Ms. Nosy...

Psst- gardener lady.. Why are you sitting inside that warm dry house? Wanna let us in? If not, we'll just sit in the dry spot on the back porch and watch you through the back door. We call it "People TV"..

Hello fall..

No really- we flirted before, but now you've come to stay a while. I spend more time raking, less time trimming, and no longer have to mow my (probably fungus ridden) yellowing grass. The chickens love the pecan nuts that fall from the trees on the borders of our yard, though they rely on me to crack crack crack the shells for them. My cucumbers plants have put on a last hurrah, and I harvested a glossy eggplant for dinner this week.. After keeping my head down in a barrage of work-days, I plan to walk the neighborhood on days off this week, keeping an eye and ear out for crunching leaves and cool-weather greens popping up in neighbors yards..

Things I noticed in the cooler days in my back yard:

The mistflower in the back is white, not blue.. It has always been eaten before it flowered, but has been spared this year. I'm glad to see the white blooms, which smell lovely. If I had time I'd stalk whatever bug has decided to chomp large bites out of the leaves..

The (known) white mistflower in the front was low key but hardy through the summer, then put on a beautiful show of flowers that smell wonderful..

I saw a Monarch flitting around it, but it vanished before I moved to get a phone or camera :)

My chicks are adolescents now, wandering the yard with the big girls but coming back to their safe "chicken tractor" for dust baths and comfort.. Their brown and orange markings echo the feel of fall, so I've named two of them in honor of the season: Pumpkin and Walnut (though maybe I should change Walnut to Pecan for a more regional name!). Below is Cross-Beak (not my most inventive name) looking plump and happy in a dust bath:

Pumpkin (below).. standing almost on top of her sister..

I try to balance the chickens and the garden, but the hens seem to be winning over my new beds. They have plucked the leaves off my newly transplanted Henry Duelberg salvia, blackfoot daisy, flameleaf acanthus and purple salvias, so I may wrap the new plants in chicken wire for a few months to protect them.. Plants they ignore include:

Everpresent Carolina snailseed, putting on a pretty fall show of berries.

Tropical milkweed, laying down it's deep taproot in the new bed!

Cenizo blooming after a small rain..

They are happy to have pumpkin left-overs in the compost heap to eat.. I hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

October blooms

Enjoying the friendlier weather with a look at what's blooming in my garden this week! I'm a day late, but it's fun to join the others at Garden Blogger's Bloom Day at www.maydreamsgardens.com..

I only planted these fall asters (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium) this spring but they are abuzz with happy bees this month, full of brightly purple blooms.

In an apparently classic Texas garden move, I have a couple of Mexican mint marigold near my asters, and another providing contrast with this variegated agave. I'm fine with borrowing what works!

Blue plumbago in a pot- a proud survivor of both the summer heat and hungry hens!

Ripening berries on my yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) lending fall color. 

This one is not in bloom, but will be off and on as long as it doesn't freeze: Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis) is a part shade loving native perennial that produces red flowers that are apparently quite a treat for birds. It was part of a shade-friendly native seed bomb pack I threw out last fall and it was a fun surprise to find that at least one seed has grown into a sturdy happy plant without any attention from me. Now I'll need to make sure I don't weed it in the spring!

I hope everyone's enjoying fall!

Hawks!

Are gorgeous and I cheer every time I see them except today. One scooped up my bantam Ruby and luckily dropped her, but from 20 feet up! You know, I'm all about the circle of life, but want my chickens to stay out it!

Ruby seemingly unharmed (no wounds visible) giving me the stink eye from inside the coop!

Imperfection

This will be a post about just-becoming things- beds starting to bloom, pathways almost-there, my baby chicks growing bigger, one with a major deformity that may/may not be her undoing. None of it is done, filled in or mature. It's thrown together based on the flow of my impulses instead of a rigidly organized plan.. I have friends and family that are "very well put together" and I've always felt like a disorganized tomboy by comparison. My college roommate did DIY salvaged book art 20 years ago (before Pinterest!) and then became both a corporate attorney and a handbag designer in NYC. Some branches of my family epitomize preppie coolness, others have always had immaculate hair/make-up, house and garden decor. That would not be me, or my other march-to-the-beat-of-our-own-drummer friends and kin for that matter. I constantly have an itch to dig, rearrange, and open spaces for new things to evolve. If that means things never seem "done" then I'm getting used to being ok with that.. The details that show up today are what I'll focus on to savor and capture..

So this is a pre-shot, laying out my path intentions in Morse code-ish black weed barrier and and white stone..

I've carved out the pathway bit by bit, pacing both the strain on my back (!) and the textural enjoyment from digging in the dirt with nothing but a shovel, a bucket and a wheelbarrow. The big chickens have  bonded with me through the process- I pull up sod and they scour the dirt for (plentiful) grubs. I have to nudge them off the shovel at times. I think the most enjoyable time is when I kneel to smooth the surface pre- and -post adding a layer of sand before the weed block fabric and decomposed granite. It gives me a bit of a break, but I can also focus on the earth under me (and sometimes ponder how deep it goes and how little of it I am actually seeing!).

