2013 - October GLINDA'S GARDEN DAY

This post, 2013 - October GLINDA'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog.

In 2013, October was my chance to have the Divas of the Dirt come over and do their magic. No one date was good for everyone... and every Saturday was bad for someone!

We went for the "least-worst" date and I started getting the menu together.

The decomposed granite needed for the October project was delivered to the driveway on Friday morning and some light rain followed.
 

Would we be rained out? Saturday brought off-on sun and humidity, but no showers. Game on!

Someday I'll figure out how to be hostess while taking photos. By the time I remembered the camera, only the gourd centerpiece remained along with Buffy's plate - she had a schedule conflict, but we hoped we might see her later on.

Unphotographed but pretty darned good were coffee, Paradise juice, Peach Mango juice, a fruit salad of black grapes, pineapple & watermelon, a bowl of sectioned grapefruit, and a Potatoes, Eggs & Swiss Cheese Casserole with Shallots and Sundried Tomatoes. The Pear Bread made from a Smitten Kitchen recipe was a hit - even better with a little blueberry or raspberry preserves. 

Mattie's sweet dog Barbie found her favorite place on the back of the sofa (actually, this is the favorite place of every small dog that visits here) and waited patiently until we'd caught up on conversation and were ready to go outside.



A little backstory: our boxwood hedge was quite mature when we bought this house. We clipped it lightly, letting it grow dense, at a level just above the iron porch rail.


The unsheared hedge worked well for years, but the lush life was over once the gutters failed and needed to be redone. In order to get the old gutters down, paint the wood underneath and then install our new Rainhandlers, the poor boxwoods had to be chopped. And once the boxwoods were cut back enough for ladders to fit, the mess under them was revealed and for the first time we could reach the ground underneath.

A previous owner had put down black landscaping fabric, swirling it around the base of the boxwoods. It had ripped and buckled with time, making the area impossible to rake.
What I asked from the Divas was to pull out all the black plastic, rake out all the accumulated leaves, twigs and junk, and then we could add the decomposed granite under the boxwoods.

Diva-Annie charged right in.



The plastic came up pretty easily, revealing an assortment of long-lost, battered children's playthings, sort of like an archaeological dig. Did the dad put the plastic over the toys or did the kids hide the stuff under the edges?


Once the ground was clear under the hedge, we could use the wheelbarrow to transport the granite from the driveway pile to the nearby boxwood hedge.


Mattie decided the best way to get the granite exactly where she wanted it was to fill a bucket, then stand on the veranda to pour the decomposed granite behind the hedge.

Once in place, the granite needed to be smoothed and tamped down. Sugar stepped in.

OK! The weedblock and junk is gone and new granite is in place.



A second, smaller project was to redo the area with tiles in granite under a big brown pot. Karla and Sophia went after this one - it looks great reset with new granite.



Sophia approves their work!



and Karla shows how she was able to move that pot.




As long as we're up in front, let's see how the woodland garden is doing... the Asters divided by the Divas of the Dirt in 2012 have settled in and are in bloom.



The salvias planted by the Divas in 2012 are also becoming established.



Things now looked not only cleaner, but more grounded, connected, purposeful - whole front yard just looked Better! Let's go inside.

We nibbled on baby carrots, cherry tomatoes & red-pepper hummus while everyone visited and played with Barbie, and the hibiscus-mint tea steeped.
Then to the dining room for Meatballs in red sauce, Spinach with 4 cheeses lasagna, green salad with avocado dressing and Onion/Asiago bread from the Cedar Park Farmers Market. 


To celebrate the October birthdays, we enjoyed Henrici Tunnel of Fudge cake with chocolate fudge frosting decorated with pecans.



Another year of our Divas of the Dirt garden projects was done, and I was tired. Does anyone else know this old bricklayers' trick? Tip a wheelbarrow down and you can use it as a temporary chair.



Just a few days after the Divas of the Dirt put down the decomposed granite, the entire system got a test... 5" of rain in one storm!

The Rainhandlers worked great and the granite stayed in place, looking good from inside the veranda...


And also looking good from the front walk.



But the boxwoods? They had finally begun to recover by early spring 2014, full of new growth and covered in flower buds. Then something the local meteorological community called "Thundersleet" hit, followed by a sudden plunge down to 14F.
Most of the new growth froze off. A year later, the boxwoods are alive, but may never fill in again. With sunlight now reaching under the hedge, I've added bulbs of rainlilies and am now trying to get bluebonnets to sprout there, too. I'll let you know if it works!

This post, 2013 - October GLINDA'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt Blog.

