Gardening - Just Do It

Clean your house, people!  It costs nothing.  - Nate Berkus

This is exactly how I feel about gardening tasks - but the bonus is you get to do it outside!    Some people act intimidated by gardening, insisting that they have a 'brown thumb'.   In reality, much of gardening is simply tidying up.

Whether your garden is large or small or simply a couple of pots of herbs, its fun to work alone or with a pal.   I regularly put my guests to "work" outside.   They have a definite preference for any plant that is blooming, is edible, or that has butterflies flitting around it.    Well, any of those or anything involving power tools.

 There are some wonderful gadgets to help you in your tasks.   This electric chipper/shredder is easy, safe, and inexpensive.  This one cost about $100 and we've used it for 3 years now.   It chips up much of the trimming that we do around here.    A bonus is the green humus that can either be composted or added to your planting beds as mulch.  

As you consider any spring cleaning you plan to do, don't get stuck inside during beautiful spring days.   Water, trim, tidy things up - and before you know it, you're "gardening"!

Shade Garden Updates

Although the bright morning sun has washed out the detail of the these white 'Candidum' Caladiums, in person they are stunning. As a bonus, they were planted last spring and have graced us with a second year of beauty. I think this little vignette has all the layers needed for interest. The trees overhead aren't visible in this shot but their canopy offers a nice "frame" for the scene. The shrubs, Firebush, Hamelia patens, are a serene backdrop for the statuary and annual plantings in the tiny circular bed. Around the time the caladiums melt in our summer heat, the Firebush grab the attention with their red and orange blooms. They love, love, love our heat!


I am excited to see that all the Yaupon Hollies, Ilex vomitoria, have bloomed heavily this spring. Planted in 2005, they are yet to produce one single red berry! Yaupon Hollies are dioecious, which means some bloom with male flowers and some bloom with female flowers. In other words, you need a male and a female in order to get berries. However, these were labeled 'Pride of Houston', which are supposed to be self-pollinating. One nurseryman, Al, suggested that I plant more Yaupons (I already have 5) - of any variety. So just upwind of these, there is now a border of 7 or 9 Dwarf Yaupons.

In the meantime, I am checking the plants for berries- and have found a few very tiny green ones where the flowers were. I'm holding my breath, but I have hope for red berries at Christmas time!

This is my "Lasagna Garden Bed" one year later. Even though it is the middle of the "Shade Garden", there is ample afternoon sun to grow a healthy crop of Cosmos. The bed is bordered with Dusty Miller, Senecio cenerario, which was planted last August. A couple of the plants didnt' survive the winter and their replacements haven't filled back in yet. Plus, I trimmed them all back by about 1/2 in April. Don't you love their silver color? Such a nice contrast to everything else. The everything else (whether you can see it or not) includes Cat's Whiskers, Orthosiphon aristatussome, some fat-fronded Ferns, and Coleus. All the hummingbirds are hanging out on this side of the house this year. I haven't come up with a plan for this area yet - so these free and nearly free items are serving me well.

Time for Planting

Late February through early March is time to plant a summer vegetable garden in the deep south Texas. We have a few carry-overs in our garden - like the tomatoes that went in last October. In spite of the neglect they received, there are some plum-sized fruits on a couple of plants. Asparagus is being harvested every other day - and hopefully we'll continue this for a couple of months. The asparagus roots were planted in March of 2006. Maintenance consists of spreading an inch or so of compost over the bed each spring, keeping the bed free of weeds, and watering.

My little assistant took over this year's planting. Here are Kentucky Wonder pole beans - after she puts the seed in she gives the dirt a nice pat to help make good contact between the seed and the dirt. She also planted mounds of squash - both yellow crookneck and zucchini. But she'll tell you they're all "blue" squash - since that was the color of the seeds.

Finally, a nice drink of water for everything in the garden. Once the seeds have sprouted, we'll "mulch" the bare dirt with hay. That'll help keep weed seeds from sprouting and tills nicely into the soil at the end of the growing season.

If you have herbs hanging on from last year, you may want to give them a nice haircut. My basils, tarragon, parsleys, and mints have responded well to heavy trimming. Cilantro is trying to go to seed - and the dill has self-seeded in all the empty garden beds. The dill can stay for a little while longer - just until we're ready to plant the black-eyed peas and okra.

