Sunday Photo Gallery

I Feel Fall Coming

ALERT! June, July and August have gone missing. The last time I posted here was in May and it was about my microgreens and sadly, shamefully, I did not follow up. In brief, the outcome was just okay. Turns out my dear husband does not care for radishes, not one iota. But hey, that little experiment was back in May. There are days ahead to play with microgreens again, just not anytime soon. I am in full anticipation of fall. I've started broccoli seeds inside under the grow lights. I have Belstar and a fancy purple broc. They came up in 3 days. Yes, you read that right, 3 days. I'm waiting on the chives and celery to come up. I also started cumin - that's the wild card. I know nothing about growing cumin. This is probably the wrong time of year for it but if it works out, how thrilling will that be?! As for garden plans, I have a few. I've pulled up everything that I could along the front fence. We went to the nursery and looked at Pink Muhly grass. Michael has alway...

Comfrey: For Good or For Evil?

I just can’t say. A week ago I was all about the comfrey. The things I read made it sound like it was indispensable in a permaculture setting. But that’s not really my yard. I want to pretend it’s my yard but no, I have a vegetable garden, a few fruit trees, some chickens and a compost bin. Things I like about comfrey: it draws up minerals deep in the ground through its long taproot. It is high in nitrogen so it’s great to add to compost. The leaves are large and make a good mulch. It flowers and from the photos I’ve seen, it is an attractive plant. As an herb it has strong healing properties. Things I fear: that damn long taproot. Once it goes into the soil I may never get it out of the soil. It is invasive. It spreads. The things I don’t like about comfrey are the things I don’t like about bamboo. You have to be committed going in. It’s why I still have Mexican petunias sitting in pots and not in the ground. Commitment scares me. I took the first step though. I took the si...

Rain Over Austin

It’s been wet and muggy throughout the day. The only time it looked promising, dry that is, was when I left the house this morning for work. Once I got there, I didn’t give the weather a second thought. Instead, my mind was a mash up of papers and files and the grudge I carry against office machinery. I wouldn’t have even looked out my office window had a friend not texted me, amused at how happy my snails must be today. I appreciate a friend who can so easily steer my otherwise task focused mind around to thoughts of my garden. The snails have been a frequent topic of conversation for several weeks now to anyone who will listen which is approximately two people. I have friends who will humor me but two dear friends will commiserate at length on the subject. We’ve discussed decollate snails vs. the common garden snail, a snail’s insatiable appetite, a snail’s ability to make their way up a tree and how eas...

Vitamin G: A Heavy Hit of Garden Love

Search This Blog