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| Dry Dry Dry |
Our pecan orchard has had a hard life. Originally planted as a project for a youth farming group by the previous owner when she was very young, I'm told that there was some sixty trees at one time.
Sadly, the project ended and over the years the trees were neglected and about 30 have been removed. The family did not care about the pecans that were produced and allowed the neighbors to come in and pick their fill.
I talked with the former renter and he did not irrigate the trees at all during the driest year on record last year.
As I said about 30 trees still remain. With a lot of work, my son and I have repairs the old PVC pipe buries about 24 inches under the dry desert soil and most of the trees leafed up to show that they were still alive. Even the grass was very sparse.
But no amount of irrigation was going to bring them all back. Welcome June and July. By my measurement (using a Walmart rain gauge) we received about 5 1/4 inches of rain. Nearly 2 inches of that was during a single storm.
As the photo below illustrates, the trees and the grass are now thriving. I'm planning to discourage any fruit (nuts) this season and perhaps the next. The trees need to get hearty before we can expect a harvest. Even a small one.
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| Orchard in the rain |
But everything is growing. So much so we had no choice but to go out and buy a riding lawn mower. Trimming weeds and grass which had previously taken me just an hour or two with a weed wacker before, now takes 2-3 hours with a 46 inch riding mower. But now we are cutting about 4 acres in the orchard and around the house keeping the desert at bay. A full 50 feet away from any structures.
We know that this rain will eventually come to an end, and all that green will turn brown. We are in the desert after all, and in the late summer and fall deserts tend to dry and burn. Keeping all that green in check will keep the house, workshops, and orchard safe.
As for the rest of the 22 acres, that is a different story.
Be Well.
