Observations of a Crazy Winter on our Rain Garden

As a "would-be citizen scientist", I guess it's time to share my observations about the impacts of our crazy weather on our front yard rain garden this winter. 

The leaves on the jujube trees have fallen, as expected this time of year. We have taken the advice of local rainwater harvesting guru Brad Lancaster and left them in the basin to nourish the soil and retain as much moisture as possible. 

The globe mallow (the green shrub above) seems confused by our crazy winter weather. Is it sticking around in response to the unseasonably warm weather? (Many days around 80 degrees.) We haven't had our usual winter rains, so there isn't enough moisture to allow it to grow flowers. 

But take a closer look... Tiny yellow wild flowers have come up in the mulch. I spotted some little butterflies and bees pollinating them. (There is actually a species of native bees that burrows down in the mulch.) 

Our poor moringa trees also seem confused by the variable weather. They haven't frozen yet, so that's good. We still hope to gather some leaves for tea. (We have already harvested them twice this year. But they usually grow back...) They have sprouted new leaves. But I have watched in anticipation for weeks, and the  leaves don't grow big enough to harvest. And a few leaves have turned yellow. 

The latest development is some buds sprouting, but even with some additional rainwater from our cistern, they are struggling to bloom. (Thank heavens for the one winter storm in November that filled our cisterns.)

Moringa story continued here: 

Wrapping up for the freeze

Despite being watered daily, our sunchokes never grew beyond a foot before they withered up and died. They grew 3 feet last year and had yellow flowers. Last December I harvested more of the yummy tubers than we could eat...

As passionate rainwater harvesters, we always look forward to the winter rains filling our basins and cisterns. So it is pretty discouraging to have such a dry winter. Believe me, this isn't normal. Check out the normal highs and lows and rainfall in December and January from the National Weather Service. 

Our mesquite trees are starting to turn yellow and lose their leaves (which is normal this time of year.) The leaves that are left after the leaf cutter ants get their share become a part of the mulch in our front yard basin.  

 I'm afraid we won't have the abundant wildflowers we had last year. But I still find joy in seeing a variety of birds digging around in the mulch for food. I recently caught this goldfinch (below) getting a drink in our bird bath. 

Every morning Dan and I watch from the dining room window as the birds land on our decorative saguaro rib and then dive down to get a drink or splash around in our bird bath. 

Some regular guests are the Gila woodpeckers (pictured below), mourning doves, curve-billed thrashers, mockingbirds, sparrows and finches. We even had a red tail hawk once. 

This particular day there were so many birds all around our rain garden. I shooed away a stray cat that was hiding under the hackberry ready to pounce. That's why we keep ours in doors. Here is Freddy watching safely from his perch in the house. 

So, what have I learned from my observations during this unusual winter? That it is important to leave the leaves in the basin. The pollinators and birds really appreciate it. Cold weather or hot, rain or no rain, I still love my basins!  #lovemyrainbasin

More information: 

Basin Observations from a Would-be Citizen Scientist

Basin Observations from a Would-be Citizen Scientist

The nurse tree mesquite provides shade and nitrogen for the baby saguaro and hackberry

It's been a while since I've blogged about my beloved front yard basin. But I figured this was a great time to celebrate our basin with a new sign! Thanks to Abril for making it! #lovemyrainbasin

During these trying times I have found solace in tending the new pollinators I planted, watering them daily with rainwater from our cistern. All the while I have been recording the progress with pictures. Scrolling through google photos over the past nine months, I felt like a citizen scientist observing how our unpredictable, fluctuating weather has affected the plants and soil in our basin. 

The first thing I noticed was that through the extreme heat and long periods without rain our native trees (mesquite, acacia, and hackberry) thrived - even as our prickly pear cactus shriveled and drooped.

Our jujube trees did incredibly well too with just the rainwater from the roof that sunk into their basin. Rainwater flowed off of one side of the roof into the gutters and downspout then into the long basin. The trees grew 3 feet and produced an abundance of fruit. The waxy leaves stayed green until recently. Now they are showing their fall colors - which is kinda nice. 

You might be wondering about the dead "weeds" in the basin. But the reason the jujubes did so well was that I kept the native plants and grasses in the basin long after they turned golden brown to retain the moisture longer and to provide nutrients to the soil.

The dry grass and globe mallow slow down the rainwater so it can sink in rather than leave the basin.

I planted a desert senna plant in the basin last January. It struggled in the freeze, but the mulch helped keep its roots warm. 

It came back in August along with horse purslane that acted as living mulch to nourish the soil.

Look at that senna now! It seems confused by the warm weather and recent rain. It is starting to bloom!

When we first put in our basin, we filled it with mesquite chip mulch. But as that has been breaking down into soil, we allowed the basin to be covered with a living horse purslane mulch. 

As the horse purslane died, I broke it down into straw-like mulch. Here I am showing some to my son's girlfriend. She looked a little concerned about the dry grasses, but I reassured her that native bunch grass was a part of a working basin.

