This time of year always makes me feel nostalgic. The back to school displays in the stores make way for fall holidays, and everyone’s rushing around. I know I’m not alone when I say September is the start of the busy season for our family. Preschool and soccer, headcolds and shopping, and just a general anticipation is in the air.
It’s funny to me that the start of the fall season feels the same here in the desert as it did in Washington state where I grew up. I remember exactly how it felt trudging to school in the foggy air in the moisture of the morning that just seeped into your bones, and then spilling off the bus in the afternoon to the crisp air that was just right for a hoodie. It may be hotter here and I only wear a hoodie 3 days out of the year now, but the feeling that something new is about to happen remains the same.
I look at September as the absolute best time to start new projects, form new habits, or just start viewing the world in a different way. I had grand plans of making a total transformation starting September 1 by waking up at 5am each day to do my devotional and yoga, working out 5 days a week, and so on. But life has gotten in the way, and finding time for, well, anything at all that doesn’t involve caring for small children or carting said children back and forth to their various activities has become a challenge. Luckily, there’s always my plants! Gardening is a great way to stay in shape and I know eventually it will get cool enough outside for my kids to join me, eliminating the need for childcare.
Our yard may be small but it needs a ton of work. The recent storms made a mess and we had to remove a ficus tree after it was so severely damaged that it started leaning. Several other branches all around need trimming and shaping. With the rains, the plants are loving it and going bonkers. I’ve never seen all my shrubs so out of control! Meanwhile, our gardener has been out sick so it’s up to my husband and I to try and clean up. We were able to get most of the messy parts taken care of, like standing water, and the lawn finally drained all the way. Now it’s time to tackle the lower priority to do list items like cleaning off the porch.
I got these pillows yesterday for $2.50 each at Wally World! I saw a ton of phenomenal sales on patio furniture there, and at Home Depot and Big Lots. This is a great time to spruce things up! Note to self, September is the very best time to get alllll the deals on patio furniture. Luckily, I’m already pretty happy with all the patio purchases I made last year so we’re good on that front (and that means more $$$ to spend on plants!). I do enjoy a few touches like whimsical garden ornaments and pillows to personalize the porch with the seasons. Note my rug got all stretched out in the rains so that’s something on my list to replace soon. But buying a latte’s worth of pillows was a great excuse to sweep and clean off the porch, wipe down the furniture and even the front door. Hot tip – I’ve done battle with the dust for the last 7 years and the best way to get rid of it is literally sweep it up into a dust pan even if you’re outside and it feels silly. Then just simply throw it away! Otherwise all that silt and sand will be back to haunt you.
A note on the mother in law tongue on my patio – the last time I divided it was February of last year (it’s not confidential, I’ve got potential). The variegated mother in law tongue has never done well, but the one on the left is going absolutely bananas and I counted 9 babies on it! I can’t wait to divide this up again and I plan to recruit my son to help out, but it’s not quite the right time. I’ve got pots waiting for all the babies and plan to put out more of these plants on my back patio. The ‘tongues seem to be the top plant I’ve ever had success with and I cannot seem to kill it! Yay me! Having little successes like this one only motivates me to try new things in the garden. But I don’t always get it right…
I had the mother in law tongues on these pedestals that were actually supposed to be for indoor use. I thought to myself, oh well, it’s the desert so anything goes, and ignoring the words “indoor use only” I gaily put out my ‘tongues on them outside my front door. Well, about three years of drip irrigation and several monsoons later, one of the pedestals rusted out. I threw it away but stupidly kept the other – well, I found out the hard way yesterday it was full of noxious sludge and mosquitos and rocks and who knows what all else. Disposing of it was a very stinky job that my sweet husband did 99% of the work. So let this be a caution to you – indoor stuff really is indoor stuff no matter what climate you’re in.
You should also always pay attention to when to start planting things in your zone. I think I described in great detail on previous blog posts how I learned that lesson, and all the failures I’ve experienced so far when I ignore this advice. So with that in mind I plan to plant the following this season:
Cucumber
Parsley
Cilantro
Tomatoes
Dill
Cumin
Lettuce
Spinach
Kale
Chives
Tarragon
Marjoram
And the usual annuals, snapdragons, petunias, geraniums, etc.
Most of these will have to wait because it’s still 100 degrees here. But today I did get around to a few tasks nagging in the back of my mind all last month.
