Desert Garden Frustrations

The only thing that seems to grow abundantly in the garden here are weeds.  Pernicious weeds...goat heads like five headed spikes everywhere.  Add to that no rain, lots of wind and dust and HOT sun.  Even the Navajo gardeners are frustrated.  We try to be creative with various water systems, soaker hoses and timers.  

And olas the age old Spanish way.  

I thought my vegetables all died because of too much sun so I sheltered them with the popular shade cover.  Dead again.  Silly me it was the wind and dust that whipped through the small raised garden I had prepared.  So we added more shade material around the whole plot.  

 Third time is a charm...so far.  Waiting for critters like prairie dogs to find this space and burrow underneath.

  Container gardening seems to work too.  And plastic bottles with tiny holes can work like olas to help water containers over longer periods of time.

  I've looked for new landscaping ideas and about half of everything I plant maybe...grows.

Like I said dry and lots of brown.

But sometimes and unexpected cactus burst of yellow or red.  And some Russian sage that survives!

It keeps me going but I am happy I don't have to provide what I eat from the land.  I can only imagine how early settlers survived.

Searching for Spring on the Mesa

Too much dust and too little rain make Spring hard to find in the high desert.  Or maybe it is my unpracticed eye.   I have to look hard to find the rebirth here.   

Long walks on the mesa over time provide pleasure and surprise.  And maybe I am learning the seasons.  

Still one has to be observant to find even the tiniest hope.

Desert gifts can be guarded with thorns,

the beauty may be subtle.

Or it might be a burst of joy when least expected.

On the mesa it rains in Spring but it always somewhere else...... over there.  No April showers here or May...or

The wind gusts and moves sand dunes and ripples them like waves.  The road I follow in my jeep once hard and flat is wash board now or the depth of sand calls for four wheel drive ....depending on which way the wind blows. 

But still there is evidence of new life.

And the wind mill can still raise water from desert depths... enough for the livestock.

 And the chores of spring begin and continue into summer.

 Subtle desert Spring.