We’re Renovating!
We finally have our website up, with much of the content loaded at www.xericenter.com. We still have work to do, but it’s rolling along, with the first phase complete by mid-year. We will also soon be renovating this blog site to handle the xericenter.com forum discussions and Q&A. The new site has the same resources as we have provided here, but also many new resources and capabilities. Last summer we filmed and produced video tours of four demonstration gardens: Chihuahuan Desert Garden at UTEP, El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, Water-wise Demonstration Garden in Rio Rancho NM, NMSU ASC Farmington Xeric Demonstration Garden. You can access them from our website or at www.youtube.com/xericenter. They will soon be available as podcasts at iTunes U (by the end of this week if all goes well) — see the xericenter.com site in a few days for the link. We are now working on the login side of our web site that is for our industry professionals. There we will provide tools for peer networking, knowledge-building, sharing, collaborating, and professional development. In the meantime, the content of this blog site is valid as ever, we just won’t be updating the posts until we get it reconfigured. Look for us soon on facebook too!
(reprinted from NMSU announcement)
New Mexico State University, through the Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station, publishes information on a variety of subjects every month. Extension specialists draw on their research to provide current and relevant advice on topics such as agronomy and horticulture, livestock and range, dairy, nutrition and health, family resources, wildlife, water and economics. Experiment station researchers report on the findings of studies relevant to agriculture and natural resources in New Mexico.
View or print our publications on the Web!
www.aces.nmsu.edu/pubs
Follow us on Twitter!
www.twitter.com/NMExtensionPubs
Become a fan on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/NMSUExtExpStnPubs
by Curtis Smith, PhD, NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Q. Our family recently moved to Alto, NM from Des Moines, Iowa. I would like to start a vegetable garden but do not know where to find resources, what plants will thrive or die here, etc. Could you direct me to the best info that will help me navigate through my 1st NM vegetable garden?
Kendra C.
A. Welcome to New Mexico. You are wise to look for resources because you will find gardening here very different from gardening in the Mid-west. Our soils are different, the water contains dissolved minerals that affect irrigation, and the climate is a distinct concern.
There are a number of resources to consider when looking for information. I prefer to recommend the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service as a first place to look for information. Assisting residents with questions such as yours is what we do. The local NMSU Extension Service agent is one of the most knowledgeable people in your county regarding soils, water, and climate. Nurseries in the area and local gardening clubs are also good sources of information. (Article continued at SW Yard and Garden Column)
by Curtis Smith, PhD, NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Q. I have been reading a lot about the benefits of fertigation for the home garden. I would like to be able to deliver liquid fertilizer (fish and seaweed based) to my vegetable garden in Albuquerque using my existing drip irrigation system. Please let me know your thoughts.
Michael D.
A. Fertigation, the application of fertilizer in the irrigation water is an efficient way of providing nutrients to plants. For plants to use the nutrients, they must be dissolved in water. Fertization provides nutrients already dissolved and ready for uptake by plant roots. Applying these nutrients through the drip irrigation system helps minimize water use, yet directs the nutrients to the location where roots will be most able to use the nutrients. (Article continued at
SW Yard and Garden Column)
By Curtiss Smith, PhD, NMSU Extention Horticulture Specialist
Q. In the spring of 2009 I purchased 12 Wonderful™ pomegranates. I moved them into 1-gallon containers. In July I put some of them into the ground, but some are still in pots. The ones in the ground did much better during the summer and held onto their leaves longer than the ones in the pots.
Do they need water in the winter? How soon in the spring or summer can I put the others in the ground?
Ben S.
Roswell
A. Plants do need water in the winter. At this time of the year they use less water than in the summer, but they still need water to maintain life. This is true for both evergreen plants and deciduous plants like the pomegranates. Plants in the ground should be irrigated once each month unless there has been adequate precipitation to moisten the soil to at least the same depth you irrigated during the growing season. (continued at SW Yard and Garden Column).
Featured Garden: NMSU Agricultural Science Center, Farmington NM
If you live nearby, are in the vicinity traveling through, or if you just make a day trip of it, stop in at the NMSU demonstration garden in Farmington. The garden is located 3 miles north of Navajo Hwy 3003 on Hwy4063, a 2.5 to 3 hour drive from Albuquerque.
According to garden director and irrigation specialist, Dan Smeal, the Farmington xeric plant research and demonstration garden is unique in that it is split into four differently-irrigated quadrants to demonstrate the growth and quality of the same plants (about 100 species) in each of the four quadrants. The plants featured in the Farmington garden are native or adapted to most regions of the Southwest US. To see photos, recommended watering schedules, and other information about each species, go to Plant List.
The garden, at its showiest in late-May and June, is currently located on less than an acre and slated for expansion this year. Both self-guided and pre-scheduled group guided tours are available during regular business hours, 8AM to 4PM M-F except holidays. For additional information or to schedule a tour, please call 505-327-7757 or -7758 or email to farmingt@nmsu.edu; visit at Farmington Science Center.
