Wandering in the Yarden

Green thumb?

Hoo boy. The green thumb is waking up.

Got dragged out into the garden the other day to "supervise." Yeah, THAT didn't last long.

Already got gardening hands -- dirt under the nails, a few cuts and thorns. Yes, I know, Cairyn, I forgot to put my damn gloves on first, I know, I know.

My cannas all survived, even the one in the monster pot. I was thrilled to see all the new sprouts. Got rid of most of the dead canna growth from last year and cleaned those out. The chocolate mint in the canna pot survived. Maybe those cannas will bloom this year and I can figure out what they are. The growth is the deep burgandy leaves, striped with green and bronze, and with the bright bright green mint, it's just a lovely combination.

Spearmint was wilting off badly, got watered.

HOLY CRAP, I have strawberries! Fresh strawberries! Yum. I desperately need to weed the strawberry bed. Have strawberry babies growing in my canna bed, ack! Yes, the unknown cannas that were supposed to be Mme Butterfly survived, as well as all the cannas along the lower fence. Joy!

My blackberry plant, my single blackberry from last year is now, um, well, two or three plants. And COVERED WITH BLACKBERRIES! Time to get the mesh, I am NOT losing all these to the birds. I mean berries EVERYWHERE!

Blueberry survived and is blooming.

My butterfly bush has already tripled in size, and though there are no blooms yet, it's doing a lovely job covering that end of the flowerbed.

The star jasmine that I thought I lost has new leaves and is happily growing. Yay!

Lots of rosebuds already on the two bushes. Mmm. Lots of rosebuds starting to form in the front yard. The wisteria I planted has finally gotten some real size and has grown up the arbor like it was intended. I SO hope it blooms this year, that will be absolutely lovely.

Now I just need to get my butt in gear, get outside, get all the old dead stuff out of the pots and start seedlings. Managed to save enough of my chiles for seeds, so I should have more pepper plants -- yay!

SPRING SPRING SPRING SPRING!

Ahem.

Yes, it has begun.

One Step Forward

No pics yet, watering was more important. Freakin Texas summer heat.

I was wrong on the mums -- go figure. Remembered the colours wrong, it's the tips that are white, and the centers that are the deep purple/red colour. So I think it's "Fiction." Cool.

Pulled up the four cuke plants that were in pots and tossed them, after getting the last two cukes off. They weren't really doing much, Cukezilla is producing a lot more, and that gave me two less pots to water. Also ripped out the flea beetle damaged bush beans. They were starting to produce again, but not enough to make a difference with the pole beans going crazy. Right, outta there. Had to pull up one of the sunflowers. Thing 1 was a little careless with a garbage bag and damaged the stalk too bad for it to survive. Sigh. At least it wasn't the rust one, and the other sunflowers are doing fine.

Didn't get the Sweet 100 I wanted to pull out, though. I'm not sure that I CAN. Cukezilla has totally taken over the tomato cage, I'm not sure I can even get into the pot to pull it out, so I guess it stays.

We were out of full sized tomatoes, and DG had a dinner thing up at work last night, so we bought two. YUCK! Store bought tomatoes. Nasty. I sliced up two huge cukes from Cukezilla, and put a bunch of cherry tomatoes on the tray with the store sliced ones. Store maters got ignored. The cherry tomatoes from my garden VANISHED, he said people were standing over the tray just tossing them down, and he brought home very few cuke slices (only for Thing 1 to munch on). If that's not enough proof that you just need to grow your own, I don't know what is.

The new bronze foliage canna looks fantastic in the big pot with the bright green spearmint. Score!

Um. I probably underestimated the number of strawberry plants. Found another 5 runners on a different side that were rooting in the grass. Gack.

Peppers! (You knew you couldn't get out of this post without an update, right?) LOTS of cayennes to pick tomorrow. The alcaldes are still blooming and making more peppers. Chocolate bell is getting much bigger, closer to the point that it will start changing colour. Other bells are happily growing away. Got to remind myself to start stringing the chiles and cayennes tonight for them to dry.

Then again, it'll be hard to keep em in the house when my Dad gets here. I have a feeling some will be going home with him.

DG got the blade on the lawnmower switched out, so tomorrow the great backyard jungle will get mowed. Hopefully that will help with the mosquito problem. I got MAULED last night, even wearing OFF. Damn things.

The weeds and bermuda grass are just out of control. It's a helpless feeling. It's SO damn hot out there, and the weatherman said to expect it to just get hotter. Weeding in 100* and no shade ... This goes beyond Pooka wilt. Had a little help getting everything done today. The sprinkler was on, so I just worked through it. Came in drenched, but didn't have the heat problem. Of course, it also washed off all the bug pseudo-repellent too. Can't win for losing.

And I feel ... awful. On top of everything else, I feel hammered. I hurt, and I'm tired. Not sleeping real well, lots of tossing and turning and waking up exhausted. Leaves me dreadfully brain dead.

Having computer trouble, too. DG's video card croaked this weekend, complete death. My CGI proggies keep crashing when I try to use them on mine, and I'm getting the wonky STOP error messages again like I did when a RAM chip went bad on me before. Bad news if it is. Can't afford to replace the chip, not with having to spend the money to repair DG's computer.

So, unless I can transfer all my stuff to his computer, which is a pain and a HUGE multi-gig undertaking, I'm near worthless for artwork right now, with two jobs I desperately, DESPERATELY need to finish.

And of course my mother has made another of her Annoucements, and she'll be here this weekend to help ruin yet another birthday. Now, before you think the visit is a sweet effort on her part, she's not coming up here for ME. She's coming to take one of the girls, then a week later, trade out for the other one. She's coming for the summer visit, not because of any parental obligation to her offspring. These are the only grandkids she has, and at the rate my sister is going, the only ones she'll ever have, so she feels the need to at least do something about it.

Now, like with most families, there's a Mama's kid and a Daddy's kid. Guess which one she is taking away from me ON MY BIRTHDAY? Right. My girl. Don't even pretend to think that isn't completely deliberate on her part. She KNOWS.

