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September 17, 2005
Hospice Volunteer's Garden Story
Old Heart-Shaped Duck Pond Gives Second Chance to Heirloom Tomatoes
By Nancy Palmer
In the late 1980’s we moved from Flagstaff to the Sacramento area. We thought we had sold our Doney Park home to the family that was lease-purchasing it from us. However, in those days of tight mortgage money, the deal fell through. At that point we had grown weary of the gridlock of people and vehicles in California and realized that we missed Flagstaff. After a year and a half hiatus, we returned to our mountain home. Much to our surprise we discovered that the family that had been living in our home had constructed a huge concrete heart-shaped duck pond in the middle of our field! Our first inclination was to score some dynamite and blow it up. Fortunately it wasn’t in a location where we had to look at it every day so we managed to ignore the concrete behemoth for many years. Cracks appeared in the surface and soon the weeds began to take over. In fact, the old heart-shaped duck pond was now almost completely camouflaged and forgotten.
Earlier this year I was chatting with another gardens volunteer and bemoaning the fact that the pocket gophers in Doney Park make it almost impossible to grow vegetables. Somewhat in jest my friend asked, “Why don’t you pour a concrete slab and build your garden over it?” It was then that I remembered the old heart-shaped duck pond! My husband Bruce and I had already determined that we needed to relocate our vegetable garden from its shady spot tucked under the north side of our home to a sunnier area out in the open on our property. We were planning to complete the garden relocation project this year. We had already surveyed the entire five acres checking for spots that would be least affected by shade from the several big Ponderosa trees on our property. We also decided that our aging backs needed a raised garden bed. Then it occurred to me that we could solve several problems at once by constructing our new vegetable garden in the old duck pond!
First we purchased some landscaping blocks and stacked them to create a walkway winding down the center of the pond. Then we moved the contents of a twenty year old compost pile and dumped it behind the retaining walls in the new garden area. Finally we moved and added all the topsoil from our old vegetable garden. We had created a raised sunken garden, or, was it, a sunken raised garden?! The concrete floor would provide protection from pocket gophers but the cracks in the surface would allow sufficient drainage. We were pleased with the results but decided not to plant anything in the new space until the spring of 2006. We wanted to first amend the soil in the fall and let Mother Nature work her miracles over the winter.
During July this year I was volunteering and assisting with several projects in the Research Greenhouse at the Arboretum in Flagstaff. I kept noticing some rather sad looking heirloom tomato plants that obviously needed to be repotted or put into the ground. With each passing week the plants looked worse. So I decided to offer our newly created garden space as a foster home for these plants. A deal was struck! I agreed to bring in at least one tomato from each of the dozen or more varieties so that seeds could be collected for replanting at the Arboretum next year.
It took me the better part of a day in early August to plant the 60 plus seedlings in their new home. I grouped them by variety and caged or staked the larger specimens. I ran a long hose out to the garden, then attached and snaked a soaker hose among the plants. Within a few days they looked much happier! There were the occasional challenges of ants and grasshoppers but at least the heirloom plants were safe from pocket gophers. Overnight on September 14th we had a frost that killed the leaves on about half of the tomato plants. I pulled those plants and collected their green tomatoes. They’ll eventually ripen inside a paper bag. The forecast is for warmer weather over the next few weeks so we hope that the surviving plants will still produce some ripe tomatoes. Friends and family agree that they are delicious! For those who are interested in heirloom tomatoes we have found the Anna Russian, Chadwick Cherry, and Nebraska Wedding varieties to be especially productive and delicious. At the beginning of the summer I never dreamed that our old heart-shaped duck pond would be providing a second chance for heirloom tomatoes! I have really enjoyed being a foster mom!
Posted by maxmaddy at 8:26 PM
September 16, 2005
Arizona Highlands Garden Conference
The 2005 Arizona Highlands Gardening Conference is coming to Flagstaff, Oct. 3 and 4. It will be held at Trinity Heights Methodist Church and will feature regional and local experts on many gardening topics.
You can access the conference agenda, view a printable brochure, check out conference sponsors, find housing information and get directions to the church at: cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/ahgc/conference2005.html
The Arizona Highlands Garden Conference is presented by Master Gardener volunteers from Coconino, Gila, Navajo and Yavapai Counties.
This year's event will be held on the campus of Trinity Heights United Methodist Church in Flagstaff, headlined by keynote speakers Forrest and Tricia Clark-McDowell, bestselling authors of "The Sanctuary Garden."
The McDowells, who will present The Garden as Sanctuary: A Place of Peace, Healing and Celebration, adapted the name of their 22-acre Cortesia nature sanctuary in Oregon from the old French cortese, "a deep sense of courtesy toward life."
Also speaking is Jim Knopf, author of The Xeriscape Flower Gardener and Waterwise Landscaping. A professional landscape architect in Boulder, Colorado, Knopf has created numerous xeriscape gardens in the southwest and abroad.
Conference-goers will also choose from twenty-four seminars on topics that range from the practical to the inspirational, including hydroponics, healing gardens, and hardy roses. Whether your idea of gardening involves an Early Girl tomato plant in a pot on the patio, a permaculture meadow, or an old-fashioned tangle of barnyard perennials, there is something of interest for everyone.
Two special seminars will be given by Bill McDorman, president of Seeds Trust, Inc., and William Dunmire, author of "Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and Foods Changed America." McDorman lived in Idaho and Montana before recently relocating to Cornville, Arizona.
Along with this outstanding array of speakers and seminars, the conference will feature book signings, booths, exhibits and a special pre-conference garden tour on Sunday afternoon, October 2.
The two-day registration of $80 ($90 after September 2) or one-day registration of $40 ($45 after September 2) includes lunch and snacks, tote bag loaded with garden gifts, conference notebook and a chance at some tempting door prizes.
For a registration form and complete conference information, call the Coconino County Extension Office: 774-1868, ext.17.
Posted by hbraun at 12:19 PM