The Front Beds are Planted

Memorial Day Weekend was definitely not restful!  I rented a rototiller to prepare the new front beds.  The dirt was rock-hard, so it took great effort to work through the dead grass and break the soil surface.  I got that part completed on Sunday but still had all the plants to put in on Monday. 

The hard packed soil made digging the planting holes equally challenging.  The plants are in and the beds look great!  All the plants fit, which was a major concern.  I got a little over-zealous when I was shopping.  I was very careful with the spacing so everyone has room to achieve mature size.

Mother Nature smiled down upon her newly planted children and produced 2 1/2 inches of rain in the past couple of days.  As a result, the plants are well-watered and happy for now.

Tomorrow, I rent a trailer and fetch a couple of yards of mulch.  The plants will need the insulation to survive the heat of summer.

The aforementioned rain also made a big dent in filling my rain barrels.  I think one is totally full, and the other (which got connected to the downspout last night) is about a quarter full.  Once I get the third rain barrel hooked up, I'll have capacity for 180 gallons of rainwater.

It's going to be another busy weekend in the garden!

Rain Barrels are Here!

I picked up the rain barrels on Thursday night.  It was a tight fit getting all three of them in the car, but they made it.  Turns out the barrels are made from recycled olive casks and the inside smells distinctly of calmata olives!

We had a good rain about a week ago which gave me the chance to listen at each of my downspouts and select the ones with the best flow rate for the rain barrels.  It's a good thing I did this when the opportunity presented itself because we haven't had a drop of rain since.

Two of the barrels are now in place.  I haven't connected them yet.  I have to cut the downspouts in order to do so, and I haven't figured out which tool I want to use for this (hack saw, tin snips, dremmel).  If rain appears in the forecast, this project will move to the very top of the list.

My other major project - the new beds in the front yard, moved forward slightly this weekend.  I bought the steel edging to outline the beds, but when I started the installation this morning, I decided that I really do hate the stuff!  My string trimmer does an excellent job of cutting a nice trench around the planting area which effectively keeps the encroaching St. Augustine runners out.  The Bermuda grass will get in the beds regardless of edging since it spreads by seed.  So I cut a trench around each bed and called that part of the project done.  Next weekend, rototill and plant.

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.  ~Mirabel Osler

First Harvest of the Season!

The vegetable garden loves a good rain and some warm weather.  Everything has increased dramatically in size and I can see the beginnings of the summer produce market. 



Tomatoes Lined up in Perfect Rows



Beautiful Bell Peppers

Okra Growing Slowly But Surely



 And finally today, my first harvest!  It's not much, but we have to start somewhere.  Putt Putt can't wait to play with a bowl full of tomatoes.  They're his favorite.  Now to outsmart him with a hiding place!

Cart Before the Horse

I’m so excited about my planned native garden that I couldn’t wait to start buying the plants.  I told myself that I’d better buy them before the nurseries sold out for the season.  Seemed like a rational argument to me!  I also had coupons, discounts, and other offerings to spur me along, so off I went on Thursday.  I ran down to North Haven on my lunch hour and used a $5.00 off coupon to get started.  On my way home from work, I decided to wander through Calloway’s.  It was my lucky day as they were just marking all their perennials down 30%.  On Friday afternoon, Shades of Green posted a special offering on their FaceBook page – 25% off all perennials on Saturday only, plus I already had a $15.00 off coupon from the Plano Garden tour.  So, three days later, below are pictures of my haul.  I now have enough plants that I’ve decided to go ahead with a bed extension on my existing butterfly garden.

My purchases include the following plants:

Pink Skullcap	Black Eyed Susan 'Indian Summer'
Four Nerve Daisy	Goldsturm Black-eyed Susan
Purple Coneflower	Winecup
Tall Verbena (Brazilian Verbena)	Red Yucca
Little Bluestem	Blanket Flower 'Arizona Sun'
Gulf Muhly	Hummingbird Mint (Apricot Sunrise)
Mexican Feathergrass	Homestead Purple Verbena
Fall Aster	Pitcher Sage
Purple Skullcap	Salvia 'Black & Blue'
Rock Penstemon	Gayfeather
Brazos Penstemon	Milkweed
Husker Red Penstemon	Senna corymbosa
Blackfoot Daisy	Powis Castle Artemisia
	Rock Rose

I’m still searching for a few, but I have plenty to get me started.  I can’t wait for Memorial Day weekend when I plan to till the soil and install the edging.  I have to spray the grass tomorrow to start eradicating it.  No time to piddle…I’ve got work to do!

