Drip, Drip, Drip

Water

Drip, Drip, Drip. Hear it? That’s the faucet in my kitchen sink dripping at the rate of 30 drips per minute into my 1 quart Pyrex measuring cup. I’ve set the timer to see how much water I collect in an hour. Before I fix the faucet, I want to know how much water I’m wasting. I don’t want to waste water.

Water is a big problem for me. I come from the area of the US where rain takes care of the yard. I’ve been in CA now for 40+ years and like those foreigners that never lose their accent, I can’t learn to water my yard. The only solution will be to finally have a system that waters efficiently with little effort from me

My faucet drip collected 2 ¼ C of water, that’s 18 oz., in one hour. Little by little a tiny drop became 2 ¼ cup of water. Imagine that. I’m thinking a drip system will be my yard choice.

The Yard

I have some ideas about my yard. I want a sign in my front yard before the end of 2010 that tells my neighbors that I have a Certified Wildlife Garden and I want a year round vegetable garden. I want my granddaughter to love the yard. When I take her to visit friends with interesting yards, she says, “I wish we lived here.” I tell her, “We can do this too. We can create a garden.” It makes her smile.

Education
On Saturday November 20, 2009, I took a class called, “Winter Gardening” through Ventura College’s Adult Education. Our instructor was John Windsor. When I got home from class on Saturday, charged with renewed resolve, I went to my bookcase. There I found:

A children’s book, Gardening Is Easy When You Know How published in 1974. The book is full of ideas for children to learn about seeds and planting. When I opened the cover, two torn pages from an unknown magazine titled, “Electronic garden journal” fell out. In 1974 I knew that I wanted to journal about gardening, to have a record I could use yearly, the intense work done in year one, then enjoying subsequent years making adjustments. 1974 is 35 years ago. I don’t have a garden journal.

Also on the bookshelf:
Sunset Western Garden Book Copyright 1973
Growing California Native Plants 1980
Sunset Waterwise Gardening Copyright 1989
The City Gardener’s Handbook from Balcony to Backyard Copyright 1990
Rodale’s Successful Organic Gardening HERBS Copyright 1993
Sunset Landscaping and Garden Remodeling Book Copyright 1994.
6 old The Herb Companion magazines I picked up from the giveaway basket at my favorite yarn shop.
Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden Copyright 2005

Finally, the goldmine. My 3” three-ringed binder of collective attempts to garden, landscape, and plan. See. I put them in reverse order. Plan should come first. My brain doesn’t ever start there.

In the Binder I found instructions and notes from another class I took. 13 steps of Landscaping your yard. 1. Measure the site and make a plot plan. That’s a big step. And I found the drawing I made of my yard.

Now is a good time to say that it’s paramount that you have a sense of humor about the journey of life. “Be gentle with yourself and if you didn’t get past step one then, you can start on step 2 now,” I tell myself.

Step 2 should be: Know when you need help.

That brings me to other recent events. On Sunday November 8, 2009 I participated in the 16th annual Salmon Run to benefit the Matilija Coalition. In the Patagonia parking lot an information and walk/run support community was set up. There I found the Nopalito Native Plant Nursery. They were busy and I didn’t yet have a plan, except that I wanted native plants in my yard. I grabbed their business card and put it into my pocket. That same day I went to the Ojai Farmer’s Market to visit my Dutch flower grower friend and there the Nopalito Nursery was again. I made a mental note to visit them soon, after I took the Winter Gardening class.

Step 2 might also be: Establish a budget. Yes, first a budget. Then get help to make a plan, then a priority list.

“Know thyself,” Socrates said. I know watering is my number one failing. Water will have to be at the top of the list. Drip, drip, drip. Can you hear it? Sounds like an analogy is coming. Drip, drip, drip may become my new mantra. Make a consistent effort in the yard and it will become your dream yard. I’m counting on the youthful energy of Nopalito Nursery to answer my questions and guide my way.

I hope you’ll join me and learn along with me about gardening 52 weeks a year in Ventura County.