Update

Morning of August 26th. It worked! Not one ant could be seen anywhere - and we were happy in the knowledge that no poison needed to be sprayed or placed around the house or grounds but was, instead, carried to the colony by the little pests, themselves. For us, ant traps are the lesser evil of insect control.

Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, influenced my views on pesticides many years ago. Though many new pesticides have been introduced since then and have been considered "safe", you only have to look at the record to see the myriad problems resulting from insecticides. Remember, DDT, once acclaimed as a miracle product was subsequently banned from use.

The more food you can grow in your own garden is a benefit to you and your family both financially , health wise and it also can offer you peace of mind ! For example: The other day, we drove through Coachella Valley and noticed acres and acres of citrus trees coated with a whitish dust - not from a dust storm but from some chemical. That sight made our little home vegetable garden and fruit trees seem like a wondrous gift. We are assured that anything we harvest from our garden will be healthful and safe to eat!

Small, Medium, Large

They come in all sizes - some are almost microscopic - others vary - extra small, small, medium, large and extra large - just like tee shirts. If they bite you, you experience a hot stinging sensation. They seem to appear when you least expect them and often go about their unwavering chores and duties when you are away on vacation. They are inside and outside here, in Borrego and often attack a desert gardener ferociously. They are extremely active during this time of year and we are trying to cope with them, at present. I've found them before, in my vegetable garden, entering the tiny crack in a melon or covering some gooey unknown. Sometimes, they run along the top of a hose or other times, swarm in the thousands when I have disturbed a nest with a trowel or shovel. I've always ignored them before and never used insecticides in the garden, thinking that they MUST do some good - perhaps loosening soil or harvesting weeds. The big black varieties, seen in the desert, I am sure do not harm much and actually cut down weeds. They leave many hills and underground tunnels. In spring, you will often see a " fairy ring " of green grass, marking their abode. Many old tunnels will collapse under foot, if you step on one, similar to rodent tunnels. By now, you have guessed I'm talking about ANTS!

We went away for a few weeks and returned to find hundreds of ants in the kitchen. During summer, if we leave for a period of time, we leave the swamp coolers on timers to keep the interior of the home moist and to keep the indoor plants healthy. I believe ants like this type of environment because several times, after a vacation, we have experienced the same problem...but never before, this acute. These ants are voracious feeders. They bite through sealed plastic to get to the food in the package. They have a taste for almost anything but seem to prefer dry dog food, crackers, honey, cheeses, meats, fish or oily products. Looked at under a lens, they appear to have a multicolored body - red and black. Their bite, in every way, is as fiery as the garden ants! To combat them, we bought two different types of ant traps available at the Center Market or Ace Hardware. The ants completely avoided the ant traps on stakes and, at first, skirted the little plastic igloo traps. I thought the traps might have been lacking in moisture so I added a few drops of water to each trap. Now, they are actively feasting. We have tried this technique before and it has always worked. If all goes as planned, within a few days the ants will disappear as if by magic. In the meanwhile, all potato chips, honey, crackers, cheese and snacks are in the freezer for safekeeping.

If all else fails, we will call Earl Pratt, the person who solves Borrego bug problems!

The Vegetable Garden, Big Plans

Staying mostly in the house, due to the heat, but venturing out early morning to pick squashes...only four plants giving us way too many squash! Still picking melons and watermelons starting to mature. I have been pouring over Burpee's catalog, planning next season's garden. Called them and asked if they had last year's seed order on file...they did, and I determined the succulent, juicy melon, a heavy producer, and the unknown in the photo is creme de la creme - the best melon we have ever tasted...and it seems to love Borrego! We weren't much impressed with our cantaloupe, though ( they were too firm, even when ripe ) so have put honey bun hybrid on the list for next season. Fordhook limas , golden heirloom beets, bull's blood beets, super sugar snap peas and am trying sugar snax hybrid carrots. The carrots are longer and thinner than the carrots I grew, this year. The soil in the planted beds is so loose and good, I expect they will do well. Haven't decided yet on chard, lettuce and spinach. Plan to plant herbs where the corn was planted.