We were delighted when Arizona poppies popped up in that same area in March. 

When those poppies died, I also broke their stems into a straw-like mulch. I even gathered some extra from a neighbor and spread them in the basin. I saved 6 buckets full from the landfill! 

Check out how the poppy stems floated when the basin filled with the June rain...

When the water sunk into the basin, the poppy stems settled back down and the doves enjoyed evaporative cooling!

All that mulch created richer soil...

So I could plant more pollinators in the basin... And the cycle goes on.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my rain basin? 

How about you? Share the love by posting pics of your basins on your social media pages with the hashtag: #lovemyrainbasin.  

Read more about the campaign here: 

Love my rain basin campaign

More stories about our front yard basin here: 

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

Create your own Sonoran Desert Food Forest

What to do with all those dried poppies

A few days ago I noticed a bunch of dried poppy plants in a neighbor's yard. We were already using our dried poppies for mulch since most of our woodchip and horse purslane mulch had broken down into soil or was taken away by some productive ants. We love to keep as much organic matter as we can in our basin. This time of year it helps to protect the soil from the harsh sun. And the birds and native bees appreciate it too. Also notice the dried native grasses that we keep for food for birds and bunnies. 

So the next day I ambled up to the front door and asked if I could grab their dead poppies to use for mulch in our basin. I had a nice chat with our new neighbor. I found out that she had been leaving them there for the birds, but thought that some other neighbors didn't appreciate it, so they were planning on doing some yard work on Saturday. She said I was welcome to take them before then. So I was out this morning at 7 a.m. (before it got crazy hot) gathering dried poppies. After the first load I put on my straw shade hat and got a drink of water. I was quiet as a mouse so I wouldn't disturb them. Well...until I sat down on a rock covered with ants! But I dusted the ants off and went back to work.  I gathered six plastic buckets full! And pulled some other weeds for them for good measure. I made sure not to include any foxtail seeds in my buckets. 

I broke the poppy stems into smaller pieces and spread them in our basin.

When I got back to my computer I noticed that there was a warning of strong wind today at 2! Doh! My timing! I didn't want them to fly away in the wind so I wet them down to make them heavier. (I figured it would be good for the soil underneath anyway.) 

I hope that will keep them from flying away in the wind. But if you see few straw-like stems in your yard, consider leaving them. It's good for the soil. Your plants will appreciate it.

While I was out there, I went ahead and put some more water out for the critters. It's hot out there! 

Helpful Hint: You can also put dried poppies in your compost pile or use them as mulch in your garden.

More information:

Our Yard the Bird Feeder

The life cycle of a Mexican poppy

UPDATE June 22, 2024: Poppies in flooded basin during first monsoon rain...

June 24, 2024: Doves cooling off in the poppy stem mulch a few days after the rain.

#lovemyrainbasin

Sharing my passion with the next generation

I always enjoy sharing my knowledge about sustainability with the next generation. So I was especially excited to give a tour of our rainwater basins to my son Jeremy's girlfriend Lillie, a civil engineering major with an emphasis on the environment. Can Jeremy pick 'em or what?!!! Jeremy tagged along to find out which plants to water when Dan and I go away on vacation. He took some photos while he was at it. Thanks, Jeremy! 

Our first stop was filling up my water bucket at the slimline tank. I explained how we get a lot of rainwater off of the roof (nearly 11,000 gallons a year.) Some of that water is directed from a gutter to a downspout and into our jujube basin. Gutters also direct water to the various cisterns around the house. 

I was delighted to share how the nearby jujube trees had grown three feet last year on just rainwater collected in the basin. And they were starting to bear the first fruit of the season. Even after this long dry spell! 

I had recently chopped and dropped some dried native plants (that some people might call "weeds") into the basin to create organic mulch. That observation inspired this story. Five years ago, Dan had removed a row of aging oleanders and dug a basin there for three baby jujube trees. The one planted farthest from where the oleanders were grew four times as fast as the two planted in the soil poisoned by the oleanders. But native grasses, organic matter (chopped weeds and fallen leaves) and rainwater mitigated the soil, so now the other two trees have caught up with the biggest tree!

The next stop was our shallow front yard basins. (See the pic at the top of the page.) The wood chip mulch has mostly broken down into soil. (We need another truck load.) So a bunch of poppies and native grasses grew there. When they died, I broke the stems of the poppies into hay-like mulch and left the dried grass (that had gone to seed) to feed the ants, birds and squirrels. 

Doves eating grass seeds in the shade of a desert acacia tree by the PLANTS FOR BIRDS sign.

Here I am pointing out the bird bath in the mesquite guild. (It is so important to provide daily water for the birds - especially in this heat!) The mesquite tree acts as a nurse plant providing shade and nitrogen for the nearby hackberry and a young saguaro. Notice that even during this dry spell, the native trees are green and thriving.

