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've managed to tidy up the perennial beds, get them ready for needed renovation, change out some containers, and plant to edit the front meadow tomorrow morning (it needs it, big time). There's a group of folks coming after a Osher Lifelong Learning Gardening for Nature program in mid-October, which somehow has become the program where 'we visit your garden.'

I like to encourage people to create gardens that welcome them home  -- ours does that, but we've gotten used to the mulch pile next to the garage (hmm), so it does create a bit of mild anxiety.  But I'm a teacher, and sharing the process is what learning is about.

Gardens are always changing, and even though we love our natural landscape, there are always shrubs to manage, and trees that don't flourish, etc. And we're ready to do the next round of editing and planting.

My vegetable beds in the Piedmont are doing well, with lots of nice fall greens (mustards, arugula, lettuce, and kale) in spite of a herbivore that keeps eating the leaves of my red cabbage and broccoli plants.

harvested garlic in early summer

I'm looking forward to planting garlic, as soon as we get some rain, and it cools off a bit more.

I caught sight of a large Eastern Cottontail rabbit this evening as I was watering, and thought, hmm.  I was blaming woodchucks creeping up from their forest den behind the brush pile, or squirrels, led to herbivory by dry weather.  Who knows?  All are possibilities.  But I'm glad enough to share a bit, at this point, although it's getting tiresome.

Rain

Woo, hoo! After record-breaking heat (yuck, over 90°F in the mountains), a thunderstorm dropped 3/4 of an inch of rain in a late afternoon downburst.

I've been watering my raised beds full of vegetables, but a good soaking is always welcome. I planted more winter and tromboncino squash seeds this afternoon.

My idea is that the vines can ramble down the slope towards the ravine, and maybe, if the woodchucks are focused elsewhere (I haven't seen any sign of them so far), I might have some nice winter squashes, as well as fresh tromboncinos.

A delicious young basil pesto accompanied the fresh vegetables from the garden with orecchiette pasta in this evening's dinner. Yum.

I'll be 'heading down the hill' on Friday to spend a couple of days in the Piedmont (mainly to attend a work function, but also to check on the garden). I'm hoping that there's been a thunderstorm or two there, too. There isn't much that needs watering frequently (I did away with the waterhog containers), but there are a couple of herb containers that would benefit from some weekly rainfall.

Red-shouldered hawks in the Garden

A pair of red-shouldered hawks, their nest completed, were carrying on loudly in the botanical garden where I work this morning, chasing away a third hawk, and calling loudly. Here's a link to the post on the What's Happening in the Garden blog.

Native plants in the landscape

Every region of our planet has native plants, species that evolved in a particular place within a distinct plant community. These species are adapted to local climates, soils, and weather, and exhibit an array of ecological strategies, from germination patterns to growth and reproduction.

This is the stuff of plant ecological research. Folks who study the details of these processes spend a lot of time carefully monitoring plant behavior, with controlled experimental manipulations and lots of data collection. It's time-consuming, but revealing.

The reproductive habits of a plant are clues to whether it'll be invasive in a new habitat, or a well-behaved garden inhabitant. Many plants are highly adaptable moved from their native environments to new ones; they're often the stalwarts in our ornamental plant palettes.

We have plants from all over the world in our gardens and landscapes, wherever you might live. Often the same plants, though, appear over and over.

But a diversity of plants is always the key to a healthy and balanced garden, and the more natives the better.

Native plants support native insects that native birds and amphibians eat; their flowers, fruits, seeds, and leaves (not to mention their structure) provide food and habitat for birds, insects, mammals, etc. So in our gardens, emulating nature is a wonderful way to restore the often barren suburban, urban, or exurban landscapes that may face us.

Even though we weren't gardeners when we (my gardening companion and I) started on the journey of transforming our acre and a half of lawn to woodland, meadow, shrub borders, perennial gardens and vegetable gardens, we are now.

And we're grateful to feel like we're good stewards of our space for as long as we're here.

This is the transformation from lawn to woodland in our front yard - we're definitely appreciative of the power of plants.

Gardening for nature

I gave a talk this evening for a group of Master Gardeners about 'Gardening in Tune with Nature.'

It's my stump speech, for sure, changed and honed over the last 15 years. I updated it again this morning. It's about gardening to support wildlife, restoring the ecology of your (back and front) yard, and attempts to inspire folks to think about planting more native plants as well as pollinator-friendly and wildlife-friendly non-natives.

I make the point that increased biodiversity in planting results in more wildlife diversity. But I'm beginning to think I also need to talk about what makes natural plant communities function well, too.

Hmm. I provide lists of great plants to add to gardens in our region, and hopefully was persuasive. What's good for restoring the ecology of your backyard (Noah's Garden) is not normally what horticulture marketing wants you to buy.