Welcome To The Desert

St. George, Utah

I live in the Desert Southwest. It is a high desert, which means we are almost 3,000 feet above sea level. We only get about 10 inches of rain per year and it tend to come in a double monsoon with some falling in midwinter and some falling in midsummer. We get short torrential rainstorms that cause flash flooding, which will then dry up within hours. And the temperature can fluctuate by more than 30 degrees between day and night. 

Our winters are mostly mild. It can drop to the high 20s overnight, but then it climbs to the 50s during the day. And our summers are hot, hot, hot. It is not uncommon to hit triple digits, climbing as high as 120. Brush fires are common, especially during the summer. A storm will move in, drop 1/2 inch of rain in 10 minutes and have multiple lightning strikes, then move on and leave it hot, dry, 

and windy. A lightning-caused fire can spread to several acres in an hour when pushed by the hot summer winds. And the rugged terrain makes it hard for fire crews to work. 

As for me, I am a desert rat. (I actually am a rat in the Chinese Horoscope). I love the desolate, rocky landscapes prickly, sparse vegetation. I love cacti and succulents. I love nothing more than the scent of a summer rain storm on the hot rock and sagebrush. I relish the heat and the clear blue skies. I am an Earth Witch who soaks up the energy of ancient sandstone and cinder cones with active magma lurking beneath the surface. I love feeling the fault lines twitch and the massive cliffs crumble. I adore our transient streams an fast-running rivers that carve new landscapes. This is where I feel at home. 

But gardening here is a challenge. I grew up in the Midwest and in Northern Utah. Growing a vegetable garden was easy and flowers bloomed wherever they were planted. But here, everything needs to be pampered. It has taken two decades for the soil in my backyard garden to become fertile enough to grow even the simplest of crops. Some plants flourish and other die off for reasons I cannot fathom. It is all trial and error. 

But I am always up for a challenge. And I will share it with you.