This is the first year that we made enough compost for a generous application in all the vegetable beds! I hope you're composting, too!

Recycling Storm Debris

Doesn't the word "debris" sound so much nicer than "garbage"? No matter what you call it, the amount of debris, garbage, trash, or crap laying around after a storm can be mind-boggling. And sometimes through no fault of their own, it takes months for our towns and counties to pick up the trash stacked on the side of the roads. A friend came up with a novel use for the boards from his fence that blew down in Hurrican Dolly - a compost bin! He said when he was looking at homemade bins online, the wood looked like the boards stacked in his alley. Walt turned his into a nifty 4 foot compost bin! Walt had already constructed the two sides with the slatted boards. It's pretty nifty how the angled boards keep your compost ingredients in the bin while allowing for some ventilation. If you are inexperienced with carpentry like I am, you can always make all four sides solid. Just drill a few holes in the boards. Walt connected his two pre-constructed sides with 4' fence boards. Not only did he end up with a compost bin that would look great in any yard, he kept these wooden boards out of the landfill!

Here's a close-up view of the sides. Just cut triangular pieces to set the slats an an angle.

And don't worry if your fence didn't blow down. I'll be you have a neighbor who would love for you to haul off their old boards.

I just love this: Recycling kitchen and yard waste in a container made from yard waste!

Another Sign that Composting is Becoming A Mainstream Activity

How surprised was I to come across the Nature Mill Electric Composter in the Williams-Sonoma catalog. Another sign that composting is becoming more mainstream. Personally I prefer nature's way to compost - but if I had an extra $400 laying around this would save me a trip outside to the composter - and I could get rid of my compost bucket. Although they are making those pretty attractive these days!

Obviously, this composter is for the non-gardener - or someone much neater than I. I can't imagine bringing my cutting indoors to compost! That's like backwards world!
According to the catalog, the unit consumes up to 5 lb.s of kitchen waste a day and tranforms it into compost in just two weeks. Unlike a traditional composting system, this machine will also accept dairy, fish and meat. It plugs into a regular electric outlet and uses the same amount of energy as a nightlight.

I'm all for composting our household wastes - if this gets more people doing it, then it's a wonderful product.

A Sign that Composting is Becoming Mainstream?

I opened the paper this morning to read the AP story about a young man in Iowa arrested with several bags of marijuana, Cannabis sativain, in his possession. His explaination was that he was going to compost all the leaves. It was just his recycling - and I'm rooting for him to get off and get back in the garden! Frankly, I had not considered growing a crop solely for compost fodder. We grow cover crops to set nitrogen and to loosen up our heavy soils - so why not for additional folliage for the compost bin. In all seriousness, I was pretty tickled that a garden related article was included in the front section of my local newspaper. And when composting is used in a person's criminal defense, you know that composting is becoming mainstream.

gardening gold - and it's free!

Garden blogs are filled with beautiful pictures of perfect blossoms, appealing plant combinations, and incredible wildlife. Today I want to share with you the one thing I appreciate the most in a garden - the soil! The soil I prefer to work in (light and crumbly) is also the soil my plants prefer to grow in. One of the best things you can do for your garden is to add organic matter to your beds. I recently cleaned out one of my compost bins (something I will do once or twice a year) and came up with 7 five gallon buckets of rich compost to add to some new beds. This is one of my favorite garden chores - spreading this wonderful (and free) compost that I made from yard and kitchen trash!

When I was first composting, I screened my end product - but that took too much time. I always mulch the beds so a few leaves and twigs isn't any big deal.

The first 3 or 4 years, all of my compost went into my vegetable beds. Thankfully they are in good shape now and I can share it with the ornamentals.

This is what was left from the compost bin that I cleaned out. It will become my "starter". On top of this, I'll place all my kitchen waste (no protien or oils) - I now toss in paper towels and napkins too. I don't really know why I omitted them before because I have always included my shredded papers in the bin. Shredded paper is a great dry material during the summer when dry leaves are scarce.