2013 - June SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY

This post, "2013-June SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY" was written by Annie in Austin/Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt blog.
We in Austin do like the idea of local food, by supporting Farmers Markets for example. Some of us also try to grow some of it ourselves. But in heavily wooded neighborhoods like the one where Sophia, Karla and I live, planting vegetables is often a statement of support for the home garden rather than an action resulting in food for humans.

Sophia & Roger had given growing vegetables a good try after we installed square raised vegetable herb beds for her Divas of the Dirt project a few years ago. They produced the odd pepper or cucumber and some herbs, but not enough to equal the water they used and it was impossible to keep weeds and tree seedlings from growing in the beds and the entire area around them.


Sophia reluctantly decided the square beds would have to go. She wanted to reuse the square stepping stones already set in that area and she hoped we'd have some ideas on how to make that side of the drive better. If possible, Sophia also hoped we'd help her with the usual weeding, grooming, mulching and adding color to existing beds in front.

On a hot June day we gathered for her project. Mindy and Sugar weren't able to come at all, and Buffy told us she'd arrive late and then would pop in-and-out for the rest of the day.

When we arrived we could see that Sophia had taken advantage of some deep markdowns on plants - some plants were practical, some just for fun. She'd found a 'Bubba' Desert Willow on sale - quite a good find!


There were a couple of nice abelias and some native plants. She also found some inexpensive baskets of annuals that could be taken apart and used to add color to existing beds. We looked the plants over and plotted how they might be used... but some were very exotic - none of us had ever tried growing a Dragon Fruit!



Because Sophia's work schedule had been very heavy she was glad that Roger has major cooking skills! Sophia planned a Pancake Party for breakfast with the dining room looking a little bit country.


We were offered eggs and sausages and a big fruit salad along with three... count 'em... three kinds of pancakes- these are Jalapeno & Corn.



Also on the menu, Lemon Pancakes with Lemon Zest and Oatmeal pancakes. It's impossible to choose so we had to taste each one - served with raspberry sauce.



After breakfast we went out and surveyed the front garden. The vegetable frames did look sad!

But the Golden Leadball tree Leucaena retusa had delighted Sophia by becoming more established. The Artemesia in front of the Leadball however, was a little TOO happy... pruners, anyone?



The project started out rather smoothly with ground-workers tackling existing beds and tiller-wranglers pulling up the wooden frames for reuse by another garden friend of Sophia.

The tiller has been a great tool for getting an area dug over but not this time - oh, no! Some kind of metal post was poking up from the ground, smack in the middle of the area where it needs to be smooth and level for the stepping stones.


After digging around the pole, what looks like concrete is exposed. The best guess was this was once the pole for a basketball hoop, installed by some former owner.



Mattie and Karla worked on the whole bed, but that post annoyed them so they kept going back to attack it. 

The sledgehammer didn't budge it.


Finally Mattie and Karla were able to crack the concrete in half, but the darned pole still would not come out.


As the hot day wore on, the neighbor came out to see how we were doing, saying he appreciated Sophia making what would be an improvement in his view, too. A little while later he came back with a Cobra mister - a very nice thing to do!

I went home (just a few blocks away) to get my breaker bar, hoping it could help. The 6-foot metal bar is so heavy and I was so hot and tired that I asked Ozz to put it in the car for me.

Only a few minutes after I returned, Buffy the Queen of the Breaker Bar, arrived. She was fired up from a very successful meeting & raring to go to work!
When Buffy first moved into her house her entire back yard was rock - she spent months prying up and moving boulders to make the raised borders of her garden. Apparently she hasn't lost the knack because with all that preliminary work done, it took just ten minutes after her arrival for success!


With the obstacle removed, the bed redo moved along. It quickly became apparent that more decomposed granite and more of the red blocks were needed so Roger headed off to buy more.

The long front border now had attention from Mattie, Annie and Karla... soon some of Sophia's bargains were planted there.


We were called in to a country-style late lunch/early supper. Inside the air-conditioned house, Chukster was so excited to see us that his photo was a blur. I turned him into a poster. 


Chukster had been low dog until a few weeks before our meeting, when top dog Tedster died. Chukster would be a lonely only for a while, but Roger and Sophia intended to add another rescue dog to the family later in summer.

Roger & Sophia had become intrigued by recipes in an Appalachian-style cookbook they'd bought called Cider Beans, Wild Greens and Dandelion Jelly by Joan Aller. Using some recipes from the book and some from other sources, they'd put together a down home kind of menu for the afternoon.


Cookbook author Joan Aller said that sitting down to the main dish, Chicken Noodle Casserole, was like going to your mam-maw's (Grandmother's) house in mountain county. The sides were Cider-baked beans and a crunchy green bean salad  with Best in the West Berry Cobbler for dessert. And for parched, hot gardeners, Rosemary-Mint Lemonade was the perfect drink.


