Obligatory new year post

To start with, happy new year.

A quick look back at 2010 -
Best - A new, happy, healthy baby girl!
Worst - Our Dog died.

There was lots in between, but these two events will mark 2010 for me. I suppose every year will have it's ups and down, it's all arounds (trademark: Joe West), but this year has been a doozy. To those that say "things can get worse than a dead dog", I know you are right, but go and spread your life perspective and rationalism somewhere else. I know they can get worse, and will, but I'm not looking forward to worse, not at all.
And things don't get much better than a healthy baby, so I'm sticking with the idea that this year was one with some large changes of polar opposite monument.

So, here is to 2011.

I have lots of goals for 2011, most of which are too boring or off topic for inclusion here, but I need to make some goals and focus on them in the garden. In most of my life I am very goal and project completion oriented. In the garden, though, I wander about in piddle mode for hours. I accomplish a few things, invariably, but rarely are they the task I walked out to do. I am on my way to the compost pile to turn it, see some wood that needs splitting and then realize I should water my potted plants and when was the last time I fertilized them and what the hell, did the deer eat my rose again and is that a weed or a wildflower and who said that about a weed, Emerson? Thoreau? man a book and a pint and that picnic table sound nice. So ends another day. It is very different from everyday me and relaxing,I know it is a big part of why I garden, but I am accomplishing little to nothing besides a buzz and some reading I can misqoute later.

Therefore, a list is in order. Maybe posting it will hold me to it.

1) Buffalo grass lawn with raised rock bed borders to the west of the cottage garden. My wife has wanted this forever. I want her to be happy and show interest in the garden, so this is first.
2) revise master plan for garden to site future walled garden and make best use space, time and money. You think this should be first? Are you trying to upset my wife, what is wrong with you?
3) rock wall with gate and pergola in front of cottage garden
4) fountain in cottage garden
5) plumb vegetable garden

This should be enough. If by next year, I've accomplished all this, then I am awesome. And had some help.

As an aside, I start art lessons this week. I've always liked to draw and sketch, but never had any formal training. My goal is to learn to paint, so I can paint my garden and others. You guessed it, in the future, this blog will include not only mediocre writing, but mediocre art. Oh yeah!

Seedling lectures, local animal bile

It has been a busy fall and early winter. Having two children seems like it is twice as much work as one, the Aggie's have actually been good at football for the first time this century and, of course, I've had my work and drinking habit to attend to. Gardening has not fallen completely by the wayside, but writing has.
I have pulled out all of my spring and summer veg and planted my fall garden. In went garlic, radishes, beets, lettuce, spinach, carrots, chard, cilantro and parsley. I originally planted garlic only in my cottage garden, but it hasn't rained since September and my cottage beds get a good soaking only once monthly when it doesn't rain, and those garlic plants were really struggling along. Therefore I added a line of garlic down the center of my vegetable beds.
I planted everything a little more 'square foot gardeningesque' than my last two rounds of vegetables, but still not directly by the book. Not because I thought I could improve on Mr. Bartholomew's design, but because I was in a hurry and just needed to muck on with it. I am proud to say I did do a nice job of preparing the beds by turning them over, adding compost (homemade! I am such a good person!) and organic fertilizer (again, I'm very good). I also worked very hard at keeping the soil moist and germinating my seedlings. I had to really force myself to work at that. I like planning, preparing and planting but the day to day care of a bunch of needy seedlings is drudgery. I tried very hard not to begrudge them (the seedlings) all the trouble they were causing me and almost succeeded, save one or two early morning lectures on the benefits of self sufficiency. Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps and whatnot, which I feel was largely lost on them.
Armadillo Update - they still suck and I still hate them. I can now keep them out of the rock wall garden and to pay me back for my efforts, they have begun to work over the cottage garden. I have basically given up trying to trap them for now. No more skunks, just empty traps and me tired of looking at the wire monstrosity in my garden. One night while shutting everything down, I heard some rustling about, and then threw on the flood lights and beheld a truly massive armadillo getting down to business in my mulch pathway. I grabbed the nearest deadly instrument (always a few handy), a splitting maul / ax, and then stood there and watched the fat bugger slowly waddle off while I came to terms with this fact - I hate armadillos enough to write rude things about them on the Internet, but not enough to bludgeon one to death in the harsh glare of halogen lighting. Or in the dark, or in the daylight. So with this is my only recourse, I say, "Hey, armadillos of northern Hays County, you're really making my life less fun as you look for food and water to survive on. Bastards."
Deer update - they suck less and I hate them less than armadillos. They ate the tops off my three roses in the cottage garden the other night. One thing they don't know, among other things they don't know - deer historically perform poorly at trivial pursuit - is that they aren't really hurting the roses. They tend to stop eating when they hit the thorns and my roses, a mutabilis, an old blush and a knock-out, are tough birds and just bounce back with more vigor. The deer are performing a necessary task for me, acting as my team of gardeners. To them I say, "Hey, deer of northern Hays County, thanks for finally helping out a bit. Don't expect a Christmas bonus, though. Bastards."
Otherwise, the garden is at rest. I am leaving all the perennials untrimmed post frost, due to one part laziness and one part actually enjoying the structure they keep in the garden. I'll trim them in the spring. Hopefully, (for who? me!) I'll write again before then.

