By the grace of the animals

The garden is doing well, June not withstanding. It is the month I, and the plants, dislike the most in this generally lovely climate. It is hot (90's to 105's Fahrenheit) and it is dry, and we all sort of shut down in anticipation of moderating temperatures in July and August, helped along with more moisture: our "monsoon".

The animals are having a rough time too. We did not have a lot of rain in the Spring so there are few tender grassy bits. The garden is under siege as it is the only place with tender vegetation. We do our best to protect the plants but rodentia and the birds are highly motivated and they have some time on their hands.

In spite of fortifications in my broccoli raab bed, I still have mice living there that insist on eating the growing tips out of the plants, so I am giving up on them. Too late in the year to be fussing over them anyway and so far the lettuce also growing there is unmolested.

I have had to remove the fortifications from the melon beds as the plants were outgrowing them, but now the quail are eating the new blossoms. I just call it "pruning" and hope that the plants hang in there long enough for the rain to entice them to set new flowers. At least there is some fruit that made it past the initial nibbles.

Tomatoes are doing well, so far. I was able to rescue one plant that was having its main stem eaten by a ground squirrel who dug his way from outside the garden to come up right under the plant. A piece of hardware cloth fixed that one, at least for now.

One thing does boggle the mind however. One of the pepper plants collapsed overnight, looking much like the tomato problem above and I was about to pull the plant up the next day to have it totally disappear from the garden. Please note the spot where it used to grow and the fortifications with the chickenwire. Where did the plant go? No nibbled pieces or other evidence. One of the June garden mysteries.

I am hoping for rain soon, and for new vegetation in the desert, so the garden will be for just humans, please.

Costa Rica

We have been on vacation. Last fall Dan's niece asked whether we would like to participate in celebrating her mother's birthday by joining her for a week or so in Costa Rica. I thought this a grand idea and rented a house outside of the small town of Atenas. This being our first time in Costa Rica and with various parties arriving at different times I did not see much value in spending a lot of time driving to and from the airport and staying in the more popular, but further afield, tourist locations.

The added benefit was that people in and around Atenas grow a lot of vegetables, fruit and coffee, which appealed to me. There is a weekly Farmer's Market which I really enjoyed visiting.

May marks the beginning of the rainy season, but living in the desert this was a welcome diversion for us. The mornings were generally dry and sunny, as the day progressed clouds would roll in and it would rain.

We made a number of interesting outings, saw beautiful country, drank outstanding coffee and ate delicious food. The fruit was amazing: huge mangos, pineapples twice the size of the ones we see here in the store, beautiful papayas. Dan even got used to driving the Costa Rica roads with the essential GPS. I would love to visit again, especially if I gain some proficiency in speaking Spanish. Working on that one.

Apache plume

Its botanical name is Fallugia paradoxa. This is a native southwest shrub and I planted it in a couple of places in the yard, mostly because it is one of the few shrubs that is available at Tucson plant nurseries. By the way, the popular name refers to the seed head which resembles an Indian headdress.

I wonder what the "paradoxa" refers to? Pro: it is an easily grown plant that looks good in the landscape, has flowers and an interesting seedhead? Con: it produces an incredible amount of seeds that take hold close by and the seedlings are difficult to get rid of? Don't get me wrong, I like Apache plume, but the carpet of seeds below it right now is a bit daunting. Mom is so very generous!

Here is the plant in our driveway circle, its bloom and seed head, and all those seeds just waiting to be carried on our Spring winds and sprout somewhere else.

A little bonus: a blooming Santa Rita cactus right next to it, also in the driveway circle.