The Fall Garden...and a garden tour.

I subscribe to Texas Gardener, which helps because the weather and such here makes gardening quite a bit different than it is way north, east, or west of us.  For example...forget it in June, July, and August, at least as far south as we are.  But we can grow our cold weather stuff all winter, so there's a trade off.


I've cleaned up the veggie garden, hauled all the dead stuff and weeds to the compost pile out back.  The hub has promised me a load of compost and a load of cedar mulch for my birthday, so if I get the ground turned this week and some seeds in the ground, it will all be ready for a top dressing of compost and some nice mulch to keep the moister in and discourage weeds.

This week I'll start some pole beans, basil (you can freeze it in zip-top bags for later), a couple of gourds (experimenting w/ growing later in the year) and a couple of winter squashes.  Tomatoes for fall and more peppers are going in this week...and of course there are flower seeds to start--the marigolds, sunflowers, etc. that make such gorgeous fall color here once we really do get cooler temps.  But most of the veggies need to wait a little while longer to plant.  I have a nice tidy chart (that's about the only thing tidy in my garden) spelling out what I want to plant, when, and where.

Today I took pictures of landscaping progress, and then it surprised me to go back to when these beds were freshly dug and rather bare.  So this is a picture heavy post, just so you know.  :~)

This is the house as it was when we bought it back in January of 2009.  Tons of white gravel--6 feet out all along the front of the house.  The gravel in the foreground was what we called "the baseball diamond".  It is finally gone now too.

Sept. 5th, 2012.  I know, winter/summer comparison is not fair, but it does show how much we've changed it...

Same thing, back of the house, Jan. 2009.  They had landscape fabric UNDER the dirt.  Nothing grew there at all.

Today, Sept. 5th, 2012.  We cut in a sliding door that first winter, and built the deck, the beds, etc.

Took a year to clear out all the white gravel and dig in some new beds...but we did it.

Did I mention that those people really loved their white gravel?  Ugh.  On the bright side, who need a gym workout when you have white gravel, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow?  This is Spring 2009, in the clearing out process.

Spring of 2010...new beds along the front...

To the left of the front porch...still working on the gravel clearing detail.

These are those same beds today, along with a much bigger apple tree.  Schultz is wondering why we're out in the heat this morning...watering the beds is already done for the day, mom!

In the back, a sky vine on the garden gate, some asparagus and the Peggy Martin roses are the only things still green in the veggie garden at the moment...but that will change soon enough.

Ready to till it up and put in some seeds!

This is Charlotte, a golden orb spider and good garden friend.  She's been my real-life tutorial for my grandsons this summer, on how a spider lives, feeds, lays her eggs, and finally dies.  She is not popular with the Fed-Ex guy or the son-in-law, because this is the front porch.  :~)

Charlotte's two egg sacks...I can't wait to meet the little ones.

For the first time, we have apples!!!

Silly view from under the messy carport behind the house...a.k.a. my "potting shed".  It's where I end up after every day's gardening chores, to put away tools and materials.  Then I head out to those chairs under the live oak to drink a glass of tea with Schultz & Waylon while we enjoy the view. 

 That's the end of the garden tour for now.  Now, back to the land of dolls.