Six years later

 Same house (post minor remodel), same children, same spouse, some different chickens. I finally installed a drip irrigation system for my veggies and I wanted to document and track the results. And so- voila- a new post.

A few weeks ago with the chickens free ranging, before our fire pit was found to be completely rusted out

Mandarin flowers

I got 4 pullets in January from Bird and Bee Farm, which is a wonderful place. The four I got were FluffFluff, a Brahma, Jersey May, a Jersey Giant (she might get up to 10 lbs!), Quicksilver, a Blue Star Sapphire Gem, and Almond Joy, an Ameraucana

Back up to 6 chickens. The black and white dotted hen in the bottom photo is Dottie, my cockoo Maran who is 8 years old and still laying eggs. Next to her is HazelPeanut, a 2 year old Buff Orpington. They are the older ones and boss the younger hens around.

View from a few weeks ago with winter grass (not seeded on purpose). We lucked out and lost small limbs in the ice storm but nothing significant.

I worked for a week after this picture of my Mexican plum, and while I walked back and enjoyed the burst of bloom this was the only pic I got.

New raised bed. I was so proud of laying everything out- then my cat rolled around it all.  I've changed things around since.

The old raised bed a few weeks ago. I kept planting chard only to see it devoured and have found the culprits- not cabbage loppers but birds! Local lesser goldfinches have taken to my chard like a salad bar.

Sasha in the sun

Hard to see- but on the chicken wire guard is a lesser goldfinch getting ready to snack

Holey chard

Garden helper- lady bug

Biergarden sage coming back steadily for years

A decade ago I tossed starter asparagus into a bed and it always sends up just few enough spears for me to feel bad and never eat it

New soil in the raised bed to try to avoid the wilt that I was having in the old beds. I have 6 types this year- Roma, Green Zebra, Carmello, Black Krim, Early Girl and Indigo Berries

The birds ignore the arugula and curly parsley. I'm about to harvest the arugula before it gets too strong-tasting in the heat and bolts.

Mexican plum close-up after flowering. I'm going to try to baby it (ie actually give it some fertilizer and water instead of complete neglect) to see if I can get some plums.

Xeric area with yuccas, self seeded Englemann daisy, gopher plants, santolina in the front, lantanas and tropical milkweed in the back. My Color Guard yucca didn't handle the chickens well but I've protected the surviving few leaves with rocks and am waiting to see if it comes back. I had a globe mallow plant that was gorgeous for many years but it doesn't seem to be coming back after the freezes this year- I planted a replacement near it. Everything seems so small and I have to remind myself to be patient since in a month or two everything will fill in.

Handful of arugula for lunch

Self seeded wild violets. They are edible and a good source of Vit C- though I hear you should eat them in moderation because they can be a mild laxative

They spread everywhere so I moved them to a damp shady spot

Newly moved violets

May flowers

I don't remember throwing wildflower seeds out last fall- but I must have. The angle and light in the yard favors Indian blankets and purple horsemint - I can throw gallons of bluebonnet seeds and few pop up. I wasn't sure what the weeds were when they popped up this spring but decided to mow around them and am glad I did!

I also have volunteer Engleman daisies and brown eyed Susans bringing cheer.

The seeded natives grow easily and without much help. Other (more 'on purpose') plants that are doing well are my Peters Purple monarda, Jerusalem sage mixed with four o'clock daisies and red salvia, and a packet of zinnia seeds filling in a spot that opened after my coral honeysuckle received a massive pruning..

The flowers attract native bees and butterflies, making sitting outside fun..

Up front the lantana is waking up and filling in, attracting a katydid this morning.

 My tomatoes seem less vigorous this year (maybe not enough compost in the bed? Or I should move them to a different spot to rest the soil next year..). The small ones are starting to ripen though which makes for good snacking.

And my two year old pomegranate tree has three fruits growing. I'm hoping the squirrels leave them alone- my boys love the seeds!

Periodic update

Life has been busy with work, and kids, and pets, and politics... It's fun to look at old posts and see how the garden has changed over the last year or two though....

This was from three weeks ago. I should take an updated pic- the bushy 'weeds' in the xeriscape Thunderturf lawn have turned out to be Indian blankets and purple horsemint which is lovely.

I've had some lovely spring flowers including my self-seeding poppies and a gloriously large orange mallow bush.

And we added a puppy (Sasha, acting well behaved in this pic) to the menagerie of chickens, cats and kids. She keeps me walking in the neighborhood, and gets us outside often- which is great.

June already?

I only planted two tomatoes this year, but they are producing in abundance- yum!

In the middle back my Peter's purple monarda has attracted a Question Mark butterfly and is glowing aside my cenizos (now blooming again today after the rains this week). The native grasses are filling into my old lawn space and my wildflower seed areas have fuzzy basketflowers that smell like honey. The neighborhood house sparrows (along with the doves, grackles, blue jays and cardinals) empty the bird feeder within hours of filling.

In the sunny far back the flame acanthuses (acanthi?) have filled in along with coneflowers, tropical salvia and milkweed. All attract fliers such as horsefly-like carpenter bees (on the coneflower) as well as blue mud dauber wasps (which buzz and flop around me dramatically but leave me alone).

The relocated bird feeder in front of our dining table and front window is also full of activity, from a cardinal pair cheeping from nearby tree branches before dropping down to a sweet titmouse (as well as the requisite too-heavy doves and blue jays).

The front bed (reclaimed from lawn a couple of years ago) has filled in with (native or adapted) cottage garden flowers. It is slowly becoming full of coneflowers that reseed every year- no complaints from me! Along the driveway the tough St. Johns Wort (present from before we bought the house 10 years ago) is blooming reliably. The fall asters have become confused and have put out cheerful purple blooms, too.

Everything is lush and the wildlife happy- the native critters and I will enjoy the greenery while it lasts! Thanks to Tina at https://mygardenersays.com for hosting Wildlife Wednesday.