May 26, 2007
Materializing
Your Dream Garden!
Moving
Though the Obstacles…
With Rand Lee!
Don’t forget that Rand
is a great garden consultant and that you can reach him at Payne’s Nursery North on Camino Alire! His number there is 505-988-8011.
What a lovely morning we spent with Rand in Ravi
Kaur’s (teacher) Trio Montessori
School! The environment
is totally whimsical, fun and intriguing! And not only did she prepare a delicious
spread for us, but her animal friends—her fluffy dog and a funny ferret, along with myriads of singing caged birds also
joined us!
And Rand brought
us back issues of “The American Cottage Garden,” a thoughtfully written and beautifully designed magazine which
contains many of his articles! And he also brought us seedlings of “Sweet
100” cherry tomatoes that can be planted in the ground or in containers.
It was wonderful to have Rand lead us again in
discovering what our very hearts and Souls have in mind for us, and how to identify the obstacles that keep us back, along
with great advice on how to move through, around and also to work with those “obstacles” so that they don’t
hold us back!
Most of us had completed our “Intuitive
Garden Design” project as described at www.sirigian.com/intuitive_garden_design.html , so we had a good idea of what we want in our gardens.
In this section, Rand
let us know that the first thing we were to do was to bring to light the obstacles that are unconsciously—or consciously
holding us back. These may include such aspects as money, time, physical limitations,
e.g. arthritis, or our limiting thoughts such as, “It may be wicked to have what I want!”
He let us know that there is a joy to working
in a garden—developing a relationship with the garden, its bugs, plants, hardscape and so on. And he emphasized that a garden is never finished. It is always
a work in progress! That relieved the imagined pressure on a number of us!
Rand said that
people think of a garden in a variety of ways, such as:
· A
collection of things
· Landscaping
as a frame to show off their home, their wealth, etc.
· Commercial
gardening—the end result is very important!
· The
entire experience of nurturing a garden is what is important.
When he first came to Santa
Fe, he found this area to be hostile and barren—certainly when compared to the cottage gardens he created
in Great Britain and on the east coast. But now he has found NM to be nurturing and rich due to his relationship with his
gardens.
THE INTUITIVE PROJECT TO DISCOVER WHAT OUR OBATACLES
TO CREATING THE GARDEN OF OUR DREAMS ARE:
Again, Rand got
our intuitions activated!
He first passed out papers that were headed with
the words:
RULING GARDEN OBSTACLE.
The sheet had numbers 1 to 21 listed down the
left side,
with the phrase “The main obstacle to my
creating the garden of my dreams is” along the bottom.
Then he gave us the question: “Why we or
someone else says we can’t have what we want.” And his instructions
were that we just let answers zoom out of our minds, without judging them at all. Write
each statement next to a number, and put them down as fast as possible without thinking.
He timed us for about 5 minutes, and then asked us to stop.
Next step: Compare statement number 1 with statement
number 2. Now assuming that both of these are obstacles, ask “which do
I hate most?” Then circle the one that seems like your most dreaded obstacle.
Now take the one that you circled and compare
that with number 3. Ask the same question again, and again circle the one that
gives you the biggest problem. Continue this process all the way down the page,
always comparing the newest item to the last one circled until each statement has gone through this prioritizing process.
Finally, when you reach the bottom of the page,
write out the last one that you circled under the statement: “The main
obstacle to my creating the garden of my dreams is…” Now you have
brought out your very biggest obstacle to creating your great garden into the light of day so that you can deal with it—see
through it, figure out how to make it workable for you!
Rand gave those
of us who were there some really good advice on how to conquer our greatest obstacles!
You will see those answers below. What an interesting and amazing experience
that was, and we loved having his help in addressing our “Garden Shadows!”
Fateh Kaur seemed to sum up our reactions when
she wrote: “Loved the workshop, it gave me some direction and now I really
want to make some changes. Now I have to attract those to help me do it! Thank
you for bringing the energy for us to realize our dreams!”
OVERWHELM, Rand
said, is usually our first obstacle. That can include money, and time; trying
to do too much, too fast, too soon!
So, his first advice to us was to not try to create
a huge garden or yard all at once. Rather, the question is, “How can I
create my dream in embryo so that it can develop over the years?” Think
of it as, “Now I can enjoy the pleasure of time rather than all at once.”
Gardening is a process over time. It is meant to be a pleasure, not an
Olympic exercise.
To accomplish that, first identify the core elements
of your garden and work on them first. For instance, you might use a recycling
fountain and build around that.
PLACING YOUR GARDEN:
Start placing your garden in the main sight lines
from your house. To do that, you can send a friend out to the yard with markers
(sticks). Then your friend walks around your yard while you are looking out the
windows. When you see your friend come into sight, signal to them to put a marker
down, and when they begin to go out of sight, put another marker down. This outlines
your first gardens!
Wander through your yard to feel the different
areas. They may feel good, sad, attracting, repelling, etc. so that you know
how you want to work the different areas of your yard. Also watch to see where
the light falls in your yard.
CREATING YOUR GARDEN:
He suggests making your garden widths to be 4
feet which is most conducive to working in, with paths of no less than 4 feet wide.
You can put weed barrier down on your garden paths, then mulch them with stones.
This works to keep the weeds down for 4 years. He likes to thickly plant his gardens so that they completely fill in
as they grow.
If you use the “unplanned look,” this
takes the most attention and artistry. To do it, notice how nature accomplishes
her work, and then use her inspiration! It is quite fun to have a wild area,
such as encouraging wildflowers!
