Gardening with Style

I've heard of stylish gardens and people who have a flair for gardening. A garden can be very complex or so simple it's gorgeous. Our garden is none of the above as far as I'm concerned even if our friends say it's wonderful. I think they're biased.
One thing I don't think I can ever forget is the time my wife and I went strawberry picking and one very cute couple decided to dress up for the event. It was a bless her soul moment because she really should have known better than to wear high heels and such a short dress to pick strawberries. Sun dresses, on the other hand, work beautifully. Unless you're a guy....
Curiously, as far as I can tell, a guy can wear just about anything he would normally wear and still be modest while gardening.

Pecans

If you've ever tasted a fresh warm pecan pie you probably became an addict and need a fix occasionally to keep you sane. There's good news though! We're smack dab in the middle of pecan season and there is a good supply of pecans for everyone.




"I don't have pecans around me." you may lament. That's ok, there are these things called trucks that will bring them to your local grocer and you can get them from him. He's a nice old man who knows a lot about things like fishing and spitting and of course pecans so you should be in good hands if you don't know what to do with them once you've bought some.


In the rare instance that I met a different grocer you can also look online for some recipes like the following one.


http://www.tpga.org/cgi-bin/public.cgi?action=list_recipe&recipe_id=18



If you even try to convince me that you don't have access to the internet then shame on you.. I'm not that gullible.

The main problem I have found is that there are too many pecans where I live and the squirrels like to hide some of them in the flower beds to pop up in the spring where I then have to dig them out and scold the squirrels for their industriousness.

Hurry before the end of the month though because the prices will soon rise as the harvest season ends and the grocer treis to hoard the rest for himself.

Live Bamboo Fence

All you need is several acres for it to grow in well and there you go..... What? That doesn't sound good?
If you're like me then it sounds really good except that you probably don't have the acreage. Don't let that daunt you though, there are varieties of clumping bamboo that are much more manageable as a screen and don't end up on the other side of the yard, or worse in the middle of the yard.
If that still sounds a little too much, there are many shrubs that would do just as well for a little privacy. If your area is good for it you might consider grapevines The main problem with a live fence is the time it takes for it to grow. Even if you have the acreage, bamboo would take a few years to make a decent fence unless you planted the entire thing. Likewise bushes and shrubs are usually sold in much smaller sizes than you would need to make a good fence. In the mean time you can plant vines, which would work well on a chain link fence, or tall growing flowering plants like sunflowers to fill in where the shrubs haven't yet.
If you have a living wall I would love to see pictures of them!

Trains in the Garden

Gardening is about plants and the things that accent the plants or possibly the other way around such as in a rock garden or sculpture garden.

I have been into garden railroading for many years and have set up courses in several of the gardens I have had at different residences. Weekend before last was the monthly meeting of the North Texas Garden Railroad Club where we got to sit around and discuss garden railroading.

Below is the course.

Beginning on the north end of the long stretch of track is the garden loop. A few boulders, a tree, and assorted green plants highlight this area surrounded by the courtyard wall.

To go to and from this area the train has to pass through a tunnel under a waterfall (not shown and not very big)

It continues down the tracks along some herbs and small flowering plants on one side of a walkway and continuing under the covered porch area that enters into the living room of the house.

Finally it passes the last pillar near the control area of the train to the train yard where cars can be taken on and off. The white rocks portraying more of a railyard than a garden. The width of the area being easily seen here is the reason for the long layout and gardening areas.

Some of the plants not shown include rosemary and thyme, plants suitable for scale greenery.

Planting Rocks

I worked out at a site this last weekend planting trees, shrubs, groundcover and rocks.
I didn't know there could be so much work in putting in large rocks. digging the right shape of a hole for the rock you are putting in can be more time consuming than planting trees. If you want to put the rock in at an angle then you have to dig the angle into the ground before you set it.
At first I was told that we needed a trench so wide by so deep. This would have worked except that the rock they then selected had a nice growth on one side that they wanted to be more visible so the trench turned into what seems more like a truck loading area ramp so that it had a good viewing angle.
Then burying it took some doing while avioding ants which had been living where we wanted the rock to go.
Looking back I'm pretty sure it was well worth the changes.