Melons are hard to spot, even in the raised beds. The vines are thick and I have been piling vines on top of each other in the raised planters. That method is keeping the melons out of the hot sun but making them harder to find. Every time I pick up vines to look under them, I notice white flies but they haven't seemed to have harmed anything, yet. I am placing immature melons on top of flat rocks, to keep them off the moist soil.

Early Shade

Where else except Borrego Springs would you expect an answer to the question, “ You get early shade, don’t you?” In the desert, we LIVE by the sun- as did the earliest desert dwellers, both human and animal. On the west side of Borrego Springs is a massive, rugged , rocky mountain range, the San Ysidro, which rises abruptly to an elevation of 6, 132 feet and looms over the tiny town of Borrego Springs. If you are a peak climber, find San Ysidro Mountain by refering to the topo map, Borrego Canyon USGS quad. The mountains are granitic- strewn with gigantic boulders . Anyone who has entered Borrego Springs from Ranchita via S-22 can attest to the numerous huge rocks along the route. Many Borregoeans have given whimsical titles to favorite rocks...the monkey, smiley face, the wave, split rock, needle, tilting rock, the fish, the whale and sitting squirrel are just some of our pet names. People driving the eighteen mile stretch from Ranchita to Borrego for the first time often refer to it as a “white knuckle drive”, but the road is much improved from the first time we used it, when there were few pull-outs and just a low rock retaining wall on a few curves. First time visitors to our desert home have arrived with hair standing on end and vowing not to come that way again, but even they become used to the curvy road and soon enjoy the unmatched views offered by S-22! Most Borrego folks refer to it as merely “the hill”.

Perhaps my imagination is extra vivid, but , after a vacation away from home, when returning from the east, along the Salton Seaway, as we get closer and closer to our tiny little village, I swear the mountains have grown during our absence. As we pass the elementary school, Roadrunner, then the Circle, the mountains look larger, larger, LARGER! As we move closer and closer, I tell my husband, “ They have grown...I’m positive !”. Paul Remeika would agree...those mountains are growing! Do you think I can really discern the difference? I am sure I can!

These mountains provide what we call “early shade”. Along with micro climes within Borrego are what I call macro spaces. The early shade areas typify a macro space. Examples of other macro spaces would be blowing dust areas, sand dune areas...even Sahara mustard growing areas! Those of us living at the foot of the San Ysidros absolutely experience shade before the rest of the basin. Parts of Indian Head Ranch, De Anza Country Club, Palm Canyon Campground, The Estate area, and Tubb Canyon area all experience early shade as the sun drops behind the mountains. During the fierce August heat, we live by the shadow, often postponing a swim until the pool is shaded. One of our favorite summer pastimes is to watch the shadow move east, little by little, covering the valley in shade. We love to see Font’s Point still in the sun while we are in the shade! Gently, the shadow moves east until the entire area lies in shade. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the sigh of relief as the desert welcomes the coming evening hours...a coyote howls in the distance, rabbits emerge from under the citrus trees, birds chirp as all of the summer desert dwellers give thanks to the early shade!

The Desert Gardeners, Club History

WOW ! Here we are, on a BLOG ! Our low desert garden club was started about seven years ago in the sleepy village of Borrego Springs, California (92004 ). People move here for many reasons - mostly to escape the frenzied activities on the other side of the mountains. Our tranquil small town, surrounded by the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, is inhabited by people who love the solitude, the inky star- studded night sky, golf courses which often require no starting times, and often by people who love to garden but don't have a clue as to gardening in this arid low desert area ( zone 13 ).

Several of us were discussing this over lunch one noon at Kendall's...laughing at our first attempts at gardening here. We kicked around the idea of forming a club to help new residents and others who wanted to learn about proven techniques that worked in the desert region. Each of the four of us had been active in some of the many volunteer groups found in Borrego and really didn't like the idea of any oranizational structure...so we just went ahead and formed a club without any dues, officers, minutes or any other formal structure! Each year, the four of us talk things over and, decide, with input from the other gardeners, and put together the agenda for the next season. We have one meeting, October thru March on the second Friday of the month at 10 a.m. People bring their own chairs, dress for the outside, bring their own water and are sure the meeting will end by 11:30 a.m. - just in time to get home for lunch! People are notified of the meetings by e-mail and the local paper. Our e-mail list now includes over 150 names!

