Oasis In The Desert

A few years back, a friend told me she was going to grow an English Garden. This would not have been unusual news except for the fact that we live in Las Vegas, Nevada where the temperatures swing from winter lows in the 20’s to summer highs up to 110 degrees and sometimes higher. On top of that, she was a full time business owner and would have limited time to devote to gardening. Nevertheless, she insisted she could do it and that it would be gorgeous. Six months and one parched landscape later, she formed a support group for disillusioned gardeners.

Years later, I would find myself on a similar precipice, ready to jump into the pool of hopefuls longing for a slice of paradise. Let me begin by telling you that I was a firsttime homeowner with no gardening background. I simply dug in (pun intended) and did it. After scads of research, picking the brains of other gardeners and the local nursery, the best path to my oasis in the desert was paved by trial and error.

The secret to gardening in the desert is really no secret…it’s the same as any other location…soil conditioning, water, exposure, the right plant selections and knowing how to combat insect infestation and plant disease. The only difference is that in the desert, it’s harder! But every spring I know it was worth the effort when my garden is a burst of color.

Sweet Elusive Sleep

About a month ago I started burning the midnight oil still up in time to watch the early bird catch its worm! The circles under my eyes are turning into dark ravines and my nerves are frayed.  My mother says drink warm milk..gag!  My friends say eat turkey...so I downed a turkey sandwich in the evening...the grumbling stomach that followed was not a lullaby.

Did you know that insomnia is NOT a sleep disorder? According to http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Insomnia it is symptomatic of something else going on. It can be caused by countless things like sleep disorders, stress, hormone imbalance, or the neighborhood dog barking all night long. But before I blame Fido, I need to take a hard look at what's been going on in my life lately that might have triggered this.

Things like job loss, the one hundred ways my car has found to break down or those late coffee drinks could be catalysts. Or maybe it's over the recent death of a love one, serious stuff. I am starting to detect a pattern. Every time I sit down to watch television I fall asleep on the spot, but the minute I lay down in bed my mind races like Kyle Busch on his last lap at NASCAR. Only in this race, there is no winner. I don't have a problem falling asleep...my trouble is staying asleep, anyone have a spare sledgehammer?

I am holistic so I don’t want to pollute my body with pharmaceutical fix ups. I read that calcium supplements contribute to sleepiness so I up my dosage, but still I am ready for the dawn patrol. 

Then what's the solution? Visit this site for a list of do’s and don’ts - http://www.chomp.org/pulse/2007/spring07/artricle27.aspx . I tried a warm bath, chamomile tea, relaxing music, and once in bed a CD tuned to the lowest volume. Best choice: the Bible because I find the word of God very soothing. Sleep will come in its own time and it seems inevitable that I will be waiting in wide eyed anticipation.

Taking The Daily Grind Underground

When I was a little girl, I recall walking up to my grandfather’s front door and the smell of coffee emanating from the garden. All along the path on a nearby stretch of dirt were little mounds of old coffee grounds he had tossed out from the daily brews of his small house front store.

I can’t remember if anything ever grew in that spot beside mold but it’s possible he was conditioning the soil and moving it elsewhere in his garden. At age 7 the only thing I cared about in grandpa’s garden was the little treasures of costume jewelry and marbles hid there for me to unearth. Now older I see that grandpa was unknowingly teaching me about a different kind of treasure that would lead to a bountiful garden.

Most people think dirt is just dirt but soil is actually much more complex, similar to our skin…it has PH levels, various layers and textures. And also like our skin, soil needs to be treated a certain way depending on the climate. For those of you eager beavers who really want to know the depth of ground you stand on, you can do your own evaluation by going to http://www.rain.org/global-garden/soil-types-and-testing.htm . This is much too complicated for me; I am still trying to figure out the PH of my skin! I suggest collecting a small jar of your soil to take to your local nursery where they provide testing at no charge. Some state universities also have agriculture programs that can help.

Let’s jump forward…you now have the scoop on your particular dirt, enter one more consideration…what you plan to plant in that dirt. Some plants love alkaline conditions while others thrive in acidic environments. Coffee is acidic therefore the grounds must make the soil acidic, right? Wrong…coffee grounds provide nitrogen and nutrients, minerals and trace elements to the soil as it breaks down but has very little to do with altering its PH balance (myths 101). In fact composting is a very popular and affordable avenue for go green (environmentally friendly and green thumb friendly) gardening. http://www.organicauthority.com/organic-gardening/organic-gardening/composting-the-organic-gardeners-secret-solution.html. I live in Nevada and I found that it is a good idea to have a composter because the materials do not break down fast enough…what I ended up with was an outdoor buffet for roaches, spiders, field mice and other little critters. But I had no trouble with coffee grounds; in fact, along with conditioning my soil they deterred the outdoor cats that had been using my garden as their port-a-potty.

So listen up gardeners, the next time you stop in for that expensive cup of specialty coffee, instead of an axe to ‘grind’ over the high cost, bring along a baggie for those grounds and bury it…the axe and the grounds!