You
have just purchased your own personal acre of prime Nevada
sand
...
Ahem... I mean real estate.
Why there is no problem growing anything here at all!
Just look at all that sagebrush, Mormon Tea, Desert Peach, Cacti and
Rabbit Brush.
Somewhere around February or March you start to notice home
improvement stores setting out all kinds
of flora - flowers, roses and bedding plants at great bargain
prices!
Wonderful! This is just like California!
Why, all the tales you were told about the climate in Nevada
must
have been concocted to discourage Californians
from moving
there in the first place.
You do notice however, there are a few items like hydrangea, ice plants
and jade trees not on display and ask the
helpful attendant if he would not mind ordering them.
The attendant is most obliging and places your order - cash up front of
course.
You leave the store with a very nice assortment of plants, soil
amendments, fertilizers, go home and set to work.
It occurs to you after
planting that a watering system of some sort will have to be
installed.
Since you planted your purchases in several eye-pleasing groupings
throughout the back half acre, you are not
exactly sure what to do and there is so much space!
The helpful fellow back
at the home improvement store suggests running
a several hoses from a manifold out to the
various locations.
For only $30.00 a pop you can install a
battery operated timer at each location.
That is of course until you install a real watering system later on.
$120.00 later four stations are now installed. This is pretty neat and
simple. Beautiful days, a slight
afternoon breeze, mid 70's and a little cool at night. What
more could one ask for?
Two weeks later you wake up one morning and boy it looks bright
outside. The sun sure comes up early here!
You draw the curtains back to find at least four inches of snow
covering everything. Several hours later the snow
melts off and it is rather hard to distinguish your plants from
the compost surrounding them.
Must have been a freak snowstorm. These things do happen. Better get
back to the home improvement center to see if all
those plants are still on sale and wonder of wonders, they
are!
So, you load up again to spend the rest of the afternoon
replanting.
Something is wrong in the back yard. It looks like a major
flood. Closer examination reveals all the battery operated
timers are flowing at once.
None of them seem to
be working right so you shut off the main water supply and take one
of the timers back to the
store to see
what the problem is.
The knowledgable salesman says that because you left the
timers on over night, water in the timer froze and busted
the innards.
When the temperature warmed up ice
inside melted, water flowed and created the swamp that is now your back yard.
$120.00 later four new stations are installed. It takes the rest of the
day for the miniature lakes to recede before
spring planting can continue.
You decide in the interim to place the new plants on your west-facing
deck. It is a very pleasant view in the evenings with the
sun setting over the Sierras. You plan on enjoying it with
your tender young plants.
Around three or four in the afternoon you hear outside what sounds kind
of like a roar and it is steadily increasing in
volume.
Excellent! That must be the
firefighting planes practicing their landing and take-offs from the local
airport you heard
so much about.
Well, it wasn't aircraft. It was a 60 plus mile per hour wind storm
barreling down the Sierras and through the valley.
The new plant purchases, what is left of them,
are scattered on the deck, in the sand and the rest are headed for
parts unknown.
This
is getting a
little aggravating.
Back at the home improvement store, the folks there now know you on a
first name basis. It is really nice that there
are still some places where a friendly, communal atmosphere
thrives. You do wonder though if that wasa smirk on the
cashier's face as you were checking out or just an over
indulgent smile.
The following afternoon it is perfect for planting again and
you notice every time you start work the neighbors set out
their lawn chairs, pop a couple cold ones and watch.
You never did introduce yourself so you go over to the
fence and make their acquaintance.
You learn some interesting facts.
People here don't start planting until the snow is off Peavine Mountain
or the begninning of June, whichever comes
first. No
one does any planting prior to that.
Why then are plants sold as early as February?
Well, never hurts the economy to sell product two,
three or four
times (the really slow learners) to
new Nevada home
owners.
Hmmm, that is interesting. Would the neighbors happen to have
any other useful tips?
As a matter of fact they do.
1. Do not buy anything expensive. Odds are it will die. If
a plant makes it past three years it might live.
2. Fifty plus degree temperature swings in twenty four hours
tend to limit your choices.
Jade
Trees seem to be out.
3. Buy from nurseries selling stock grown locally.
California imports are too thin skinned for the climate. 4. Erect some
kind of wind
break. Those afternoon freight
trains
coming off the Sierras are the norm, not the
exception.
You can go the natural route and plant
Tamarisk
, which you
can dig out of
the desert free of charge.
They provide
excellent protection and look pretty nice as
well.
5. Have your soil tested so you know what kinds of soil
amendments to purchase.
Not what kinds of amendments
you may
need; soil amendments you will
need.
Oh, and get real familiar with the term
'coleche'.
6. The county will spray your yard at the beginning of the
growing season (June, not March) for a nominal fee.
Why
would you do that?
7. Install a real watering system and while you are at it,
look at weed barrier cloth. Not the cheap stuff, but the high
dollar double-matted material.
Start watering an area that has never
had regular
water and a bumper crop of weeds will fill your back yard.
You will also need to look at some gravel to put
on top of the weed mat or a wind storm or two later......
8.
Get real familiar with Diazinon, Seven and other
insecticides
used to kill Red
Ants.
Get real
familiar with Roundup too.
It is
getting rather tiring
hearing the term 'Real Familiar'
9. Oh and since you are from California, you will be pleased
to
know that northern Nevada is also the home
for California
Quail
They thrive here
and
just love to make a snack of your seedlings.
Get real familiar with bird barriers.
And in case you are a city boy and have
never seen quail, just think of gophers with wings.
You
rather sarcastically
thank your neighbor for that vaguely disturbing mental image.
The neighbor smiles, tips his
glass and suggests you get back to work. The sun is setting.
10. And last but not least, consider the services of a professional
landscaper. That's what the neighbors did.
Welcome
to northern Nevada!
Interested in an opinion on landscaping
with Big Trees? See Chapter
Two
or