We have had several field trips...to a worm farm, to the Living Desert, to the Dry Land Gardens, to other places of interest, but most of our meetings have been held at local private gardens, local nurseries and growing grounds, citrus groves, golf courses, the Nature Store, vegetable patches or any place else we can think of. Professionals have talked to us about irrigation, landscaping, pruning, native plants, mulching, fertilizing, water conservation, water requirement of plants, use of native plants and many other topics.

Last year, our first meeing was a joint luncheon, show-and-tell meeting with the Art Guild showing off how creative gardeners and artists are thinking up gifts for the holidays. It was a lot of fun and well attended. I guess it is now a tradition and a good one, too, because summer in the desert gives everyone time to be creative and plan great things! In fact, during summer, you can often look down the length of Palm Canyon Drive, ( our main street ) and not see another car! Like the desert animals and plants, summer is a time to hunker down, read, write, reflect on great things or enjoy doing exaclty what you want to do.


As you might guess, members of both sexes are equally interested in our club. If you live here or near-by and want to learn something about gardening in the desert, plan to attend one of our meetings - but DON'T FORGET YOUR CHAIR!

Triple Calamity

  Borrego Springs is a place of extremes - the past few weeks being a perfect example:  First was the earthquake, a 5.4 tremblor.  We experience many earthquakes in Borrego and usually don't get too excited.  Small quakes are a regular occurrence here and are most often not felt, but heard.  If we hear a small "boom" we know it identifies an earthquake.  Possibly, this phenomenon is due to our proximity to the San Ysidro Mountains and is some sort of echo effect.  We did feel the Mexicali 7.2 earthquake, however.  Our house rocked and rolled, water slurped out of the swimming pool and the tremblor lasted a while.  The Borrego quake was different- we knew we were close to the epicenter.  The "boom" we experienced was a deafening explosive noise as if dynamite had been set off right under the slab!  The noise was humongous but the shake immediate and quick. No water sloshed out of the pool...instead, upright waves formed.  A picture fell off the wall, small items toppled, the dog got excited...we checked propane tank and water pipes...everything was  O. K.

A few days later, during the early morning hours, I heard a soft cry which sounded like it came from our sizeable ( over 65 pound ) chocolate lab, who was eating breakfast in the walled garden.  We put her dish outside every morning , since she seems to like to dine al fresco!  I opened the sliding door and called her name, then watched in amazement as she chased three coyotes through the yard to the back wall, which they jumped with ease then disappeared in a cloud of dust.  A few others jumped over the east wall, hit the bronze watering valves below the irrigation station.  One valve broke off at the PVC fitting and water gushed from the broken pipe.  There is probably a very sore coyote somewhere in Borrego Springs.  Our dog had been nipped on a back leg, about a two inch abrasion, but was otherwise untouched.  I had seen coyotes within the walls only two other times during our twenty years in Borrego.  If you have a pet in the desert, it is important to protect him.  Coyotes can jump over or dig under barriers.  Our walls are about six feet high.  Coyote parents are teaching their young how to hunt during this season and perhaps my ripening melons lured them to our yard...who knows?

