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A zillion peach pits and a snake

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:23 pm

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My arms are sore this morning and the thought of getting up and down out back makes me ache all over. Today I will stay inside and get caught up on laundry, oh joy oh joy.....and make more soap.
Amanda is out of her Tea Tree...Tea Tree soap is wonderful for acne.
We are out of Peppermint - boy that scent will wake you up in the morning and is a great pickmeup after a day of yard work too.

I have been working mostly on the north side of the backyard this spring and am finally going to get the paths done this weekend.
The Lantana bed I worked on earlier, covered with landscape fabric and mulch will be used for something else now. The large multicolored Lantana bush didn't make it thru the winter and I really don't like the spreading yellow ones anyway. One of the yellow ones is coming back, don't know about the other one yet. Either way I think I will make an Offer of it or them on the rEcycle list and pass them on to another gardener. That bed is going to become a potted plant garden. I have several that I move around from time to time when I need their garden spot for in ground plants. I have 7 of the black plastic halloween cauldrons,one holds a bronze chrysanthemum that is coming back from last fall, one has another red chrysanthemum, one holds tiny red Zinnia seedlings and one has tiny red Poppy seedlings. I want some red Impatients in one and something else red for the other two, probably at least one more red Geranium.
And I found a really cool plant stand on the curb waiting for trash pickup a couple of weeks ago that would look really good holding two pots of red Petunias.

The Horseherb is coming back, in it's 5th season now. I was pulling up winter weed growth from inside and around it and pulled up a little snake. About 8 inches long and still really slow from the cool ground. Tossed him over into another shady area and decided it would be wiser to put my knee pad down on the already bare dirt instead of on the part I haven't pulled yet just in case he/she had siblings laying in wait. It was just a harmless garden snake, there have been some in the yard longer than we have lived here, but feeling one wiggling across my bare leg wasn't something I wanted to chance.

Next I moved on to the part where the peach tree used to be and the squirrel feeder is now. I had transplanted a Blaze climbing rose there a couple of weeks ago...that thing had a root two feet long, not deep but long. Thought I never would get to the end of it when I was digging it up. The stems above ground are still green, certainly hope I didn't do any permanent damage to it in the move.
In the part of that area I got done before my body started yelling "foul" I must have scooped up a zillion peach pits. The last 5+ years of the trees life it produced peaches but they all fell off before ripening. There are at least a zillion more out there and almost that many peach seedlings sprouting up around it.

Oh yeah, I started pulling weeds in the area where we will be putting down pavers for a patio.

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Fence post and beer can tabs

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:00 pm

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I got the landscape fabric and mulch down on the new bed. Found an edging that is super easy to put down so that bed is ready.

I started expanding the main garden along the east side. I found the usual half dozen beer can tabs.
Those pumpkin seedlings are getting huge and will need to be in the ground soon. I have never grown pumpkins before so I hope I have enough room for them.

While digging weeds/grass out and hand tilling I hit something hard, again. Thought it was more bricks but turned out to the the bottom section of a metal fence post, the type used on farms made out of iron bent at a 90 degree angle. It was very jagged on the end that was just a few inches before ground level, Randy was able to drill a hole thru it and use the car jack to pull it out.

This house was built in 1967 on land that for many, many years before that had been a cotton field. In fact, thru the rEcycle list I own, I met a lady who went to school with the children who lived on this farm back then.
Scenario #1....a farmhand ran over the fence post with a tractor, didn't want to mess with pulling it up so he used a torch to cut it off at what was then ground level and installed a replacement a few inches away.
Scenario #2....when the contractors people were clearing the land in preparation for building the houses this fence post (and possibly others that have not been found yet) wouldn't come up out of the hard dry clay that hot summer day so they took a blow torch to it (or them) then dumped fill dirt on top of them.
That was the largest find but not the best. The ring I found out there years ago is still the best I have found http://www.gardenstew.com/viewtopic.php?t=853&highlight=

This morning my shoulders aren't as sore as they were last night so it is time to get back out there. Looks like another completely overcast day with a nice breeze, I should have plenty of time to get a lot done.




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Bricks -- a root crop?

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:10 pm

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Yesterday I got the black landscape fabric and mulch down where the Lantana bed will be. The very friendly dog next door was trying to help me get the whole area covered with the fabric but his idea was to dig under the fence until his paw would fit thru, stick his toenails into the fabric and pull it to his side of the fence. I found a length of plastic edging, Randy hammered it down into the ground along the fence and Clown lost interest in my project.

Then I worked on expanding the bed along the back fence.
I have a garden feature I have been wanting to get installed and planted for a couple of years, now I have finally figured out the best place for it and will get it done.
In the process of removing the weeds/grass and hand tilling the soil, I started hitting hard objects about two inches under ground. Found an edge of one of the objects with the trowel and levered it up. Up popped a nice dark red brick, used the same technique on the next one and up popped another one. In total in that 2 foot x 3 foot space I unearthed a dozen nice dark red bricks.
I had attempted to have a vegie garden near that spot about 18 years ago and had used bricks to outline the bed, those I have been digging up over the last few years in the making of my garden. These may have been extras from that project and just got covered over with dirt and grass during those years.