November picture

The Flame-Leaf Sumac (Rhus lanceolata) looked very nice for most of the month. You can see the Copper Canyon Daisy (Tagetes lemmonii) in the foreground on the left.

It is October and I still hate armadillos

I made a mistake in a previous post and stated that by October I would stop hating armadillos. I lied. I have no idea why I randomly picked October as the month that my mood towards those lilly-livered, over sized rats with shells (and leprosy, mind you) would shift away from loathing towards benevolence. I guess I thought it would rain more and they would leave me and my garden well enough alone. What an idiot I am. My mulch paths are destroyed anew every night. My front porch is covered with dirt and mulch from the rooting. And, this is the worst, those wallets, belts and boots to be still get in the bed the rock wall was built around! The pre-historic leftovers that they are, they climb under the gate (fixed that - put in a big flagstone), through the wood pile (re-arranged, leaving no holes) and last night I have no idea how they got in.
I decided to put out a trap. It is not my first experience with trapping armadillos. Two years ago, my new cottage garden beds were being destroyed by the vermin and they would root up my newly planted perennials every night. I bought a have-a-heart trap (not that I have much of one for those armour plated flea bags) and bated it with fruit. On morning number two of trapping, I went out to run and there was no armadillo and when I returned in 45 minutes, voila - victory! It was so easy. My plan was to take him down to the creek and let him out. I was so proud of myself, I took some pictures to prove my prowess and mastery of nature and went in to have some breakfast while waiting for the sun to come up. Whilst I was enjoying my oatmeal, Army (yes, I named him) was breaking free, like a little Steve McQueen but more successfully and without a motorcycle. He just kept butting the trap door and sides until it popped up and he was gone.
So, I re-bated the trap again the next night. And again I had some measure of success. This time my trap was full first thing in the morning, but alas, full of a skunk. This presented a bit of an obvious problem. Luckily I have on my vehicle a plastic overall suit and shoulder length plastic gloves (don't ask). I donned my protective gear and started to open the back door of the trap. I had all of the pins removed without being sprayed and had the door 50% open when my new friend lost his cool. The smell of a dead skunk on the road does not do justice to the eye watering, nose incinerating blast of poison air a skunk can deliver at close range. It is a very effective defense mechanism. I wanted very badly to not be there, to not be bothering that skunk. I finished opening the door and, stripping and gagging as I ran, went through the back door to a shower with tomato sauce. Which works neither as a skunk smell remover nor as a lathering agent very well. I stunk for days, the front the house smelled for weeks and I left the armadillos alone.
As you can see, I am very angry at my current batch of armadillos, that I am willing to risk a skunk spraying in order to rid myself of them. I am baiting the trap with grub worms I dig up, which should work seeing as they are what the little beast are after in my garden soil. I hope skunks do not like grub worms as much as old grapes. So far, I've had no luck, good or bad. Just an empty trap and decomposing grubs.

Fall Pictures

Down the main axis of the Cottage Garden.

Lindheimer Senna, Autumn Sage and Rosemary.

Schoolhouse, or Oxblood, Lilly.

Stone wall, completed

I know, it looks short. That is on purpose, to provide seating during the 123rd annual Croquet Tournament this spring. I guess it will provide seating year round, but never will it play as large a role as during our April game. Many an inebriated participant will rest his or her weary rear upon this wall.