The funny thing is, I can't even burst into tears in frustration over it. It's always something, and if it WASN'T always something, I wouldn't be handling it as well as I am.

CukeZilla!

I'll have you know that is a THREE POUND cucumber from Cukezilla. One of about 11 cukes I brought in off the thing today. Had to put the shotgun slug with this one to give some perspective in size.

Bell pepper brought in (had to wait till the second trip, since there was a baby praying mantis out there that I did NOT want to disturb. Move in, make yourself at home, snacks are right there, have a good time!).

And a bunch of cayennes, and two more chiles. My chile plant now has bunches more new green babies and still more blooms.


Mandatory pepper pic.

Got Sun?

... flowers, that is.


A dwarf type of sunflower with darker orange petals, rusty-chocolate eyes, and a repeat bloomer up and down the stalks, as you can see.




My butterfly bush seems to be loving the weather. It's absolutely covered with tiny purple flowers in those big clusters, and smells yummy!


As you can see, my Maid of Orleans jasmine not only survived the winter, but is now happily blooming and making wonderful jasmine smells on that side of the yard.

Got Chiles?

Crazy pepper lady strikes again.

OH! And my biiiiig tomato plant now has 7 new green 'maters growing. YEEEEES!

You won't find the Chile Alcalde I'm growing with a regular search. Native Seeds is the only place that carries them, and they specialize in trying to save Native American food crops. A wonderful place, I plan on ordering far too much from them for next year.

The Alcalde is a Mild-medium hot pepper that goes sweet when red. I can't wait to try them.

I have a great double handful of alcaldes now. Mmm. Time to string!

My first cayennes.


Aren't the Christmas limas cute?


Love love love eggplant blossoms. Need to get pics of the eggplant already picked. Before they're eaten.

Space WHAT?

A word to the wise: if you grow Spacesaver cucumbers, do not give them space. I mean it. Seriously. Put them in little pots like the packet recommends. If you don't, and make the mistake of putting them in the ground, be prepared to see nothing but cukes. Everywhere.



I have 10' long cuke vines. The single small plant I tucked into an empty corner of the strawberry bed because I'm such a wuss that I couldn't just abandon the little seedling has now taken over half the yard and has set its sights on invading the airport. They're climbing tomato cages, pulling down pepper plants, and spreading like kudzu.



They'd be quite pretty, really, they're constantly blooming and the vines are neat to look at, but the damn things are taking over. And I pulled only a single full size cuke off it, and there's another smaller one ready in a day or two. Otherwise, just little cuke nubbins. All that, and no fruit. Grr.

Two eggplant inside now, blooms all over the plant, two baby eggplant starting. I have bell peppers growing (6 on the one by the eggplant, 2 on the chocolate bell), the tomatoes seem to be gearing up to bloom again. Harvested 2 cayennes and at least 8 chilis so far. More chilis ready this weekend That is such a gorgeous, sensual red on the chilis and cayennes. Yum.

I need to learn how to rope the chilis up to let them dry. Luckily I have those sites bookmarked.

My cayenne plant is now becoming a damn tree. It's huge, and just covered with long fat peppers. I'm really, really enjoying peppers. With all the bug problems this year, and how disappointing a lot of the garden was, I think I may stick with neat stuff like peppers and not spend the money and stress on growing stuff like zucchini and squash. Hate resorting to a store, but ... you know.

Dwarf sunflowers have happily opened their little heads. The beans ... well, I've almost given up trying to pick them. It's a gigantic shambling mound. Eeek! And the flea beetles have gone crazy on all of the beans. The damage is just astonishing. I don't have leaves, I have lace doilies.

(Thing 2 moment: Mama spots a bean that was overlooked, obviously for some time. The thing is wider than my thumb, and about 9" long. Thing 2: "Holy shit!" I couldn't even scold her for that one, it was my reaction, too)

Cowpeas seem to have given up for the year. I think I'll stick with the green beans in pots and put the cowpeas in the ground next time. Might get more from both that way.

First round of blooms on the cannas have gone, second round started. No blooms yet on Madame Butterfly, which is just continuing to get taller and taller. Hmm. She goes down by the fence next time, and the shorter Lucifers for the bed, I think.

So. This is Texas. And you expect to see things wilting from the heat. NOT from drowning. One of my basil plants is wilting and crying for help, even after we've poured the water out of the pot -- twice. Had to do the same with one of the thunbergia pots.

Of course, Six Flags got flooded out and had to close down, so I consider myself lucky.

Erosion in the yard is horrible, though. We're going to need to do some serious work to keep the lower half of the yard from being dangerous. Can't walk down there without twisting an ankle, no matter how careful you are, and it's a real hazard for DG when he mows.

I've given up and gone for the Deep Woods OFF to keep the mosquitos away. Problem is, I think they like that, too. They're everywhere, in clouds (no, they're not gnats, the skeeters are that bad), and very very aggressive.

Kitiara ... I love you. Worship the Empress!

I'm settling down with my new copy of Carla Emery's "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" with a big stupid smile and a nice tall glass of tea and mint.

The book is even better than Kit has said, and has that wonderfully aesthetically pleasing paper that makes such a neat noise when you turn pages. Yes, I'm a book geek. But the book ...

My only complaint: it needs wider margins for notes! ;)

Green Arm Indeed

Finally found me a nice Aloe. Considering keeping it inside, only, Sir Ozymandius is the type of monster to physically hurl plants that are in his way out of the window. Need to find a good outdoor spot for it.

Definitely need to take some babies off the hens and chicks and get them potted.

Wandering through WallyWorld's plant department, I stopped and blinked a few times at the potted cannas. First off -- those POOR things. I'd have bought them all if I could, just because seeing cannas in ITTY BITTY 8" pots about gave me a heart attack. Plant Abuse! But what got me was seeing some of the more unusual (read as: expensive) foliage on some of them. The dark bronzes, and the varigateds. Well ...

