2015 - SEPTEMBER SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY

This post, 2015 - SEPTEMBER  SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the DIrt Blog

2015 - September Sophia's Garden Day

The abundant rains of May and June 2015 stopped as suddenly as they had started. July and August straggled along, hot and dry. Although September brought no relief, Austin weatherfolk assured us of El Nino moisture ahead so people who had been putting off garden work were once again making plans and starting projects. 

In early September, Sophia sent this photo of her Schoolhouse Lilies (AKA Oxblood Lilies) beginning to bloom.

 A clump of my Schoolhouse lilies bloomed a week later, after I encouraged them with a drink from the hand-held hose.

 Sophia's Garden Day dawned with the daunting prediction for a high temperature of 97°F. I live closest to Sophia and was the first Diva of the Dirt to arrive - what did I see in Sophia & Roger's driveway? Two pallets of grassy sod...

 And about 4 yards of amended soil! Luckily we'd be working in filtered sun from the small-leaved Cedar Elm trees.

The calendar said this was Talk Like A Pirate Day, but the only Sea we'd be dealing with was a Sea of grass.

Over the years, we’ve removed large amounts of lawn from almost every Diva yard to make beds and borders and reduce water needs. but we also know that in some places, a little lawn works best. Sophia's request was that we redo the space between the front beds and groundcover borders, making a semi-shaded, cool grassy area for visiting grandchildren to play. The area now alternated between mud and dust – not a good choice for the kids.

 Mattie and Annie arrived soon after I did, with Karla pulling up next. When Buffy drove up, she brought the electric tiller. A few years ago, we Divas of the Dirt chipped in and bought this handy tool so it could be ready when we needed it.

Breakfast would be ready soon but Sophia (being Sophia!) offered a first course of coffee and two fruit breads from HEB - how can you choose between Peach Melba Bread and Triple Berry Bread?

 Mindy and Sugar couldn't be there for breakfast but would be coming later. So six of us went in to admire the autumn decor of the dining room. I can't wait for those beautiful berries but please hide that candy corn!

Oh, my - maybe it was a mistake to have tried both kinds of fruit bread... Sophia made Cheese Grits?

There was a big bowl of Blueberries, Strawberries and Grapes, there were juices, there were scrambled eggs and Jimmy Dean pork sausages, too.

Who could not love a bouquet of big, friendly-faced golden sunflowers?

 Breakfast was almost over when the three-member canine crew made an appearance. Mattie had brought Barbie to visit Sophia's two dogs. Luckily we were already sitting down because they so excited they began running laps around the dining room table. That brown blur at left is Barbie (seen often in previous posts), the handsome grey gentleman in the middle is Chukster and at right is Miss Magnolia, the young-black-Lab-who-thinks-she's-a-Bichon Frise. Magnolia has a sweet temperament, but she is sure that she can fit into the same spaces she did as a puppy!

 Once we went outside, it was time to get any weeds or grass out, to dump the amended soil where the sod would go, to rake it over the area and to then run the tiller - this process would take a very long time.

Here is Mattie raking the dumped soil, spreading it out so the tiller can work.

 Sophia took the first turn at running the tiller.

The soil in the designated area was gradually amended and mixed.

We alternated tasks and worked on other beds and borders. The soggy spring followed by a too-dry summer meant death to rosemary plants all over Austin. Some of the goners were large old plants in Sophia's parkway.

Other unhappy plants were the two Mutabilis roses - usually one of the toughest roses in Central Texas, but not this year. It would take some time to get all the dead wood out – and we had to watch out for the thorns.

The tiller works best with a rotating crew. Some of the Divas of the Dirt were up for operating the tiller, some of us knew we couldn’t handle it. This time it’s Karla as the tiller driver.

Although she broke one garden fork in half while doing it, our Buffy got that dead rosemary out of the parkway.

 We took time to admire the plants that were thriving, like this combination of Blue Plumbago, Burgundy-leaved Oxalis and Northern Sea Oats.

 Before the sod could be set into place, the advice from the sod company was to soak the ground first. How could we do this without walking through mud while we worked on adjoining patches?  And exactly how should the squares be laid? What kind of pattern and direction would work best? As you can imagine, this part of the project took a long time, requiring a lot of discussion and some trial and error.

 Sugar and Mindy had both arrived to help, and soon different sections of the front yard were in different stages of progress  – soil dumping, soil mixing, watering and sod laying happening at the same time. Mindy and I filled the wheelbarrow over and over, then she steered it to the next spot to dump it.