We went back out and managed to get almost everything done, using every bit of the additional granite and every square block that Roger brought back.

Buffy is really good at setting stone


By the end of the day the artemesia had been tamed in the corner bed, giving room for Ixora, verbena, petunias & one Dragonfruit plant (the other went into a patio container).


The left front bed soon had a mix of native and adapted plants with one off-the-wall hollyhock in bloom, just for fun.


The right front bed got some plants that are tough and will last, some annuals that will live for the season and some experiments from the bargain table. The weather here in Austin is so variable from year to year that even the most solid native plant is a bit of an experiment, and odd pockets of soil, shade and microclimates can allow a plant to live that by all the rules should fail.


The main project, removing the vegetable beds and replacing them with some hardscape and tough plants, succeeded beyond Sophia's hopes. It was, as usual, more expensive than originally estimated, but it's also much more permanent looking, adding structure to that side of the house. In addition, the plantings help minimize the presence of the oh-so-necessary but oh-so-clunky looking utility boxes.


We headed home for showers and cool drinks, pleased that we'd been able to help Sophia, feeling a little nutty and ready to stretch out and relax after our long Divas of the Dirt garden day.


This post, "2013-June SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY" was written by Annie in Austin/Glinda for the Divas of the Dirt blog.

2009 SEPTEMBER - GLINDA'S GARDEN DAY

For my previous turn as hostess the Divas of the Dirt made the big native and adapted flower bed around the birdbath in the front yard. That was 18 months ago, in March of 2008.
It was exciting when this year's turn approached:

Sunday, September 13: "It's been a long, hot dry summer since we were chased by rainstorms at Karla's house last May. My Diva day is scheduled for next Saturday...[hope we don't] have to work around another rainstorm...thank heavens, avoided having it scheduled for yesterday!
Sophia ..wont be able to work with us [maybe] she can come to visit and eat with us...Oz & I have been gathering plants and supplies...[want a] drought-tolerant border in the part of the front parking strip that has the mailbox...went from being a part-shade Liriope bed to a mostly sunny, hot & dry area. After seeing the transformation of the parking strips at Karla's, Buffy's, Annie's and Sophia's my biggest wish is that we'll be similarly inspired once we're together! ...didn't water that part of the parkway at all this summer - let it get crispy - figured it would be easier to dig if most of the St Augustine grass was dead. Mindy, maybe you could bring the diamond hoe?..."

I had a yen to cook something French ever since seeing Julie & Julia but in recent years "Talk Like A Pirate Day" has become a kind of modern folk holiday, celebrated every year on September 19th. Combining these ideas led me to declare "Eat Like A French Pirate Day". After 5 years of decorating indecision the dining room finally had curtains and the table had new French-style placemats: The Divas arrived and we caught up on all sorts of interesting events (none of which belong on this blog) before breakfasting on Quiche Lorraine, Whole wheat French Toast, Paradise Juice, extra bacon, pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, watermelon and grapes -then aaarrgghh! It was time to mosey out into the pitiful front yard where the "hellstrip" awaited us.
Back in February 2005 we Divas had removed a sprawling Spiraea that swamped the mailbox, moving it to the Batbed. We added native Pavonia lasiopetala/Rock Rose, an Artemesia, Texas Betony/Stachys coccinea and native Scuttelaria suffrutescens/Skullcap to the existing liriope and a Salvia greggii on the south side of the mailbox. The Betony and Skullcap didn't make it, but the Rock Rose and Artemesia survived, a multitude of tree seedlings sprouted and the liriope grew thick. When an Arizona Ash died in early 2007 this area became hotter and sunnier, but it never looked that bad until the drought settled in during midsummer 2008. Now the liriope is burned from the western sun. The Divas decided to make the weed trees walk the plank, used a few swipes of the cutlass to cut back the perennials and then attacked the Liriope. Good grief! Once Mattie and Karla started digging the Liriope kept coming like a magician's endless string of handkerchiefs...some could be replanted along the sides of the street walkway where it was shadier, some could go home with whoever could use it, and some could go under the trees in full shade.Mindy's diamond hoe cleared the top of the bed, then hours passed as the long bed was dug and the soil sifted. Sophia had decided she was not well enough for even a short visit, so Mindy & I went to pick up the Mantis tiller at her house. Decomposed granite and Ladybug Revitalizer compost went into the cleared area and the tiller mixed it up. Plants were ready and waiting: a Texas mountain laurel, a Germander, Mexican Feather Grass, Gulf Muhly Grasses, Lilac-colored lantana, purple skullcap, Blackfoot daisies and creeping rosemary plants that are supposed to stay under 1-foot tall. A big stepping stone and a couple of smaller ones were set aside for a path. Oz and I had also picked up a wheelbarrow full of free rocks on Friday, thinking we might want to Rock This Bed. Buffy and Mindy gave it a try, but it just didn't look right with our housefront - guess the pink-toned rock will end up somewhere in the Pink Entrance Garden.
The main planting was looking good, with only mulching left to do so I went in to get the very late lunch onto the table.My only other request had been help with a new container ... but the other Divas were not satisfied with that! They thought the new bed looked so good it made the big oval bed they'd made in 2008 look shabby - soon Annie and Karla and Mattie had the edges of the birdbath bed trenched, the plants cut back and the whole thing was mulched. Our 3 PM meal followed the French Pirate theme, too: a concoction of Poblano sausage, chicken, tomatoes, rice, beans & the Cajun holy trinity was now " Jean Lafitte Stew", there was a loaf of homemade bread baked in my grandmother's bread pan, spicy French cheddar rounds were rechristened "Pieces of Eight", salad (or should that be Salade?), my husband's contribution of "Outer Banks Hot Pickles", iced tea with Meyer's Lemons picked fresh from the patio trees, as well as a family recipe for Chocolate Shortbread shaped into coins and Historically Correct Key Lime Pie for dessert.