Yeah, hush. I bought two of them. They were more expensive than buying your generic bagged bulbs, but none of the bags I looked at this spring had foliage like this. And the number of shoots was amazing on the two I got. LOTS of eyeroots for separation this spring. No idea what colour the flowers will be, but the foliage alone is that pretty. Yum!

One immediately got planted into the monster pot where the basil finally gave up and croaked from all the water. (Note to self: trim roots and hang basil to finish drying tomorrow). The other went down by the fence with the Lucifers. Yes, I managed to get both planted today. Go me.

Of course, in the process of planting the one down by the fence, I noticed that two of my Lucifers had been MAULED. I don't know WHAT took them out. No sign of anything cutting them at the stalks, but they were just laying on the ground, limp and pathetic. It's not rot, the soil was so dry (I know, I know, they all got watered immediately) I couldn't get a ball from it even 8" down when I dug the hole. But the others were just fine, so it's not a lack of water. Grrr.

Also found some lovely chrysanthemums (At least, so far I THINK they are, but no site has had a pic of one like this) at Lowe's when I was trying to find a decent hanging basket big enough for my last thunbergia. Finally found a basket, relatively cheap, with a quality coir liner. So I bought two, just in case. Anyway ....

DG ... get this ... DG MADE me buy these mums. He wouldn't let me put them up when I saw how much I was spending (damn fish emulsion ain't cheap). They aren't the painted daisies, but they're a daisy class. Deep red/purple outsides, bleeding to white, with typical centers. Really utterly stunning. I'll get pics tomorrow and see if anyone can help me ID them. Not even my Sunset book helped.

Now the problem is finding a good place with partial afternoon shade and early morning full sun for them to thrive. I know mums usually get full sun, but afternoon sun here is HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Baking sap boiling in the stems hot.

And the house faces north/south, leaving the backyard completely east/west. Full sun pretty much most of the day, except for where landscape (trees, the fence) shades it. There's a spot by the back door that might work (may have to try to move a zinnia to put it there), but I don't know if it'll drain well enough to keep the mums from rotting this winter. Going to try to take a few cuttings from it.

Yes, I finally remembered to get rooting hormone. So the salvia and a few other goodies are going to play the propogation game. Will probably ask for some of the Rose of Sharon from my neighbor, too. Then again, I used to root those by cutting and just sticking in the ground. I'm surprised my parents let me live when all of them sprouted and grew.

Whooo, brain fart. Um.

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Black hole.

OH! Strawberries! Good God. Repeat. A lot.

So, all of them are putting out runners. Lots and lots and LOTS of strawberry runners. (Note to self: Get some of the already rooted runners into new pots. Soon. Immediately. Like, tomorrow. Lazy bitch.)

I have strawberry plants growing IN MY GRASS now, because Cukezilla had them hidden so I couldn't move the runners before they rooted. Yes. I have a lawn of strawberries around the bed. I mean, I know people have used them as ground covers, but that's ridiculous!

Maybe I used a little TOO much compost in that bed.

So, I started out with around 15 strawberry plants this year, in a big 4x4 bed, with a 2x2 center. A pretty good amount of plants for a family of four, even with the bird and slug problems.

Now. Each plant -- every single plant -- has at least 4 runners on it. Each runner usually produces at least 2-3 new plants if they can find soil to root.

I have strawberry plants growing in my lawn. The bed is completely overwhelmed with baby plants. I have no idea where the hell I'm going to put some 50 strawberry plants. I don't even want to think about how many are out there, and there's no way I'm going to try to count.

I do have that new hanging basket, since I bought two, that I didn't have a use for yet. I was thinking about transplanting one of the thunbergia that's in the fence pots into it, but ... ah, I think the strawberries need it more. So, that should take care of 2-3 plants, and will solve the slug problems for at least that pot -- though not the birds.

I should have 2-3 long window-box type planters, and strawberries don't have too terribly deep root systems. Maybe another 8-12 or so plants can go in there. Should probably keep it to no more than 2 or 3 for the shorter ones, though.

May end up having to use them as groundcover, and put them into the flower bed in the front. I don't want to use the 55 gallon barrel halves, since it would be more prudent to put plants with more elaborate root systems in them. Be good for tomatoes and peppers and carrots.

Oh, and I saw some WEIRD bugs on my cowpeas earlier. Got to get pics of these things tomorrow and get them IDd. I mean WEIRD. Not just the usual stinkbugs and ants, but these giant things that looked like Alien/Predator Queen Brood Ants. And they're blooming and producing again! I'd almost given up and gotten ready to pull them.

Fish emulsion to feed, and ... man, I don't know what to do with the skeery bugs. Really long dissection hemostats and a bucket of soapy water or something.

A Pooka's Paradise

I ignored the blighted weakly tomato after moving it from a pot to the ground.

Today I found a tomato on it, and the plant is green again. Hurrah for ignoring it!

I need to remember to not garden when I'm in pain, though. Between my back, the bad flare-up, and twisting my ankle, I wasn't quite delicate enough when working with the green beans. I bought the bamboo arches for stakes to train the vines on, and I snapped one of the vines in the process. Dammit. I'm feeling very badly about this.

The Zucchini That Ate Cincinnati has leaves almost as large as my husband's ego.

Radishes will be pulled up tomorrow. Okra is getting ready to start setting fruit. Squashes look to be blooming soon. Zucchini still dropping all blossoms. Dammit. Grr.

The seeds that Thing 2 and I planted LAST SUNDAY are going wild. The new radishes are almost ready to replace the ones we'll be pulling, though I'm worrying about the heat and actually considering putting them in large leftover plastic pots and keeping them cooler up on the patio. The pots are more than large enough to hold a single radish plant, and I'd have better atmosphere control over them that way.

Green beans planted last Sunday are not only sprouted, but opening leaves. Less than a week. Man, this is just wild.

And once again, EVERY SINGLE SEED SPROUTED! Crap garden soil, and tada.

Still waiting for the Four O'Clocks to sprout.

Need to go work on the wisteria tomorrow and get it set to really start climbing. Fighting whatever those #*$&#*$& vines are nearby is making me crazy. They're trying to crowd out the two rosebushes that still aren't doing anything. I've really considered digging them up and moving them into the backyard where I can keep a better eye on them.

