Mirror, Mirror on the wall- Which tree is the hardiest of them all?

I admit, I do not have a very green thumb. So here are my personal statistics on keeping food-bearing trees alive:

Citrus: 6 out of 6 trees still alive. These have been very hardy. 3 have been exposed to severe neglect by me not watering them for a month at a time in hot weather (90 to 104 degrees F). The lemon tree is the hardiest - it has grown very well.

Hazelnut: 3 out of 3 trees dead. I got these from the arbor day foundation. They looked like small sticks with a couple of roots on the bottom. I may have taken too long to plant these.

Peach: 1 out of 1 tree alive, but barely. This baby tree has been neglected of water for months at a time and was planted in the shade. Considering the circumstances, this tree has been very hardy.

Avocado: 2 out of 2 trees dead. I think one was water-logged by being planted in clay soil. I was too lazy to plant the other one, so it dried out completely in its pot.

Cherry trees: 1 out of 1 planted trees dead, but 2 out of 2 existing trees still alive. I don't think the baby tree I planted was able to survive the neglect of water. I also placed it in a spot where I used to keep chickens. The ground may have too much nitrogen from the chicken poop for the poor tree to survive.

Pecan: None planted, many keep popping up. Pecan trees seem to want to grow where I am at. I think there may be animals burying the nuts in my yard. I would love to have pecan trees if I had a larger piece of property. But for now, my property is too small and I know that at least two of my neighbors do not like the tall pecan trees. This may have something to do with the sticky substance produced by aphids. I agree that I do not want sticky stuff on my car or house. I also do not want a tree so high that it poses a large hazard to my home if it falls.

Bay: Every year I cut down at least a dozen trees that I think are Bay Laurel. I cut these trees because they grow tall very quickly.

So which are the hardiest trees that I planted at my home near Sacramento, California? I would say the lemon tree (and all the citrus trees) and the peach tree. These trees have done an excellent job so far of surviving my neglectfulness.

Using Rocks as mulch

Here is a picture from the side of my house, a very neglected area water-wise. I live in a very dry area during the summer. In the past 4 months (it is nearly November here), I can only remember a couple of days of rain. This area is not watered by sprinkler, so it is at my mercy to water it - which I only did a few times.

Yet, the plants are alive! In this picture there is a mandarin tree, a thin pomegranate tree, a large succulent, and nitrogen - fixing clover. I credit the success of these plants to the rocks that shade their soil. This prevents moisture loss and hardening of the soil despite my neglect.

The first thing I did to prepare this area was make sure the ground was well watered from rain we had in the winter. Since it rains in the winter, a bunch of clover had grown here. I pulled that clover, chopped it up with a knife, and laid it over the soil. I then covered the area with cardboard that I had soaked in a tub of water. I left the cardboard for a couple of months, occasionally watering it. The neighbors must have thought I was crazy to water cardboard!

The soil was very nice after that. I found the biggest earthworm I have ever seen there when I dug into the ground.

When using mulch, you can put a special fabric down to prevent weeds from growing. I did not do this because I wanted to plant seeds and have a variety of plants growing to improve soil health. So I just placed my rocks down, slightly overlapping. I used fist-size rocks that I got for free from someone who was redoing their backyard.

The first summer I planted "Seeds for Kids" from bountifulgardens.org. This is a mixture of non-toxic, non-GMO seeds. I also planted fodder radish from the same company, since it is known for being able to break up clay, as well as sunflower seeds from my local nursery.

I was a bit lazy about watering this area. Despite this, I ended up with a few random plants. Two sunflowers grew. I am so glad they did. From those two sunflowers I gathered many more seeds than is provided in a single packet at the store. I also had a couple of large radishes grow from the radish seeds I planted. I gave those to a neighbor who actually knows how to cook. From the kids seed packet I had a couple of squash and a few bean and black-eyed peas grow. I gave the neighbor the squash for her family. The beans and black-eyed peas I kept to grow again later.

That was a pretty good crop considering my failure to water the area sufficiently in an area of little to no rainfall in the summer. I highly recommend using small and medium rocks as mulch. The heat that might be absorbed by the rocks is more than made up for by the benefit of the rocks in shading the soil.

I know have two dwarf citrus trees and a pomegranate seedling in that area. Having a well established plant may be helpful if you can't (or can't remember to) water your plants. Drought tolerant plants like rosemary may also work well in the heat.

gardening in the desert

I just looked at www.weather.com and discovered that my city averages only 1/2 an inch of precipitation in May, and even less than that in June - September.

There is a drought in my area and even tap water can be expensive. I am going to need to find ways to maintain a necessary amount of water for the plants, without going broke. The cost for the privilege of having running water in my house is $30 / month. Any amount of water that I use is added to that amount.

My first idea is to reuse water from the house. If I wash my hands with a biodegradable soap then I can put that water on the compost pile. When I do not use soap, I can catch that water in a basin to water plants. I can also just rinse my hands with a washrag when that will be sufficient, like when they just have a little dirt on them and I am going back outside anyways.

Another thing I can do is divert washing machine water to an area outside. I could also hang my clothes to dry outside near the plants. If spaced closely together that might provide a little bit of humidity, which may decrease the plants' need for water.

I can catch water in the shower while I am waiting for it to warm up. If I want to work a little harder then I could also catch the water used while getting wet before using soap. If I use biodegradable soap and shampoo then I can catch the soapy water separately for use in the compost pile.

I could catch rain from my roof to store it for non-rainy times. I do not know how much it would cost for a rain barrel and to retrofit my water spouts to catch the water. It might be worth it.

I could also create small ditches to help catch water and allow it to flow into the ground. These small ditches could be filled with rocks to become a path. This is a way to catch runoff. It also helps keep the ground moist in hot weather. This probably wouldn't become too water-logged since the highest average rainfall is less than 5 inches/ month.

Finally, I can utilize mulch and shading to help the plants retain the water they have. Also, the compost bin does not have to have water when there isn't any available. It can wait until the rain comes. Besides, additions of water containing food scraps will maintain some moisture. I can also cover the compost pile to deflect sunlight.