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palvarado

Jan 30, 2004, 7:42 AM

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gardening climate?

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Hi,

I am wondering how well the SMA climate suits gardening? Such things as fruit and citrus trees, roses, vegetable gardens. Are they growable with considerable effort (like here in Arizona) or do they trive without much work there?

Thanks,

Patricia

Carol Schmidt

Jan 30, 2004, 9:13 AM

Post #2 of 8 (678 views)

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Re: [palvarado] gardening climate?

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Many things grow very well indeed here, with very little effort, while other things have to be coddled beyond their worth. First, we're at 6400-ft altitude, mostly a desert with a serious water shortage, and it can get over 100 in May, under freezing in December. The rainy season is June-Oct., usually a half hour or hour heavy shower in the late afternoon those months. We get something like 27 inches of rain a year almost totally in those 5 months, far more than Phoenix's 7 inches a year, but not enough to a lot of plants.

Even in the winter, the place has far more flowers than you might expect. In my courtyard, flourishing with very little effort, are poinsettia trees, a rubber tree, palm trees, citrus trees, bougainvillea, and day lilies. On my porch and rooftop are geraniums, a frosted herb garden, hibiscus and more bougainvillea. Some people do well with roses. The pioneer gringo to this town, Stirling Dickinson, who encouraged US artists on the GI bill to start living here after WWII, started a wondrful orchid garden which still flourishes.

There is a Garden Club here which does wonders in spreading info on gardening tips appropriate to this area and which has a new project, to support the city's meager budget in maintaining and improving Juarez Park, a marvel that reminds me of the San Diego Zoo vegetation where it is maintained well.

This area grows a lot of vegetables for export, such as broccoli. Someone put it, we don't export broccoli, we export our dwindling water. But our farmers have to eat. Friends have been unable to grow US midwest tomatoes like Big Boy, but the roma tomatoes seem to be easy to grow--the markets are full of them. Corn here is white big kernels, tough as field corn to me, and only a few have been able to grow our smaller sweet corn here. Lawns are a ridiculous luxury in this desert and should be outlawed, IMO, but some places have them.

So it's like any place, some things grow well, other things don't. SMA was greener than I expected snce I came from Phoenix before this, but it's not like a rainforest!

Carol Schmidt

palvarado

Feb 2, 2004, 6:32 AM

Post #3 of 8 (641 views)

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Re: [Carol Schmidt] gardening climate?

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Thank you Carol for the very informative reply! I imagine SMA will seem green to me as I am coming from Tucson.

Patricia

reg767

Feb 3, 2004, 10:04 PM

Post #4 of 8 (611 views)

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Re: WATER - gardening climate?

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You mentioned a "Serious" water shortage. That's something troubling and to be considered, obviously, when thinking about a move. I was just wondering how severe it is and what are the prospects for adequately dealing with it.

Thanks.

Carol Schmidt

Feb 3, 2004, 11:39 PM

Post #5 of 8 (606 views)

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Re: [reg767] WATER - gardening climate?

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All desert areas in the world have a serious water shortage. The underground reservoir that SMA uses is well below what would be comfortable reserves. Agriculture uses 80% of the water in this area. The mayor is well aware of the problem and all future development is being weighed against this concern. There is a citizens advisory group which has been doing thorough investigations into the problem and searching for solutions. Farmers are being taught better ways of farming that use less water.

Having said that, I last lived in Phoenix which also had a serious water shortage and people were still flocking there in droves, in far greater numbers than are coming to SMA. If you want to be totally ecologically correct you should probably only move to an area with abundant water reserves, maybe Washington State where it rains so much. You should also probably not drive a car or do anything at all which uses natural resources, such as heat or cool your house.

I don't know what to tell you. Human beings are destroying this world and its animal and plant inhabitants all over the world. Do we go on living, as ecologically sensitively as we can, while trying to change our own practices and the practices and policies of government and institutions and others to make them aware of the problems? Do we go live like hermits with no modern conveniences? Do we ignore the problems and hope they will go away?

