The Year of the Rabbit

Thursday, February 3, 2011, marks the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit, the Chinese New Year. In Garden Grove and Westminister, Orange County, thousands will celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese festival which acknowledges the start of the new cycle. In preparation for the celebration, families spruce up and clean their homes to get rid of the past year's bad karma, pay off debts and resolve differences with family members. Everywhere, the feeling of " ...out with the old, in with the new..." is evident.

Here, in Borrego, every year is the Year of the Rabbit - as many of you have noticed! Some years are worse than others...good for coyotes- bad for gardeners. All of us talk about the rabbits as if they were pests. In retrospect, however, they are just an ongoing part of the desert scene. When there has been adequate rainfall, plant life explodes and so do the rabbits- both cottontails and hares. During dry years, however, food becomes more scarce and the little darlings start to eat whatever they can find - including YOUR garden plants!

They ARE tenacious little animals. One day, I watched a desert hare nip each spine off a cactus pad before he daintily consumed the whole thing! When you see a horse shoe shaped bite or a diagonally cut stem, you can assume rabbits have been dining on your garden fare. You can avoid this by caging plants with chicken wire...especially when they are young and tender. Older , better established plants seem to be less desirable, especially native varieties.

I think coyotes like the idea of a perpetual year of the rabbit. They are just like a desert police force, on patrol every night, enforcing the law of nature. When you next hear their wavering siren call, rejoice that they are on the job keeping rabbits out of your hare!

Yes, We Have No Bananas !

A few wilted leaves on my vegetables prompted me to check on the soil moisture levels. Sure enough, the recent spring-like temperatures and light winds had dried the soil. I can't believe it will last. My gosh, this is still JANUARY!

The weather will probably change so I decided not to tamper with the watering stations. Instead, I had an excuse to go outside, enjoy the sunshine and turn on the hose ...( I just LOVE to handwater - any old excuse will do. )

Picked more golden beets, tomatoes and lettuce this morning. Dug carrots, yesterday. Pulled the last of the radishes and found a few aphis on the leaves. ( No insects on anything else, though.)

All citrus is ripe and gives us more fruit than we can consume. Giving fruit to friends, neighbors and relatives on a " U Pick " basis. The vegetable garden is generous. I went to the produce market the other day and all I needed to buy were a bunch of bananas and two avocados, neither of which likes to grow in Borrego. It's great to save money and better yet to know the food came fron a pesticide-free garden!

A Couple of Dog Stories

I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. One of my friends sent it to me in the mail. Of course, since she had spent money to send it, I felt obligated to read it! She KNEW I would love it, since we often relate stories about our dogs to each other. She has a golden retriever named Nevada. Her dog works. He visits people in the hospital and makes them feel better.

Our dog, Lola, works - she makes us feel better, too. Lola, like Enzo, the dog in the book, loves to watch television. Her favorite programs are cartoons and commercials involving animals or squeaky toys. You already know she brings us the morning paper. She also brings us our shoes, socks, tee shirts and other items. She carries laundry to the washing machine. She brings in mail, tears up cardboard for recycling, puts empty toilet paper rolls into the trash and tells us when we have visitors. She even tells us what time it is! When she steps on a cholla, she stops, puts up her paw and lets us remove it.( use a comb )

When we first moved to the desert, a black Labrador was part of the family. Reba came to the desert from the beach...a very different environment. We were looking at our vacant land during summer, one HOT day, when Reba spied a rabbit and away she went. We were horrified, thinking of her running top speed through the desert, stepping onto cactus, being attacked by a coyote or meeting up with all sorts of desert threats. ( Remember, we were new to the desert, too! ) About half an hour later, there she was, looking for us, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. Later, Reba turned into a lizard stalker - using one paw to shake burro bushes and scare out her prey. ( which she never caught but loved to chase.) Reba now rests under the Palo Verde tree in the back yard.

My brother's family includes a REAL desert dog. Roamer first appeared in the De Anza area of Borrego. Stories from residents indicated he had been running with the coyotes. He was seen often in the area and one day, chose to make a call at my brother's house. He was offered food and water but did not care to stay. Don fed him whenever he dropped in, but Roamer never stayed for long. Little by little, the dog grew to trust Don and, after a while, became a beloved member of the family. At first, he maintained his old ways, and often ran away chasing rabbits- even eating them! By then, people who lived in the area would call Don and say, " Hey, I think I just saw Roamer." Don hurried to retrieve him. Now, he is older and has given up leaving home or chasing anything-( the dog, I mean). He and his master are inseparable. He has retired -(both of them, I mean ).

If you have a desert dog, you have to be extra cautious regarding hot weather.
We would never think of leaving our dog outside during summer and leave the swamp cooler or air conditioning on if we have to be away for a period of time.
Coyotes can leap or dig under fences and walls. Be alert when your pet is in the yard.

There are good stories and bad stories about dogs in the desert. I'm sure you have heard about the dog snatched off his leash by a coyote - dogs bitten by rattlesnakes ( there is a vaccination for that )- loose packs of dogs...(my friend and I were on foot at Clark Lake and encountered five dogs, running loose and hunting) we notified authorities. I have met numerous coyotes and have never felt threatened. A loose pack of dogs is a different matter.