My pumpkins have taken over the weeding job for me. It's so funny! Those curly little pigtail pumpkin vines are wrapping around anything nearby, and are pulling shakier weeds right out of the ground with them.

I'm about to have some very cross words with the mosquitos in my back yard, oh yes. They're AWFUL! Grr, itch itch itch.

Nicotiana now tucked gently in with the Veronica Salvia, Hummingbird pink and a deep deep deep rose to go with the blue-purple Veronica. I moved the large tomato plant away from the Nicotiana and have that flowerbed now bordered by strawberry and zinnia pots.

Blackeyed Susan vines now twining their way up a trellis between my patio and the fence that I can't plant along. Stupid phone company. Anyway, the Susan vines are delicate and lovely, and a Maid of Orleans jasmine that isn't a climber completes the view that direction, set a bit behind it. They're far enough away that we shouldn't have to worry about bees on the porch, and right where the breeze will catch and carry the scent to us.

The trellis is also positioned so that once the vines fill out, we should have a bit of filtered sun on the patio.

Mini-petunias worked into the thinning spots where some of the early ones decided there wasn't enough sun and quit on me. Not my fault, the sun just *vanished* for a good three days and only reappeared after Tornado Watch winds ripped the clouds away. Nice mini that is a varigated salmon colour, and utterly lovely.

Peach Vincas tucked into a spot where hopefully they'll decide to be self-seeders and spread. I grew up with the pinks and whites all in front of the house (though us Suthun folk call em periwinkles), and once they settled in, they STAYED in, and even after my parents finally tried to get rid of them, long after I moved out, they'd still pop up every spring -- and still do, 30 years later.

Picked my strawberry today. (laugh) You try splitting one with everyone in the house.

I'm tired, but it's a good tired. In a way, it makes up for the hellish week I've had.

Being out there among the plants, watching the bees and butterflies (and the blue jay that gets SO riled up when we rake pine needles from under His Personal Tree) and Batman the squirrel and daddy Attila and just listening to the birds and the windchimes can do more for calm serenity than any bottle of antidepressants ever could.

All I need is land to till, fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the seeds of imagination to make the world my own.

Pull up a chair and sit a while.

A Pooka's Panorama

My porch extension is done for now.

DG showed up in time to hand me the last few paver stones. Plastic sheet beneath, a good layer of paving sand, the pavers and natural stone and other odd bricks make it look like it *belongs* there. Dirt atop, and worked into the cracks. Should have room to get Alyssum spilling over the biggest natural stone.

I could use four more to round it out and finish it off, but it's done. I have no skin left on my hands. Knee is skinned, the other bruised. I'm sunburned, of course. I'm exhausted, and I ache. People, I have CONTACTS in. No glasses for the Pooka!

And I'm utterly hopelessly expansively content. Happy. I *love* my yard.

I have small unopened blooms on my pumpkins, squash, and larger open ones on the zucchini. An abundance of tomatoes growing. Haven't really checked much today, work was concentrated on the porch area, so I don't know about the beans, peas, and okra.

The first planting of zinnias now have definite seed heads and will blossom soon. Thinned them out a bit more and tries replanting to see if they'll survive. All of them have so far, so I'm Happy.

I found lady bugs, yes, lady bugs in my garden! And there was much rejoicing, yay.

I have blue jays that chase the crows away and snatch wasps right out of the air. My birds all have feeders and extra goodies to keep them around. The squirrels have already eaten the hanger off one of the seed bells. I don't mind the squirrels at all, and we have enough feeders that it isn't a big deal at all.

... Honey? I'm home.

Butterfly Kisses

The wildlife difference is just astonishing. At the apartment, we'd see sparrows, maybe a few house finches, and occasionally hear doves. And the bugs, always the bugs.

While sitting on the porch last night, I had no less than five different species of birds in the yard around me. We have a score of regulars that have learned we'll happily feed them. The doves are getting braver, as are the robins. The male cardinal sings to me almost every morning when I go outside.

I've never seen blue jays this ... blue. Their colouring is strong and utterly spectacular.

There are two adult squirrels that we see on a regular basis, a male and female. Fiesty and brave. Earlier yesterday, one of them was just going bananas, complaining and fretting and spitting and bitching up a storm for a solid five minutes. Hmm.

About 10 minutes after that, I could see why. A very, very young squirrel, still a little uncertain about his footing, scampered hesitantly along the back fence. He'd stop every so often and cower in fear from the doves that were substantially larger. Watching him try to figure out the fence corner, where tree limbs cross over and make a straight shot difficult, was wonderful.

Left my shoes and chair out in the lawn to go refill my "pesticide" spray bottle (it's amazing how well dishsoap and water repell plant-munching pests), and when I returned, there was a huge fat dove SITTING IN MY SHOE, along with another four right around the chair. Oh yeah, they're REAL scared of me. Not.

It's the butterflies that create the greatest thrill. I don't have an awful lot of butterfly/hummingbird friendly plants yet, but that doesn't seem to slow them down. There's a swimming pool next door, and one behind us, so moisture is always there for the butterflies. My petunias are a particular favourite, along with the tomato plants.

Squinty-eyed Pooka looks over at one of the bright pink petunias, wondering if I've caught one of the leaf munching pests in the act. All I can see is a long strip of green, like a cutworm or so. Grr. Must confront.

Closer, closer still. Then it opened.

Softest lime green, even the body, the butterfly was happily nestling into the heart of the petunia, drinking away. I watched it for the longest time, then reached to pinch off a wilted blossom in the same pot.

The butterfly startled, and rose.

He didn't go far. Pastel greens hovered around my head, then settled instead on the tomato right beside me and began delivering butterfly kisses once more.

Large black ones, easily the side of my hand. Smaller black butterflies with brilliant blue spots. Monarchs. Neon yellows. There is always colour out there now, a vast cry from when we moved in.

Butterfly kisses are always welcome in my yard.

