A Summer Trim
I know what you’re thinking….you think I’m going to talk about losing two pounds and bragging about taking a few bags off the Queen Mary, as they say. Nope. OK, so now you’re thinking that I plan to boast again about cutting my own hair and how easy and economical that is the post-COVID world, even though my one trip to a barber had him telling me that you can REALLY tell that I cut my own hair. Nope again. This is about the peace and tranquility of a Saturday morning here on the hilltop. It’s 67 degrees and still, but it will warm gradually to 85 this afternoon. The humidity is low and the sky is crystal clear. June Gloom is nowhere in sight. As I sit here on my patio with the sun crawling slowly up over my back and now blocked by my wonderful palapa (designed and built to perfection by Jeff Grogg), I’m pleased to report that I have finally gotten the spa sorted out. That spa was built a dozen years ago to high commercial standards and never has stopped working or started leaking, but its complex system has been misunderstood by the turnover of maintenance persons attending to it. I finally got a guy from Valley Center (the hard-working ranch community to the East) to come over and figure it all out. He and I spent an hour discussing and diagramming the system with its multiple pumps, automated chlorinators, diatomaceous earth filter and all sorts of manual and automated valves that connect to an electronic control system that allows me to manage the whole thing from an app. This thing is right up with launching an Atlas rocket when it comes to following the complexities of design and function. But now I think we’ve got it. We filled it and its surrounding trough yesterday and today both the spa and trough are exactly as full as they were when he left. That means, by George, we’ve got it. That’s a great feeling when something has been plaguing you and you keep getting water leakage reports from the Municipal Water authority…not to mention a $400 water bill, which I just paid for water from the spa just spilling out and weakening my succulents downhill from it.
We have a neighborhood party here a week from today with 70+ people planning to attend. The patio will be food station central with grilling of Costco Italian sausages and marinated chicken and all the side dishes that the pot-luck invitation elicits. We will have a beverage and desserts station under the shade sail on the upper parking area in front of the garage, and we will have miscellaneous tables and chairs all across the upper driveway parking area. The hired ice cream scoopers will set up under the shade sail and I expect that will be a particular popular spot on a warm Saturday afternoon. Luckily, Joventino is heading off to Mexico for a few weeks and he asked to shift his day this month to this coming Monday, so he will focus his time on getting the garden trim to as tight a place as he can, and I will do the rest between now and Monday since my eye around such things is simply more exacting than his. He has the stronger back, by far, but I think I know details much better and will get things to a precision of ship shape that I like, especially for guests.
I don’t kid myself that we will be able to contain this neighborhood crowd to the driveway and patio. There will be some grandchildren in evidence, so the games area has to be tidied up. That will have to be checked at the last minute since the neighbors little girl goes there to play every day and it seems that Nepalese are not so big on putting toys back into their toy box, so I will correct for that. I should also expect that the Curious George’s of the neighborhood crowd that are not already Garden Club members may be intrigued by the trails and sculptures of the back hillside. That area is naturally a bit more untamed and requires less detailed trimming, but it will still require some maintenance. The house itself will not be party central, but people will undoubtedly be going in and out enough that we will have to Buddy-proof the place since it regularly now looks like a toddlers playroom strewn with Buddy chew toys. Let’s face it, everyone is nosy and wants to see how the others in the neighborhood live. I can probably keep them out of the bedroom and office/gym (notice how I added gym there…since I have outfitted it now with a rowing machine, step platform, weight bench, dumbbells and medicine ball), but everything else will likely be fair game.
It is feeling like mid-summer around here. The Springtime weed growth has abated in the open spaces around the boulders and only the most obstinate and rugged of weeds continue to sprout here and there at inconvenient spots. Nothing that some 30% vinegar can’t kill off with my handy sprayer. My biggest challenge is to force myself to cut back and thin out various succulents that just keep growing and growing. I like a natural looking garden with one variety blending into another rather than strict and separated plants that look staged, but succulents can get out of hand if you don’t purposefully keep them pruned. Pruning also keeps them fuller and more robust looking if done properly. Otherwise they can get leggy and looking a bit like they, not you, are in control. Its a fine balance and its at this time of year that you need to think to do it because the rituals of spring and fall are pretty well prescribed. Its the summer trim that is least obvious but perhaps most needed, especially when guests are coming to admire your gardens.
The good news is that everything is in flower with the exception for the big array of ice plants across the road. I can tell from the other neighborhood ice plants that this is not unique to my property, but is simply seasonality. They are vibrant in the spring and late fall/winter, but not so much in the summer. Nonetheless, they are looking pretty haggard and thirsty across the road, so I will probably water them today for good measure and to keep them in good form for the fall. The trees I planted last fall have all weathered the winter in fine shape and have all gotten their leaves ina timely manner. But so far, the Coral Tree, Jacoranda, Silk Tree and Crepe Myrtle’s are not blooming. I suspect that they need a year to resynchronize themselves with their flowering cycle. Who wants to bring kids up in an uncertain world, right? I may be attributing too much of my thinking onto trees, who may communicate through their roots and through fungi, but may not yet be so cognitive as to think about the future in the context of their surroundings. But who knows, trees can surprise you. I know my Tulip tree behind the garage is always a seasonal head-scratcher for me. Why would it flower in Q4? But it does. As for the seven Palo Verdes on my property, all placed strategically around the place, they are all doing great with lots of new growth and yet only the subtlest of yellow flowers. I like Palo Verdes because they are a desert tree and they do fine with whatever they are given. Nothing fancy or splashy, but just solid fresh green growth all the time in their lacy branches.
I’ve spent so much time talking about what I’m going to do to give my place a summer trim, I think I had better get to it now.