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| Herb Garden, 2007 |
I got bored with the blog. I'd let my readership take me in an advice-column-y direction, and the whole thing ended up sounding pretty preachy. And I was out of ideas.
The garden itself...well, that's another story entirely. In the fall of 2010, some strange Martian Death Fungus attacked my herb garden in the back yard. Now, I'd been gardening for over thirteen years at that point (organically, if you're interested), but all that experience amounted to exactly zilch when faced with the Martian Death Fungus. I did everything I knew to do, and took to the internet, and other gardeners, for help and information, however, inside of just two weeks, the fungus spread to, and killed, all of my gardens.
All of them. It started in the herb garden, and after destroying it, it went for the vegetables, the ornamentals, and even popped up in the front yard. When all was said and done, my fully landscaped back yard was down to about five plants that didn't succumb, and the front was..well, pretty ravaged.
The next year, 2011, central Texas faced the worst drought in recorded history, and that took care of pretty much everything that was left. Entire towns were running out of water, and things were pretty desperate. Water my lawn? Are you kidding me?
Anyhow. That was 2-3 years ago. I never picked back up and started gardening again. I gave it a couple of feints, but nothing I ever carried through on. I was just too saddened by the loss. And, to be honest, too broke to start fresh. Instead, I spent the next couple of years making sure my trees, and what few plants the MDF and the drought left behind remained in tip-top shape, and grew strong, and trying to get Bermuda grass to grow under some pretty dumb-ass conditions. To wit:
- My house faces north. The back yard faces due south, and with the exception of the parts shaded by a six-year-old Mulberry tree, is in full sun. All day. All year.
- Zone 9 (or 8b by the new reckoning)
- average summer temps from 101-110ยบ from May to October. That's right, I said from May to October.
- Austin, Texas is at the north end of a subtropical zone, which means lots of humidity, and a more intense sunlight than you'll find a few states to the north of here. "Full sun" on a plant tag here means "partial sun if you want it to actually live."
- Average winter lows upper 30s-50s, with the odd hard freeze in January, or March if Mama Nature's feeling particularly assholic in a given year.
- My yard is steeply sloped from the house to the street in the front, and less steeply, but still sloped in the back. It's "covered" (haha) with small, ratty clumps of Bermuda grass...except where it's not. I've wanted to completely re-sod for years, with something hardier, but I can't afford it.
- I also have three 50lb dogs. They don't live outside, but when they're out there, they run around and scratch up what little grass I have with their claws, poop everywhere, and one of them digs holes to lay in whenever he damned well pleases. Most of the time they keep outside the garden beds, since I put some work into training them not to cross border fences.
Now add to that the fact that I haven't done anything on my property except water it for about two years, and you'll see about what I'm facing.
I'm excited, though. I know I'm capable of creating and nurturing a beautiful and restful landscape, because I've done it. In the next few weeks I'll do some highlight-reel stuff on my gardens of the past, while I get to work around the yard on stuff to bring to this blog to show you as I go through the process of restarting a landscape that's been sitting up on blocks for two years.
Wish me luck.
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| Hope is a thing with leaves. |