The Waiting Game

48 hours ago, I was willing to write off my attempt to grow cactus from seed as an interesting but failed experiment.

Today, I have one about half an inch high (mixed seed pack, Ali, so I've no idea what they are yet), and four more trying to poke through the soil.

24 hours ago, I was ready to write off my attempts to grow Black-eyed Susans from seed.

Today, I have two tiny shoots, with several more that have yet to unfurl their leaves.

It's all a matter of time. A waiting game of patience that I'm still working on returning to. It's always the waiting that gets to me.

My two smaller Patio tomatoes have surprised me. I have blooms that haven't opened yet. The Husky has another series of blooms, and the one tomato that was there has more than doubled.

The zucchini that was yellowing under the influence of three days of rain ... have the promise of shoots and blooms on every one of them.

I have ... a blackberry bloom! And there was much rejoicing. Yay.

The pumpkins are loving the transplant and have doubled in size. Yellow squash is still a bit puny, but it was the slowest performer of the seeds anyway. Okra and radishes all looking good.

Separated some of the veggie sprouts still in peat pots. Ran out of tilled room for them. I've got another 4 pumpkins and another 3 blackeye peas with no place to put them. Gotta figure something out.

I had to move the brandy snifter sunflower out to the yard. Thing went wild inside and had already outgrown the snifter. Transplanted, and another shoot brought inside to go wild.

I've got to thin zinnias tomorrow, and I'm dreading it. I need potting soil so I can try to save some of them. The Things zinnias have gotten their first true leaves.

Eldest child and I got most of them mulched today. Three days of rain, and full hard sun today, and the soil is already cracking around them. At least the mulch holds in enough moisture to try to counteract the evil Texas sun.

Got a package of Alyssum seeds from Clarinex as an allergy promotional bit. Thought that was damned clever of them. I love the Carpet of Snow, I just have to figure out if I have any bedding space for them once we get the zinnias all straightened out.

Mosquitos. ARGH. Got chomped a few too many times. That will teach me to go outside without the OFF sunscreen/bug repellent combo. Ugh, I itch.

Not too shabby of a day after having a couple of biopsies done.

Chirp. Chirp. BANG

Birds. Lots of birds. Chirp chirp twitter. Open eye. Look at clock.

Oh, why not. Stagger into semi-consciousness, guzzle caffeine, outside around 9 am. It was substantially cooler than inside the house, so it was comfortable to work in the yard for all of two hours. That's all it took to get miserably warm. I was back inside by around 11:15.

I truly am one giant freckle now.

Good News: At least two of the ant beds by the porch are just sugar ants or a family-similar harmless ant. How do I know? I felt a tickle. I looked down. My entire left calf was covered in ants, as well as my foot and shoe. Hmm. Ants. Nothing HURT. So I pissed em off and washed the whole squirming mess off with the water hose. Never took a single bite, and ants LOVE biting me.

Zucchini has now been transplanted into the garden. Yay! That left me the huge pot they were in (big enough to stuff a kid in) to transplant my largest tomato. Smaller two have now also been split into two pots.

It's amazing what another day can bring.

All of my seeds started in the last week and a half have now started to break through the ground except for my Black-eyed Susans, which have a longer germination period. Almost all of the others came up at the low end of the expected germination.

I now have: pumpkin seedlings, blackeye pea seedlings, tomato plants, radishes, green beans, okra, yellow squash, strawberries, and zucchini. One tomato plant has blooms, at least two of the zucchini look to bloom soon, and I think the strawberries have set enough to start blooming again. I pinched off all of the first blooms on them.

Blackberries aren't looking so great, and I'm not sure why. They grow like mad in the wild, but they just don't seem to like where they are. Time to do some intensive work on them. I need to get out there and trim off the sections that the hail destroyed. I do have some new shoots, so I'll just cross my fingers.

I've got a milk jug that's almost ready to be emptied so I can mix the Miracle Gro for my roses. Hopefully that will convince them to bud so I can figure out what they are.

Zinnias are all going crazy, as are the sunflowers and the tubby rat inside my shirt that's talking up a storm and giving me a bath. I think Oracle wants to go outside. (She did, and not only made the full yard inspection with me, but chattered and discussed it, too.)

The cardinals and mockingbirds are taunting me. They'll get right up close, but only if I don't have my camera.

Was thinking about the flagstone thing. We might be able to do a temporary fix, if I can get DG to help me with the heavy stuff.

There's a VERY large stone in the ground near the arbor. He's going to look at me like I'm insane. We also have a lot of flat, rectangular concrete slabs that were probably used at some time as stepping stones. Haven't collected all of them yet, so the Things and I need to go on a hunt. We DID find some concrete edging for the flower bed (tossed against the fence in the side yard, I mean, what???) that we also need to move.

It's starting to sound like I need a wheelbarrow big time. We have a wagon for the Things, but it will only hold so much.

My back, my left elbow, and my right knee are giving me fits. Despite the Vioxx, I'm back to using the cane today. I need to get some food in my stomach so I can take an aspirin or two to fight it. If I can get the breast reduction, the force placed on the arthritic knee won't be so bad.

I still have no voice. Cracked, gravelly whisper. I'm starting to get used to it. It's been at least two weeks now. I think I've fought it past the danger point of pneumonia, but I don't know how far I am into the clear, and I still gurgle when I try to breathe too deeply.

Are we having fun yet?

Hurry up and GROW!

Have you ever just stopped and *looked* at newly sprouted plants?

Radishes are heartbreakingly lovely, leaves puffed out to the sides like green butterfly wings. They always make me giggle for some reason, as though I'm also enjoying their stretching into new life.

Sunflowers, elongated and strong, always reach for the light (I have one sprout in a glass brandy snifter in the kitchen window that I can turn away from the light three times a day and still find it turned with its face back towards the sun).

Okra gives no sign as to what its future shape will be, leaves sitting round and fat and full. You can hardly believe that such circular elegance will eventually evolve into spiny pointed beasts. But mmm, they taste good. Gumbo, anyone?