Weekend Activities

Wow!  The weekend sped by in a flash!  Not enough time to get everything done, but there never is.  My new camera arrived on Thursday and I had great fun over the weekend trying it out.  Below are some samples of my efforts.

Impatiens - Grown From Seeds

Butterfly Bush

Agastache

Nandina Berries

Texas Sage

My Resident Bunny

The camera has a portrait mode setting that works really well with close-ups of flowers.  It focuses on the flower in the foreground and then fades out the background.  The Agastache picture shows how well it works.  The bunny was in my neighbor's yard.  I took the picture with almost full zoom.

I spent some of Saturday laying out a new planting bed in my front yard.  I want to eliminate most of the water-guzzling turf grass around my house and replace it with water-wise native plants.  I decided to do it in stages since killing all the grass at once seems a bit ambitious.  This new bed will give me space to try more of the Texas natives that I love.  I think I've got the layout decided.  Now I just have to kill the grass, till everything, and install edging.  I also want to install a small seating area under the Pear tree so I can sit out front and watch the world go by.  Here's a picture of the garden hose layout.

On Sunday I took the Plano Garden Club's garden tour.  It was a warm day but garden lovers were out in force.  My favorite of the five gardens was the first we saw.  It incorporated lots of native plants and most reflected my gardening style.  The owners do all their irrigation from water collected in rain barrels that are connected to their downspouts.  I really want to try a rain barrel and found out that their source for them is in McKinney.  Here's their beautiful backyard.

Garden Tasks Completed

• Divided and transplanted bearded iris from pots to the side path bed.
• Planted a lantana where the yaupon hollies were.

Garden Observations

• Rain lilies have sprouted.  Little wisps of greenery poking up. 
• Steadily growing fruit on the tomatoes and peppers.
• Angelonia is starting to bloom.



New Camera Is On the Way!

My recent attempts at garden and wildlife photos generated great frustration because I don't have a camera that can properly capture what my eye sees.  My little point and shoot is fantastic for backpacking trips because it is light and durable, but it just doesn't have the zoom range or the settings to allow me to capture the play of light or critters at play.  After some research, I settled on the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS.  It should give me the additional functionality that I want without getting into really expensive DSLR cameras.  I want to try it out this weekend, so I expedited the shipping and should have it tomorrow.  I can't wait to give it a try.  I'm already seeing scenes in the garden that I want to try to shoot.  Stay tuned for samples of my efforts.  In the meantime, here's one I took this week.

Garden Observations

• The following plants are blooming this week:  Wine Cups, Butterfly Bush, Gregg's Mistflower, Texas Sage and Stella D'Oro Daylillies.
• The Pink Scullcap is just about to bloom.  Maybe tomorrow.
• I'm really excited about the Wine Cups because I thought they hadn't survived last summer.  I planted them and then the Lantana covered them up.  I was so surprised and pleased to see them in early spring.  I'm hoping they get well-established before the Lantana takes over again.
• Almost all of the tomato plants have set fruit.  I'm seeing some baby peppers as well.
• The butterflies are flocking to the blooming plants, especially in the butterfly garden out front.  I'm really excited about capturing them with the new camera.
• There are a ton of moths fluttering around all the plants.  I've read other gardeners speculating that this is due to the mild winter and early spring.  Hopefully, the birds will enjoy them.  I know my cats think they're fun to chase when they make it inside!

Animal Kingdom!

What a beautiful weekend!  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Saturday dawned very cool (around 50 degrees).  I had to pull out a fleece for my morning walkabout in the garden.  Apparently, the critters were enjoying the nippy air as well. 

Bunny and I had a discussion about his propensity for eating pincushion flowers.  We came to a truce when he decided grass would work for his breakfast.

Mrs. Squirrel is eating for herself and her little family, so the birds and I tolerated her when she was hogging the feeder.

  



 The blue jays swooped in as soon as they heard me filling their feeder with peanuts.  They are so fun to watch as they grab a nut and fly off to crack it open.

The goldfinches have come back down from the treetops and are sporting the brightest yellow plumage.  I had a finch at every food port for most of the day, but they're very shy when the camera comes out.  This little guy was quite brave.

Once I finished with the animals, weekend chores called my name.  No more time for piddling! 

Tasks Accomplished

• Mowed and edged.  Had to fight with the string trimmer to get it started.
• Cut in two more stepping stones.  Only 3 to go!
• Cut back amaryllis stalks.
• Planted pentas in last set of hanging baskets.
• Plants profusion zinnias in tiered planter.  Placed it under kitchen window.
• Cleaned fountain pump and restored pressure to the water flow.

Garden Observations

• Russian Sage has started blooming in the butterfly garden.
• Coreopsis in the back bed is now blooming.