It's spring cleaning time! What's the first thing you think of when it comes to spring cleaning?
One of the first things I think of is dusting. We do dusting year-round, but we always seem to get a bit more into it first thing in the spring. Where we live in Las Vegas, we have caliche clay for much of our soils. That makes the dust even worse as this clay makes the dust stick to almost everything. We clean our computers (my self-built desktop PC and my wife's laptop), TV and fans the most as they have the biggest chance of being damaged from being too dusty. Electronics produce heat when they are on and that heat needs to be dissipated to keep the devices from having performance issues and even from developing physical damage. I've replaced several video cards, motherboards, processors and power supplies in customers' computers in other jobs that I've had that only went bad because they were insulated in a blanket of dust and couldn't cool off. We've all dusted nicknacks, drapes, picture frames etc. but have you ever considered dusting your plants? Yes, that's right. The leaves of your plants, both indoors and out, benefit from being dusted now and then. Indoor plants need it especially, but even outdoor plants get dusty, especially when you live somewhere with fine dust like we do. What good does it do? Well, the leaves of plants are a lot like the photovoltaic panels on solar powered devices. They need to be exposed to photos from the sun to get the energy they need. Try it with a solar powered calculator, for example. If you cover up the solar panel, the calculator screen goes blank (unless it has a battery backup). Now, try sprinkling a little flour on the panel. It will also lose power. If you gently rub the dust off the leaves of your plants with your fingers or a dusting shammy cloth, it will help your plants get more light. Don't use water and especially don't use any cleaner solutions as the water could lead to powdery mildew (a mold) on the leaves if you don't dry them and the cleaner solutions could damage the waxy coating that protects most plant leaves from drying out. Dusting your plants is especially important indoors since most buildings have very little light compared to the outdoors. Unless you've got grow bulbs in all of the light fixtures in the rooms where your plants are, there is very little UVB wavelength light indoors. Most plants need at least a few hours of UVB light to maximize the efficiency of their photosynthetic processes. The lower the intensity of the light, the less carbohydrates can be produced by each photosynthesis reaction. That is not to say that all plants need full sunlight for a long time during the day. In fact, many species of plants, especially those that come originally from the tropics and from forested environments are easily sunburned by exposure to too much light. Also, if a plant is kept in a low light environment, such as indoors away from windows (or even in front of windows if the glass is UV tinted and/or the sun never shines directly on the glass) for more than a few weeks, and then it moved to a high light situation, such as outside on a patio without at least partial shade, it is very stressful to the plant. In each of these cases, many plants lose their leaves. If the plant was very healthy before and if the proper amounts of water and nutrients are provided (more isn't always better), the plants may grow new leaves. However, as a general rule, plants perform better if their leaves are clean. So clean off their 'solar panels' for better performance. Design iteration, or coming up with different versions until you find one you like best, is part of good design development for logos and land properties alike.
We have so much to say about properly pruning trees and shrubs! Fortunately, a lot of what we'd say about it has been already written by others, at least those parts that are applicable to all of the country.
One really good source of this information is a non-profit group called Plant Amnesty. We highly recommend reading their entertaining, yet informative articles on their website at the following link: https://pla.memberclicks.net/4-dont-s Their organization is based in the Pacific Northwest, so some of their advice needs to be adapted to our different conditions down here in the Desert Southwest. One thing I can think of off the top of my head that is different between here and the Pacific NW, is that it is much more critical that you develop and maintain shade on the branches and trunks of trees and shrubs. We have a lot more trouble with bark getting sunburned here. When that happens, the bark dries, changes color and cracks down into the phloem. This makes the plant more susceptible to boring insects such as the flat-headed borer. Those insects can kill a tree in a matter of a few years. The only way to really defend against them is to keep your trees and shrubs healthy. Tree and shrub health can also decline here if the plant is excessively pruned because you are removing too much of the photosynthetic area (leaves and green bark). If the plant has too few leaves, it can't produce enough food to keep all of its self healthy. It also reduces root growth as there are hormones produced by the apical meristems (branch tips) that stimulate root growth. Fewer roots means less ability for the tree to get enough water. This is true in all parts of the country, but here in the Southwest, the climate is so unforgiving and hostile towards most trees and shrubs that they have a lot harder time recovering from such damage. Whether you prune your plants yourself, or hire someone else to do it, please read these publications! Even print them off and show them to whoever is doing the pruning on your place. It's not just a matter of preference, it's a matter of life and death to your plants here. One of the first questions we get asked is 'Where are you guys located?' As of this time, we do not invite clients to come to us. We will come to you when everything is in place to allow us to do so. This maps shows where our HQ is in general so that you can get an idea of what we mean when we say things like 'in our area' or 'where we live' in our posts. It's a great location, practically in the middle of Las Vegas, especially in terms of the East to West direction.
Why does it matter where you are? Las Vegas is in a bowl, as are many desert mountain cities, with mountains on all four sides and is accessible by mountain passes that have Interstate highways in them these days. This makes for an interesting challenge since the edges of town are in the foothills and are cooler, more windy and have more coarse soils than the middle of town. This means that the growing season is a bit shorter with frosts happening later in the Spring and sooner in the Fall. It also means that places on the edge of town have different challenges with potential wind damage and wind and water erosion than elsewhere. On the plus side, these places have the possibility of better drainage, depending on how the soil was handled during site construction and what can be done to mitigate any compaction that occurred. Even the middle of town is not as flat as it looks and has small buttes and plateaus within it. Where a site is in relation to this topography has more of an impact on how easy it will be to achieve what you want to do on that site than most people realize. It is very helpful to look at a topo map and even a soil types map (like the ones you can find from the USDA NRCS offices and websites) when beginning to look at a property. Soil is not the same everywhere. Different types of soil behave quite differently when it comes to building things on them or planting things in them. Every gardening plan should start with the soil, water and the relationship that the two have on the property, even for container and indoor gardening. No matter where you are in the Las Vegas area, or anywhere else for that matter, the quality of your water will also have a big impact on what you can do. That's why both soil and water quality tests are very helpful in developing a good gardening plan. Even if you are doing container gardening, it's a good idea to test the media you are buying to put in the containers. We'll discuss these different factors, as well as things like macro and micro climates, in future posts in more detail. Welcome to our site! We are glad that you found us. If you have any questions about gardening, landscaping, decorating or generally enjoying living and working in the Mojave Desert, you've come to the right place.
Why 'Enfield Enhanced Environments'? Because we believe that there is more to it than just what 'landscaping' suggests. We take a holistic approach, considering both the inside and the outside of your living and working spaces. It's a combination of plants, shadows, light, temperatures, humidity levels, hardscapes, colors, designs, nicknacks, art (found, purchased or even your own creations) and more that makes a place pleasing to be in. We advocate making your spaces an expression of your unique blend of interests, cultures, and preferences, rather than copying something from a magazine or TV show. Living in the desert is a balancing act. We've lived here in Las Vegas for a little over seven years as of this writing and have learned to adapt our own styles and preferences to the unique challenges and opportunities here. We'd love to share what we've learned with you. We'll soon have jumped through the hoops and cut the red tape to be able to work with you at your home or business to help you come up with plans to enhance your spaces - and even better yet, help you actually put those plans into practice. We'll be sure to let you know as soon as we can do that, but in the meantime, we'll be sharing general ideas, tips and even answering your questions here on this site. Send us your questions with the 'Contact Enfield Enhanced Environments' tab above. Thanks for visiting. Come on back soon. |
AuthorsJohn and Joani Enfield Archives
June 2015
Categories |