Spring Doesn't Start 'Til I Do

I've finally gotten started on the backyard for the year!  I did a bit of work a few weeks ago before I left for my big SCA trip in Mississippi, but the BIG work is all in the backyard.

Since the Martian Death Fungus of Aught-Ten and the horrific drought of '11 and '12, I've kind of let the yard go.  It needed time to recover.  The few things that survived (my Mulberry, Vitex, and Bauhinia trees,  my 'Romantika' Clematis, a couple of Daffodils, and a whole bunch of Garlic Chives and Yarrow) have been doing well on their own, but they're all badly in need of pruning and shaping.  Last November I spent a couple of weekends crawling around on the ground pulling what felt like millions of Hemlock and Ragweed plants out of the ground one at a time (to make sure I got the taproots; controlling them with mowing wasn't helping at all, even though it works great for annual weeds).  Since then I haven't mowed the grass once.  The Bermuda grass the house came with in '04 has finally all been replaced with wild, native grasses and groundcovers that do MUCH better in the heat and sun, and I let them go wild for a few months to establish a good hold on the earth and reseed themselves as they saw fit.

This morning I spent about three hours out there mowing half the yard, then raking up all the trimmings and tossing them into the compost bin, layered with half-composted mulch I picked up from the city recycling center yesterday for free.  I cleaned off the back porch (which had, I'm embarrassed to say, become sort of a dumping ground for things I took out into the yard, mostly tools and things, and never brought back into the house), and then I grabbed a roll of baling wire fencing from the garage and wrapped them around the post on the back porch for that Clematis to climb up onto this year.

A New Kind of Dog Garden

I'm heartbroken to say, my eldest dog, Raven, died last week on the 19th.  He was fifteen years old, and riddled with all manner of Old Man Problems.  He collapsed while I was in Mississippi on my trip, and my roommate, bless her, took him to the emergency vet while I drove back the next day as fast I could.  I met him at the hospital as soon as I got back into town, where I got to spend a few final hours snuggling him and brushing his fur, and then we said our last goodbye.

I had had a feeling that he was nearly at the end of his time before I left for my trip - and I almost didn't go.  I think we all hope it will happen peacefully in their sleep.  Knowing that that might happen, I made arrangements for some friends to come and help my roommate out if it happened while I was out of state, and before I left, I dug a plot for him in the backyard, in his favorite napping spot by the back porch.  Instead, he ended up at the vet, and they took care of him for me there.

Amongst the plants I purchased today were "Sensation" (pink and red) and "Bright Lights" (orange) Cosmos flowers.  I started growing Cosmos around the fence line in the backyard in '07, and ever since then, Raven loved to burrow into them, dig himself a little dirt bowl, mat down some of the stalks, and make himself a little nest in there.  He also LOVED strawberries - so much so that although I always grew lots of them, I never got to eat any, hehe.

The first new garden I'm going to build in the backyard, then, will be a garden for Raven.  His collar will go into the place I dug for him a couple of weeks ago, and the whole area will be filled with his favorite flower, and his favorite fruit, in his favorite place to nap.  :')

<3 

Veggie Gardens Yay! 

Next up will be the creation of a new vegetable and herb garden.  The veggie garden will be in the same space as the old ones - why mess with a good thing, right?  The soil there is still in fantastic shape, and the grass hasn't even taken over the space fully yet, so it'll be easy to clear it out again and top it off with compost from the bin.

Today's haul from It's About Thyme includes (from left to right, above): 

• "Yellow Pear", Roma, and "German Johnson" tomatoes
• "Tam Mild" and "Mucho Nacho" Jalapenos
• "Texas Gold" Columbines (Aquilegia chrysantha)
• Citronella Geranium (Pelargonium 'Citrosum')
• "Goodwin Creek" Lavender (Lavandula 'Goodwin Creek Gray')
• French Lavender (Lavandula dentata)
• Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)
• Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
• Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
• Orange Mint (Mentha citrata)

Most of this will be going into the "vegetable" plot this year.  Once I figure out what to do with the old patio area (once covered in cobblestones, now covered in grass), and where to put a new, dedicated herb garden, I'll expand it, but I'm trying not to make too much work for myself all at once.  I've missed gardening the way I used to, but the SCA keeps me extremely busy these days, so I don't want to overload myself by biting off more than I can chew. 

The Orange Mint and geraniums will be going into pots on the back porch;  the catnip will live in a hanging basket (to keep neighborhood cats and possums out of it.  Possums looooove catnip!)  I also purchased an Asparagus Fern for the house.  

And now, I'm headed back out to the yard to make some gardens!   I'm hoping as I finish mowing the yard, I'll find my long-handled loppers, so that I can start pruning my trees.  Where the heck have those things gone??  

.

First Post

Herb Garden, 2007

Hi there.  I'm Laura.  I have two other blogs (costuming and Home/DIY, both linked on the right side of this page).  Many years ago I had a garden, and a garden blog...and then life happened.

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 101-110º 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. 

Hope is a thing with leaves.