First, I cleared out Bed 2 in the secret garden. As I’ve blogged about before this is a difficult spot to get anything to grow here because there’s not enough sunlight (I suspect), but I think I’ve cracked the code! I believe my lettuce, spinach, and kale will do well here. I only planted 3 tiny rows because I don’t want to be up to my eyeballs in leafy greens if everything decides to live. So, in another two weeks I’ll plant some more rows and hopefully scrounge up some pollinators too. I’ve grown marigolds just fine here in the past, and I’ll see if I can find some more inexpensive flowers. The hoops are so I can cover it later if we get any frost. That reminds me to save my old crib sheets for this purpose.I cleaned up the secret garden. Whew, it was a mess! Pots and dead leaves and dead plants everywhere, the shade cloth ominously hulking in the corner. Frankly I was worried about encountering spiders and other creepy crawlies, but if they are indeed in residence they avoided me today, thank goodness. Everything is nice and neat again, and not scary anymore, so I feel comfortable gardening with my children here again. Meanwhile in Bed 1, my husband convinced me to keep the large beefsteak tomato (which has never produced but managed to outlive the summer and grew twice its size behind my back when I thought it was dead and neglected to remove it. It should be noted the red cherry tomato that was labeled sungold and so was not a sungold, did not survive, may it rest in peace). I have my misgivings about pests and disease on an older tomato plant but I want to try it out and see what happens. So I staked it up and I’m pretty sure it will blow over in the slightest of winds but it’s up off the ground now. And under it what should I find but spinach plants from seeds I planted last year!Surprise! I also found romaine over the summer. So this leads me to believe that leafy greens will be awesome in the secret garden that I am so desperate to use because my husband so sweetly made this garden for me. Meanwhile, anything I have ever planted there, has died or just not flourished. I am determined that this will be the year I will figure it what works in this space!The little citrus plants have found a new temporary home among the cacti. All the cacti are sooooo happy in this space and I am so glad! I potted gumby cactus starts – three in all – from the one that rotted.I repotted the basil and the red pepper, giving them cages to prop them up. Last time the red pepper fruited it was too heavy for the plant. I never got to eat the two peppers it made because they rotted on the plant. I’m not sure how to help this pepper plant along but I’m trying to figure out its secretsBlooms on the red pepper, yay. Now if I could only find a decent tomato plant in the desert it would feel like fall. I am looking for the Early Girl variety if anyone sees them!I repotted the Gardenia and planted a chocolate soldier. My 4 year old calls it his “fuzzy little plant” and this is its fourth incarnation. The kids really love to pet it. I am trying it on the back patio instead of the front porch to see if I can get it to last longer than a goldfish… The cat sculpture is from my dad and has always been on my front porch since the beginning of time so now I have to find something else to replace it with, which will probably wait until spring when we’re done with pumpkins and snowmen. Note the madagascar palm is so so happy here and no longer producing black leaves! Yay! My friend called her plant her pride and joy when she gave it to me so I’m happy I can honor her friendship by being a good plant mama to it. It looks so beautiful, just in time for it to drop its leaves for fallI repotted the sage. You’ll see from a previous post that I pretty drastically pruned it back and there was a lot of green stuff underneath. There seems to be new growth now so I’m giving it a room of its own. Interestingly, I read that you don’t want to plant sage with cucumbers because it messes with the taste. My kids are cuckoo about cucumbers and I want to put those in my elevated planter, so the sage has got to go. This sage is of the furry variety and I enjoy its presence more than its palatability.Mystery plants are still humming along in this container. I can’t be too certain but I think a gerbera daisy has joined the clan, and the others have accepted it as their queenHave you ever planted something and been like, dang it, I was going to use that pot for something else? Yeah… I blame mom brain. But these still make a charming grouping. My desert rose makes me happy. It will be losing its leaves soon and I’ll need to stop watering it frequently so it can go dormant. I love it so much I want two more but they are so expensive right now. Meanwhile, I’m hoping these Cactus cuttings will survive, but I don’t have the best track record with succulents of any kind.
I got off to a great start today, with nearly four hours of uninterrupted time to do gardening stuff. That’s unheard of in my household with two little kids! I am so grateful for this time to get into the soil and clean up, even if it’s a little later in the month than I wanted it to be. This gives me hope that my other personal goals can have a late start and that’s just fine, too.
Let's Stay Holmes 