Atwater Sand

I grew up in the Winton/Atwater area. Then after I got married I lived in Le Grand for six years, then moved to Merced and lived there for about 46 years. The places we lived in Le Grand had very heavy soil. Mud in the winter and hard dirt in the summer. I didn't like the soil in our yards.
In Merced, we lived in a number of places, some had heavy soil and others not too bad, but nothing to compare to the Atwater sand. I'm still getting used to it again.
Don't get me wrong, I like the sand, but it takes some getting used to. The big thing of course is watering plants often enough. It still surprises me that the ground doesn't stay damp very long at all.
In Merced I could water once a week, or maybe twice if it was really hot. Here you gotta keep your eye on it. Sometimes have to water every day in the heat of summer.
On the plus side: It's much easier to pull out weeds and the annual flowers reseed themselves readily. Wow! You just have to wait and see what's going to come up. No need to go out and buy a bunch of flower plants. Just be patient, they'll be back.

Here are the wild Coreopsis that I used to see along the irrigation ditches. I didn't plant them, they're one of my volunteer flowers. Also the bright pink Oriental Poppies that everyone tells me are Opium Poppies, I didn't plant them either.
It's fun to see what's going to come up next.