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Copyright © 2018 Lonnie D.Watkins
Restoration of Garden 2018 - A Guide: The "Old" Planter
Am presenting an image of my old planter after all the hard work described on this page. Lush and full. Too hot for many flowers yet super healthy. On the next few pages and on this page, I go through the steps of working the soil to produce the actual garden below. In the middle of the Eastern Mojave Valley. Today, 22jan18, am going to begin researching the way water is used properly in Israel. Have learned after cursory searching that much time, probably some trial and error attempts, and finally application will be the order of this research.
The Old Planter In Full Bloom
Too much water was used to achieve this flourishing garden. As stated above, I need time to research and apply techniques proven in Israeli Deserts (because this environment seems as tough as my own Desert) and elsewhere (including my own desert, yet need to learn of others). Drip irrigation is being mentioned in many articles... which leads to much more research because of the salinity and minerals, here, clogging drip irrigation systems.
Results Speak For Themselves - 27 August 2013
| Page Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Introduction | "Main" Page | Anchor page describing current garden |
| Old Garden 2012 | Soil preparation at my old apartment |
| Noxious Weeds Removal | Removing Bermuda Grass from the new planter |
Needed some foundation images to describe a planter I will put together here at Webster. Back during 2012, at my old apartment I wanted a garden. The soil in front of the apartment was desert and disturbed. I had been gardening in front of the Northwind apartment and each time I started to work on the garden it was an adventure. The soil had broken glass, nails, plastic grocery store bags, and even dining cutlery. Found a butter knife and fork, if remembering. Nuts, bolts, and screws, all sorts of disgarded fasteners. And stones. Lots of stones.
I was just beginning both photography and gardening during 2012. Am glad to have images of the work/labor.The images below are of an area where the property manager, Woodrow Harry, allowed me to store the sifted stone. The small plot resembles the condition of the soil that eventually became my garden. This small plot was very close to the front of my apartment. I chose this location because my right leg was still healing. Did not need to chair any more, a cane sufficed. The before image shows the first few five gallon buckets full of stone poured out... the plot underneath is a fair example of my area where I chose to restore the soil.
Before: Pile of Removed Stone - 25feb12
"View of the area chosen to store the stones removed from the dead soil that will become my garden at Las Vegas, Nevada, USA."... Direct quote from "comments" that I recorded inside the "Properties" feature offered with jpeg images. The image below shows a month (roughly three hours a day) of hard labor. Tough going, yet was a big part of my healing process, even though I still need a cane.
After One Month: Pile of Removed Stone - 24mar12
"View of the completed task. The total amount of stones sifted out of the soil of my garden in Las Vegas, Nevada. Moved them to the back area of the apartment complex with a dolly and a 5-gallon bucket: 15 trips back and forth. That is a 12-ounce beer." on top to give a size perspective,... Direct quote from "comments" that I recorded inside the "Properties" feature offered with jpeg images.
Organizing and "Working" The Planter
There was roughly a full five-gallon bucket full of useless garbage that I separated from the soil, also. Anyway, I removed about 16 five-gallon buckets full of stone mixed with debris in total. This process aerated the soil! The planter did not lose any volume, even after the removal of the stones. The soil had compacted this much over the years. There were a few steps I followed to complete the process of planter bed construction that are listed below. The steps were not planned, but they seemed to flow naturally.
- Border Construction:
- Aerating The Soil
- Choosing the Correct Plants
My planter area was directly in front of my apartment. The area had an old dead Nerium oleander and one old alive Nerium. Compacted and dead soil. For a few months, I tried to grow flowers but the flowers never thrived. So one day I got fed up... think I had dug down and found a bunch of garbage inside an old plastic bag. Made plans to dig out the soil and rejuvenate the planter area. Went around the neighborhood to gather leaves because it was winter and the leaves were plentiful on the ground. Went to a local home center and bought some cleaned and processed cow manure. I ripped the dead oleander out and started a border to retain "good" soil. This was simple because there were extra parking space tire bumpers as shown below. I have included a before and after image.
The Border: Before
"View of my garden: before. During 2011, a neighbour and myself attempted a vegetable garden, but the sun is just too strong, the asphalt heat too hot, and the soil too dead. The neighbor relocated to another complex, so I began to build a proper garden. The area was all mine now. This is the view of what I started with in the beginning at Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Decided to move the parking bumpers to create a border around the plants." Direct quote from "comments" that I recorded inside the "Properties" feature offered with jpeg images.
The Border: After
"View of my garden: before. During 2011, a neighbour and myself attemtped a vegetable garden, but the sun is just too strong, the asphalt too strong, and the soil too dead. The neighbour relocated to another complex, so I began to build a proper garden because the whole area was mine. This is the approximate time I found the buried garbage and got fed up. This is the view of what I started with in the beginning at Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Decided to move the parking bumpers to create a border around the plants." Direct quote from "comments" that I recorded inside the "Properties" feature offered with jpeg images. In the background of this image above, is the area I chose to store the sifted rocks from the planter bed in this image. The little bed in the background is under the pile of stone in the "After" image.
After the border was in place, I cleared the planter of everything except the plants I decided to keep in the new garden. Because the soil had not been worked in many years I decided to go down about one-foot. I measured it in places as work progressed. It was one-foot. Using a prospectors pick/hammer to chisel the soil, I broke up the soil so that a shovel would work I just picked an area and started digging.
Roughly the middle of the planter
Aerating Is A Long Mundane Task - 25 February 2012
Just picked a spot and started to dig. Using a screen attached to the bottom of the oats container, I scooped dirt inside using the small spade;dirt after it had been loosened using the pick and shovel. This process of cleaning and sifting the raw soil took about one month, for me.
Mundane: As In Repeat then Repeat
Over and Over Process - 9 March 2012
Can see the sifted pile of soil to the left. Can see the unsifted pile of soil to the right. Sit on the stool, scoop soil into oats container tool letting the sifted soil into the five-gallon bucket. Dump refuse onto asphalt. When five-gallon bucket is halfway full of sifted soil dump onto sifted soil pile.Sift more soil. When pile of refuse is big take to the little planter storage.
The Last Day of "Working" the Soil
Almost! - 24 March 12
Obviously, one can see the organic material being added to the aerated soil. As I completed working the soil, it was turned over a few times to mix the cow manure thoroughly. The leaves (organic matter too) moved toward the top of the soil. Gave the planter a gentle slope to hold water and smoothed it.
The Completed Planter
Nice, Hey? - 24 March 2012
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