Drought and Water Wells

 

Weather: Snowflakes that fell early Wednesday morning were thick enough that they accumulated along tree branches.  When the sun came out around 10:26 (summer time), it began to fall off the trees.  I wondered if, as the air temperatures warmed, the metabolism in the crab apple and cherry quickened so internal heat melted the snow.  It was only later that the snow disappeared from the ground.

Last snow: 3/23.  Week’s low: 20 degrees F.  Week’s high: 72 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 36 mph in Santa Fé on Wednesday.

What’s blooming in my yard: Apricots responded to warm afternoons, oblivious to the cold that is sure to come.  When I brushed against a male one-seeded juniper, I released a cloud of pollen.

What’s come up in my yard: Tulips, bearded iris, daylilies, black-eyed Susans, white yarrow, dandelions.  Some plants come up first in protected areas; this week the garlic chives, hollyhocks, golden spur columbine, sweet peas,  and tansy began sprouting in other areas; also there’s more green in the June and needle grasses.  Green appeared in leaf buds on the forsythia.

Animal sightings: When I was at the post office this week, a yellow pick-up truck parked next to me.  Black paw prints were painted in a line around the sides and back.  Usually when you see this design, it is associated with a coyote.  This man had pictures of squirrels sitting with nuts on his doors.  I haven’t quite figured out what message the pictures of a destructive pest was sending.  Sinclair Lewis didn’t set Main Street in Gopher Prairie because he loved the rodents.

First ant hill.  The rabbit broke off a stem on last year’s raspberries.

Tasks: Last Sunday was one of those rare days that was warm, cloudy, and windless.  I spent several hours outside the fence cleaning up broken bits of Russian thistles and pigweeds in the area where my neighbor had parked his truck this past winter.  The vehicle trapped them when the winds were high, and they got driven over.  While I was working I noticed some winterfat was sprouting.  I dug out some pigweed seedlings.

When I ordered some bare-root raspberries this year, I didn’t specify a ship date.  I had gotten tired of arguing with company offices about the problems that come when they ship thinking we’re in zone 6, when our winters still are closer to zone 4.  Sure enough, they arrived this week, the day before the snow.  I opened the carton to given them air and stuck them in what I hoped was an unheated closet.  My plan was to use them to replace ones that died over the winter.  It’s way to soon to know those locations.  I finally dug a small hole near a tree, separated the roots, them placed them all in the ground.  I had problems digging farther than about 6" deep.  That’s not deep enough for a permanent planting, but all I could do until the ground softens some more.

Weekly update: My neighbor’s well failed this week.  His repairman said it was because of silt in the pump.

I had problems with fine sand in my well from the time it was drilled, and had some filters installed in the pump house.  Last year, when a man was out replacing them for me, he told me many people in the Española area were having problems that they hadn’t had before.  Some were even in town.

Hearsay is just that, but it is impossible to get any verification.  The last article posted online by the Española newspaper about the local water table was more than two-years old.  The website of the State Engineer is always bland: it said “a well is said to have gone dry when water levels drop below a pump intake.”  The reason it is non-committal is the “water level in the aquifer that supplies a well does not always remain the same.” [1]

I found a just-released report from the National Drought Mitigation Center that indicated this part of Rio Arriba County is in an Extreme Drought (the red on the map above).  The county is the one on the left on the southern border of Colorado.  Española is on the southern border at the blue river to the left, the Río Grande.  The gold area in the northern part of the county, which is more mountainous, is in a Severe Drought.  The darkest red is worse, an Exceptional Drought. [2]

The authors said that, based on past experience, native trees die in Extreme Drought.  As I have been noting for some time, the taller evergreens have been suffering for several years.

One characteristic of the lesser Severe Drought is well water decreases.  Which brings me to my neighbor.  He said his well was 125' and asked about mine.  It is also 125', but that number is deceptive.  I think the number is taken from the number of sections of pipe the driller uses to lower the pump, which is supposed to be at the bottom of the water area so it is not affected by fluctuations in the table.  While the pump is supposed to be near the base, I suspect it actually is at the end of the last pipe needed to reach water.