The third incident occurred the next day.  As usual, I checked the humidity on Weather Underground to see if we needed swamps or the air conditioner.  It was high, with a twenty per cent chance of rain.  By afternoon, lightening was flashing and thunder rumbling.  To the south, streaks of heavy rain could be seen, moving in our direction.  We hurried to put things under the porches and made sure our rain water tubs were under the rain spouts.  We needed not bother;  the rain fell so hard the roof drains looked like a fire hose spewing water in giant arcs.  Fifty-five MPH winds pushed the downpour sidewise and under the porches until everything was wet.  The monsoon had certainly arrived in all its' glory...the thing flash floods are made of!  It was over within an hour, leaving a splintered eight foot back garden gate.  Everything blew away and the gaping hole it left has let in a multitude of rabbits, who are feasting on Mexican primrose ground cover.  ( I hope they eat all of those pink flowered plants - once planted , almost impossible to get rid of...)  The vegetables are safe in the raised planters - the gate will have to be replaced - the dog will have to stay in the house and I hope we will finally get around to securing our heavy wooden chest to the wall.

This is just an example of what the summer season might offer to a low desert gardener !

An Enhanced Native Landscape

Still harvesting vegetables, melons, zuccini, yellow squash, last of limas.  Am pulling out tomatoes ( they won't produce fruit after night temperatures warm up...and they have! ) Two nights ago, we had our first over 80 degree night.  It's time to say good-by to the pole beans and tomatoes. The melons are getting bigger and bigger and ripening fast.  Found our first white flies, but not to worry, the harvest will be over before they can do their damage.  Thought summer would be a good time to talk about native landscape.

Outside our  garden walls are about two acres of enhanced native landscape. Enhanced, in this instance, meaning some areas with irrigation and others with non-irrigated native vegetation.  Building sites in Borrego vary greatly in make-up of soils and plants. In our area, around 800' elevation and very close to the foot of the San Ysidro mountain range, the soil is granitic, coarse and rocky- a part of Hellhole Canyon alluvial fan.  Native plants on our plot included cheese weed, burro bush, cholla, indigo, ocotillo, creosote, coyote gourd, desert lavender, beavertail cactus and chuparosa. None of these require any irrigation.  To these, we added other natives to the region, including barrel cacti, fish hook cacti, brittle bush, an ironwood tree, filifera palm trees, desert agave, yucca, teddybear cholla, prickly pear, santa rita, cow's tongue, (opuntias), blue palo verdes, baja palo verdes, mesquite trees, Sonoran palo verdes and a desert willow. .  Of these, only the trees require some irrigation.  The other plants, once established, require no irrigation.

Outside our area, to the east, the soil differs greatly.  There, you find sandy soil, brought to the area over time - deposits from from Coyote Creek...especially during flood stages.  This soil is richer in composition, as evidenced by the many citrus groves , nurseries and tree farms below Coyote Canyon.  Roadrunner Country Club, on Palm Canyon Drive, at about 600 ft. elevation has this sandy soil .  The residents grow beautiful vegetables in the community plot. Gardens in this lower elevation are more likely to experience freezing during cold snaps.  As you can see, there are microclimes within the greater Zone 13!
The Borrego sink is the lowest part of the Borrego basin at 455 ft.  Storm water run-off collects there.  A basin truly describes Borrego, surrounded by higher elevations,with the sink being the drain ! If you realize where you are situated within the various areas, you will be able to plant your garden accordingly. Over the years, I have seen many bouganvillas die of frost at the lower elevations, where the cold seems to collect.

The sink:  455 ft.
Air Ranch:  575 ft.
Montesoro: 700 ft.
Park Visitor Center:  around 800 feet

Sunset Garden Book defindes low desert, zone 13 as ranging from below sea level to 1,100 feet.  As you can see, from the above elevations, we are definitely in that category!

When our construction site was chosen, only one plant had to be moved, an ocotillo. Only the house site had to be bulldozed.  The driveway was laid out with native plants left intact as much as possible.  We removed deadwood from the curbside and replaced it with native agave and mesquite trees. We put in PVC underground water lines along the perimeters of the lot...across the front, along each side and across the back.  From these, laterals were put in as we added other low water use plants. 

If you notice native vegetation, you will see that it arranges itself  with lots of space between plants.  If you follow this pattern on your own land you will be following nature's clues resulting in a garden that belongs and thrives in an arrid environment !  Try to keep the native plants you find ...they are adapted to the area and offer shelter, food, and nesting sites to native wildlife...another reason to think carefully before removing any plant from your lot.