On the other side of where I was yesterday and will finish up today is where I want to create a long bed for the pumpkin seeds that actually sprouted for me this week. I had saved seeds from some pie pumpkins I bought a couple of years ago, found them in the freezer and decided why not. I planted 4 and two are now almost three inches tall.

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Wandered and now I am worried

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:07 pm

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I really love the way fresh rain makes the yard and garden look.
The grass (or what passes for grass in my yard) glistens with rain droplets making the green all that much greener.
The cypress mulch, which had turned grayish having been faded by the hot, glaring sun for months, is now almost it's original beautiful honey brown color.
The spots of bare earth have taken on a dark, rich black color and are squishy to the touch instead of the hard as concrete dry clay it really is.
The perennials and new seedlings are growing taller as you look at them. And there are two yellow Siberian Irises that are about to open and buds swelling on many of the others. Woohoo, this many have never bloomed before and certainly not this early in the spring.

What has me worried after viewing the wonder of nature? Well you might ask. For the worry is that not all of what we have that passes for grass is growing in it's proper place. The rain droplets are also glistening on those clumps that are growing amongst the perennials and seedlings. And not just a few either, for everywhere I looked this morning I saw new clumps needing to be pulled up. I did a major weeding out last week and until the rains came the weeds were under control, but no more.

It is too soggy for weeding this morning and I have other things lined up for today so the weeding will have to wait until tomorrow. The sun is slowly poking it's head thru the overcast so it will have plenty of time to dry things out to make the work easier tomorrow. But on the other hand it will also have plenty of time to shine down on those weeds, encouraging them to grow, grow, grow.


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Well that was interesting

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:38 pm

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Springtime thunderstorms are a hoot!!! I have really missed them the last few years. Of course, it has been even longer since there has been a tornado in our immediate vacinity and those I do not miss.

Now the brilliant flashes of lightning and claps of thunder that rattled the windows and had me jumping have moved off to the north-north-east. The wind was blowing the rain at an angle so the rain gauge doesn't have an accurate total but I am guessing we got 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Just looking at the ground you wouldn't believe it tho, it was so dry out there (no rain since January 12) that it soaked in as quickly as it fell.

The Springer Spaniel that Lisa has is deathly afraid of thunder. She has clawed and chewed her way thru doors, walls, plastic dog crates and mattresses trying to get away from the noise in the past. Lisa and the boys went to the Ft. Worth Zoo today and were not home when the storms reached us. Kenny called and asked us to go up to their house to put Stormy in her crate. She was a basket case when we got there. I had some benadryl and a slice of cheese with me, the benadryl helps her sleep thru the storms.

The Carrollton Ham Radio club weather spotters group was activated about 4 this afternoon. So Randy took off to sit in a parking lot along one of the highways, watching for high winds, heavy rain, hail and/or tornados. He should be home pretty soon now that things are clearing up.

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Time change in my schedule

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:02 pm

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Well DUH.
For the last few years I would get out in the yard first thing in the morning before it got too hot. Then when I had to come in I would be so tired, sore and sleepy from the heat that doing the necessary household chores (yes I do them, when I have to, I guess) was a CHORE. And I was always behind in them because I just didn't have the energy to get them finished. And forget sitting and knitting while watching a movie, I would be asleep before the opening credits were complete.

Lately, Randy and I have been having a quite sit and chat time out in the yard in the late afternoon. The sun is low enough in the sky on the other side of the house that the whole yard is in shade and really very pleasant. So now I need to stock up on easy for 'them' to fix dinners or crockpot meals...either of which suits me just fine since I really do not enjoy cooking anyway. And no having Randy cook is NOT an option, same thing goes for Amanda.

I think the new schedule will work at least until June. Then it won't matter how far down the sun is, it will still be in the upper 90's and being outside then is not an option for me.
I think during the summer I might see about changing my schedule to garden by the security light we have out back. Maybe get a miners hat, with the light on the front, for the areas of the yard not illuminated by the light on the 20 foot pole.


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Why no new plants yet

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:28 pm

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Looking thru two garden centers on Friday was extremely difficult. I had bought the one plant at HD, they have evidently changed mulch suppliers and no longer carry the brand I like so we had to go to Lowes.
We went to Lowes for the mulch and a small window AC unit for Amanda's room, her room is on the southwest corner of the house and we have never been able to keep it cool even when the room was my sewing room.
I had to pass thru the garden center using my hands as blinders as I followed Randy to the mulch. Probably a few husbands were thinking that they wished they had their wives as well trained. I did see a gorgeous Delphinium on the cart of one lucky lady as she went to her car and did check the others on the tables just in case I had to have one, but it appeared that she got the last good one.