Not done yet.. I'm sure next spring, or the year after that, or sometime later I'll rearrange things again. The grass to the left always becomes scraggly and water starved in late summer, so perhaps I'll extend the bed in the distance, or put smaller paths through a series of water-friendly beds.. No plan yet, I'll let impulse guide me when I get there.

My front bed was dug out of the grass this spring, and the plants there are filling in, though I think they were still trying to just establish themselves this summer. My fall aster and Mexican mint marigold plants have just begun to bloom, while a Mystic spires salvia seems happy to bring summer to a close (see it's yellowed leaves).

My veggie bed is protected from the chickens (though it was created from an area I filled with compost and had them dig up and fertilize). Lettuce, brussel sprouts and broccoli on one side- must remember to water and eat the lettuce in time!

Flower details..

Hey mountain pea bloom! I have it in a neglected dry shady bed and it has never fully filled in, but I like its small lavender flower..

My ignored Turks cap in the back has risen to the occasion- it gets no attention from me and still puts out beautiful flowers..

I planted a tiny 4" Martha Gonzales rose this spring because they apparently do great in Texas, are resistant to mildew, and need little care.  It has done great in an intensely sunny area without large amounts of water.

Ruby my Wyandotte bantam eating a pumpkin on a bed-in-evolution. Apparently pumpkins are wonderful for chickens since they are nutritious and help deworm them. I've layered newspaper, hardwood mulch, pine straw, hay and compost scraps over a worn St Augustine area with the idea that I'll dig it all together in the spring and move my veggies there. 

Another shot of my cross-beaked chick. The angle and (lack of) overlap between her top and bottom beak has steadily increased, but she keeps growing and seeming to eat well. I moved the three chicks to the chicken tractor (the temp outside being the same as our bathroom!) and she has been the first to fly up and find a roost up high. My eldest worries about her abnormal beak (and whether she'll die from it for lack of eating), and it's been a good experience to talk to him about difference and uncertainty. I alternate between enjoying watching her seem fine and worrying about how I'd know if she was suffering/starving. Pets and animals are tough that way.. It's a lesson in patience I guess, letting things take their course. 

Works in progress

I've been slowly converting grassy areas to more interesting and water-wise paths and beds. My latest project tackles the area around my AC unit, which is big, squat and ugly. I've never enjoyed mowing and edging around it and have always been worried I'll cause a gas leak weed-wacking around the gas pipe. Carving out the grass takes some time shoveling, but my chickens keep it entertaining as they devour every grub I find.

Here's a comparison of before and after:

Before: The uneven dirt area is the scar from plumbing trenches dug for the addition- it has never filled in well.

After: I have artemesia, flame acanthus, butterfly weed and purple sage on the sunny/dry side and have some bearded irises left to plant. On the part- shade side I've planted Turk's cap. I also placed Mexican honeysuckle on the bed to the right and am looking forward to thinking about more low dry shade plants to fill the remainder of that bed. It should be a hummingbird and butterfly attraction once the plants fill in, and I'll be happy to hide the AC unit. I still have the remainder of the decomposed granite path along the small stone pathway to dig out, but it can wait for another day..

Chick updates: They got to go outside in a small chicken wire pen. I think they had fun..

One gal has a cross-beak but eats ok so far. Given that our girls are pets we'll work with it.

Flowers and veggie update:

This plumbago has found success hiding from the chickens behind a chair.. I may move it back to the shady bed later this fall.

 Wild morning glory blooms everywhere..

 Go Lemon Boy tomato, go! My spring plants have staged a come-back..

 Cucumbers finally growing, but what are those insects?! Must look them up. Unfortunately the chickens won't eat them..

Good news and bad news: the sages, butterfly weed, black dalea, grasses, Copper canyon daisy and wild arugula are doing great, but the bamboo is also trying to return. I've sprayed it gently with herbicide and will cut it down tomorrow..

 Mystery flower= goldenrod! I've been curious how they would do in my wild back area, I guess the seed balls I threw out last fall had them. It's beautiful and I will certainly let it go to seed to see if it spreads. It grew through the summer heat so it's a winner in my book.

Bluebonnet!! I just realized I have one of Dottie (my Cuckoo Maran)'s eggs in my hand, too :)

 Wild violet, planted (and forgotten a few years ago), coming back..

I have a bed that I either ignore or trim down to the nub because nothing grows there but weeds (horseherb, carolina snailseed are the best of them). I ignored this "weed" this summer and was happy/surprised to see that is a volunteer lantana! I thought the bed was too shady for lantanas, but if this one can grow maybe I'll plant a few more..

Newbies..

1 week old Americauna chicks, teeny and soft. My eldest is already in love...