SMA is not unique in facing this dilemma, and the current government seems well aware of the problems and working with citizen groups to find solutions. I've heard that the gringo population is not the biggest part of the problem, farming practices are, but at the same time I am sure that a wealthy or even comfortable gringo living here uses more water and other resources than a poor Mexican family in daily living.

The overall solutions are out of our hands--as foreigners we cannot take any part in Mexican politics, by the regulation of the Mexican Constitution. But individually we know enough to not plant lawns, not let water flow when it is not necessary, all the kinds of tips we get when we live in desert areas or in an area under drought watch. I lived in LA during a seven-year drought when we were not supposed to even flush the toilet unless absolutely necessary.

Is it a problem? Yes. Are there any kinds of restrictions being placed by government on our individual lives such as many of us have encountered when living in drought areas? No. Will the problem stop further development? No.

If you moved here and were serious about wanting to do more on this problem, the citizen groups working to find out more and educate more could undoubtedly use more volunteers and money. It's a modern dilemma for all of us who have any access to resources beyond our bare minimums of living--and in fact for even those who are barely surviving, such as the poor people who burn down rain forest acreage so that they can survive.

No easy answers to any of it. Mother earth has something like eight billion inhabitants now, and every one of us affects our planet's resources.

Carol Schmidt

gpk

Feb 4, 2004, 3:03 PM

Post #6 of 8 (586 views)

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Re: [Carol Schmidt] WATER - gardening climate?

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The problem is not local--it is regional at a minimum, and basically country-wide --Mexico City is literally collapsing as it's acquifer gets more and more depleted. (Obviously there are some truly wet areas in Mexico with no problems with water.) The SM mayor's interest is good, but he can't really do anything signifcant--the whole state of Guanajuato is in trouble. AM/Leon (a fairly reliable newspaper) has reported that Leon will be out of water in less than 10 years. Old water systems leak a significant amount, conservation is mentioned but not "enforced" in any way, farmers need more education, etc. Unfortunately, the problem is likely to get worse. Our water here in Irapuato (in the state of Guanajuato, about 85 miles /135 km. from San Miguel) is turned off randomly during the week for significant periods of time.

Carol Schmidt

Feb 5, 2004, 11:33 AM

Post #7 of 8 (563 views)

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Re: [gpk] WATER - gardening climate?

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The problem is global--and Mexico as being mostly desert, at least the central plateau, is just one country that is being hit hard. I'd heard many areas of Mexico have their water turned off much of the week. Maybe if the SMA government started doing that throughout the city some of the gringos would leave because of the inconveniences.

The farmers in this area don't have that kind of choice--if they want to feed their families they have to keep farming and that uses far more water than the entire gringo community. They can sell their land and move to the cities but we all know what kind of life a newly arrived poor family faces on the outskirts of a large Mexican city, when the wage earners have no job skills other than farming and even if they had a college degree, there might not be a job for them. This is happening worldwide, and throughout history.

But certainly each of us could be doing more on our part. From living in LA and Phoenix I consider myself fairly careful with water. You will never see a faucet left running while I brush my teeth, etc. (But then I use bottled water for that, and by nature of the upfront cost of bottled water I'm a little more careful with it.) I would never plant a lawn in the desert, etc. If each of us was more educated and concerned about the water shortage the amount saved would add up, even if it might not make a dent in the larger problem. Mother earth may not be able to sustain 8 billion people, nor the 15 billion that is coming possibly within our lifetimes, nor the even larger global populations beyond that.

Israel seems to have developed sea water reclamation to the point where it is an important part of the solution, and I believe that developed countries will eventually have to do more and more of that, no matter how expensive it is. SMA is nowhere near the ocean. Our lake is not very big and it is highly polluted.

Big concerns for those of living on this little planet. Much easier to think about what I can eat today with few calories to make up for the big dinner last night.

Carol Schmidt

reg767

Feb 24, 2004, 12:58 PM

Post #8 of 8 (510 views)

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Historical Weather Rainfall data, Climate

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Below are 3 excellent websites that have detailed weather, temperature and Rainfall averages (historical data) in specific areas and cities around the world, including Mexico, of course. I think these links will be helpful climate resources.

http://www.qwikcast.com/climateMX.shtml

http://66.155.70.164/climate.htm

http://www.worldclimate.com/