Aw Beans!

Everything is doing well. The corn has taken off, the beans have taken off, the tomatoes look great (I'm going to say it's because of the beans, though there's no proof of that). The only things not taking off are the cantaloupes, watermelons and peppers.

It's been cool weather (for Austin--which means that it's like in the 70s and low 80s). It's been cloudy (awesome, this cuts down on the watering I have to do).

The wildflowers are going crazy, though it's still the same two types of wildflowers we had last year, and for the most part they're growing in the same spot they did last year which gets afternoon shade, and dappled sun...which is weird considering that the flowers are supposed to want full sun. The flowers planted in the front berm are doing well. That area does get full sun. In fact, I don't think I've seen the pink stuff ever do so well (in all of the 1 other year the stuff was planted).

The back garden has finally started growing--today I noticed some cantaloupes, a watermelon plant and the basil finally started coming up. No beans though. I think they always get eaten. I had to cut the flower stalk off of the parsley already. There are 4 individual plants in the back garden and today I noticed that some seeds had managed to get out to the front berm too as there are 3 small parsleys around the purple lantana plant. We planted two last year, right before the freeze and we didn't think either plant would make it. They both pulled through, though one ended up dying because the pink wildflowers grew too quickly and blocked the sunlight to it.

The blue columbine is flowering again, but the red one has no new buds on it. The "purple plant" back there hasn't had flowers since I planted it last year. The hosta is starting to actually grow. Keep in mind that this part of the garden gets no direct sun. Ever. Of course, after the big tree dies it will get full sun (please don't die big tree!).

I'm looking to buy some stepping stone things to put through the back garden. This is because I hate walking through the dirt or walking through the rocks to get to the composter.

Friday the 13th

Hopefully the horrible storm stays to the north of us. but aside from that:

The columbines and hosta are doing well.

in the front yard: Shawn ended up watering the plants one day because I am lazy and don't pay attention to such things as plants (what do you mean they don't take care of themselves?)

The tomatoes don't look so good...the peppers are doing alright...corn and beans are coming up, as well as a few cantaloupes/watermelons (I'm not sure which because I do not pay attention to such things as WHERE I plant seeds, only that I have planted seeds).

April 7th

Last soft freeze of the season. We set new records for lows. Damn, I knew I should have gone off the calendar at work--it told me that April 9th is the latest freeze that Austin has ever had. EVER. Meh, it looks like the plants survived in any case...it probably just delayed the germination of the seeds. Though it looks like there may be some corn coming up already.

Gardenin' 2007

Bought the stuff for and planted the garden today. That was fun.

2 columbine plants (one red, one blue)
1 hosta plant (Francee--that's what the tag says anyhow)
6 cayenne pepper plants
6 roma tomato plants
packet of corn seeds
packet of lima bean seeds
packet of watermelon seeds
packet of basil seeds
packet of cantaloupe seeds

the columbines and hosta went in the "shade" garden, aka the upper garden
the watermelon and cantaloupe seeds went in the sun garden, aka the lower garden
the basil seeds went in the sun garden
the corn, bean, and some more watermelon went in the front yard garden
the pepper and tomatoes also went in the front garden

Shawn thinks we should have split up the plants a little better--you know, 2 pepper plants in the backyard, 4 in the front, 3 tomato plants in the back, 3 in the front, etc. However, I'm lazy and he's not helping, thus they go where I want them. besides, it's looking like the back yard sun garden is starting to turn into the unofficial herb garden--some of the parsley from last year came back and so it's got a huge area taken up already. I think I'm going to have rolly-pollie problems though (I swear they're the ones that keep eating my lima bean seeds) so I'm gonna have to do something about that...

I retract my previous statement

On Friday evening I realized my error in my tree guessing. That is, I didn't bother going to the local nurseries (aka Home Depot--and this is just a guess as to where the previous owners got the trees...this is mostly because everything else in this house is from Home Depot).

Anyhoo, on Friday, I went to the Walmart to get some cake decorating things, and I decided to take a gander at the various trees in stock. This is when I decided that it's more than likely that the tree in the front yard is not a Hawthorn, but a Bradford Flowering Pear Tree. Likewise the other tree in the front yard is a Shumard Red Oak.

Also, Ross told me that the Home Depot has Improved Meyer's Lemon trees (update: The Home Depot is out of them--they still have satsuma mandarins and some funny lemon) as well as Columbines which oddly (or not so oddly) grow in the shade down here. So, we'll plant some of them in our shade garden and see how they do--I just really don't want to plant Hosta all over in the back corner.

One Tree Down...

So, one of the trees in the front yard started blooming this week. It appears to be some sort of hawthorn tree (Texas Hawthorn, Green Hawthorn, or Reverchon...probably, I think...maybe).

What I want to plant this year

So, I think in the front yard I shall plant some Texas Sage, Texas Lantana, and possibly a Texas Mountain Laurel tree...are we seeing the theme here? That's right, TEXAS PLANTS. Maybe now the damn things won't all die.

But then, the wildflowers we "planted" haven't necessarily been doing well...but then, they also were about the only things to last all summer without water. Thus, I gotta say that I like them, even if only a few came up, at least they reseeded themselves and the seedlings survived the freezes.