Gardening
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The Future Gardener
It’s official, we’ve let the toddler loose in the garden! Ok, well, not without some heavy oversight! “No, don’t pull the garlic.” “Mom, how about these radishes?” “Yes, those probably need to be pulled, but just pick the leaves for now.” -Me “Ooh, this dirt-mulch is fun! I wonder what it tastes like?” “These marigolds are past their prime, Mom!” “Kaaalllleee.” “Hey, the pediatrician had these in her office the other day! I know, these can go in my mouth!”
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Compost Bin Update
When we installed the compost bin in early 2013 we knew that because we were using natural, untreated materials that we would eventually face rotting and need to come up with a different design. The compost bin is sill functioning but it is definitely in a state of slow decomposition. We’re going to have to come up with another game plan in another year or so. Here’s a chronicle of the pile over the last three years, with related posts near the bottom. Pre-compost pile, October 2012 January 2013 August 2013 November 2013 December 2015 Relevant Posts: The Future Compost Pile Compost Bin Complete Compost Bin Update
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Soul Gardening
Last Friday was our work Christmas party and we were able to go home a few hours early after the festivities. Chris was out of town in southern Louisiana for work, a four day trip that turned into 12 days. The weather was unseasonably warm, low 80s, and so I opted to take advantage of a few hours of solo time in the garden while Forest was still in daycare. It was glorious to get some uninterrupted gardening time in but I still felt pressed for time, not accomplishing the amount of tasks I would have normally been able to handle pre-kid. It was ok, though, I weeded half of…
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Late November Gardening
The weeks just slip on by, don’t they? And the garden still needs to be cleaned up to head into winter. I have no idea when this will happen. Short of digging out Chris’ monster fishing/work light to work in the dark in the evenings, it will probably be after Christmas until we formally hit the yard for cleanup. The butterfly ginger, above, needs to be trimmed back as a few of the stalks have gotten a little unwieldy. But, they are still blooming despite mid 30’s temperatures in the mornings. The woodland painted petals, Anomatheca laxa, are coming back again for a third round in the garden. This has…
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Introducing The Garden Path Podcast
Back in October I began flirting around with the idea of starting a podcast. The problem was that I had no idea how to even go about it! A little bit of reading online and an audio program download later, I was on my way to starting a podcast. I knew I wanted to start a gardening podcast because it seems like all of the ones I used to listen to have fallen by the wayside. I may not be an expert in gardening but most gardeners are not experts, just life long learners. So here I am, debuting this little podcast of mine. My goal with it is to…
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Fall in the Gardens at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
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Scenes from the Trails at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
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Monarch Migration at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center
It’s hard to see just how many monarch butterflies were hanging out on this group of mist flower a few weekends ago, but there was quite a grouping of them. I’m sure you’ve heard the plight of the monarchs right now with habitat loss and climate issues affecting their migration. It seems that this year the migration stayed to the west of its usual path here in Texas. We typically don’t see a whole lot of monarchs in our area either. I have plans to start some milkweed this winter to some patches established in the yard and garden. Maybe we’ll attract some in coming year?!
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Some Garden Blooms | Wordless Wednesday
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Planting Cypress Trees
Chris has been working on the shoreline of the pond in front of our house lately. Elephant ears have taken over the shoreline in many areas of the pond, particularly where people aren’t maintaining the shoreline as much. We tend to keep our shoreline wilder than many others but that has meant letting the elephant ears get out of control. A year and a half ago Chris worked on knocking them back on the south side of the pond but the north side remained. That area has since gotten overgrown with elephant ears and they have choked out some of the other plants we’ve put down at the shoreline. Chris…