The drive to Farmington is scenic, from the sandstone and limestone cliffs north of San Ysidro to the peaks of the LaPlata and San Juan Mountains near Farmington. There are many attractions and activities in the area, including the Salman and Aztec Indian Ruins, some of the best trophy trout fishing in NM is found in the San Juan River, great hiking trails, and plenty of dining choices. You can check out activities and events at Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Now is a good time to prune deciduous trees and pruning sealer will not help and will not stop slime flux.
by Curtis Smith, PhD, NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Southwest Yard and Garden column
Q. When is the best time to remove cottonwood tree branches? Is there something to coat the “wound” to stop sap flow? Last spring I cut off a low hanging branch [3 inches in diameter] and it “bled” all summer killing the grass beneath. I have two more branches needing removal; is now a good time before the sap starts to flow? Any “dos” or “don’ts”? Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Paul D.
Albuquerque
A. The best time for major pruning of deciduous trees is now, the late dormant season. When necessary for safety or to remove dead branches, any time is the right time. However, when you are cutting large branches, do it during the dormant season. That time will end soon. (continued at SW Yard and Garden column February 20, 2010)
Snails can be a problem even with reduced irrigation
by Curtis Smith, PhD, NMSU Estension Horticulture Specialist
Q. Late last gardening season we suddenly had a lot of brown snails. We picked them off and “drowned” them and were careful to not put any garden waste in our compost pile.
I understand that over-watering might well be the cause. Recently you wrote an article about efficient watering and recommended drip irrigation rather than spray. We have had spray but could probably convert to drip fairly easily. Would this be a good move? I realize that we cannot overwater again, but would drip, plus mulch further encourage snails?
Mary P.
A. Snails can be a big problem once you have them. The problem increases when there is adequate water, but they can survive rather long periods without water. Minimized watering as appropriate for xeriscapes will help a little, but they will take advantage of every irrigation. You will just limit the habitat with adequate moisture when you use drip irrigation and irrigate infrequently. Yes, organic mulch will also be beneficial to the snails, but it will also be beneficial for the garden. (continued at SW Yard and Garden column February 6, 2010)
Those wood ashes from winter are not good for New Mexico gardens
by Curtis Smith, PhD, NMSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Q. We live in Northern New Mexico and heat our house with wood, everything from willows to cottonwood to juniper to pinon and scrap lumber. We end up with lots of ash that I have been taking to the dump. We are completely organic and make our own compost from vegetable scraps, grass clippings, manure and straw. Can we use the ash in any way in our gardens. We have flowers, vegetables and fruit trees.
Hamilton B.
Arroyo Seco, NM
A. I understand your desire to put the wood ashes to good use, but wood ashes are one thing that we must recommend that you do not put into your garden. Ashes are beneficial when applied to soils in regions with high precipitation because the minerals in the ashes replace those leached away by the rains. I checked with Dr. Robert Flynn, NMSU Extension Agronomist, who is familiar with soils in all parts of New Mexico. He agreed that you should not apply the ashes to the landscape or garden. Most New Mexico soils are calcareous (high in calcium and other minerals) as a result of our arid environment. The minerals have not leached away in rains like those in the soils in eastern parts of the U.S. and soils in other regions with much more precipitation than we experience. Adding ashes adds more mineral salts to a soil that already has too many mineral salts. This would create problems for most garden and landscape plants. (continued at SW Yard and Garden column January 30, 2010)
Xeriscape garden seeds
The following was sent in by Jackye Meinecke, owner of Enchanted Gardens, Las Cruces, NM. For those of you outside the Las Cruces area, the Botanical Interest Seed Company can also be found on the web.
Hello, Everyone,
With such dreary weather, I’m sure everyone is starting to have fantasies about spring. The Botanical Interest Seed company introduced a new line of seeds this year. They partnered with the Denver Botanical Garden to create a line of xeriscape seed choices. Some of them are even native to the Chihuahuan Desert.
The choices include: Agastache Hummingbird Mint, Nodding Onion, Scarlet Globemallow, Little Bluestem Grass, Artemesia Fringed Sage, Prairie Aster, Yellow Coneflower, Showy Fleabane, Gaura, Firecracker Penstemon, Cutleaf Coneflower, Salvia Prairie Blue, and Hoary Vervain (verbena).
This company already had some of our favorite natives in packets, including chocolate flower and mealycup sage.
Botanical Interests also packages a large packet of wildflower seeds that includes many of the best choices for our desert gardens.
Come in now, while the seed selection is high to fill your garden with low-water, native wildflowers.
Let’s enjoy this rain, since it means a wonderful show of poppies in a couple of months.
Jackye
Enchanted Gardens
270 Avenida de Mesilla
Las Cruces, NM 88005
575-524-1886
