It was a gardening weekend here at the homestead. Friday evening we went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center members’ night of the plant sale. I got plants for a new bed in the front yard: red columbine, Turk’s cap, damianita, bee brush, blackfoot daisy, Gregg’s dalea, Texas lantana, American beautyberry, and red yucca. I supplemented these with a trip to Shoal Creek nursery on Sunday, where I picked up four pink skullcaps and a coral honeysuckle. There is already a bed in the front yard, and it has a ton of some kind of iris in it. If the iris can survive the summer on my watering regimen (i.e. once in a blue moon), it’s free to stay. It’s a shady bed and it’s where the shade-lovers in the list are going. I’m digging a new bed around the three mountain laurels I planted in the front yard. It’s going to be an experiment– my plan is to dig the bed, add as much Natural Gardener Native Texas soil as I can fit in my car, put an edging around it, plant the plants, and mulch with decomposed granite. Eventually I would like most of the front yard to look like that, but I am trying just a little slice to start with. In Fall I will likely try to solarize a larger chunk of the yard for the same purpose. I’m skipping that step now, and I’m sure I’ll regret it.
BT spent the weekend in the vegetable garden, double-digging it. It was a lot of work, but it looks great. We planted zucchini, tomatoes, basil, and a ton of peppers. Here is the master at work
We also still have the huge artichoke plant, a ton of parsley, and some onions and lettuce growing in there.
I planted the honeysuckle in the backyard, and there is a crossvine growing on the fence by the dog window. I’m hoping the hummingbirds find them!
The dogs also enjoyed the weekend outside in the yard with BT. Pepper even got to take a bike ride with me on Sunday, on his way home from the groomer! He actually seemed to like it quite a bit. Sweetpea has been behaving very well and not chewing her stitches, so she got to spend the days without her cone on. Not that she seems to mind it.
Your veggie garden looks big enough to plant a nice variety but not so big that it’ll be a huge chore to take care of. Your trip to the Natural Gardener sounds like a fun one, and you got some great plants. Happy digging!
And by the way, thanks for faving my blog over at Blotanical!
That is a very nice size veggie garden you have going. Good luck on your harvest. I found you on blotanical. Keep up the good work!
I’m so proud of this website. Maybe it’s because I love the blogmeisters. BT comes from a long line of greenthumbers. His father, grandfather and grandmother (from the other side) could almost put a bare stick in the ground and make it grow. I, on the other hand, sing and do cross stitch. Blessings to all gardeners everywhere and especially to my two special friends.