MORE progress! (This time with pictures!)

The lack of posting does not mean I have been idle this week. Far from it, I think I've done more visible work this week than I have this whole time. If you want to compare, check out my before post.


I broke down and bought some Sweet Alyssum at the garden store. They were all on a table and I was downwind. Suddenly I smelled honey, and I am very weak when it comes to honey. They are the ONLY non native plant in the garden, and they are in a container. We'll see if they live. Oh, to live on the Mediterranean so I can smell them every spring! I cleared out the front garden (including pulling all four privet shrubs out) and I am amazed that I can move. That's right, all 4'11" of me, all ninety pounds, pulled four shrubs who were quite comfortable in our clay soil from growing there for four years. I'm proud of myself; I'll admit it!

All these irises were in this garden already. I swear...we have millions of irises and I don't know what to do with them. Any friends reading this blog: TAKE SOME IRISES! I already gave at least ten to someone else and obviously made no dents! The green proliferation you see in the front right there is a bunch of carrots growing in the yard. They don't look very pretty...but I want to eat them someday, so in the yard they'll stay. I plan on picking them before they go to seed. You can also see some privet brush on the left over there. I won't risk composting the main plant, but I will probably strip the branches, stack the wood up for kindling, and be done with it.

So here is the side yard that I cleaned out earlier: the lilies are sprouting, and I still have to find something to go in front of Mom's window. I may have to go nonnative because I'm having trouble finding a shrub that will stay around for a long amount of time, get really large (but not tree sized, considering our property line), and be pretty much evergreen. The ones I do find are actually desert plants that prefer sandy soil and little water. I have clay soil and our house is almost on floodplane. I stupidly bought two Rio Bravo Texas Sage shrubs, but I'm going to put them in front of the bay window after cleaning out that garden and fixing the soil. I'll see what happens.

This is a bad picture, I know, but if you look really hard you can see my new blackberry plant! Apparently there are three thornless varieties. I got the Apache variety because they have bigger berries. Mom said that when we moved in there were wild blackberry plants, but they "went away" whatever that means. It was planted in the former vegetable garden, which probably has the best soil out of the whole yard. Those stones leading up to the water spigot were there from the beginning, but you couldn't see them under all the brush!

I'm also sprouting seeds for the cutting garden, which is now going in front of the porch. The seeds were planted just over a week ago and some of each variety has sprouted (which is early for zinnias!). Coneflowers, Zinnias, and Cosmos are all doing very well and soon I can take the greenhouse lid off! Indoor greenhouse kits are pretty much amazing.

Happy Spring (in ten days)!
Kate