Green beans are the testosterone of the patch, always overachieving with even the first breaking of the ground. It's never happy for a single leaf juncture, no, it demands attention with tiered leaves.

I like to play the guessing game with my plants. I rarely put markers on sprout pots and just wait for them to bless me with the happy identification. The Gardener's Maternity Room, I suppose. Is it a girl? Is it a boy? No, it's PUMPKIN!

The waiting is always the worst part for me. I like the weeding and the digging and the pruning and picking and cooking and all the clean up work involved. The in-between planting and picking is what gets to me.

I just hate waiting for them to pop up and say "Hello, I'm here!" And then you have to wait for them to grow grow grow so they'll produce food and seed. Drives me bananas. I'm normally a relatively mellow person, but I lack the serenity of patience.

I want my garden, and I want it NOW.

It was getting to me a bit on Wednesday. I had survived my neurology and MRI appointments, and wanted to DO. Unfortunately, we weren't all on the same page and it's a very long book. I awakened somewhat grumpy, and wandered out for my first morning sunshine. Quite often I do it before anything else (and oh, the joys of a privacy fence so that I don't have to get dressed to do it!), and it has become a necessary part of my daily routine to just pause and sit and listen to the world and watch what happens around me. With my health, I need all the serenity I can absorb.

With grumpiness in charge, I went for my dandelion break. And stopped.

Peeking out of Thing 1's pot ... leaves! A sprout! Jubilation! No ... TWO! We have TWO! And Thing 2's flowerpot! Oh, LOOK! Another sprout here, and here, and .....

Giddy. I went from grumpy to bouncing. Look! Growth! Green things! My vocabulary went straight to an elementary education level as I giggled. Babies, and new sprouts/flowers. Get me every time.

Note to self: Beg, buy, borrow or steal the means to enroll in Tai Chi classes.

This morning, I awakened feeling a little better, at least until I moved. Arthritis was acting up, and several joints utterly refused to get with the program. Grumpy moves back in. Limped carefully outside.

I walked into a whole new world of green.

Both of the kids' pots are covered with sweet little green zinnia leaves. ALL of the radish pots have little green butterflies coating the surface. Okra! Hey, that's squash! And a pumpkin sprout!

Omigod, is that a tiny blossom starting on the zucchini? And on one of the strawberries?

I hurt too much to truly do anything extensive, but I reveled in the new life outside while staunchly avoiding the news. Sometimes you can only take so much.

A shopping trip set us up with humus, manure (and hours of fun with the kids over the "You're buying COW POOP? EWWW!), and a bag of Magic Earth on recommendation. I peeked at the label, perked up, and said what the hell. They'll all get mixed into the tilled soil for the garden plots to help break up some of the really odd soil, and help raise the beds. A new tomato plant, a different type from the others and once again I looked a fool with my face buried in the leaves.

Now ... hurry up and GROW!

SNAKE!

We found our first snake!

I'm almost giddy, really. DG and I were setting out the parameters for the garden plots, and he went to move a concrete slab that was in the way. The snake was under it.

Gloves on, I went to try to catch him so he wouldn't be in the way and get chopped up by the tiller, but I was afraid of hurting him so I didn't really make a grab before he darted off down into a deeper hole safely on the other side of the fence. Unfortunately, he made his escape before the Things could really see him.

Greenish-grey, more grey really, and a little smaller in diameter than my pinky. Never saw his head. Not really sure what kind of snake he was, but we finally saw one of them. No other colouration or markings, very subtle smooth scales.

Snake. *silly grin*



We also found our second, third, and fourth snakes. One tiny tiny, one medium tiny, one medium, compared to the larger (by proportion) first snake. Only got pictures of snake 3, the others were too quick.



Rough earth snakes, colubrids (ooo, me was right), that get aroud 13" or so and eat earthworms and slugs. They can have the slugs, lemme tell ya.

They're not only delightfully harmless, but very very mellow snakes.

Stars and candles and growing things

An oddity about me that is currently relevant: I usually garden barefoot. I *like* getting dirty, I like feeling the soil and smelling it. I like the sweating and the work.

I do NOT, however, like ... STEPPING ON A THISTLE. I got lucky, I only caught it with my big toe, but mother of mercy, that STINGS. Ow. Ow ow. More Roundup to be used liberally tomorrow. I hoestly can't believe how anyone could let a lawn get this bad. The yard is a fabulous size, and the idea of being unable to freely move through it is just mind-boggling. Half the attraction of this house is the size of the yard. I *NEED* to go barefoot in my yard. NEED it.

Earth mother. Hedgewitch. Tree-hugging dandelion sniffer. Oh, I've heard them all at some time or another. ;) I think it's funny, because it's all somewhat desperately true. There are few times and places where I'm happier than just being out in the fresh air, covered in dirt and making things grow.

No place closer to heaven than having the heavy earthy thick scent of tomato plants. Tomatoes are all right, I like them, but don't really NEED them or seriously crave them. The plants, however ... the vines. God speaks from them, I tell ya. I picked up two patio tomato plants today, and could hardly keep my nose out of them. Memory lane. That smell was a part of my childhood, watching my grandfather and his wonderful garden. Just brushing past the tomato plants released that smell, and it can bring tears to my eyes if I'm a bit sensitive at the time.

My green thumb came through him. Another oddity, considering there is no shared DNA. I'm adopted, and yet, some of my strongest personality traits have come through association with him. Poppie. He's been Poppie for longer than I can remember. Fields of heavy red and purple poppies along the fence of his yard, brilliant and gently fragrant. Roses of every colour and variety, the sweet tiny tufts of antique tea roses, climbers, and showy masterpieces. Pansies, petunias, lilies, flowers I can no longer even begin to name. I learned plant ID from this man. I learned to identify flowers, weeds, noxious things to avoid, the shapes of certain bird species, and the names of the birds themselves. This man has forgotten more about the world around us than most modern children will ever be able to learn.

When we lived in Washington, I didn't do much with vegetables. Strawberries mostly, but zinnias everywhere, marigolds, roses. Huge fragrant lilacs that filled my house as well as my yard when they bloomed. The scent of the lilacs lingered for a wonderfully long time when cut. My babies.

