I moved to the lower Rio Grande Valley just a year ago. I've been a gardener for most of my life but this is definitely a new experience for me. I've had summer gardens in the high desert of Nevada and fertile loam soils of Iowa and South Dakota. The RGV is a very different place to garden! If I hadn't joined the Cameron County Master Gardeners program, I would not have know that you just basically just keep your plants alive in the summer and prepare your beds for fall, winter and spring planting.
I moved into a house on a 60 by 130 foot lot that had been planted with a Bermuda grass lawn with a sprinkler system designed to water a lawn only with no thought of trees or garden areas. I knew from the start the I needed patience, knowledge and a plan.
The first thing I did was draw up a plot of the yard with the location of the sprinkler heads and what zones they were on. At first I tried to design my yard to fit the system but then I realized a sprinkler system should be designed to fit your yard. A good system should have sprinkler heads of the same type on the same line. Mine does not. I talked to the person who installed the system and he didn't have a diagram of what had been done or could he tell me how deep the lines were buried.
The first thing I did this spring was plot what areas of the yard had full sun. I realized this was a waste of time since with no trees it will be at least ten years before I have to worry about too much shade. Now I'm looking at where there is shade for part of the day as most plants that require full sun in other areas thrive on 6 hours of sun in this area.
I've included a picture of the corner of my back yard as this is the area where I plan to begin. As you can see by my drawing, this location has no sprinkler heads so will be doing hand watering until my sprinkler system can be adapted or I install a separate drip line. I plan to use mainly native plants in this area with an emphasis on attracting butterflies and hummingbirds.
I will be posting additional pictures and plans in the next few weeks.
1 comment:
You are so right that many full sun plants can grow in the Valley with just a few hours of sun! I've been gardening here for over 30 years and that little "lightbulb" only recently went off for me. Looking forward to seeing your progression.
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