Aside

I really love the way my Chaste Tree grows.  When I planted it in 2011, it was about a foot and a half tall.  Now it's up to ten feet, and will reach twelve or more by the end of this year.  How can I tell?

See the long, thin branches sticking practically straight up from the top?  The rest of the overall form is fairly rounded, but every Spring, a few whip-like branches streeeeetch out higher than the rest of the tree, and throughout the remainder of the year, the rest of the tree catches up.  It actually tells me how tall it's about to get.  

Hee. 

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I did three new things with the Chaste Tree this spring.  Firstly, I finally caved and lopped off the "extra" trunk that it had in previous years: 

2013, at two years old

See the little guy on the left?  When the tree was small, it contributed to the whole plant looking fairly balanced.  But as the tree has grown, that extra trunk on the left side grew unevenly, ending up tilted far to the left and much weaker than the rest of the tree.  It also isn't attached to the rest of the tree - I think this may have originally been two saplings in the same container, and I didn't realize it when I planted it.  Anyway, I cut it off to allow the main tree to grow, and it looks far more balanced and sculptural now.  

The second thing I did was to remove the little ring of stacked [cement] stones that I placed around it in 2012, to keep a certain black fuzzy dog from digging it up.  In the picture above, there was a good 3-5" of space between the trunk of the little tree and any one side of the stone ring (you can see the whippy branches on top in this picture, too; the tree doubled in size in 2012 and in 2013!)  But this year, the trunk of the tree has gotten so wide that a couple of the stones were nearly touching it.   Time to let the tree free! 

Lastly, I nabbed a little Texas Gold Columbine plant on my last trip to The Natural Gardener, and planted it a few feet away from the base of the Chaste Tree, to sort of anchor it in the growing landscape (pun intended) and to add more color and more native plantings to the yard.  You can kind of see it in the first picture - a little blob of green with a couple of those stones placed around it to keep it safe while it gets established.

It's part of a larger plan, but before I launch into what should really be its own blog post...

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Backyard Progress In Pictures

Some stuff:

Most of the backyard, as seen from the west side behind the Mulberry tree

Morning Glory seedlings, yay!  I don't remember if they're blue or purple.

I love Yarrow, as long as it isn't the Yarrow taking over the front garden. 

Another view of the whole (mostly) yard from the other side of the tree, from the SW corner. I stood in dog shit to take this. 

The Mexican Orchid Tree, with a pair of little lavenders flanking it. 

The Chaste Tree, with a wee columbine in front of it, Yarrow and compost bin behind. 

The first flowers on my Citronella geranium, potted, on the back porch. 

Cosmos and Cypress Vine seedlings! Squee! 

new leaves on the Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus castus)

One of the wee lavenders near the Orchid Tree (Lavandula dentata)

More soon.

News From the Front Yard

Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in the front yard

Slightly less exciting when you see them from a distance,
LOL.  But the patch is growing!  

Magenta African Daisies (Osteospermum) and red Cyclamen in the front bed

My yellow roses, now five years old; and my purple irises, some of which have grown under-
neath the rose bush and mingle with it. :) 

Leafminers on my culinary sage. 

More African Daisies.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE the camera on my new phone? Wow. 

The whole front yard scene - again, less exciting in its entirety.  I'm working on it. :) 

That big bush by the electrical box (and let me tell you how utterly overjoyed I've been about its
presence for eleven years...) is the only plant that I still have from the original builder's plantings
in front of the front porch.  I think the very first thing I did after I moved into the house in 2004
was to remove ALL of the builders' plantings, five each Nandina (which I detest) and these
things.  I potted them all up and put them on the curb with a sign that said "FREE PLANTS"

 - all except for this guy.  And in eleven years, this is all the growing it's done.  It has little dirty-looking white flowers in the spring and early summer, smells like oven clearner and gym socks, and I can NEVER remember its name.  I tried googling for it, but nothing comes up when I search for "fugly generic bushes nobody actually plants intentionally."  Except for the four people who took the FREE PLANTS within like two hours after I put them on the curb. Suckers! 

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More Work In the Back Yard

Today's list of completed chores:

• run to the dump for more mulch
• mulch the rest of the garden beds I've recently built in the yard
• plant the two lavenders and the columbines I purchased last week
• clean off the back porch

I still have a couple of herbs I need to pot up, which I imagine I'll do this evening or tomorrow morning.  

I was so pleased with myself for mowing the backyard and getting the gardens going.  Then my weed-eater died (after I was finished, thankfully).  I don't own a mower;  I "mow" the entire property with my weed-eater.  SIGH.  Thankfully, one of my costuming clients has offered to pay me for a new dress with a new weedeater, hehe.  Let's hear it for the barter system, folks!  

More soon. 

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Another Big Backyard Gardening Day

Today, I have

1. Finished raking up the yard clippings from yesterday
2. Pruned all the trees in the backyard
3. Cut down the Esperanza bush in the yard so it can grow afresh from the roots (which it does every year). 
4. Finished Raven's Garden in the northeast corner by the back porch
5. Dug out and new veggie garden in the same old veggie garden spot, and planted it
6. Dug out half the remaining stones from the old patio and moved them to create a short wall around the new veggie bed
7. Visited The Natural Gardener with friends, and brought home (only a few) new plants, and a bunch of seed packets. 