That brings me to basic arithmetic.  What I call the well, as distinct from what a driller may call a well, is composed of two parts.  A corrugated culvert about 3' in diameter goes down about 8'.  That measurement comes from the size of the ladder I bought to access the filters.  The well pipes begin at the base of the pump house.  So a 125' deep well is at least 133' below the surface of the ground.  The actual water level depends on how much extra work the driller took.

The pump house is so deep so the top of the pressure tank is below the freeze level.  I never measured mine, but most are about 5' high.

The terrane in this area is not level.  I don’t know how much higher my neighbor is, but I think at least 2'.  So comparatively, his pump is no more than 123' down.  I have no idea the depth of his pump house, but suspect the 8' is standardized by the mass produced parts used by drillers.

Drought is hard to detect, unless the local forests are closed or the local fishing lake has low levels.  After all, we had snow this winter, and snow three times this month.  That replenishes the surface, while snow melt in the mountains sinks into the aquifer.  The effects of lower levels are not obvious until the trees start dying, and then it’s too late to save them.

Notes on photographs:
1.  Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), 26 March 2022.

2.  Golden spur columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha) leaves open in green clusters, then turn purple; 26 March 2022.

3.  Map is an extract from Hartman.

4.  Sand from the well saved in a small bottle; photographed through the glass.

End notes:
1.  “Drought and Your Water Well.”  Santa Fé, New Mexico: Office of the State Engineer website.

2.  Adam Hartman.  “U. S. Drought Monitor: New Mexico.”  Lincoln, Nebraska: National Drought Mitigation Center, 24 March 2022. 

Poker Pests

 

Weather: Some years we are lucky to get anything more that fleeting snow or rains that do no more than wet the surface.  This winter we’ve had two of the kind that help replenish the soil at the base of roots.  On January 25, we had snow that lasted on the ground until mid-February.  Each day, some melted at the surface while the pile on top protected it by reflecting heat from the sun.

Then, this week, we had one of those rains that lasts for hours without wind.  At no time was the downpour so strong that it would cause erosion.  The gentle rain, followed by mist, had time to sink into the soil that had been robbed of the snow melt by high winds.

Afternoon temperatures have been warm enough to make those who like early Daylight Savings Time happy.  Unfortunately, by the time the air is warm enough to venture out, the winds have begun.  Meantime, morning temperatures are those of late winter, ranging from 14F to 39F on the day rain clouds were settling in.

Last rain: 3/17.  Week’s low: 14 degrees F.  Week’s high: 75 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 32 mph in Los Alamos on Wednesday.

What’s green in the area: One-seeded junipers, and most cultivated evergreens; Japanese honeysuckle and all the cultivated yuccas.

What’s green beyond the walls and fences: Horseweed, goat’s beard; June, needle, and smooth brome grasses.

When I made my weekly trip into town on Tuesday, I noticed areas of green along the road shoulder.  I suspect cheat grass is coming up in the village, although it hasn’t sprouted here.  When I passed one of the arroyos, I saw the salt bushes were light green.  In my yard, some are leafing, and some are not.

What’s green in my yard: Leaves on Apache plume, cliff rose, fern bush, bearded iris, grape hyacinths, garlic chives, vinca, large-leaved soapwort, wintered-over snapdragons, hollyhocks, sweet peas, Queen Anne’s lace, black-eyed Susan, chocolate flower, chrysanthemums.

Many of the plants that are emerging are near the gravel drive or between cracks in block walks.  The stone both traps water and seems to retain heat.  This week I noticed daylilies, tansy, Dutch clover, and alfalfa coming up in those areas.

What’s turned red in the area: New growth on trees in the rose family, especially apricots.

What’s turned red/purple in my yard: Leaves on some alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues, Bath pinks, golden spur columbine, pink evening primroses, blue flax; some stems on roses are pale green and some are maroon.