This is my second bin. I stirred it up and sprinkled it with water and will just let it sit and "stew" for a few months. I am a lazy composter - no turning of the pile - no taking it's temperature - no adding compost booster. With time nature will do its job. But I am considering purchasing a compost tumbler to use as a finisher.

I find that gardeners are really stewards of the land - whether it's a tiny little townhouse lot or a 7 acre garden. We can all find a spot in our garden to recycle our yard and kitchen waste into gardening gold! Let me know how you do it!

So, just what is the etiquette for picking up bags of leaves on the side of the road?

I'd been noticing lots and lots of full lawn & leaf bags set by the curb in neighborhoods all over town. Now, I have a yard full of trees - but they have never produced as many leaves as I need for the vegetable garden, flower beds, and compost bin. These bagged treasures were going to be wasted, so I felt it my duty to schedule a little leaf run. Early on the designated day, I ran into one of my daughters and then a sister-in-law, both of whom inquired about my morning plans. I could hardly contain my excitement about the upcoming leaf run. Much to my surprise, they each asked, "Do they know you're coming?" To be perfectly truthful, at that time I had no idea which households I would relieve of their "garbage". I'm a bit of an impulse stop and loader. But, what a coincidence their question was! Or was it? They got me thinking, "What is the etiquette to picking up other people's discarded bags of leaves?" Do you call ahead? Do you call from the curb? Or do you just snatch and dash? My husband's funny about stopping so I can load someone else's "trash" into the back of the car. He once drove right past 4 or 5 bags of mulch just laying in the middle of a country road! By the time I dropped him off at home and returned, someone else had picked it up. Even though I don't hide the fact that I "steal" other people's garbage, I must admit that I don't really want anyone to see me doing it. Leaf runs are always scheduled for the quiet times - never on a week-end and never after school is out. As long as I'm confessing, I also never pick up bags from a busy street. Is this leaf fetish unique to me - or do some of you share it? I'll look forward to hearing from you!

My New Lasagna Garden Bed

Have I mentioned before that I garden in heavy clay? Maybe just a time or two? Through the years, I have added huge amounts of organic matter to the beds - cotton gin trash, hay, mulch, compost, corn trash, cattle manure - anything I could get my hands on. Plants have grown but the soil is still as hard as a rock. Now my plan has been updated to include raised beds and yet more organic matter.

The first area to be tackled is large and unstructured. Four years ago I planted this sloping area solid with mondo grass. What a mistake that was! After much digging, I now have a clean slate. Laying limestone blocks has broken the area into three distinct beds. My original plan was to purchase compost and topsoil and plant the area immediately. Since I need more time to decide what I want to plant, I've decided to try a little lasagna gardening!

Here is the area I'm dealing with. Picture this planted with solid mondo grass - it was every bit as ugly as you are imagining.

The first step is to lay wet newspaper (six layers thick) over the entire area. Not having enough newspaper, I grabbed my old phone books. Their small size made soaking them in water a bit easier. To wet newspaper, I fill a wheelbarrow with water and soak the papers in it.

The next layer was old hay.

Now came bags and bags of leaves.

And finally, top everything off with wood chips. It looks so nice that you have no idea what is going on underneath. According to those who have made lasagna garden beds, you just wait for a number of months while things begin to break down. When you've decided it's time to plant, just push the mulch to the sides, dig a hole and plop your plant right in. Not tilling, no digging, no sweating. Sounds easy, doesn't it? God grant me patience . . . .

Homemade Compost Tumbler

My creative and very handy sister-in-law came up with this unique compost bin. When she adds new kitchen scraps, she rolls it across the lawn to incorporate the new material. (When her timing is good, she gets her twelve year old son to do the rolling) Personally, I am a lazy composter. Everything goes into the pile - sometimes the kitchen waste gets buried but rarely does the pile get turned . . . I think if I make one of these, I can remain a lazy composter but with faster results!

This is a 30 gallon plastic barrel. It was washed out really, really well before beginning. The "door" was cut from a second barrel and attached with hinges and a latch. A twig holds the latch closed. Now it's time to fill and roll! Note the "decorative" black paint marks. I think this compost bin does double-duty when there is a paintball battle going on.


You can see the varying degrees of decomposition in the barrel. I just love getting something for nothing! And what a great trade-off: getting rich compost in exchange for trash!