To wit: 

Backyard, east:  Chaste Tree (Vitex), compost bin and yarrow
in the corner (I put sunflower seeds all around it today), some
pallets just sitting around collecting dirt, and a small landing
of flat stones filled in with dirt and mulch (part of a long path
that will eventually run from the porch to the compost bin)

Backyard, west:  newly-pruned Mexcian Orchid
Tree (Bauhinia) just barely leaving out, Daisy and
huge Mulberry tree in the background, with free-
range bbq pit and lawnmower corpse. 

Backyard, northwest: the new veggie garden,
in the old spot, surrounded by short wall made
with old patio stones.  Chives and Daffodils
visible now (left over from the old veggie garden);
this morning I also planted Yellow Pear and
Roma tomatoes, and Tam Mild and Mucho
Nacho jalapenos, as well as Kentucky Wonder
and Scarlet-something kidney beanson the trellis
 panels. 

L-R: Remnants of the old patio under the Mexican Orchid (with
Shelly), then removed, then stacked around the veggie bed. And
yes, I was singing "I Fought the Law" the whole time I was doing
this ("Breaking rocks in the /hot sun...")

Orange Mint (top) and Pineapple Mint (side)
in the old strawberry jar on the back porch. 

Raven's Garden: only the blue fencing around
the outside will stay; the panels stuck randomly
in the ground behind it are to keep the other dogs
from jumping in there and digging up the fresh
soil.  There's yarrow around back, and a mound
with strawberry plants in the center under the extra
fencing.  I also spread seed for "Bright Lights"
and "Sensation" Cosmos, as well as blue and white
Morning Glories and red Cypress Vine around the
fence.  (And the baling wire panel fencing wrapped
around the post, for my 'Romantika' Clematis) 

A very silly concept sketch of what the garden
will look like later this summer, made with Ribbet

Helpers! 

And I STILL have two lavenders and a Columbine to put in the ground (where??), and an Angel's Trumpet, a cilantro, and some comfrey to pot up and stow on the porch...as soon as I clean up the back porch, which is kinda still a dumping ground (I've been working on it slowly, right now it's mostly full of tools, abandoned yard shoes, and a junk table that needs to go out on the curb for bulk trash day - although for now it's coming in really handy as a makeshift potting bench!) 

AND I bought some new houseplants (a parsley-leaf Aralia and a couple of wee succulents) and a Persian Shield (Strobilanthes) to put into the front garden.  Tomorrow I need to run to the dump again for another giant tub of mulch, before I go much further in the yard. 

At the moment, though, I would give my left arm for a hot tub to sit in.  I'm pooped. 

Hair by Mother Nature

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??  

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Long Time No See

In November, I was laid off from my job.  In December, my best friend became my roommate, and lots of house things happened.  February saw SCA Candlemas, and I'm leaving for Gulf Wars in like two days, so lots of costumery has been happening, as well.  Hence my long absence from both this blog and my actual gardens.

However. 

While I was planning to wait until week after next (when I'm home and rested after my trip) to start the gardening for this year.  But today at Big Orange Depot, where I stopped to procure some plumbing supplies for a woodworking project (which I'll write about on my SCA blog next week), I was waylaid by an armload of African Daisies and Spanish Lavender.  So the gardening began today!
I don't have pictures for you, but after a quick cleanup of the front bed, a few plants tucked into the ground, and a bagful of new mulch thrown on top of it all, the population of the front garden is now as follows:

Big

• cream/yellow (single, wild-type) rose
• magenta (single, wild-type) rose
• magenta Chinese Witch Hazel (Loropetalum)

Flowers

• magenta/purple African Daisies (Osteospermum)
• pale lavender African Daisies
• red Cyclamen
• black "Before the Storm" (german bearded) Irises
• lavender/blue Irises
• purple Spiderwort (Tradescantia)
• green/lavender Spiderwort (Tradescantia)
• pink Autumn Lilies (Amaryllis)

Herbs

• Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
• Spearmint (Mentha spicata)
• Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum)
• Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
• Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)
• white Yarrow (Achillea millefolium

While I have been trying to keep the color scheme kind of uniform (blacks, purples, magenta-pinks, and white), I have been sort of throwing things into the front bed willy-nilly the past few months, when I've bothered to work in the garden at all.  In a month or so, it should be a riot of flowers and herbs, which is how I like it.  

When I get back from my trip, I'm planning to make a huge trip to my favorite local organic nursery to stock up on vegetables, more herbs, some ornamental grasses, and some perennial flowers, all for the back yard.  

After the Martian Death Fungus of aught-eleven (ha) and the subsequent Drought To End All Droughts, I kind of let the whole thing go.  Last autumn the whole thing was knee-high with scary weeds (mostly ragweed and hemlock), which I plucked up by hand in December - all 864 square feet of it.  My trees are all doing quite well, as are the few remaining Garlic Chives plants, and my black "Romantika" Clematis that survived the last few years' hardship. The hateful Bermuda grass that my lawn was sodded with when I bought my house in 2004 has finally been totally replaced by whatever local grasses have decided to take root, and I have a nice, fluffy, cool, soft, green carpet back there again.  HA!  Take that, Bermuda Ass.  

So there'll be lots happening in the garden this Spring.  I'll be back soon. :) 

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