Sky Garden

2^ndUse From a Father/Daughter Art Project to Thoughts of Divinity and Down Streaming

A view from my front porch

Water is amazing; it is the elixir of life. I can see, when looking at a sunset, why we often think of our gods as residing in the sky. And, through contingent thinking, we perceive rain as a gift from the deities. 

Living in an arid environment and working with horticulture has heightened my awareness of the stuff. It seems to me that after a big rain I can sit and watch the yard green up. For me, experiencing a good rain feels much the same as a good laugh or cry.

I have always known that water is infinitely renewable as it cycles over and over again from ground to sky. As example, my father used to revel in telling us that when we drank water we were actually drinking dinosaurs’ pee. But even though it is infinitely renewable, we all know that it is quite finite in supply.

My kitchen garden is in our front yard in an urban/suburban neighborhood. This being said, I need to expend some energy in my landscaping towards curb appeal. A monoculture agrology approach would not fly with my wife. The initial idea was to build some flower boxes for the tops of my new trellises. I wanted to plant flowers that were either edible or in some way beneficial to the garden whether they attracted predatory insects or repelled pests and for their color and interest. The way it worked out was the girls and I built these boxes to go on top of our trellises during a take-the-daughters-to-work day.

We talked about nature and what plants need, how big to make the planters, what we could plant in them, and of course themes for the decorations since they love to paint. The project was finished in a day. 

Picture of neighbor’s view, which receives the painted sides—gifts from my daughters Maddie and Maura

I like the simple esthetics of the raw materials and I chose the unpainted view from my kitchen window. The height of the trellises is nine feet and made of 2x4’s and 6”x6” wire lathe.

After I installed them I realized that, due to their height and daily watering needs of container growing in Colorado, they should be hooked up to the drip water system. It was also because of their height that they were titled ‘Sky Garden’; we felt God got the best view.

After planting came the first watering and I observed that there was a fair amount of water draining through the containers and dripping down to the lawn. 

So I to made flanges from left over roofing materials that directed the overflow into the garden trellis beds.

I planned on using the trellises for growing cucurbits, such as cucumbers, squashes, melons, and what ever else I could grow vertically.  

But I must admit that this bonus of extra water was not all pre-thought, but more a series of discoveries that led to my better understanding of the responsible use of water through down streaming and just the gratitude for the gift of water. 

The fruits truly seem to appreciate the extra water.