pretending i live in england
By noahsgarden
9 comments
it is my misfortune to have the deep love of english cottage gardens, formal french parterres, stately tuscan hillsides; and i live here in the dry, hot, barren desert. so, i spend nearly every waking moment in my garden struggling to keep it alive in temps over 110 with zero humidity… every summer, when it begins to get really hot, i grieve over the flowers and vines and shrubs that wither and die. but, i do it all again as soon as it begins to cool. i know it’s a losing battle; there will come a day when i am no longer physically able, when i am just too old and tired to keep it going…but until then, it is my soul’s balm.
20 Oct, 2011
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Next post: rolling home
Comments
I love your blog and feel for you, as gardening anywhere is about the constant struggle to achieve the look we dream of. Good luck with yours.
20 Oct, 2011
We always want what we can't have, don't we? I have a client whose front garden is full of spiky desert/mediterranean style plants and she would dearly love to be able to grow aloes and agave outside all year. I ended up having to do a combination of classic British plants in with all the spiky stuff, fortunately it works quite well, and I rather like the look of it myself, although it is by no means pleasant to maintain - I've always got my first aid kit handy in her garden, all those spikes stabbing me...
20 Oct, 2011
I know its easy to talk. Here goes.
How about cottage garden plants in 3 foot deep holes filled with 50% best horse manure and 50% peat based compost, connected by an underground irrigation plastic pipes system with holes in, connected to the kitchen, that you control by turning on the kitchen tap?
Or better still, this mixture being put into 3 ft square wooden boxes with no bases, and the pipes halfway through ?
The surface of the soil covered with Bark Chippings and large pebbles to conserve moisture.
And even a sunshade over the top !
Never stop trying anyway. Good luck.
20 Oct, 2011
Good of you for persevering, sounds as though you enjoy the challenge and thats the best part of gardening..
20 Oct, 2011
thank you so much for the comments and good advice; i will put it to good use. thankfully, i have good access to water so far....it is a precious lifeblood here and i am as careful as i can not to waste or use more than i need. even so, many here would say a garden is of itself an unnecessary use of water...but living is more than just survival!
20 Oct, 2011
Good luck
21 Oct, 2011
An English country garden is beautiful isn't it.
I grow lots of cacti here in wet rainy Wales, and some of them are native to Arizona.
Maybe we could swap places :o)
21 Oct, 2011
sounds like a good idea to me, hywel...
21 Oct, 2011
Recent posts by noahsgarden
- do you have OCGD?
22 Oct, 2011
- rolling home
20 Oct, 2011
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Good luck with your English country garden ...
... quite a challenge in the heat of a desert climate !
Do you have plenty of access to water ?
20 Oct, 2011