Next we visited the right of way basin where our moringa is coming back nicely after dying back in the hard freeze. Lillie gamely tasted the leaves of the nutritious "horseradish plant." 

Then I filled up my watering can and watered our flowering hibiscus plant that we recently planted in the greywater basin. There it benefits from greywater from our outdoor washing machine. The drought tolerant heritage pomegranate in the basin was also bearing fruit! It's always good to have that extra washing machine water for higher water-use plants like fruit trees.

I pointed out how the big slanted roof on the neighbors house had directed so much water into our yard that it had dissolved a wooden shed. Our kind neighbor gave Dan permission to install a gutter there to direct rainwater into a cistern to water our little garden. 

Jeremy followed me and Lillie into our fenced-in garden where he took this picture of his loved ones and learned that I use one watering can full of water on our little veggie garden. 

Lillie learned that the Palo Verde trees shade the garden from our hot summer sun and provide nitrogen to the soil. Bird netting cages keep the squirrels out of the chard (that grows year-round here.) And we use our dirty dishwater (with salt free soap) to moisten our compost pit. Every drop of water is precious in the desert.

It was so fun sharing my passion with Lillie and Jeremy. Can't wait to see what the next generation does... 

Continue our tour of my favorite places to bring visitors here:

https://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2024/05/my-favorite-places-in-tucson-to-bring.html

Share the love! Join our campaign and show your friends the joys of rainwater harvesting basins.

Just post a pic of your basin with the hashtag #lovemyrainbasin

https://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2023/04/love-my-rain-basin-campaign.html

#lovemyrainbasin

Catchment basins sink in winter rain

What a joy! There has been a nice steady rain all day long - the kind of flow that sinks so well into our catchment basins. If only our photos could capture that. Rainwater streams from the roof into gutters where the downspout directs it into the jujube basin (shown above.) The leaves and palm frond pieces create a layer of natural mulch that (along with some native grass) hold the water like a sponge to nourish the soil.

Again, this photo doesn't do the basin justice, but this is how the front yard basin looks after raining all day long. It has sunk in beautifully. 

The front yard basin continues to sink in and store water for our native plants and trees - long after our largest cistern fills up and overflows. 

In case you're wondering why the cistern overflows onto the patio (rather than to another basin which is the best practice), it is because the water from the patio flows into our Mexican Honeysuckle plants (shown in the background.)

We have been meaning to get a truck full of Tank's Green Stuff organic mulch to replace the mulch that is breaking down. Here you can see how we leave the leaves to build the soil.

Sure, our winter basin may not look as green as it did when the trees were full of leaves, but I still #lovemyrainbasin as it continues to feed the soil and give a habitat to native bees and other pollinators.

For move information on our basins, go to:

https://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2023/04/love-my-rain-basin-campaign.html

I would love to see your basins too. Please, post them on your social media page with the hashtag #lovemyrainbasin

Yep. I water my weeds

That's right. That's me watering my weeds... the edible purslane I planted in my yard, that is. 

I had this brilliant idea that I could spread the yummy common purslane throughout my rainwater harvesting basin in place of the less palatable horse purslane that had completely covered it last summer (see pic below). Don't get me wrong. I loved my living horse purslane mulch. Even wrote a blog about it. I hoped that it would help retain the microbes in the soil at least. 

I had taken great pains to pull the purslane out by the roots, plant it by a few Mexican sunflowers and protect it from critters with a plant cage. I always like to plant purslane where I am already watering something to save water. But if I'm honest, I was really using the sunflowers as an excuse to water the purslane during this record heat wave. OK, I was propagating the purslane. And if the non-soon wouldn't water it - I would - with rainwater from our cistern. 

Meanwhile, in the (fake) decorative river in my neighbor's yard volunteer purslane was flourishing.  I asked my neighbor not to spray Roundup on it so I could harvest it. Just in time too! He was just heading out there with the hula hoe to mow it down. Off I went to harvest some for breakfast. Yay! 

Yummy! 

So I got a little carried away...

Actually, in the produce bag was some overgrown purslane I gleaned by Udall Park that I planned to plant. Since there were little flowers on it, I figured it was close to going to seed and would spit out those seeds in the yard. 

After the purslane in the plant cage flowered, I removed the cage with the hope that the seeds would spread and be watered by the next rain (if there is one.) 

Click on the pic below to see the yellow flowers on the purslane ready to burst out seeds! 

I can only hope that it will do better than the horse purslane that is wilting in the scorching sun. 

The horse purslane that got more water from the downspout is looking more perky. It worked great to slow down and sink in the rushing water when we had that big storm. Now the plants are benefiting.

NOTE: These are only being watered by the rain. 

I don't know if we will ever get enough rain to spread the purslane through the basin, but the neighborhood bunny is sure enjoying the evaporative cooling from the water I put on the purslane.

#lovemyrainbasin

Here's a few purslane recipes:

http://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2016/07/still-crazy-about-purslane.html