The military moved us back to Texas, and that put us in range of Wonder Man again. As we went down to Houston for the obligatory family adore the children visit, I carefully went through his yard with him at my side, picking choice stems from rosebushes to cut and root. Not a one died.

Moving here, to an apartment, killed me in a way. I was out of touch, there was nothing to help ground me, nothing to soothe.

I have a confession to make: I love weeding. I really do. Yes, it's mindless and tedious, but it's something that Always Needs To Be Done. Gently easing the weeds from around tender sprouts and watching the sprouts cheerfully grow stronger is a wonderful feeling. Doing something so basic and easy is intensely calming for me. I don't have to worry as much about fighting my body, and the distraction manages to ease the pain, at least for a little while.

Okra itches. So does crookneck squash. The spines scratch and sting. I know that feeling intimately, having wandered through the garden in search of ripe vegetables that my grandmother would promptly cook for us. And I don't mind it at all. I've an obsession for yellow squash to this day, cooked the way she did it: onion, sliced squash, cracked black pepper, butter ... and a touch of sugar. I'm drooling again, darnit.

But the garden is no longer there.

Age is catching up with the man who once caught me as I leapt from the top of a persimmon tree, convinced that I could fly. Age has taken away the man that carried me through woody fields on his back, picking The Perfect Blackberry as I pointed them out quite imperiously from his shoulders. A series of strokes have crippled the Superman of my childhood, the man who, when told by my mother not to let us go in the lake, casually turned aside as we "accidentally fell in."

It's hard to visit now. So hard to see Poppie unable to do the things he loves so much. His mind is still sharp as a whip, but his body has betrayed him. Another thing we hold in common. We raced with our canes one afternoon while visiting my aunt. He won. Go figure. Our bodies are fighting us, but for the first time in my life, I see something beating him. It hurts, oh God it hurts to see him like that. He has had to hire someone to even mow the lawn.

With our new house, I pick up the torch.

My children will learn, as I had learned. They'll absorb the appreciation for life and growing things, and learn which plants you can eat, which can hurt you, which ones need to be pulled. They'll learn how to prepare the soil, how to plant, how to pick and the joy of taking food you have grown yourself into the house and having it for dinner.

I miss him. I miss the man he was, and still deeply love the man he is. My children never knew him before age took its toll, but they already know that Poppie is the man that taught Mama to ease the seeds into the ground and coax food out of them.

Poppie, thank you.

Green Thumbs and Red Pookas

All three packets of zinnias are coming up nicely, sweet little heart-shaped leaves reaching for the light. Another few days, and I should be able to start thinning them out some. I hate that part of gardening, though. I always want to try and save every little sprout, even when I know they have to be thinned to grow well. I may see if I can't pull a pixelpusher and do some creative potting and have bunches sitting on the porch itself.

... do you have ANY idea how #@*$&#!* fast birdseed sprouts? ARGH! I'm fighting it all over the flower bed. I may end up just hoeing off areas and replacing with bagged garden soil to try to control the rampant sprouting.

I have to admit, though, that there is one nice thing about the birdseed. The sunflower seeds that were in it are also sprouting very well. The ones I tried to start just don't seem to want to take, but those are going wild. Trimmed out some of the best and have them in small starter pots to move when we get the next section of garden along the fence dug up and ready.

The roses that were here when we moved in are rather sad. I don't know if they've ever bloomed or been trimmed. I DID find my rose Miracle Gro though, so hopefully I can spark them into brilliantly fragrant life. I don't even know what colour they are.

I swear to God, the weedier grasses in the yard grew three inches since this morning. We've been talking to the landlord about our attempts to reclaim the yard, so maybe we'll get some help.

Most of the trees in the back need some serious pruning. Lots of dead branches. Then there's the hard thatch in the grass (oh, thank you SO much, stupid root grubs) that's going to need to be cleared out, the lawn reseeded, serious weed n feed time, and always the thistles.

The blackberries really took a battering with the hail. More thunderstorms on the way so I'm a little worried about them. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll take. Mmm, blackberry wine next summer ....

After Sorcha, TMF, and Roomie took off early this afternoon, I hauled myself back out into the glories of my backyard.

Deviation: I missed this. I really, really missed this. My hands are an absolute disaster. You can totally write off my right thumb and index finger, the nail bed is just gone and there are heavy tears, new calluses, and blisters. I'm still getting over my sunburn which friggin itches like MAD. Yes, I am a giant freckle now. I don't know if the dirt will ever come out from beneath the few fingernails I have left.

And good Lord, I'm happy. I caught myself HUMMING of all things while I was out there this afternoon. I'm sure I looked like a total fool, sprawled out on my porch, dirt all over it, me, and the assortment of pots, sweaty and muddy and generally a human disaster area. I feel more centered again.

We desperately need to get our hands on a tiller so I can get the rest of the actual garden started. I've got the zucchini in a huge pot right now, but it's not going to last long. Another week or two tops. Gotta get the ground broken, dammit. Since we're running so slow right now, without a truck to transport the tools, I went ahead and started a lot of the seeds in leftover plastic pots from other plants already in the ground. Beans, yellow squash, okra. Then the zucchini.

Had to replant most of my strawberries today, too. The little pot I had them in was already overwhelmed. I thinned them out and put 2/3 into a much larger pot, leaving the one that had been in the top (a small version of a strawberry jar) in place.

Bluebonnets didn't make it. After that hailstorm, and since they tend to be picky and delicate, I knew they didn't have much of a chance. I think we'll try to seed start a bunch of them for next year so we don't have to worry about transplanting like that.

One of the wisteria is doing quite nicely, the other is just thinking about it. Time to fertilize both of them, and the azaleas as well. I knew I should have picked up more than two. Ah well.

I'm starting to think that the front yard is next to hopeless unless we go out and actually buy cut sod to try to salvage it. Man, that's a mess.

And of course, the fire ants. So far, no one has been bitten, but it's only a matter of time. Got to get stuff and get them the hell out of my yard.