Fall Plant Swap Moved!

It was just one of those days. I left a little late to start with but then the world decided to step in and see how much later I could be.

I already had somewhere to be afterward and I didn't want to be lat to it too so by the time I made it to the park there was less than two hours to do anything.

Unfortunately for me, when I got there the park was closed off to traffic due to a walk for diabetes. I have nothing against these sorts of things but no one there knew of this supposed plant swap.By the time we figured out that it wasn't anywhere in the park there was just enough time left to have lunch and go on to the next event.

After we got home that evening my ife looked on the board to see what might have happened. Apparently 4 days before the event was to take place the location was changed and since I wasn't glued to the boards I missed it.

Suffice to say there will be no pictures this time around.

There is one person who was expecting me to show up and they're still going to drop by to swap some flowering plants for a few key lime trees.

Mexican Mint

I still need to plant the mexican mint in the ground even though it seems to like it on the widnow sill. It's even putting out some nice little yellow flowers.
As far as where to plant it, I have been told that it looks really good next to purple flowers so I think I'll find a spot near the lavendar bushes.

Candy Lily Sprouts, Fort Wroth Fall Plant Swap

I have great news! The candy lillies have sprouted! Well, at least 5 out of 6 have sprouted. I plan on planting some more of the seeds soon in some more pots for propogation and I have to remember to bring one of them to work as a thank you for the seeds in the first place, maybe get her a nice pot to boot.
Anyhow there are now at least 4 candy lilly plant sprouts to trade come Saturday.



Right now they look like little blades of grass but I believe she said they were relate to the iris.
Ok, after taking the picture the flash has revealed that the 6th pot has indeed sprouted. You can also see the basil and the coleus at the edge of the picture.

Spice of a tree

There are many herbs and veggies out there that get tons of attention. We all know about parsley, mint, onion, beets, carrots, rosemary, thyme and a whole slew of others. One of the often left out of the delicious seasonings comes from a tree. You're probably thinking about cinnamon or cloves, maybe even cocoa.
When I was little I was camping with my family and my mom foud some of this wonderful bit of the plant family and made some tea. It was one of the oddest taste and yet familiar. It was sassafras tea, ok so not really a tea but see my other blog about that.
It was once the main flavoring of rootbeer but is now illegal to put in there since it is a very mild narcotic. I guess some narcotic is too much for the FDA. Amazing how some things still get through... Anyhow that wasn't the wierdest part. We probably know various plants that make pretty good flavoring from the root but this tree has another use. An entirely different seasioning comes from it's leaves and you can buy this in the store, at least down here in Texas. If you've ever heard much cajun music you are bound to have heard of the "filé gumbo." Pronounced fee-lay it is the dried leaf of the sassafras tree. I have found a local sassafras tree on a nearby street and as soon as I muster up a little more boldness I'm going to ask if I can rake the yard for this wonderful spice. Ok, maybe not rake the yard but at least pick up a few leaves for drying so I can have fresh filé.

Seedy little plants

I went outside today and looked over the front garden and saw tiny little plants growing in the gravel walkway. I knew there were some weeds creeping in and trying to make it a weed bed but I was a little surprised to find some other plants sprouting up there. Mainly, besides the weeds, there was cilantro. I really like cilantro, as long as there's not too much of it at a time, but now there are dozens of little plants along the edge of the gravel and I'm afraid I will have to uproot them and toss them to the side like the rest of the plants. They have journeyed to the realm of weeds since, as we all know, weeds are merely plants that are growing where you don't want them to.
Another newcomer to the weed family, in my case the plants that are growing in my gravel walkway, is fennel. There are only two fennel plants sprouting where they shouldn't but that's still too many. It's hard enough to keep the grass out.
I wouldn't have this problem if they weren't so reproductive. Both plants produce many seeds every year and have no problem dropping them where they shouldn't. Ok, so it's partly my fault for trying to harvest some of the seeds for cooking but I don't want to complain about myself...