There are many ideas about what constitutes Real or Original Key Lime Pie... some sites insist it must be graham cracker crust and have nothing like whipped cream or meringue on top. I'd found some cool historical sites that told of a man named Gail Bordon inventing safe & stable canned, sweetened condensed milk in the 1850's so people would not die from contaminated milk. Supposedly, people in the Keys had no cows - thus no milk or butter in those unrefrigerated times. The invention of canned milk let them use their limes for pie. Google the man and be amazed at his life story ~ then read this post from the Online Pastry Chef, discussing why a historically accurate pie would have been a pastry crust and why a pie made by thrifty people had to have meringue! My pie was made from the recipe at this site and we all agreed it was astounding!
The Divas quickly helped clear the decks (that Diva Annie insisted on washing dishes, too!) and then went back out to finish up - dollying bags of decomposed granite and Rose Magic Soil to Buffy along with some Saltillo tiles and the new pot. A dwarf Barbados cherry and a plant of culinary Marjoram were ready to plant, completing the Pirate theme. Did you know the island of Barbados was home to historical pirates and the herb Marjoram was the crop favored by "The Condensed Pirate", a tale found in my childhood's beloved Better Homes and Gardens Second Storybook?

Buffy got the tiles settled into the granite, then she and Mindy showed it who was captain of this garden! In the 5+ years we've lived here the center of this little bed has been amended and planted over and over without success - an Abelia, a Sago Palm, Spiderwort, Lambs Ears, Salvias, verbena and a hydrangea all failed in its tree-root choked soil ....maybe a big container can succeed. Around the outer edges some Oxblood Lilies from MSS of Zanthan are doing well, which makes me think other bulbs (like Texas-tough Grand Primo narcissus) should be added, too.
Next to the steps is another problem area - failures since 2004 were chrysanthemums, Japanese Aralia/Fatsia japonica, the usually tough Amarcrinum(!!!) and Hawaiian White Ginger. I bought a couple of dwarf yaupons/Ilex vomitoria and the Divas gave them a chance. They also decided to use the remaining bags of granite here - we need to get more but even this thin layer looks good!
Now when I come down the driveway the grass is still summer-killed, but patient Divas with rakes (thank you, Mattie) took off the top thatch, so when rain comes it can sink into the ground. This area needs another tree and perhaps a path. The remaining St Augustine can survive with a surprisingly low amount of water if it gets some shade. And when the plants in the beds are so interesting - who cares about grass anyway? Instead of wasting water trying to keep lawn alive in the sunbaked parking strip, less water can make the right plants grow and thrive, looking good while supplying habitat for bees and butterflies.
If the bird-attracting dwarf Barbados Cherry settles in happily I might be able to lurk on the veranda with my camera and snap feathered visitors coming for the fruit.
And every day when I stand on the steps I'll think about how wonderful it is to be a Diva of the Dirt, who has friends to change the view with layered plantings that make even a walk to the mailbox an adventure...the 'Mutabilis' rose they planted in 2008 is making new leaves and flower buds right now!
From the first Diva project here in October 2004 through last weekend, my wonderful garden friends have helped to make this house feel like a garden cottage.
Next up will be Diva Annie!