What’s turned yellow in the area: Branches on a big weeping willow.

What’s gray in my yard: Snow-in-summer.

Animal sightings: Shadows of ravens overhead.

I saw two stars of Bethlehem breaking ground on Wednesday.  I put a piece of wire-mesh screen over the area to keep the rabbit from eating them.

Tasks: Tuesday I saw that several people near the village had burned straw along their fences.

One of the ditch meetings is scheduled for next Saturday; another was held a couple weeks ago.

Weekly update: Red hot pokers went from something desirable to a nuisance this past summer.  I first planted them in 1998 because they grew in the area.  The ones I got were a disappointment.  Instead of the bright orange and yellow flowers on tall stems, mine were tamed for suburban taste: the dull brick color and small plants seen in the above photograph.

They grew along a slope leading down from the driveway until 2013, when they didn’t come back.  The winter had not been particularly severe.  It got down to 15 degrees F a couple times in November and 6 on December 11.  Authors of garden manuals would not have been surprised.  As late as 1973, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum was saying “although new cultivars are, in general, hardier than older one, Torch-Lilies do not survive some Boston winters and cannot be recommended.” [1]  Kniphofia uvaria, after all, is native to South Africa.

I finally decided the problem was water.  The fall had been dry, but we got snow in December that lingered.  However, I had had the driveway rebuilt in 2012, and had asked the contractor to change the grading so less water washed down the slope.  That summer I also laid a course of pavers along the top of the bank to stop erosion.  The pokers must have living on the runoff.

They were unmourned.  I replaced them with yellow potentillas (Potentilla fruticosa).

Then, a year later, in 2014, I spotted what looked like poker leaves in the main bed south of the slope.  I saw two more the next year.  While they reproduce by seed, they had never bothered before.  I had seen hummingbirds in them the last summer they grew, but that doesn’t mean they were the liaison.  I rarely see the small insects that crawl deep into flowers.

Whatever their source, these pokers were local variants.  The flowers, shown in the top photograph, where more like the bright red and yellow of the species.  In 2016, one had planted itself in front of a miniature rose and was crowding it.  In 2017, five plants appeared; the new ones came up next to daylilies.  The number increased to ten in 2019, and the next summer their leaves were spreading over hoses so other plants didn’t get water.

That was their death knell.  Last summer I spent an hour and a half in April cutting back leaves that were invading the rose, and laying over the terracing bricks I used as a path.  I was cutting leaves again in May.  This time, as soon, as the flowering stopped, I cut off the tops.  Then in September, I spent more time cutting leaves.

That was when I decided it was time to dig out the most invasive.  I used a shovel to remove the top parts of plants that consisted of leaves, a taproot like a golden-spur columbine, and lots of scions on top.  Then I began slicing the rhizomes under the taproot.  When I got down 4", I encountered long roots attached to the tubers that were attached to the rhizomes.  These roots were fleshy and about 1/8" thick.  They extended out in all directions, including under the bricks.

I spent most of October on the plant in the top photograph, that was smothering a potentilla, and the two that were growing next to the rose.  By early November I was down 6" and still finding roots when it got too cold to work.  I refilled dirt so the potentilla and rose would be protected in the winter, and will begin again as soon as the soil warms.

I can tell that, instead of cutting back leaves all summer, I’ll be spending this summer digging out sprouts that have risen from broken pieces of the roots.

Notes on photographs:
1.  Red hot poker, 8 June 2020, four years after it sprouted.  It resettled where the ones had grown in the bottom picture.  There’s a yellow potentilla buried under its leaves.  It’s one of the ones I’ve been digging out.

2.  Four-wing saltbush (Atriplex canescens) in my yard, 16 March 2022.

3.  Two of the original red hot pokers at left, 28 May 2000, two years after they were planted.

End notes:
1.  “Low Maintenance Perennials.” 153–384 in Arnold Arboretum, 1974.  389.