I have way more seeds planted than I might have room for already and some vegie seeds on their way.
But I also have some perennials to divide this spring that I had not factored into my gardening plans.

The Mexican Mint Marigold should have been split last spring so now I will be dividing it into three plants which means finding places for those two new ones.

The Texas Betony also needs to be divided and again I let it go a couple of years longer than I should so there will be three plants with two more to find space for.

The two Lemon Balms, which actually stayed green all winter, need to be divided in half...that means two more. Plus it dropped seeds and at least three of them are becoming nice sized clumps already....so there are three more to move.

Something tells me that the plants I have in the ground now and the new seedlings will be the max I have room for at least until I get the rest of the back yard dug up and converted to flower beds.


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Not yesterday and not today

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:04 pm

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but definitely tomorrow.

Going out back to play in the dirt that is. Yesterday I just didn't think I should when I got a look at the ratio of dirty dishes to clean dishes, saw the clothes hanging out of the hamper cause there was no more room inside for them and most importantly saw the empty Chipotle Mayo jar sitting on the counter.

Gardening forever! Housework? Whenever. Well 'Whenever' had arrived.
Still not caught up on the laundry, the last load is in the washer still...I have never been what they call a 'finisher'.

Last night Lisa called to say she had broken her sons hearts. Twice a year their school has a fastfood day, with parents bringing fastfood and having lunch with their kiddos. Well, she teaches 6th grade there and can't leave a classroom full of them to fend for themselves without serious repercussions. Kenny can't take off from work either. So on the way home from school yesterday she was telling the boys that she had made arrangements with the Moms of thier best friends to bring them lunch and they could hang out with her and their friend.
Austin was confirming with her that in fact neither she nor Dad could get off work to be there....when from the other backseat in the van Nicky hollered "well call Gramma!!" When I said of course I would be there, she told the boys...Austin exclaimed
"hallelujah" and Nicky hollered "Yea for Gramma".
Randy decided to take a half day off and go with Amanda and I for lunch with the boys.

We leave at 10 to stop by Wendy's for chicken nugget meals and whatever we want for lunch and will be home about 1:00. Then Amanda has a job interview at 2:00 and still doesn't have her drivers license so no gardening for me today.

But tomorrow is mine no matter what....I had better duck and cover, there might be a jinx out there just waiting for me to be so sure of things so it can prove me wrong.

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And plant seeds is what I did

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:31 pm

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In pots in my shed are
Delphinium, Dill, Oxeye Daisy May Queen, brilliant orange Butterfly Flower, St. John's Wort, pie pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins I bought last year and some heirloom watermelon seeds Randy's dad gave us. I have no idea if those last two will sprout.

I combined a packet of Old Fashioned cut flowers and wildflowers, they are in the large wooden planter we got from Lisa.

Two ornamental grasses, Blue Fescue and Fountain Grass, are in large pots where they will have to stay until the eave work is done out front.

Blue Woodruff is in a large brass pot, it does fine in shade, that was where the pot was and it is too heavy for me to move.

Zinnia 'Red Spider' in a large plastic halloween cauldron.

Cornflower 'Black Gem' is planted in the ground. Since I don't know what the seedlings look like and strange things are always coming up in our yard thanks to the birds, I cut some small water bottles into 4" tall rings that I pushed into the ground and planted the seeds in. I put them in sets of three at four different locations.

I have to nick and soak the Morning Glory, Bushel Gourd and the European Licorice seeds and plant them in the ground tomorrow.

I still have more seeds to pot up but ran out of potting mix.

And then I went for a walk thru Calloway's Nursery .......and I bought plants, no surprise is it?
Chocolate Mint and regular Mint for the retired recycle bins.
A lavender to replace one that died in the last freeze.
Two Red Geraniums for the pot out front.
A Red Ice plant, 'Pink Chablis' Deadnettle and a Bacopa 'Glacier Blue' all for pots on the front porch.



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Tomorrow I plant seeds

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:08 am

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I found the type of shelves I wanted for the potting shed and got them put together today. White metal with wire mesh shelves.
I have been saving all sorts of containers to use as pots, the bottom half of half gallon size Silk (soy milk) cartons, bottom half of water bottles, yogurt cartons, etc. Plus I have some small pots from plant buying over the years.
Also have some large pots for the plants that will have to stay in a pot longer than the others...like the grass plants that will go out front after some work and painting is done on the eaves.

I also will be calling Seeds of Change tomorrow with a question about the order I have not received. I emailed them yesterday and got a response back that I had underpaid on the order and still owed $5.05. They said a letter was mailed to me last Monday about it, now why did they wait a week and a half AFTER cashing my check to let me know I owed more?
I only ordered 5 packets and then added postage from their chart. Before I send anymore money I want an exact accounting of why?

I also found a small packet of two year old red Poppy seeds in a drawer and planted them in an pot out back not knowing if they were still viable and they are coming up. Never have grown Poppies before but the red color should be pretty.

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