Quail Run Ranch

I learn a little bit more…

We brought some Central Valley fruit bins with us when we left California. They are good for so many things. After we used up the firewood that was stored in three of them, we transferred those three into the garden to use as container gardening.  We filled them with a mixture of native soil and compost about half and half. Gardening in containers eliminates the need to trap the gophers that are everywhere here. It’s also easier on my aching back. At age 73 weeding is my nemesis so I put down leftover corrugate boxes for sheet much and hay leavings over that.

The worst problem I had in year two were the curve bill thrashers. The darn things!

While looking for insects they would root out my seedlings. They had a special thing for my cucumbers and potatoes. They also went after the corn and eggplant as a side light. They completely killed my one and only eggplant. I had a lot of chicken wire so I made cages out of that to protect the seedlings, but the thrashers figured out how to get through. There’s nothing worse than admiring your new plants coming up in the evening only to discover them lying dead and wilted on the ground the next morning. I think I replanted the cucumbers and corn three times before I figured out that the only cage that would deter the thrashers was ¼” wire made into a cylinder. Anything growing in the ground was vulnerable. Everything in the bins did great. The thrashers didn’t go for seedlings in the bins for some odd reason.

Mexican sunflowers did well. Lantana does well in grow bags. I had to have some color. Beets and cilantro did well in the fruit bin. I planted okra behind the fruit bin and when I finally got the right kind of cage for them they grew to give me more okra than I ever wanted and had trunks like saplings!

I had a bumper crop of jalapenos, beets, and radishes, so all was not lost. They were all in the bins. My salad tomatoes grew into a huge bush, and I should have pruned away more suckers like my dad always did and I would have gotten more fruit. The poor ravaged Yukon gold potatoes only gave me one giant potato and it was not from the ones I planted on purpose. I got the huge potato from a lone volunteer that was hiding in the compost.

The grapes were a huge success. While they were dormant in January I pruned out everything down to the main trunks. I did learn a thing or two living in California for 20 years! Then I fertilized it with rose food because to encourage flowers you need more potassium. Rose food was the only fertilizer that I could find with a higher percentage of potassium. Then I crossed my fingers that I didn’t cut away too much. Well, I didn’t cut away too much because those grape vines went wild with fruit.  We must have had 25 bunches of the best red seedless grapes! I made raisins with them, and we ate them fresh and gave away a lot.

Next: I think I have learned what the Sonoran desert expects of me.