I am inordinately proud of my wall. All of the stone came off our property; all of the stone was dug, loaded, hauled and stacked by me. The joy of simple physical labor, when it is not compulsory mind you, cannot be overstated. I don't know which was more satisfying - digging up a really nice rock or stacking a good rock in the right place. In my readings on wall makings, I learned a couple of rules - stack one on two (stagger your seams) and don't cut rocks, find rocks (that fit). I will add two more - one, if you pick up a rock and try to place it in the same spot more than twice, it doesn't fit! Stop trying and throw it back. And two, if you see a rock that would fit in the area you are working on, but really had in your mind to use that rock somewhere else due to it's particular shape and color, just give in and use it now. No matter what you think you planned, a rock wall is not a jigsaw puzzle or math problem, there are no right answers, only wrong decisions that will delay your construction. You see the hole, see the rock - they fit, put it there and move on.

It is very simple. I did mention above my pride was greater than the sum of my accomplishments.

I check out rock walls as I make my daily rounds with more interest now. I have always liked them, but now I judge each wall against my own. Some I win, most I lose. As simple a task as stone masonry is, I have more than just some room for improvement.

Heat, Armadillos and Rocks

I skipped August. It was hot, everything looked like the desert (which I despise, you people can keep your wide open spaces and rocky vistas and sun stroke). I sat inside and wondered why I ever bothered. When it appeared that the majority of plants in a bed were about to die from dehydration I would, accompanied by the constant roar of the airconditioner's condensing unit, go out and lay out a soaker hose. I would water the bed well. In the morning I would wake up to find the bed rototilled by armadillos. I'd go back in to the a/c. This procedure was repeated over and over until it finally rained.
It became September, the heat broke and it rained. Twice. Once it rained 8 inches! Now the garden looks great again. All the plants that I struggled to keep alive are blooming again - russian sage, mealy cup sage, mexican oregano, lantana, pink skullcap, beach vitex and prairie verbena are all in bloom. But the best of the September display is the fall only bloomers. Fall is my favorite season. I know September in Texas is not fall but in fact, just late summer, but with the temperature back in the low 90s and a few rains, some great thing are afoot in the garden. First, oxblood or schoolhouse lillies - small and deep red, they appear with no foliage after the first good rain. Second, mexican bush sage - tall spires of velvety purple blooms. And third but perhaps my favorite, Lindhiemer senna. My dedicated readers will remember the effort I put into replacing my Lindhiemer sennas last spring. It was worth every minute. They provide height, leaf size and texture juxtaposition to most of my natives and beautiful groupings of yellow and black blooms. These plants blooming is the highlight of the garden year.
I have been working, even through the heat associated pouting. I cut down some oak tree limbs that were blocking a path in my cottage garden. I've pulled up last spring's cucumbers and courgettes (which were a big hit - we had courgettes and penne carbonara ala Jamie Oliver and more courgette [alright zucchini, for the love] bread than you can say grace over. Pumpkins are in. I've harvested two acorn squash and another is on the way. Beans, green and dry, are in. I've had little to no luck with beans of all kinds to date, but I like them enough to keep trying. Kohlrabi (what?! - I don't know either) and two summer squash went in today.
I am reading "Square Foot Gardening" and I am really digging (groan) many of his ideas and advice. I think it will make my garden more efficient and enjoyable than just reading the title online and trying to make up what I think square foot garden is. The main thing I've learned thus far is - everyone over plants like I do and it is a foolish thing to do. I over plant, everything sprouts and then I should thin and don't and then I have a mediocre crop of overcrowded and stressed vegetables. This time around, I've only planted what I want to grow, where I want it growing. This has taken more self control than I thought I possessed.
As an aside, I am also reading "The Ivington Diaries" by Monty Don. It is a mix of his diary entries about gardening on his land in England and is very good. He is a natural writer and it hits on to two of my major interest - anglophilia and gardening. You have that book to thank for me getting motivated to blog and again. I know, enough to make you want to burn it, but don't - only real sociopaths get into burning books.
I am building a low rock wall around the garden outside our dining room window. I've wanted to build one for years. I tried oce before, two years ago, but failed. I was using too small a rock, had too narrow a base and one November afternoon, my frustration with the wall met with my frustration at the Aggies losing to Baylor (baylor! really! I'm still mad!) on the radio. This, and the availability of a sledge hammer, made for not a wall, but a small pile of rocks. I didn't feel much better. Two things re-motivated me. One, reading a Charles McRaven book on stone work and two, those pesky armadillos. This rock wall ought to keep them out of their favorite rooting ground. Armadillos's may stand for all thing Texas to you, but I say, support your local gardener - wear armadillo boots. That may be a bit much. How about - don't swerve, he /she has it coming. Still too much? Don't worry, I'll go back to liking them by October or so.