June bugs everywhere last night. Harley was going totally nuts over them. Then again, the poor kitten has been having issues the last few days anyway. She is a *serious* talker now, and man, she's loud when she has something to complain about. Silly kitty.

Note: Things 2 & 1 do NOT like june bugs one bit, no sir. Total girly freaking out.

The Discovery Zone

Was outside by noonish yesterday. Didn't make it back inside the house until it got dark and the severe storms started rolling in.

I am sunburned. Ow. Pooka is no longer purple, she's scarlet.

BUT ... I have reclaimed the flower bed along the back of the house. Think jungle. Think overgrown for at least three or four years. Think doing 2-3 feet and having to stop and take a break. Think that this is a task of herculean proportions.

My gloves, which were brand new, need to be replaced. At least three of the fingertips are completely gone after all that work.

Both azaleas are in the ground now. DG actually managed to find me blackberries in gallon tubs, so they're already semi-started and a lot better than just the canes we found. Four blackberries in the ground.

FOUND:

-- one very angry centipede
-- twelve pieces of broken red crayon
-- eight decent-sized pieces of shed snake skin
-- dozen or so small worms
-- five big fat earthworms
-- more #*$#& root grubs than I've ever seen in one place
-- egg sacs and egg cases to things I couldn't even identify
-- one poorly-buried phone cable (ahem, DG) that for some reason still works
-- big ole spider that scared Thing 1 absolutely witless

FOUND OUT:

-- despite "help," I got five times the work done when they went away
-- DG won't do garden work without scowling and glaring
-- if you give one child a job, the other will automatically scream "I wanted to do that!"
-- the job will never be completed anyway
-- getting all dirty and blistered and sunburned again feels GOOD

The bluebonnets are seriously wilting. Don't know if they'll make it now, but that wasn't our fault.

Last night, after Roy had come back with DG to do a porch cookout, storms rolled -- no, thundered -- into North Texas. "Super cell" they were calling it -- at least until it split into three storms of equal ferocity.

Pea sized to golfball sized hail with cell one. Heavy wind. Huge sheets of rain. Under that kind of pressure, only a few areas of the backyard really even attempted to flood. I feel sorry for the houses further down the hill though.

Second round brought a lot more hail, enough to turn the grass in the backyard white, and hard fast rain, even though the hail was smaller.

Third somewhat fizzled with mostly thunder and lighting and more rain.

Wisteria and azaleas made it through fine. Not a lot of hope for the bluebonnets now. My poor blackberries took some leaf damage, but the main plant seems fine.

We were lucky. Areas a bit to the south had severe high winds, lots of reports of funnel and wall clouds, and a half dozen or so unconfirmed reports of tornados spotted. Much roof damage, downed power lines, broken trees, car damage, the works. We dodged it. This time. It's spring in NorTex, man. Though really, you never get used to it.

Roy ended up spending the night because of the weather.

Around 10:30 this morning (and looking like a freckled strawberry), I was back outside to finish off the flower bed. Final weeding, mixing in of some good garden soil, breaking up dirt clods, etc.

Remembered the sunscreen this time. Hah!

Got three packages of zinnias seeded in the ground. Lilliputs, dahlia blend, and giant fantasies, yes, seeded in height order.

Sludged for a while on the porch with Roy till DG finally crawled back into the world of the living. Things went screaming through with water guns, and ...

... Roy offered Thing 2 a dollar if she'd squirt DG, who was still scowling and surly. I've trained my mercenary child well. She did it.

The snarling and growling and swearing didn't last long. Neither did the dry state of anyone's clothing. We've got staggered sizes of SuperSoakers, but Roy was the real fiend, as he turned the hose on. After a while, the three adults (snicker) were the only ones left in the backyard, and all of us completely drenched.

Tell ya, that water felt pretty damn good.

Another fireup of the grill for dinner, then DG took Roy home while I cleaned up after the mess. Got all three boxes unpacked and out of the kitchen (HAH! One intended goal for the weekend complete, take that!), well, except for the trash box that needs to go out now. Dishwasher unloaded and reloaded, box contents put away.

Even found time in there somewhere to do a couple more poses for a Poser package Burningham is going to be uploading to the market soon.

SO .....

... what did YOU do this weekend?

Sunset on the New House

I am gloriously, amazingly, disgustingly FILTHY! Hallelujia! I SO missed having a yard. Utter contentment.

I've got two purple wisteria in the ground to twine up over the arbor. DG found some very odd windchimes that sound absolutely lovely (they look like pan pipes), so they're now up in the middle of the arbor.



The two rosebushes in the bed next to it have been weeded, but still no buds yet. Need to get some mulch in there to help control the weeds. Saw an utterly stunning peach rose bush, but didn't cave since it wasn't cheap. Need to get some artwork sold, fast.

Have some weird climbers that I need to make pics of and see if anyone can help me ID them. Might yank them up anyway. Asked the neighbors along the back fence if they minded honeysuckle back there, since they tend to grow wherever the hell they want to. No problems with em, so now I just need to get the vines.

The dead jungle-y tree by the front door has been removed. Ivy needs to be trimmed back still.

One azalea in the front yard, a second in the back that needs to be put in the ground tomorrow. Might go back and get one or two more, because the corner I'm using in the back for them looks just gorgeous against the house.

Thing 1 brought home a bluebonnet plant, courtesy of the school garden and their nifty science teacher. Bluebonnets are now in the ground. The redbud she brought home last year for Arbor Day is now in the ground out of its pot, and going bananas. Happy tree.

Grass seed purchased to try to reclaim the front yard. The people here last ... well, let's just say they had black thumbs. Still need to continue thistle extermination. God, they're everywhere.

Seed purchased for beans, squash, zuchinni, and pumpkins so far. Going to take a lot of work to get the ground ready for them. Got a package of sunflowers, several zinnia varieties, and I've now totally forgotten everything else.

Oh man, I HURT, but it's The Good Hurt. I'm worn out, dirty, sweaty, and utterly content.