Fragrant plants and colors create a certain effect,
for instance lavender and licorice. Think about various plants giving off their
scents at different times of the day. Arab gardens use water, stone, plants and
walled areas.
BRINGING ENERGY TO YOUR GARDEN:
Movement, such as a flag brings energy to your
yard. Also gazing balls (those mirrored spheres), altar space such as with a
Quan Yin statue. Use plants that increase the “communication” in
your garden. Wooly thyme is especially good for that because it attracts bees. All honey bees are native to Europe, but we do have
native bees that do not make honey. Use all different kinds of thyme all over
your garden. They have different smells and they like gravelly soil.
SPECIAL GARDEN REMEDIES:
Silver Lace (or Irish Lace) vine, like the one
on the fence by the road near the Gurdwara makes a good border and it grows fast!
On a steep hillside on which water, when it does
come, washes down everything in its path, you can insert bottomless containers. Take
the bottom out of nursery pots and bury them in the hillside. Fill them with
good soil and put the plants in them.
SOLVING THE GOPHER QUESTION:
Since gophers love to eat the roots of your plants,
here’s a practical solution.
- When
you first make your garden, dig down 2 feet. Take all the soil out of the hole.
- Mash
chicken wire down to completely line the hole, then replace the dirt—amending it, of course and plant your garden.
AMENDING YOUR SOIL:
This is the very most important thing to do to
create a healthy garden! Since our soil has no organic matter, mix 1 part compost
+ 2 parts dirt. Tomatoes and roses need ½ soil and ½ compost. He uses composted cotton burrs to give nutrition to his garden. This
is available at Paynes North where he works. Neither top soil, nor peat moss
(although it does hold water, but is a non-renewable resource) don’t give nutrients.
Mushroom compost is mostly peat moss and some manure. Clay soils are high
in nutrients but the soil particles don’t have space between them, so you have to add organic material to “loosen
up” that soil. Coconut fiber is delightful and has nutrients.
Micro-organisms attach themselves to plants’
roots and break down the soil so that the plants can eat it. Plants’ roots
need air and compost. So dig your garden as deeply as possible—to 2 feet
is best, then create a fabulous environment for your plants. This is the most
important thing that you can do for your garden!
Yum Yum Mix is the most expensive, but it is the
best added nutrients for our area. Commercial fertilizers are high in salt, but
our ground is highly saline, which kills micro-organisms, which over time creates a “dust bowl.” However, Osmocote is his favorite fertilizer for containers. It
releases its nutrients slowly over time.
TREES AND SHRUBS:
All shrubs and trees need to be watered regularly
and fertilized twice a year—in the early spring when the leaves are coming out and mid-season. Borers are a problem for trees. Bob Berry is a native tree
expert. He works at Paynes’s North on Camino Alire. You can make an appointment with him at 505-988-8011.
TREATING CRABGRASS:
You can put black plastic on the area and let
it bake over the summer to eradicate it, or dig it out and fill in with new soil and grass.
WILD ANIMALS:
The only sure thing that works to protect your
garden from wild animals is fencing! There are some preparations such as predators’
pee, but it is expensive and it makes your garden smell like pee. It’s
cheaper to pee on your garden yourself. Other methods are gasing (gophers), trapping
and shooting them.
Some other alternatives are to plant a second
small patch just for the animals, that is far away from the one that you want to keep. Also,
dog hair is wonderful for compost because it is high in nitrogen, and has the “predator” scent on it.
GRASSHOPPERS:
Nolo Bait, known generically as semasphore (sp.?). When the grasshoppers ingest it, it causes a disease in them that only attacks grasshoppers’
digestive system. To fully get rid of them takes a while because they eat the
Nolo Bait, then die, then other grasshoppers cannibalize them, getting the disease themselves and so on. It takes a few years of use to completely get rid of them.
GROWING GARDINIAS INSIDE: Dig in coffee grounds and put vinegar in your alkaline water for them.
They love acid!
MULCH EVERYTHING AND IRRIGATE!
Mulching over drip systems cuts down watering
by 75%. Even at night, sprinklers loose 50% of water, and during the day, they
lose 75%.
¾” soaker hoses that you can get at Walmart
are the very best to irrigate a thickly planted bed. Bury them under at least
2” of mulch because the sun’s ultra violet rays break the hose material down and cause major leaks. You can use inverted U-shaped metal pegs to hold your soaker hoses in place. Mulch is porous and doesn’t clog the hose as would happen if you buried your soaker hoses under the
soil. Emitters in a drip irrigation system are best to deliver water directly
to shrubs and trees. Shade will conserve water from evaporation. You can put your spigots or hydrants in areas that will need the most water, and then run your soaker hoses
or drip irrigation from there.
For mulch, you can use newspaper with soybean
ink as a composting weed barrier, then put mulch over it. Don’t use cocoa
bean mulch. Even though it smells like Hershey bars, it is toxic to dogs.
You can use wood shavings or bark mulch. Just put extra nitrogen on the ground under the mulch so that as the mulch decomposes
it doesn’t take the nitrogen from the soil. Stone mulch preserves the water. “Dust mulch,” which is 2” of really bad soil on top of your amended
soil works well.
MAINTAIN AN OLD ORCHARD:
Start with trees or plants that are in the worst
shape, or that are closest to the house, or are the most precious to you. If
they are really in bad shape, you might take them out. Accept that you might
not get the whole orchard tended to in the first year. Slow and steady wins the
race.
