April: Invest in Your Garden

Colored eggs sitting pretty in a basket. Chocolate goodies hiding in the grass. An Easter egg hunt for the kids and grand kids. Church on Sunday, a sunrise service. A special family meal. The scent and vision of Easter lilies everywhere. These are the things I think of this time of year.

April is also the month of Earth Day (April 22). Begun in the U.S. in 1970 at the urging of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, promoters of Earth Day strive to increase awareness of environmental damage being done to the earth. The theme this year is Invest in Our Planet, but taking this a bit further, why not make it, Invest in Your Garden? The advantages of having a garden are well known. It improves the air we breathe, produces fresh food, and beautifies a property and the community, but consider the exercise of gardening itself... Gardening exposes us to natural vitamin D, decreases dementia risk, and is a fantastic mood lifter. It can be an enjoyable aerobic exercise for pent-up anxiety too—just resist thinking of gardening as work. As a creative outlet, gardening can be a great inspiration and a special time to think.

Gardening combats loneliness. Gardening friends come in all shapes, sizes, and types, those friends, family, and neighbors who garden or appreciate our plant/food offerings at the end of the season. There are the admiring glances of strangers walking by. The plants and animal life we encounter are also friends (at least for me). I love watching the world wake up around me. The tiny lizards peeking out from their winter caves in the stone borders and rocks. The wildflowers, the early bloomers like my pink heather and forsythia. The perky daffodils, tulips, and other bulbs. Their fresh faces are all reminders that life really can start anew.

All of nature comes alive in April. Soon the honeybees will be buzzing my crab, pear, and service berry tree blossoms in search of nectar. Robins will perch in the trees looking around, while some on the ground listen for worms. Black birds (did you know crows are as smart as a seven-year-old?) will gather on rooftops and simply hang out. Geese will fly overhead doing acrobats in the sky and the pelicans will return to the lake.

We have quail too here in Desert Aire, lots of them. Best I can determine, they are California quail (or valley quail). Did you know that the males and females of this species mate for life? Both parents care for the chicks. I look forward to the mamas and papas, their head plumes (top-not feathers) bobbing up and down as they scurry about with their tiny chicks one behind the other in tow. So-so cute.

I suppose the aphids are waking up too. The other day I found myself thinking that aphids have a right to eat too. Ha-ha. I know, I know, this is how my mind works. I'll pull out my homemade insecticide, the one made with Dawn soap, vegetable oil and water. It repels aphids and other insects, but I doubt if it kills very many. I'll need to spray the infestation at least a couple more times. My gorgeous snowball bush suffers the most. Then there is the invasive grass taking over my garden right now. A new remedy to try (barring Roundup) will be extra strength commercial vinegar, arrived from Amazon today. I’ll tackle our grow boxes next, the only successful way I’ve been able to grow vegetables successfully here without those invasive “helmeted” squash bugs, but then that’s another story. Happy Easter everyone and Happy Gardening too. We shall see if April showers bring May flowers this year. I suspect we will have all turned on our sprinkler systems by then. Farmer’s Almanac predicts a-warmer-than-average spring.

March, A Time To Think Green

MARCH. The month we wave goodbye to winter and think about those left-behind gardening projects. The weather is perfect for weeding, digging up and replanting bulbs, transplanting shrub/plant babies (those freebies we sometimes get), in-ground insect treatment if you haven’t already (trees and shrubs), planting seeds, and rethinking those outdoor pots. Indeed, March is the ‘green’ month when not wearing green on a certain day guarantees a pinch or two.

 St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated every year on March 17, is a fun day to ‘think green’ and that includes shamrocks (three-leaf clovers) and four-leaf clovers. I have a long history with clover. Memories of crawling on the grass as a four-year-old, as my mother gardened nearby, in search of the infamous four-leaf clover comes to mind. Patience was key but persistence always paid off. “Found one!” I’d shout. A rare find though. For every four-leaf clover found there are some 10,000 three-leaf clovers. Ireland prides itself as the country having the most four-leaf clovers. It’s the “Luck of the Irish” they would say, and in case you didn’t know, the four-leaf clover represents Trust, Hope, Love and Good Fortune.

Ever wonder why we pinch each other on St. Patrick's Day? The pinching tradition was started in America in the 1700s by Irish immigrants. They claimed that wearing green made them invisible to the leprechauns, those mischievous little fairies who liked to play practical jokes on people.

As for Saint Patrick, a 4^th century Roman Catholic saint, it’s said he used the green shamrock as a teaching tool to explain the holy trinity to Irish Catholics. People started wearing green after he died (March 17, 461 A.D.) to celebrate his memory. Celebration of St. Patrick's Day in Ireland predates the 1600s and became a holiday in America in the 1700s.

