More Rain - The Importance of Water Infiltration and Cover Crops

This was an early edition of the main rose garden -
8 rose bushes from TV, and some KnockOuts from a local nursery.

My next project is distributing roses on Mother's Day. I was happy to hear about two days of rain - Thursday and today.

When I was YouTubing about cover crops, I learned how a widely diverse planting can avoid drying up from low rainfall. The same cover crops are ideal in preventing flooding and eroding the land.

Playing the role of a French peasant again, I hauled rainwater from the barrels to the roses up front. Newly sensitized to infiltration, I watched how an established rose absorbed gallons of water at once. New roses needed as much water, but they could only absorb some of the rainwater before it began running on the surface toward the street. The mulch absorbed some and keep the water in that area, but that did not compare to the big gulp of the veteran roses.

Grass absorbs a fair amount of rain, but a diverse planting opens up the soil much deeper.

Just Wait a Year
I am keen about clumping mints as beneficial insect motels in the rose garden. Thanks to Almost Eden and a few Internet sites, I got a lot of bushes started last year and the year before.

Most gardeners probably  have the same experience - "When is this little sprig going to amount to something?" We water the little guy all summer the first year, rainwater, stored water, tapwater. The bush just sits there.

However, after a winter vacation or two, with the fungus and soil creatures networked together, the roots growing, the same plant leaps from the ground and makes people wonder, "What is that?"

In fact, I wondered myself and twisted a leaf off one plant, which was reaching my waist - intense mint. Mountain Mint. Victory.

 Cat Mint looks like Lavender.

Cat Mint was just a tiny kitten mint last year. I doted on it, hoping to make it purr. This spring, the mint got its claws and grew larger and wide, deeper too.

The Crepe Myrtle began its second bloom after pruning.
This deeply rooted bush/tree facilitates water infiltration.

One gardening friend decided to pull a Crepe Myrtle bush from her yard. They eventually enlisted their heavy-duty vehicle to pull it out (often a bad idea if ropes are used - twang - instead of chains).

As I wrote before, the Crepe Myrtle astonished me by how much organic food it reduced. Every pyramid of manure or leaves or grass became flattened and the flowers burst gratefully into pink fireworks. Though drought tolerant, the bush loves to have extra water all summer.