Nature Photography

Photo Essay: Building Garden Basins

Well, the monsoons have been with us for more than a month, and count me as unimpressed. I was hoping for giant storms with lots of rain, loud thunder, and bright lightning.

And I’m still hoping.

So far, our rainfall has been scanty, and the sound and light shows have been lackluster.

In the meantime, fall is creeping ever closer, and that means garden time. I mentioned in an earlier post that my two garden basins were allowing water to pool around the edges, rather than in the center. In the sunken garden game, that’s a no-no.

The first part of my garden repair project involved finding materials for lining the edges of the basins.

Fortunately, there’s a nearby vacant lot in the path of an upcoming road widening project. This lot has all sorts of busted-up concrete, and it’s free for the taking. The official name for this stuff is “urbanite.” Here it is, awaiting installation in the basins…

Photo essays - Urbanite awaiting installation in a sunken garden, Tucson, Arizona

I was planning to dig out both basins in one day, but reality intruded. The big basin turned out to be more than enough work.

Said work was made all the more difficult by my neglecting to soak the basin with water. That would have made the digging a lot easier. Oh, well. I eventually got the job done…

Photo essays - Sunken garden lined with urbanite, Tucson, Arizona

In addition to getting my gardening space ready for fall, I’m also drying mesquite beans so that they can be ground into flour. They should be ready for the Desert Harvesters Mesquite Milling Fiesta in November…

Photo essays - Drying mesquite beans, Tucson, Arizona

What’s this stuff? It looks like big drops of water falling from the sky…

Photo essays - Sunken garden in a rainstorm, Tucson, Arizona

The good news is that the water’s pooling where it’s supposed to be. The even better news is that Mother Nature is soaking the basin where I had yet to dig.

No sense in procrastinating any further. I dug out the second basin…

Photo essays - Sunken garden basin, Tucson, Arizona

In a few weeks, it will be garden seeding time. Looking forward to it!

Post navigation
Scroll to top