St. Patrick (Patricius) was born to a rich landowning family in Britain near the end of the 4th century, where exactly is unknown. During a raid of his family's land by Irish pirates, he was captured at the age of fifteen and taken to Ireland, where he was enslaved for six years. After hearing a voice in a dream, telling him how to escape, Patricius managed to flee his captors and return home. It was the basis of his religious conversion to Christianity. St. Patrick then returned to Ireland as a priest and missionary (around 430 A.D.), where he stayed for many years spreading Christianity everywhere he went. Tens of thousands were baptized and hundreds of churches were established all over Ireland.

 St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland with parades and family gatherings, and to some degree in the U.S. Parades are held in larger cities here and stores often stock up on corn beef and cabbage in preparation. Likewise, senior centers and similar places serve Irish Stew on the menu. I happened to be in Spokane once, before the pandemic, with streets barricaded and people lined up for a big parade. Kids (mostly) and adults in the crowd wore festive green costumes.

 As a child, I remember a gentleman walking through my neighborhood playing his bag pipe on this holiday. In grade school my classmates and I must have cut out dozens of shamrocks. We had fun pinching each other when we forgot to wear green. Then we listened to our teacher read stories about leprechauns and ate cookies with green frosting our mothers had baked. 

 So, before you think about removing clover from your grass, think Irish and four-leaf clovers. Did you know that some plant clover from seed in pots? It’s also considered an excellent ground cover as a natural fertilizer to improve soil. It attracts pollinators too. On the Westside clover grows quite well with all that moisture. But go ahead, try outdoors. It’s how we learn. Guessing though you would have more success indoors, where you can mist the clover and control how much sun it gets. And…don’t forget on March 17^th to wear green. Happy Gardening everyone

Marigold, the Bold Flower

Marigold, the bold flower that aims to please and one you should consider planting in Desert Aire gardens. They do especially well in pots. Just remember that our desert sun can be tough when plants are young, so moist fertile soil is a must. I add a little peat and compost to hold in the moisture. Mine do well on the East side of the house even without much care, where it's shady in the afternoon. Just be careful not to place pots too close to the driveways where heat (in the morning) can build up rapidly. But done right, you will be blessed with a gorgeous display. Marigolds come in vibrant colors--yellows, oranges, reds and maroons--with sizes ranging from 6 inches to an amazing 2 feet tall. 

Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus officially recorded marigolds in 1753, but records exist dating back to the Aztecs in the 1500s. Today the flower is used in the Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’ celebration to honor those who have died. Elsewhere, in Nepal for instance, marigolds play a role in worship and rituals, while in Thailand and India, marigold garlands are woven for weddings, festivals, and religious events. 

In the U.S. some marigolds are used to flavor and color food, and have reported health benefits, such as alleviating cramps and aiding digestion. Relief for nausea, stomach ulcers and menstrual discomfort is reported. Marigold eases headaches and can help one sleep too. A tea can be made for cold compresses and used in baths for relaxation and as an anti-inflammatory. I would warn though that the details of how this is done should be thoroughly researched. Try at your own risk of course, as the saying goes. Online there is a warehouse of information.

Perfume makers further use the marigold's oil to make a desirable scent. The flower is quite strong actually, a bit smelly at first sniff, but at just the right amount it really works. I recall liking a perfumed cream made by Avon years back that I believe was made with marigold. I've missed it over the years. Songs, poems, and stories all capture this flower's beauty as well. 

Native to North and South America, marigolds come in annual and perennial varieties. For non-gardeners out there, annual flowers have one life cycle. The seeds are sowed in spring, the plant blooms, and then dies, whereas perennial plants live more than two years. I have only seen annual marigolds in local nurseries here, but frugal gardeners can easily grow marigolds from seed. If you plant in pots, many will reseed the following season on their own from the seed pods left behind.

Most marigolds have a strong, unattractive scent, as pointed out above, but there are some species that are bred to be scentless. However, I’m fine with the “stinky” variety, since I've learned that a little in the right amount does wonders. I also like that scented marigolds are a natural deterrent to deer, rabbits, rodents--and insects in particular. This includes white flies, nematodes, mosquitoes, Mexican bean beetles, squash bugs (oh my, a nemesis of mine), thrips, tomato horn worms, and more are supposedly repelled. So, plant away, I say. 

Just protect from our hot sun. Marigolds prefer afternoon shade here and plenty of
moisture. Happy spring gardening everyone! “It does not matter if you are a rose or a lotus or a
marigold. What matters is that you are flowering.” (Rajineesh)