Mediterranean irrigation
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Mediterranean irrigation
- From: m* l*
- Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 21:24:31 PDT
Charles
I must confess I find the whole subject of irrigation fascinating.
So the opinions herein come from someone who has at times been
captivated by the history and techniques, some of them quite ingenious, of
man's attempts at environmental modification by
the addition of water.
My own current gardening includes a suburban home landscape and
a 40 by 50 foot community garden plot here in Sacramento, and
a small home in five acres of woods in the foothills about an hour from
here. In each of these I have taken somewhat different approaches to water.
Here in Sacramento, at the confluence of two major rivers in one of
the State's oldest cities, water is cheaply and readily available.
It is in fact, unmetered, so any urge to conserve is strictly on
a volunteer basis. I have retained the front landscaping pretty
much as laid out in the 1950's, with a large lawn of bermuda and
fescue, for a number of reasons. Not the least of these is that
someday I will probably want to sell the house. Additionally, if
I have to I can let the bermuda go dormant in summer by drastically
reducing watering, and it will still come back with the fall rains
with little or no damage.
When I come home from a day of whatever, the temperature is hovering
around 105*f, the humidity is about 20% relative, and there's a
constant dry wind from the north that makes your eyeballs feel like
sandpaper, I want to immerse myself in something lush, green, and
soothing. So the small backyard is both heavily planted and heavily
irrigated. I have tried other ways to get this effect, and many
of the actual plants are somewhat drought tolerant (camellias for
example) but I have to confess I have been unable to produce a cool,
green oasis without the use of substantial amounts of summer water
here in the central valley. A small recirculating fountain with the sound of
falling water also seems to help.
In the foothills, only an hour's drive, at an elevation 2500 feet
higher, I bought the oasis already pretty much established. The woods are
mixed pine, oak, and madrone; there are an endless variety
of interesting wildflowers that pop up from time to time; and I have
so far confined my gardening efforts to the areas immediately surrounding
the house, except for a variety of bulbs and a couple
of roses with large growth potential. Here I have to pump water
from a well, with resulting additional expense of electricity and
occasional repairs. I'm doing a whole lot of soil ammendment near
the house, since it would appear that the area was scraped to level
for the house, and if they saved the topsoil, I sure can't find it.
I've been putting in, if not truly mediterranean plants, ones that
I've found still living in abandoned gardens nearby, thus having
demonstrated their ability to live in this particular area without
supplemental watering.
Now these are both "mediterranean" gardens, I think, certainly in
the broadest and historical sense of the word. The first in that
moorish tradition that produced some of the palace gardens in Spain
(a man's home is his castle, after all). The second more in keeping
with that peasant tradition wherein a person gardens as best they can
given the limitations of soil, weather, water,personal energy, and finances.
The trees, shrubs, and wildflowers so abundantly naturalized
in these woods at 2500 feet get a summer about a month shorter than here on
the valley floor. When it rains a half inch here in Sacramento, the same
storm system commonly deposits an inch and a half
of rain in the hills. Consequently, these same California natives
can be difficult to establish here on the valley floor, with or
without irrigation.
Daffodils are another example. I can grow a lot of stuff at 2500 feet that
I lose here in Sacramento, partly due to cooler temperatures, partly to the
shorter summer dormant season, and partly
due to those mysterious reasons that make gardening such an adventure.
When you expand the horizen of plant selection to "the five mediterranean
areas of the world" the possibilities both for disaster and successful
discovery seem limitless.
I think that you are absolutely correct in your assesment of the watering
practices you describe from your fellow volunteers. Hand watering is not
the long term answer to anything except houseplants.
Eventually either the waterer or the wateree will expire. I would also agree
with you that the best overall plan in a garden, especially one
staffed by volunteers, is either very simply maintained occasional
irrigation or none at all. But you will lose plants. And this can be
difficult if they are hard ones to obtain or have been provided at
considerable emotional investment by someone who has raised them from seed.
Additionally, depending on how hot it gets there, you
have to be prepared for some of your stuff to look somewhat beat
in the doldrums of summer. Some find this hard to accept in a public
situation.
As to watering the cactus garden, even cacti need an infrequent drink.
Many of the choicer varieties from the mountain ranges of Arizona
and Mexico (Sonoran species in general) get surprising amounts of summer
rainfall from the monsoon season just starting up about now.
So I guess it all depends on what you want to grow, what luck you have with
the local conditions, and how persuasive you can be with
your fellow laborers. Good luck and maintain patience. I think I kind of
gave up on group gardening when somebody "pruned" a Philadelphus I spent two
years establishing in the aforementioned community garden down to six inches
from ground level. It is now trying to reestablish its bearings up in the
foothills.
Yours most respectfully,
Michael Larmer
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