Garden misting system in the desert

-
There are two watering systems here at The Tropical Paradise. One is a low-pressure "drip system" that waters through spray heads that are discreetly placed towards the back of the planting areas, and the other is a misting system, which you can see in operation in the photo. They are both ordinary, inexpensive, systems that I got at Home Depot.

If you have ever visited an outdoor patio at a restaurant in Phoenix, or Palm Springs, you have seen overhead misting systems. When they are working correctly (and not just dripping on you) they are wonderful as they actually reduce the ambient temperature. This is great for people and plants. And the plants especially appreciate the added humidity in the air.

But instead of overhead, my misting system line runs underground. I've never heard of anyone else doing this, so I can't recommend that you visit your local Home Depot and tell them that you want to install an underground misting system. Just tell them that you want a patio misting system, that's enough.

The line is really just barely below the surface. I use rocks to hold it down mostly. Instead of having the misting heads right on the fittings, I use copper risers that are about three inches tall. They start out shiny but dull down very quickly until they are all but invisible. I know, I've accidentally kicked a few! So I put protective rocks around them. They obviously have to be tall enough to not get buried, but you really don't want them to attract visual attention. And that's why I really, really, don't want anyone to walk up into the garden. You should never walk into someone's garden, by the way, nor should you walk across someone's dining room table.

The misting system is regulated by a simple battery-operated timer. I have it set now to come on for fifteen minutes every twelve hours.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to tell if your cycad (sago palm) is alive or dead

-
Image
Cycads are strange plants. They're beautiful, and look like small palm trees, or large ferns. They grow very slowly, and can be very expensive, even common ones like "sago palms". But sago palms, in spite of their common name, aren't palms at all. They belong to a group of plants called cycads. They are wonderfully weird, and grow in strange ways. And sometimes they lose all of their leaves. Of course, if it were a palm tree that lost all of its leaves, you would know that the plant was dead. But it's not true of cycads. So don't dig that cycad up and throw it away! Not yet. If you've recently transplanted a cycad, and the leaves have all faded away, hang on. Take a look at the top center of the plant, at what I call "the pucker". There you will see some stubby, soft fronds, no more than an half-inch or so. At least that's what you should see. That means that the plant is still alive, and has dropped its leaves to focus on building r...
Read more

Rooting sago palm pups for more plants

-
Image
Once a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) reaches a certain level of maturity, it starts to create pups. Like agaves, these are little plants that are exactly the same as the parent plant, only smaller. And yes, you can trim them off and grow them into new plants. This is how to do it. Cut them off from the parent plant with a sharp knife. If there are any roots at the bottom, try to save them, but chances are there won't be any. That's not a problem. The next step is rooting them. Douse the cut part and the bottom of the plant with some garden sulfur and some rooting hormone powder. Rooting hormone powder is pretty easy to find at your local Home Depot. I had to go to a real nursery to get garden sulfur. Anyway, the idea is to keep the little plant from rotting while giving it time to grow its own roots. Sago palm pups being rooted Bury them fairly deep in some free-draining mix. It should include volcanic pumice, if you can find it, and if not, you can use perlite. I ...
Read more

Growing sunflowers from Pennsylvania in Arizona

-
Image
It's October 21st, and I just received some sunflower seeds from a friend in Pennsylvania. Their season is ending and the season for planting here in Arizona is just beginning, and I'm kinda wondering if the seeds are wondering what's going on? It's spring again already? If you're new to the Phoenix, Arizona area, and are from back east it must seem kinda strange that fall and winter is our flower season, but it is. By springtime it will start to get so hot here that the flowers will die, and of course back east the season is just beginning.  Sunflowers growing in Peoria, Arizona, about a mile from where I live I've seen sunflowers blooming around my neighborhood of Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, in the winter, and although I've never grown them I understand that they're easy to grow. I guess I'll find out - I learn best by doing! The seeds arrived safely, and it's my understanding that they were still connected to the spent flower (I do...
Read more