Luxury Iris

Weather: The sensor for my digital thermometer is hanging on a newel post about a foot from the door.  I noticed that the base records often would show a current temperature that was up a few degrees from the low.  For a long time, I attributed it to natural fluctuations in the air temperature.

I have just begun to realize that it rises when the space heater is running on my inside porch.  The porch is not insulated and the crank-out windows are leaky, as is the space under the door.  The heater is set to keep maintain a minimum temperature.

What I did not realize is that, if cold air is coming in, then warm air may be escaping.  I noticed the snow always melted first in the area near the windows, but again thought it was related to the fact that was on the east side of the house where the sun strikes first.  I now am realizing heat from the house may also be warming the area.  The garlic chives are only breaking ground in that area  Elsewhere they are still dormant.

Moisture and cold air still are moving in the upper atmosphere, causing high winds most afternoons.  Small amounts of snow fell Sunday morning, Monday evening, and Thursday night into Friday morning.  It usually is gone by afternoon.  It may not be much, but probably it is enough to replenish what the previous week’s winds have stolen.

The winds also remove a bit of the topsoil.  Yesterday morning, I found an exposed label for a rose bush that must have been buried since it was planted in 2004.  It did not survive the winter, and I did not replant roses in that area.

The last remains of January’s snow disappeared this week from the west sides of the house and garage.

The sun’s angles continue to change.  I have not noticed the difference in altitude, though I know it is there.  Earlier it came in around 7:30 am through a window facing north.  Now, it comes in through the door, which is farther east, and strikes a mirror.  From there the rays reflect into my eyes.

Last snow: 3/11.  Week’s low: 12 degrees F.  Week’s high: 59 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 38 mph in Santa Fé on Thursday.

What’s green in the area: One-seeded junipers, and most cultivated evergreens; Japanese honeysuckle and all the cultivated yuccas.

What’s green beyond the walls and fences: Horseweed; June, needle, smooth brome grasses.

What’s green in my yard: Leaves on Apache plume, cliff rose, fern bush, bearded iris, grape hyacinths, garlic chives, vinca, large-leaved soapwort, wintered-over snapdragons, hollyhocks, sweet peas, Queen Anne’s lace, black-eyed Susan, chocolate flower, chrysanthemums.

What’s turned red in the area: New growth on trees in the rose family, especially apricots.

What’s turned red/purple in my yard: Leaves on some alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues, Bath pinks, golden spur columbine, pink evening primroses, blue flax; some stems on roses are pale green and some are maroon.

What’s turned yellow in the area: Branches on a big weeping willow.

What’s gray in my yard: Snow-in-summer.

Animal sightings: If they are about, they are leaving no trace.

Tasks: Too cold and too windy to venture outside.

Weekly update: The local hardware store had its supply of seeds in stock when I stopped by a week ago Monday.  They were not yet picked over, so I am now supplied for the season.

The cycle of plant catalogs has changed since conglomerates absorbed many companies.  They used to arrive between Thanksgiving and New Year’s for serious gardeners.  Now they come later for people who do not order until they see signs of spring.  As the companies have offered fewer and fewer varieties, I have ordered less.  That has led to fewer catalogs being mailed, fueling a downward cycle.  I did not get many this year.

I did get one luxury catalog that offered bearded iris roots for $65.00.  I looked at the price and the flowers, and wondered who exactly wanted them.  The colors and color combinations were not unusual; the petals were not as frilled as were some cheaper ones; they were not fragrant and did not rebloom.

I was not repelled like those who think any indulgence is a sin.  They are the ones who run advertisements telling you that the money you spend on coffee in one day could feed/ vaccinate/ educate X number of children in Africa/ India.  People who make contributions to charities do not measure them in coffee spoons.  Bill Gates can afford both.

But, I did wonder who wants prize iris.  Yes, there is an American Iris Society that awards medals at its annual convention.  The meeting and exhibition this year is being held in Las Cruces in April.

However, I have never seen that translate into sales.  The catalog offers irises that won the Dykes Medal for $9 to $12.50.  You can get one of each for $44.

