Introduction

Well, it's a new blog! I decided to start up a blog to chronicle life in Tucson, and to start I'm going to document the changes that Madeline and I make to our new home near Grant and Campbell. Note that we're renting, but our awesome landlords are down with our improvements.

There was already a lot of great stuff at this house before we moved in. Fruit trees, laundry and bathtub greywater systems, shaded patio, lots of open space, and a really cool interior made it a clear choice for us to move in.

I'll start with the most recent project that we've just about finished -- a water harvesting basin that runs along the south side of the home that collects the tub greywater and rainwater from a substantial portion of the house. Previously, the obnoxious invasive arundo was planted here. While arguably pretty, shade-giving and tall, this plant is not native to the Tucson area and provides next to no ecological benefits (for more about arundo, check out this article from Southwest Hydrology: http://www.swhydro.arizona.edu/archive/V6_N6/feature4.pdf). WHAT A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT!

First step was chopping the arundo down. Didn't get a good before photo, but here's what arundo looks like:

(image from http://www.wildscaperestoration.com/images/SSIP-arundo.jpg)

With help from our neighbor Christopher, we started cutting it down:

With a newfound abundance of canes, what can we do with them .... Madeline knows, we can make trellises! The plan became to attach the trellises from the fence to the roof and grow native, wildlife-habitat providing vines up them.

Next step is digging out the roots. Arundo spreads through its rhizomes, so we did our best to get them all out. We've since seen a few resprouts, and we'll likely have to keep pulling them for a while, but that's all good. The roots are like giant ginger roots. Our friends digging away!!

Thanks friends!!!!


Now the fun parts: reshaping the trough to allow spreading of water, leveling with a bunyip, reshaping some more, putting down rocks to reduce erosion, and allowing for an overflow in case the trough ever fills up. I haven't done the calculations, but given the roof area that drains to this part, it seems likely that it will fill at some point.

Finally, new plants!!!! We got a few native and 1 close to native vines that will grow up the fence and up the trellises, eventually providing the same shade that the arundo did. In this case, though, they will also provide wildlife habitat and forage, a space for us to walk through, and delicious fruit. We got 2 wild Arizona grapes, 2 milkweed vines, and 1 passion fruit vine from Desert Survivors. What a kick ass organization, by the way.

Madeline planting, and notice the trellises installed overhead:

Dirty hands are the best hands:

Close up of the plants!!

Arizona Grapes:

 This one is a little under the weather, but still kicking:

Milkweed Vines:

Passion Fruit:

:) The Arizona Grape is definitely native to riparian areas in the Sonoran Desert, and if memory serves so is the milkweed vine. I think the passion fruit is native to Santa Cruz County in Arizona, right along the border with Mexico. Birds* love the grapes, and butterflies love the milkweed (especially Monarchs). And humans enjoy the passion fruit -- edible! Big thanks to Jim at Desert Survivors for the help in picking out good plants. The area where they are planted is most shaded during the day thanks to the fence, but the plants are able to grow up into direct sunlight. Here's to healthy, vigorous growth.

That is all for now -- plenty more to come!! Thanks for reading.

With love,
Alexander



*Edit August 2nd 2015, "Birds" was formerly "Plants", which didn't make sense contextually!