the garden

I have not planted a garden for 7 long years. I did not have room. But this year, along with a husband, a house, a new cat and a red haired grandson I got room to plant a garden! I was ecstatic and relentless. I made wonderful loamy compost. I bought dirt (yes, in the desert we buy dirt) plants and seeds and went to work.

I planted squash and watermelon seeds and beautiful tomato plants, both determinate and indeterminate, with tiny marble sized tomatoes trembling on the stems. I planted flower seeds galore and already established succulents; baby sun rose and moss rose with tiny blooms. I moved Rudy’s little cactus into the garden where it could keep company with other growing things. I tended the seedlings and plants with great care. I mulched them deep and low (thank you Arlo) and watered them twice a day. All was well in my garden. Life was sweet.

Rudy and I noticed two Common Sagebrush Lizards living behind a young Mediterranean Palm at the edge of the garden. We named them Lizzie and Leo Lizard Lips. In short order Leo and Lizzie presented us with several tiny hatchlings about ¼ inch long. The little ones skittered across the deck and up the block wall when we walked outside. Their parents were much braver and stood watching us as they did “push ups” to make themselves appear ferocious.


The squash put forth huge yellow blossoms that bloomed in the morning and withered by afternoon. But we had no pollinators. For a week or so every sunrise found me padding about, bleary eyed, paint brush in hand, transferring pollen from male to female blossoms. The tiny yellow blossoms on the tomato plants wilted and died. I harvested eight tomatoes; those that were on the one plant when I bought it. The watermelon vines grew silvery green and sprawled their way past succulents and useless squash and tomato plants. They bloomed and the blooms died.

We watched as two soft, gray mourning doves billed and cooed on the garden wall and since they were nesting, I bought seed for them. They pecked gently among the seed and soon about a million pigeons joined them, jostling and pushing them aside. I provided them all with water. It’s hot in the desert. I bought a hummingbird feeder hoping to bring pollinators to the garden. The hummers loved the nectar but couldn’t be bothered with yellow flowers, thank you very much. Tiny finches found the hummingbird feeder so I bought a tube feeder and Rudy and I watched the hummers and finches eat while we had breakfast and dinner. They chirped loudly, jockeyed for position, fought and fluttered. One of the little finches learned to cling to the window screen and peer in at us. One early morning a hummingbird hovered not five inches from my nose. We were eye to beak and I was so enchanted I think my heart stopped beating.

My veggies bore no fruit, my flower seeds did poorly, though I did have a nice showing of California poppies, and while my morning glories climbed the wall in true morning glory fashion they did not flower.

Then one morning the unthinkable happened. I looked out the window at my poor struggling garden and the pigeons were industriously eating away at the succulents and even the few petunias that were left! I did nto know pigeons ate plants! I stopped feeding the pigeons; the mourning doves had already left for where I don’t know; probably a nearby garden without pigeons. I still feed the finches and the hummers but the garden is just about finished. There is one bedraggled, yellow cempasuchi marigold, the yellow marigold associated with the Day of the Dead ceremony. How fitting. I wonder who pollinated it. I hand pollinated two watermelon blooms last week and now there are two tiny pea-sized watermelons. I am protecting them from the pigeons with mesh. I wonder what will become of them. And though I no longer feed them, the pigeons stay on, feeding on seeds and suet the finches drop. I have tried chasing them away but they're not afraid of me. The succulents have all been moved to the front porch where they have not been found by the pigeons and are beginning to bloom again.

All is not lost in my garden. There were lessons to be learned. I have learned that in spite of it all I still love to garden. I have learned the difference in male and female squash and watermelon blossoms, and that you don’t always get what you expect. I have learned to care for hummingbirds and finches and that pigeons will eat anything %*@#!

I am already planning next year's garden. I'm going to have carrots, turnips, potatoes; anything that grows underground.