This is not like roses or potted perennials that cost more if they can claim an award.  The iris sold locally are generic from companies that specialize in inexpensive roots.  They are sold by color.  Unfortunately, they usually have germinated by the time I see them because store temperatures are warm.

One does not usually plant just one specimen of plants that take up no more than 60 square inches of space (6" x 10").  If one planted the three that catalogs recommend, one would spend $195.00 for one clump of special irises.

It has been a while since I priced trees locally, but I think that would buy at least two fully mature trees with large root balls.  A neighbor of mine bought two ashes like that a few years ago to replace some globe willows that died.  He had to find someone with a back hoe to dig the holes.

The reason I still get the catalog is I do order from them.  Their quality is much better than that offered locally, and it is nice to have some choice about color.  However, I shop the pages with prices between $12 and $15.

That is more than I would have paid years ago.  Then I objected to one nursery in Santa Fé selling potted irises for that kind of price.  I thought the pots and dirt probably cost more than the rhizomes.  They certainly did not claim to be award winning varieties.

Times change.  Conglomeration and the need for company executives to be paid more every year have brought higher prices.  Heavenly Blue morning glory seeds that cost $1.10 in 1989 were $1.39 in 2001 and $1.59 in 2013.  The price was up to $1.79 in 2020 and $1.99 this year.  That increase was determined before companies claimed they had to raise prices because labor and materials were dearer.  A .20 increase in two years versus the seven years between 2013 and 2020.

Bearded irises are worth more than most perennials.  If you can get them to survive the first year, they last for years even with drought and variable summer and winter temperatures.  However, one learns that the simple ones often are hardier than the more expensive ones.  The generic ones I planted in 2000 that cost $2.82 each are still alive.  Divide the price of a $12 iris by 20 years and the price is comparable.

Notes on photographs: all taken 12 March 2022.

1. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) that I bought in 2018 that went to seed in the area under the leaky porch windows and has wintered over; it originally was a yellow Rocket.

2.  Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) emerging in the area under the leaky door.

3.  Green bearded iris (Iris germanica) leaves; most leaves died but not all.

Dirty Lentils

Weather: Afternoons were warm most of the week.  I was able to work outside a couple days, but high winds kept me indoors Friday.  When I walked around the yard yesterday, I found carcasses of Russian thistles and pigweeds had blown over the fence.  Usually, they are around the north facing fence, but this time they also came in from the west and south.

While the weather bureau was forecasting a possibility of rain or snow on Friday, we just had clouds.  Earlier in the week the satellite showed moisture crossing over the area.  While it is nice to get precipitation, the high-level activity seems to prevent the air from sucking water from the ground.  Many areas still are wet if one looks beneath the dry surface.

Last snow: 2/24.  Week’s low: 9 degrees F.  Week’s high: 70 degrees F in the shade.  Winds were up to 48 mph in Santa Fé on Friday.

What’s green in the area: One-seeded junipers, and most cultivated evergreens; Japanese honeysuckle and all the cultivated yuccas.

What’s green in my yard: Leaves on Apache plume, cliff rose, bearded iris, grape hyacinths, vinca, large-leaved soapwort, hollyhocks, sweet peas, Queen Anne’s lace, and horseweed.

More plants are reviving since the snow from January finally melted.  The fern bush is leafing, and some of the grasses (June, needle, smooth brome) have some green blades.  I found new leaves at the bases of some wintered-over snap dragons, black-eyed Susans, chocolate flower, and chrysanthemums.  I also removed some horseweed seedlings.

What’s turned red in the area: New growth on trees in the rose family, especially apricots.

What’s turned red/purple in my yard: Leaves on some alfilerillo, coral bells, coral beard tongues, golden spur columbine; some stems on roses are pale green and some are maroon.

The bluish leaves on the Bath pinks are more obvious, and some pink evening primroses have sprouted.  The blue flaxes have new growth at their bases.

What’s turned yellow in the area: Branches on a big weeping willow.

What’s gray in my yard: Snow-in-summer.