Dogs rely on people to nurture and care for them. This is especially important in the desert. Borrego Animal Rescue is a new service, recently formed here. For more information, contact ninelives2@gmail.com . If you have a dog, cat or other pet and live in Borrego, there is a good doctor, who loves dogs and cats, in Brawley. Lola always looks forward to a visit with Dr. Howard! (look for his articles in the Borrego Sun ).

Valentine Bush and a Box of Chocolates

Will I receive my box of See's chocolates early this year? According to my front garden reminder, I will! Eremofila maculata valentine or Valentine bush has burst into full bloom, at least one month earlier than expected. In fact...

Everything in this desert is about one month ahead of schedule. I asked Patty Torres of the Torres Nursery what she thought caused the early bloom. She attributed it to the earlier generous rainfall and the recent warming we have experienced here in Borrego.

The past week has been unbelievably spring-like. Brittle bush is blooming, wildflowers are showing early growth, our ocotillos are flowering, my Anna apple tree has stopped losing leaves...everywhere, I see signs that the garden is ahead of itself! Heeding these clues, I set out some bean and corn seeds in my growing flats. We'll see if THAT works!

We planted our Valentine's bush about four years ago to have winter color inside the entrance area. This is an extremely drought tolerant plant, withstands very low temperatures and likes full sun. During full bloom, you can barely see the leaves.
Grows to about five feet, if you let it. I cut mine back after each bloom and love to do this job since I like the clean fragrance of the plant stems and leaves.

If you want that special person to remember Valentine's Day, THIS is the plant for you!

Our Space

If you take a look at a map of Borrego Springs acreage, the first thing you notice is the size of the construction sites. There are many half an acre, one acre and over plots...larger than most communities, I would guess. Our lot is two and one half acres in size and gives us a lot more space than we could ever have imagined!

Our first residence consisted of no garden space at all, the second, a bit more space, but shared with two other residences. The next, a small yard with room for a few fruit trees and several flower beds. After that, at the beachfront, no yard, at all, and a very small lot. Then came Borrego! We delight in our unfenced yard and all the wilderness space that surrounds us...room to finally spread out!

Unlike most city residences, most Borrego homes have exceptionally long driveways. The daily paper is thrown onto the driveway, but we never have to carry it into the house. Lola has been bringing us the morning news since she was three months old. She revels in her morning task and just expects a pat on the head and a cookie in return. Aren't we lucky to have such a willing helper?

The Wilderson Garden

Bob Wilderson explained how his vegetable garden was set up. In Borrego, he stressed the necessity for protecting vegetables from rabbits, mice, squirrels and other critters. His organic garden is fenced with closely meshed wire which extends underground to prevent tunneling. His frame is made of PVC pipes and the garden is gated. He has plans to electrify the top portion of the fence.

Irrigation is drip and hoops are installed over frost sensitive plants, which are covered with lightweight material during cold weather. Peas grow on a net stretched between a PVC frame.

A rototiller is used to turn over earth and two composters provide nutrition for the vegetables. Blood and bone meal plus organic potting soil have been added to the plot. Two chickens provide eggs for them and manure for the garden. He said the chickens stay in Borrego during summertime without any ill effects. (OOH, now, I want chickens. ) He said they lay at least one egg everyday...sometimes, two!!! ( I also noted the high coyote proof fence which enclosed the hens. )

He has come up with a novel way to further keep rabbits from his yard. A bale of alfalfa is left nearby as a summer treat. The rabbits eat the alfalfa instead of nibbling on HIS plants!

Don Goodwin addressed the group and talked about preparation of olives. He passed around samples of olives he had prepared along with the recipe.

We always love going to these meetings and are looking forward to the next at the Roadrunner Nursery!

No Fruit Fly

It' s not too often that you discover a note in your garden but at 7:30 a.m. this morning that is just what we discovered.

The gate had been opened to let Lola out to bring us our morning Union Tribune . Tucked in the handle of the gate was a note to us from the State of California Department of Agriculture, signed in pencil by Wayne Y. and dated 1/11/11. ( five ones! )

When I asked what it said, I was told that it warned us not to eat any more of our citrus due to infestation...I naively asked, " REALLY?" , and was greeted with a hearty laugh... I do live with a jokester !

In reality, the note thanked us for our cooperation for allowing insect detection traps on our property. The C.D.A. had been putting traps in our citrus trees for the past four or five years and informed us the traps had been removed and will be installed at another location.

I guess our trees passed the test...it's good to know our fruit is safe to eat !

You Can Eat the Whole Thing !

You can get your daily share of yellow and green vitamins in one delicious vegetable - Burpee's Golden Globe beet! These were planted around the first of October. The seed packet stated that you would be able to harvest about 55 days after planting. It has been about thirty days past Burpee's time frame. These are the first I have dug up...maybe the cold weather held them back.

We had beets for dinner last night. The roots were exceptionally mild and sweet...not as "earthy" tasting as the Detroit reds. The leaves were better than spinach...not nearly as acidic. It took about forty-five minutes to boil the beets ( until fork tender ). The leaves steamed in just a few minutes.

I love beet seeds! They are big enough to see! Planting some more Golden Globes today and saying , " So long, Detroit reds! ". TIP: Soak seeds about two hours before planting to hasten germination.