Hill Country

I mentioned in our Sunday post that I live in the Texas Hill Country. I am been looking through files of photos, and still can’t seem to come up with any “hill” photos!

I did find a nice photo of a “hill” of mulch.

A pile (I mean hill) of mulch in the background

I also managed to find a photo of the “hill” with wild flowers on it form this past spring. It really is a fake hill since it is man-made on the exit ramp off the highway. But is it pretty.I don’t seem to have many photos of the landscape around me.  That doesn’t mean my head is constantly down. I continually look around me. I watch the birds and red hawk in the trees and sky. I watch the deer wander by (I am not too happy with the deer right now, but I still enjoy their beauty.)

Do you enjoy the landscape around you?

Sincerely, Emily

You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.

Read Full Post »

Planning ahead – Trees and Plants

The entire East line of our property (300′) is full of cedar (Juniper) trees. They are wonderful because they help keep the morning sun off our house and that helps to keep things cooler for a while. They offer shade for some of the herb and flower gardens from the morning sun. They provide habitat for the variety of birds that live in our area. They also provide shade for the clothes line, because the hot Texas sun will fade our clothes rather quickly otherwise.

Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis)

Around here, you will hear a lot of people say that the cedar (Juniper) are invasive. You will also hear them say the steal water for other trees and plants. Well, an invasive (to me) is an opportunist. It takes advantage of areas and will continue to grow and produce seedlings if the conditions are right. Back in the day when buffalo roamed our area, there were not a  lot of cedar (Juniper) trees. The buffalo hoof traffic kept the cedar trees under control. Since the buffalo don’t roam here anymore the cedar trees have taken advantage of the situation and now grow everywhere.

I am not sure if the cedar trees steal water from other plants, I do know that when it rains an inch, that all the leaves living on the tree soak up that water before it hits the ground. After that inch of rain, it is completely dry underneath the cedar trees. So, if that is “stealing,” then I guess they do.

As the trees get taller and older, the bottom branches die off.  Around our house, we have worked at trimming them off as they do that. The last few years we have noticed that more and more of the cedar are dieing and we find ourselves trying to come up with a plan to plant other trees amongst them to start growing and replace the cedars as they die.

You’ve probably heard the question, ” when is the best time to plant a tree?”…… answer: 10 years ago. Nothing grows real fast here, so had we been on top of this 5 years ago we would be that much more ahead of this game now. Well, we are not, so the best time to plant a tree for us is NOW.

We have four Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis) in our yard. They are very established and are wonderful. One of them produced a lot of babies last year so I dug up several and potted them up to get them growing and last fall we planted four of them in the ground and they are doing really well. This spring I was able to dig up more seedlings and we will get them planted this fall. We also have a Vitex (also known as Chaste tree & VERY deer resistant) that is growing in the clump of cedar in the front yard. It does not get enough sun so it is rather leggy and scraggly, but we have taken out three cedars that were around it and it is starting to look a lot healthier now. Last Spring I found two babies under it and potted those up to get established. Last fall we planted those up near the front of the property line so that as we take out more cedar they will be growing up and provide us with some replacement trees and privacy.

This is an ongoing process. I am not able to head out with the chainsaw and trim cedar limbs or take down tress right now, so we are doing it as my husband has time. Normally, I would load the truck and take all the cuttings to the recycle place, but I just can’t do that yet either.

Several weeks ago my husband went on a trimming spree and we had 4 truck loads of cuttings that he took to recycle. On one of his trips he brought back a load of mulch. I had a plan to start planting more in the front section of our lot near the street and had picked up another Vitex and several ornamental grasses to go with a few agave babies from our neighbor. My husband dug holes and I helped him plant everything. Then I put out the paper feed sacks and we (he) covered that all with mulch. It is doing well.

You can see the area of cedar in our front yard and a few more dead trees that need to come out. You can also see the Vitex blooming (light pink) in the background.

I have plans to create some sort of berm using some of the tree trimming and cover it with dirt and plant on and around it, but that is really going to have to wait until I am completely recovered so I can take that on myself.

My husband is really starting to see the urgency of getting other things planted as he starts to see how many of our cedar are dieing. I am grateful that he has had the time to help with the trimming and planting to move things along. It is an ongoing project, but it is nice to see some progress and some things taking shape.

Are you working on any yard projects?

Sincerely, Emily

Read Full Post »

REAL Local: Mulching Project

Some of you may have read my post about the feed bags I was working on back in April over at Sincerely, Emily.  I mentioned that I was getting ready to use them on a project.

A really big mulching project to be exact. I have been thinking about mulching the whole area between the front sidewalk and the front of the house.  We don’t have “proper” grass and even when I do have to mow, it is an awkward area and it need a lot of trimming (my least favorite thing to do that never gets done.) Another thing I like about the mulch is that there is a recycling center about 20 miles from us. You can drop off your tree trimmings and the turn it into mulch. You pay a small fee ($5 a pick-up truck load to drop), but you can pick up as much mulch as you need – FREE!  How is that for local.

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted out of that area. I figured I would mulch the whole area, but what else. I finally came up with adding some crepe myrtle trees and figured that was a good start. I found the trees and got those in the ground, then I could start the mulching. Each crepe myrtle tree has a wire cage around it to protect it from the deer. It will be removed once the tree is tall enough and can’t hurt the upper branches at that point.

This is where the feed bags come in.  Last fall I planted four oleander up near the garage wall. The summer sun creeps around there late in the afternoon and I wanted something that would be drought tolerant and grow up to provide some nice shade to the garage wall. I had removed a lot of the grass over the winter, but I still knew I would lay the feed bags down before adding mulch to the entire area.

It took two full truck loads of mulch to finish this project. each load is about 2 cubic yards. would lay down a few feed bags at a time. I had to fight against the breeze. The breeze is a good thing, because it helped keep me cool (it was about 94F), but it blows the bags around, so it makes this job longer with only one person. Then I would fill a wheelbarrow full of mulch and start spreading it over the bags. I was careful not to cover the edges, because I needed to layer the bags, overlapping them or else the weeds and grasses tend to find the seems and sneak around them.

It took me a few days working in the mornings and the evening, a little at a time. I still have a small section up in the corner. There are some flat stones up there that I need help getting out of the ground so I can lay more feed bags and cover then with mulch, then I can lay the stones back down.

Eventually I will plant more deer resistant, drought tolerant and sun loving native plants in that area also. Things like Jerusalem Sage, Salvia Gregii, and other plants that both the birds and butterflies will enjoy.

For now, it is just great the way it is. I can add more this fall when it cools off, or next spring.

Sincerely, Emily

P.S.  I will be “unplugged” from technology for a few weeks. I look forward to reading your comments and will respond to each and every one of them when I am back and get back into the swing of things.

You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.

Read Full Post »

You know you’re a Gardener when…

When a line of plastic garbage bags gets you excited!

Want to know what’s in my bags…bettcha do!

It’s beautiful, and nutritious…

Look!  Fo0d for my garden…lovely leaves destined to be shredded and put down as much.  To break down into lovely healthy soil for next year’s garden.

Yep…you know you’re a gardener when you are thrilled by plastic bags full of leaves!

 

Read Full Post »