Animal sightings: Other than a raven, I did not see any birds this past week.

Tasks: I continued cutting down Maximilian sunflower stems near a block walk.  I usually sit on the ground and use loppers to cut the thick stems.  Although they are tall, the Helianthus maximiliani are not woody.  If the stems are more than 1/8" thick, the center is pith.  When I try to break them to fit in the small trash bag, they shred or splinter.  White flakes break off and float to the ground.  On the other hand, the purple asters that sprouted in the area are woody.  Some of the thicker Symphyotrichum ascendens stems had a green band under the outer shell which, apparently, was transferring nutrients to and from the roots.

I divide my time outside into half-hour segments so I do not overuse my muscles.  After working on the Maxes, I spent another half hour cleaning needle grass near the Garage.  I found piles of stones from the driveway around the roots of each clump.  I was reminded again that many of the plants that dominate the prairie actually require glacial conditions.  We did not get the ice then, but stones sank when the area was flooded by blockages of the narrow passage of the Río Grande beneath White Rocks.  When I found one-seeded junipers on the prairie, they usually were associated with buried rocks.

I pulled the stones back in the driveway.  It may kill the grasses, but they are a nuisance in this location.  When they get tall, I have to weed eat them to keep the blades from scraping the bottom on the car.  That leads to tiny pieces getting imbedded under the gravel that capture moisture and encourage more tall plants to colonize the crown.

I realize that if the grass does die, the area will not be barren.  Nature will fill it with horseweed (Conyza candensis) and wild lettuce (Lactuca serriola).  People, who look on the grasslands as native, consider them alien weeds.  They are what can survive in the climate we now have.

I finished updating the plant records for 2021, but have not started updating the location records.

Weekly update: The rice mystery has taken a new twist.  I found an unhusked rice or wheat kernel in my lentils.  I already knew this particular bag contained more skins than most.  It reminded me of 2016 when lentils disappeared completely from the shelves.  Then, when they reappeared, the packages were filled with debris from the bottoms of storage silos. [1]

A couple months ago it seemed history was repeating itself.  When I went to the grocery, there were no house-brand lentils.  Some from a company with a Spanish name were in their place.  In the previous shortage, the local grocer had found ways to get produce from México.  Goya claims the lentils are grown in this country.

Back then I could not find an explanation for the shortage.  This time I was luckier.  Montana produces 72% of the lentils grown in this country, and North Dakota 15%.  In 2021, the USDA reported “more than 70 percent of the crop was rated poor or very poor and less than half the crop was harvested in early August” of 2021.  The cause was drought mentioned in the post for 20 February 2022. [2]

Canada produces more lentils than this country, with most grown in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.  The USDA expected production to drop there too because of “unfavorably dry weather.” [3]

As for rice, I am not a complete, passive fool.  I bought a different brand when I was in the store this week.  It was another with a Spanish name, but grown in this country.  The most obvious difference was there no broken pieces or dust in the new bag.  The bits are not harmful, just a sign of poor quality-control in the processing of the house brand.

Lentils and rice are not part of the diets of most Americans.  Major food processors do not bother with them.  I have even been in big stores that do not carry them.  Very often, only house brands are available, or, if a store has a specialized clientele, imports from other countries.  Things are no better in Santa Fé with its New Age population.  It is ironic that brands who cater to supposedly poor Hispanics take more care than those distributed by middle-class, independent grocers.

Notes on photographs:
1.  Fern bush (Chamaebatiaria millefolium), 5 March 2022.

2.  Stones at the bases of needle grasses (Stipa comata), 4 March 2022.

3.  One seeded juniper (Juniperus monosperma) growing on a hillside to the northeast of my house, 10 November 2011.

End notes:
1.  The previous post on lentils appeared on the older blog, NatureAbhorsAGarden, on 18 December 2018.

2.  Reed Blauer.  “Lentil Export Opportunities on the Rebound.”  United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, International Agricultural Trade report for September 2021.

3.  Blauer.