Quail Run Ranch

The desert gets the better of me…

When we got here in April of 2021, I was excited to see that the previous owners had built a large, fenced area and had attempted to garden. If I used even half of the area they had fenced it would be the biggest garden I ever had. I think it was roughly 40″ x 80″. One half of the large area was a bramble pile grape arbor. It has grown up and over the ramshackle-y wire they had attached to the support posts. It was actually a lovely shade area but totally unproductive for grapes. Grapes only grow on new growth, so the shade was going to have to go. Birds had made nests in there. We found a desert King snake in the bramble pile one day. I guess it was looking for food. We left him/her alone because we like King snakes. He/she was gone when we came back.

The other half was overgrown with weeds and one day I found a very large Sonoran toad and I had enough desert knowledge to know that I should not touch it. They are poisonous and I also did not want our dogs messing us with it, so I relocated it far way near a water source. They deserve to live, too. Just not in proximity to us.

We cross-fenced down the middle and I set about making the south end into a workable garden. The north end was going to be a spacious dog run and shelter. It was still going to be the largest garden I had ever had.

Like I said, the grape arbor was a bramble pile gone wild. The ramshackley 2 x 4 structure was built for the grapes to vine on and to support shade cloth. The shade cloth had deteriorated to the point it looked like the dead pirate’s ship from “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Plus, there was wire peeling up everywhere.

Here’s a closer look at the Flying Dutchman area that was the grape arbor.

I tested the soil and came up with a big fat “depleted”! Just sand and clay. Okay, so it drains well and when you get it wet you can get a spade into it. So, amending would work here. The first year I planted native plants. I planted tepary beans, sorghum and cowpeas (all three for nitrogen fixing), amaranth, Armenian cucumbers, Maya watermelons, Texas onions and Chimayo melons. As a nod to convention, I also planted broccoli, mint, dill, brussels sprouts and tomatoes. I should have gotten a clue when a Hereford Gardeners Club member said she gardened in containers. One lady was so resourceful as to use old freezers gutted and filled with topsoil. But I didn’t listen.

Cherry tomatoes did well.

Sorghum is beautiful but too hard to harvest. The birds love them so they can have them.

Maya watermelons are native to Mexico but they had too many seeds in them.

Armenian cucumbers are actually melons. I got a bumper crop and then too much rain so they mildewed.

Chimayo melons grew well but were tasteless. They’re the plants with the big leaves. The little leaves are wild amaranth also known as spiny pigweed.

I don’t know how to calculate what moisture content is needed to pop popcorn so it was fun to grow but ultimately wasted effort.

Next up: the Garden in Year Two