A Storm, and Some New Plants

It rained Sunday morning. The way the news fussed about it, you'd think it was
going to rain frogs and kill everyone in the state. It was pretty epic, but it was also
really nice to wake up and enjoy my coffee to the sounds of a thunderstorm.

My front garden is under water!  Note the big, empty spot in the center
there where a kind squirrel has been good enough to relieve me of all of
the  Caladiums that I planted there in February.

Flooded yard.  Apparently people all over the Austin area got just
pounded by this storm - there was a lot of straight-line wind damage,
and even reports of a funnel cloud in west Austin. 
All I got was a lot of water. 

Like, a LOT.  Bye-bye, mulch.

After the storm cleared, it was a GORGEOUS day, which I
used for a quick trip to It's About Thyme to shop for pretty
things to pot up for the patio. There's a blue Plumbago here, with
a Pink Jasmine, and a Fernleaf Lavender.

Veggies and herbs on this side, along with the columbines in the EarthBox
 from the front yard.  Yellow Pear tomatoes, a "Patio Tomato", Serrano pepper,
onion chives,  a dentata lavender, Lime Mint - and you can't tell in this picture,
but the  potted rosemary from the front yard is now planted in the ground,
just off  the corner of the slab.

Daisy assisted, and then we both sat on the patio and rested for a while.
She watched the birds. 

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.

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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A Saw! A Paintbrush! Hoocha Hoocha Hoocha - LOBSTER.

So, anyway...


Back in 2010 I built this pot rack shelfy thing for my kitchen, out of cheap 2"  sleepers, painted to match the walls.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  And it worked - my pots and pans were right there, ready to grab; and for a while, at least, the trash can being somewhat sheltered kept the dog out of it.  Until she figured out how to drag it out and open the lid (without knocking it over, even).

Once I began living alone (nearly a year ago, now!), I had far more cabinet space, so my pots and pans got new homes out of sight, and the pot rack that I built moved to the back porch, as a beautiful potted plant display random-crap-I-couldn't-be-arsed-to-put-away repository.

Last night, finally fed up with it looking like hell, not matching the house, and being completely too big and in my way, I took a saw and some black paint to it:

And because I'm nothing if not consistent, I hereby vow to: 

• fill this with beautiful plants and toys
• put the tools away that are standing in the corner
• finish cleaning up and updating the rest of the porch, and
• post pics when I'm done. 

None of which, as you know, will get done.  But hey, you never know.  

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Things That Need To Be Trimmed

These Clematis vines (Sweet Autumn on the fence, Romantika on the pole)

This dog. 

DAT GRASS OMG. 

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The First of What I'm Sure Will Be A Sparse Handful of Fall/Winter Entries

Here's the thing about central Texas:  you may have heard the joke, "We have two seasons: hot, and rain," or something similar.  Every place has a saying like that, and everyone thinks their weather is nutty.  We DO have a very long Summer here, though - it tends to be in the 100s for three months out of the year, above 90 for more like 9 months, and the remaining three it's either clammy and wet, or freezing and wet.  (To us.  I understand people in "the north" can deal with temperatures well below 30º, but we can't!)

Anyhow, once the crushing heat of the Summer is over, my fall gardening schedule is all about cleanup, maintenance, and hardscape changes.  This year, once again, we went from 9,000º outside to 60s and raining.

"On Ferenginar we have 178 words for rain.

Right now it's glemmening"

So, not much is going on in the yard right now, unless you count my three dogs pooping on the patio because they can't bear to be farther out in the rain than a foot away from the porch.  (I guess I should be grateful that no one's pooped on the porch;  as it is someone peed in my sewing room last night because he didn't want to go outside! Little bastard).

As soon as it lets up a tad, probably tomorrow evening, I have some things to do.  Wash the mud off the porch.  Pull some of the wild Hemlock out of the backyard by hand, while the soil is still soft enough to get the roots out (I mow them, but they just spread, and it bothers the dogs' feet!)  I need to divide all the Irises and Amaryllis in the front yard (which is doing really well right now!) but the soil's too wet right now for that.  I don't want them rotting.

I recently moved my homemade pot-rack from the kitchen out to the back porch.  I put some stuff on/under it without any thought, just to get it all out of the way in a hurry.  Soon as it stops raining I'd like to dress it up some, put some nice plants on it, stuff like that.

Also visible: overgrown weeds, stack of small
fencing panels, tools.  This was on a work day.   

Top shelf: 

• An ailing Peace Lily I'm pretty sure isn't going to make it. 
• A One-Leafed Colocasia (where the f&%* are the rest of the leaves? I know these things can grow more than one at a time!) 
• A Rex Begonia I picked up on clearance somewhere recently

Second shelf:

• Gloves
• Empty wall urn that used to hang on this wall

Underneath: 

• A new "mystery plant" in a pot, and two lamp jars that I put out here to strip and re-paint but never did.  

The aforementioned Begonia.  

Purty. 

It's still in its 4" plastic nursery pot, tucked into a violet pot as a cachepot.  MAN I love violet pots!  They're so useful, and so pretty!  This is my favorite one. 

This is the "mystery plant" I mentioned.  I rescued it from the empty house next door to me - the former tenants left it behind, I'm guessing they thought it was dead, but it came back when the rains began.  

I agonized over what kind of orchid it was for like two days before I realized it's just a lily, LOL.  Yay!  I wonder what it looks like when it blooms! 

It hasn't got any ancillary bulbets; but both stalks (only one is visible in the picture above) have several stem bulblets at the base, and probably more under the soil.  I can't wait to get in there and divide them up!  

These bulblets might not produce stalks and flowers for 2-3 years; but the parent bulbs should, provided they're not rotten in there. 

Last, but not least:  the backyard just to the left of that shot of the shelf on the porch, in all it's, erm, "fall splendor."  

The Esperanza (yellow) and Mexican Orchid (white) are still in full bloom, and will be until the first frost.  

The Mulberry tree's roots have spread out enough that they're soaking up all the water that used to feed the grass beneath it, so it's looking pretty bare under there. I need to find a groundcover that will thrive in the dry soil and shade, if there is such a thing.  

Since this photo I've begun work removing stones from the ex-patio and moving them elsewhere in the yard to shore up dirt to prevent erosion and help grass take hold; part of the first couple of sessions of rock-digging and -moving was to level the depression next to the Mexican Orchid and re-pave around it.  

More to come...if it ever stops raining.  

Man.  In 2007, it started raining in October, and didn't stop until the following August.  I had Cosmos flowers that were ten feet high, I shit you not.  It was awesome. 

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"Vegetable Garden"

As I said, I won't be able to have a "real" vegetable garden this year - at least not until fall.  But in the meantime, I just had to have some tomatoes.  It's been years since I had an actual container garden, and I'm kind of excited to be starting one up again!

New additions to the back porch:

a Serrano pepper

"Juliet" and "Homestead" tomatoes

Despite the complaints from my lower back, I actually had fun digging out the compost bin to fill these pots.  There was some good stuff under there!

After I potted these veggies up, I swept and washed the patio floor, walls, and windows, and hosed off all the furniture, too.  At first I thought I'd have the strawberry on the wall...then the two tomato plants, which, when grown in, should shade that side of the porch a bit, but without blocking light from the living room windows.

Now I'm thinking I may just create a whole container garden out there!  For the time being, though, I need to deal with the two Clematis vines by the side of the porch that are going to need support very soon.

More later this week!


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