Spring will be almost a complete start-over. Of the 21 original plants, I have lost 16. Most lossess have been due to gophers. I lost two of my largest, strongest plants to gophers a couple weeks ago. The three other plants have been spared so far, I think, because they had already curled up and gone dormant. It is a theory anyway. Next spring, I will be using metal mesh bags. In my other plantings, the commercial baskets have prevented plant loss. I wonder if the gophers found weak points in the bottom of the baskets we made – even though the ends were tightly connected with wire.
The rains began at the end of November. This means that the plots no longer need me to hand water them. I will be capturing more rain water for next year. Tank 1, adjacent to the North Plot, still has water in it from last winter. We used only a few hundred gallons of the 2500 gallons in there. Tank 2 also adjacent to the North Plot is empty. Tank 3, adjacent to the South Plot, has only 100 gallons remaining. We will be hooking up piping to the tanks at the next break in the weather. Just because the plants go dormant does not mean the work stops.
Heather Bernikoff 