Gardening ain't pretty!

I got sick of seeing my pumpkin plants drooping and wilting in the desert sun on a daily basis. So, last night I decided to do something about it.

I have an old tarp which I recently removed from being suspended over my swamp cooler. I'll detour for a moment on that. Here in NM, a common practice with swamp coolers is to place them on the roof, directly in the sun. This design has remained common for decades. Shortly after moving in, I suspended a large tarp over my swamp cooler. The day I did it, I felt a drop in my house of at least ten degrees within one hour. My house has remained cool all summer. If you have a swamp cooler on your roof which is not cooling, try this and notice the difference it makes.

Back to the subject. Last night, I took the tarp which is no longer needed over the swamp cooler. I tied one end of it to the fence. At the other end, I cut a metal broom handle in half at an angle, making two stakes. Hammered those into the ground and tied the other end of the tarp to the stakes. This morning, found the tarp has small tears in it at the corners and part of it was dragging in the center. So, I used some duct tape at each corner and raised the tarp off the ground to the top of the stakes, fixing it in place. The whole thing is now suspended and the plants are protected from the sun at the hottest time of day. They still get indirect sun most of the day and direct sun at some points in the cooler times of day. A few are still getting more direct sun in the morning and begin to droop but by noon, the shadow of the tarp is protecting them. Today is the first sunny day the leaves have not wilted to ground level by this time. Big difference.

The construct is not all that attractive, but not completely ugly. But this should also allow more moisture to remain in the soil on a constant basis. (No, I'm not going to allow the leaves to remain wet.) 

A couple of the plants have gotten to a decent size. At first, I was somewhat disbelieving they would develop into vines at all! Had read advice about covering vines with soil to encourage secondary roots to form but the vines were not long enough for this until a few days ago, on one plant. So, I'm giving that a try. See how it all turns out.

I am considering planting other seeds than trees in the wild areas along the river. Pumpkins, grapes.. I'll give thoughts to what may survive and where. The ground along the trails is quite fertile here, as horses have been raised in the area for centuries. Today you can walk the trails and encounter local horse riders along the way. (Plus the resulting manure.) The land in different spots has been farmed for just as long. The aqueducts were built under Spanish rule hundreds of years back for irrigation of farmland. Only a fraction of the land is now farmed but remains quite fertile in places. Plants would have a good chance of survival because the area is allowed to grow wild with no apparent intervention. I have no qualms in planting beneficial plants there, as invasive species are quite rampant, including bamboo in some places (run over from local yards), some form of oriental or tropic trees which are hated and destroyed in yards because they take over like weeds and cottonwood trees, which are popular here but not beneficial beyond the benefits almost any tree would provide.

I do find it rather sad that so little of the land is now farmed in this area. The aqueducts are built with sluice gates opening onto most plots of land along the way. Most gates are in complete disrepair, sealed shut by rust and decay. Many plots have wells drilled but it seems the majority are not used. I plan to have a well drilled on my own property when I can afford it. Next door neighbor has an irrigation well and said it only had to be drilled about 25 ft to tap the aquifer below. (That narrow a clearance makes me very careful about using chemicals here.

Okay, I need to get up and do something constructive.