NATURAL & UNNATURAL WATER & WILDLIFE

It happened last night and it’s happening this morning. Due to a special combination of low clouds, high waves, and just the right amount of a light breeze and I can hear the slight rumble of the surf as I walked from my car to my house last night. Sometimes, like this morning, it's like gentle hypnotic sound of a gentle sound of the surf on the beach. Both are a very soothing and magical sound. Nobody believes me until they hear this remarkable, soothing sound. It lets me know I'm close to the edge of the continent.

For years I gave garden water features a bad rap as we live in a dry summer area. I didn’t think is was acceptable to waste water to evaporation. But I finally gave in and I’m glad I did. The sound of the water falling one foot into the small (three feet by four feet) pool makes a delightful sound. I can sit in my writer’s office and hear the soothing trickle of the water and watch the dragonflies flutter about. The waterfall makes a mellow, soothing background sound during barbecues and offers the psychological effect of making the garden seem a bit cooler during heat waves.

There are actually two waterfalls. One is one massive convex stone as the primary water fall into the pool. The other is much smaller and barely visible beneath a huckleberry shrub. In the late summer when fresh water is scarce, the birds and deer begin to arrive. It took a handful of years before they found such a tiny water spot among all the trees. Some of the birds are brave enough to sit in the open by the water’s edge to drink and bath—our Stella blue jays are an example. The Stella blue jays nestle along the edges of the pond drinking and washing. The wrens will stand on the lily pads and wallow in the water and fly up to a metal roost I placed near the pool to shake off the water as a dog does after a good swim. Other birds, like the __ and the__ are very shy and only bath and drink water from the first, secluded waterfall. They are harder to spot and I must remain very still for quite awhile before they show up. All the bustling of the birds as they bath there bellies in the cool flowing water has provided countless hours of amusement and satisfaction.

Other critters use the pond. After about five years, an orange-colored salamander found the pool as a nice home. I can’t imagine how it knew the water was there and how it arrived. My pool is too small for the herons to find it and has vertical sides they wouldn’t be able to stand in it—in larger ponds they often bring the eggs, water plants and seeds of one pond to another in their feet.

Come late August or mid-September water is scarce enough that the deer slowly, with much trepidation, come for a drink. One day while napping, I heard an enormous splash. I looked out from my second-story window to see a fawn thrashing away. It had walked into the “pond” not knowing what water pools were like. Before I could race down the stairs for a rescue, she had managed to clamber out of the water in spite of her terror. The other fawn watched this and approached the water with much caution, but did manage to take a drink.

Other critters are not so pleasing. I’ve had catfish, croppy and mosquito fish in my pond over the years. All have been eaten by the raccoons. I made the sides vertical with no ledges as a way to thwart these premier scavengers—to no avail. I think they must scare the fish by thrashing the water until they can scoop them up with their nimble paws. I’m amazed they could catch the tiny mosquito fish, but I haven’t seen them (nor mosquitoes), for several years.

In the end how does the elusive, distant sound of the pounding surf and the pale sound of the foghorn transform my garden? With a new level of peace and tranquilly. An occasional smoothing sound that preceded the building of my little pond continues to provide a respite from a busy day during the evening and night when my little water fall isn’t on. Far more subtle, but just as cherished as the water fall.


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Plants Really Drink and Eat Near Our Toes.

I consider those ever-popular metal tree root deep-feeders as virtually useless and mostly harmful.

Spring has been warmer than past years up here “on the mountain”. Friends are thinking about watering. I hope they think carefully. (My plants and trees receive no summer irrigation. But that’s another blog altogether.)

The roots of many plants, it turns out, don't really get most of their water and nutrients from the deep regions of the soil. Rather, most plants, tree and shrubs gather all the moisture and nutrients they require from the top 12- to 36-inches, depending on the plant. The first foot is the most critical. Here is where the soils are most aerobic and this facilitates the exchange of nutrients from the minerals into soluble form that plants can absorb. Feeding root hairs actually grow up toward those first moisture-laden nutrients. (The lettuces pictured here can send roots as deep as four feet--if you don't have gophers! This is why boxes with wire bottoms should be 24-inches high instead of 12 inches. To give the roots "room to move". Yet the lettuces still get much of their "food" from the top 12 inches. So careful irrigation is a must.)

The roots of many plants, it turns out, don't really get most of their water and nutrients from the deep regions of the soil. Rather, most tree and shrubs gather all the moisture and nutrients they require from the top 12- to 36-inches, depending on the plant. The first foot is the most critical. Here is where the soils are most aerobic and this facilitates the exchange of nutrients from the minerals into soluble form that plants can absorb. Feeding root hairs actually grow up toward those first moisture-laden nutrients. (I describe this in more detail in my newest book - Roots Demystified, Change Your Gardening Habits to Help  Roots Thrive.)

An old adage advises gardeners to water trees deeply; this often means infrequent, but lengthy irrigation. Increasingly, drip irrigation has been used as a tool for deep, occasional irrigation. Infrequent, deep irrigation tend to produce two points in the total irrigation cycle where the soil life and root hairs are damaged enough to reduce plant growth—during both the drying stage and when the soil is too wet. Dry soil kills off the tender root hairs as they can’t survive too much air. When the ground is flooded, root hairs die and noxious gases can’t escape nor pure air enter—or as pure as it may or may not be.

The metal probe of a typical deep root feeder is 18- to 24-inches long. This means that the application of the water begins below almost the entire zone of maximum water and nutrient uptake.

Good pore space makes for healthier plants. An ideal mineral/humus/pore structure balance results in a crumbly soil that allows water to percolate down, harmful gases to vent out, and refreshing air to permeate the soil. Soil breathes 24/7 at a lumbering, beneficial rate we cannot see. A soil with a healthy structure allows for easy and deep root growth and will produce the best-looking lawn, garden and tree growth.

Root feeders flood the pore space of the deeper soils, which quickly becomes flooded and anaerobic. Sometimes the deep soil saturates and the irrigation water backs up toward the surface so that more shallow soils actually get waterlogged. It's a bit backwards to send the water through a 24-inch deep probe just to apply the water 6- to 12-inches deep!

I recommend you just toss your root feeder—actually, recycle the scrap metal parts. (China could use them.) A good sprinkler can do a better job. And a drip irrigation system will promote the best growth possible—better than any other method of watering.

One garden’s “deep” soil is another garden’s “shallow” soil. Another hidden assumption about tree roots concerns the depth of your garden's soil. There are places where glacially-deposited topsoil extends for dozens of feet, but these are more the exception than the rule. If you have such a deep, loamy soil, then rejoice, but remember that the majority of moisture and nutrient absorption by trees still happens in the top two feet of the soil. Typically, most suburban yards have a very shallow layer of topsoil, if there's any left at all after construction. If, for example, there is a continuous layer of rich-orange clay some 12 inches under the ground, then the 12-inch layer of topsoil is, for all practical purposes, the only place your plant’s roots will be feeding.


Most heavy clays, whatever the color—and dark blue or pale white-gray are the worst—are relatively worthless to feeding tree roots. While clayey soil has plenty of nutrients, their availability is locked up in its tight, anaerobic structure and strong chemical bonds. Tree roots can, over many years and decades, grow somewhat into clay soils, but the number and extent of roots in the looser topsoil in far greater and more important to tree nutrition.

Please post a comment - I want to know what you think.


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Visit my web site to learn about my gardening books.

NOTE: The comments section at the bottom of the post has disappeared. Click on the "___ Comments" button or the title under the "Blog Archives". Thanks, Robert