Some Divas used the dolly or the wheelbarrow to move the sod squares around – other Divas liked to just grab a couple of pieces off the stacks. Diva Annie joked that we still had enough sod for a green sofa.

 Sophia had been busy inside - a wonderful lunch of Challah bread, herbed pasta with veggies, baked crunchy chicken fillets, and a huge green salad with choice of dressings was on the table by 3:15pm.

Sugar, Buffy, Karla, Mattie! Come on in and have lunch!

 I don't know how Sophia makes that chicken, but it is amazingly delicious. With a salad for healthy crunch, great bread and yummy pasta, who could want more?

 But you know there will be more - do you see what's in the bakery box?

Sophia conjured up a chocolate Italian Cream Cake (think it was from Upper Crust Bakery) with our group's name on the top.

 The afternoon temperature topped out at 96°F and while the number of squares on those pallets had been greatly reduced, there was still a lot to do after lunch - including fitting the edges along the driveway.

 We also had a lot of finishing to do with the edges along the front sidewalk. We Divas did what we could before we had to leave, but Sophia and Roger will have to complete more of the project tomorrow.

Saturday night is the official night for running hose end sprinklers – watering will be necessary until the promised rain arrives. Goodbye for now from the Divas of the Dirt! Grow little front lawn, grow and thrive.

This post, 2015 - SEPTEMBER  SOPHIA'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for the Divas of the DIrt Blog

2015-February BUFFY'S GARDEN DAY

This post, 2015-February BUFFY'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda for her Divas of the Dirt Blog

Our Divas project in February 2015 was a "just in case" kind of project. Buffy was considering a move to a different house, so just in case, we came over to weed, rake, clip, clean up and mulch.

The weather had been mild and Mark Murray told us that Saturday would be in the 70s F with a chance of a shower. Since ice and cold weather was predicted for Sunday night/Monday morning, it seemed best to concentrate on cleaning and mulching - not planting.

As part of her just in case plan, Buffy had ordered new garage doors. That meant a lot of the garage collection had to move into the dining room and the Divas of the Dirt would gather in the living room instead. 

Buffy made fillings and prepared toppings for breakfast tacos. She also tried a new recipe - the baked oatmeal was a hit.


But she ran into some trouble with the baked bacon. The fire alarm went off over and over. Each time it started up, Buffy's three small dogs Luci, Lynda & Fredric, and Mattie's visiting social butterfly Barbie became howling furballs. The baked bacon didn't look all that great, but it tasted pretty good!


The scrambled eggs came out perfect for breakfast tacos.




And so did the sausage.



















The fruit salad was just right to start a warm February day.

Everything is on the island counter - we're ready for breakfast!





Buffy's lovely bouquet shocked my camera with its vivid colors so I hope you can tell how pretty it was.






We went outside and gave everything in sight what my mom used to call "a lick and a polish" - not trying to redo anything, but to spruce up everything.

Here's the main front view before, complete with photobombing Barbie.


There are good wildflowers mixed in with those lawn weeds... one reason to do it by hand instead of with chemicals.



The parkway is usually a bright spot all year, but it looks awfully tired and overgrown right now.




While we were outside a few members of Buffy's family stopped by and said hello.

Eventually we stopped working and went in to a surprise lunch - well - is it still "lunch" at 4:30pm? Buffy had ordered BBQ from local chain PoK-e-Jo'S Smokehouse.  We loved the turkey, brisket and sausage, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, onions, pickles and jalapenos.



And for dessert? Secret recipe Buttermilk Pie... so delicious. We can't say a word about which restaurant secret fell into Buffy's hands, but we sure hope she doesn't lose that recipe!



I didn't get a photo of the strawberries for the top, and also didn't get a photo of the Italian Cream Cake from Upper Crust Bakery. Guess you'll just have to go down to Burnet & 45th to see it for yourself.

I didn't take this photo but am glad Mattie had her camera ready to catch Mindy having a heart-to-heart with Fredric!



Out in the yard we'd managed to get a lot done.

The bluebonnets that had seeded in the lawn were now free of smothering weeds, ready to bud and burst into bloom. 15



Weeds were banished and straggling plants cut back and mulched in all three parkways.




And after much clipping, pruning, weeding and mulching the large central border looked good again.




We'd had a day of work with great food and best of all, a chance to share updates on home remodeling projects, work problems, accidents & mishaps, pet illnesses, new car purchases, family squabbles, family good stuff, new exercise and diet ideas and not-so-good health news. There had been so many ups and downs in all our lives that it was kind of a group therapy session with gardening. Some things would eventually work out and some remain unresolved, but at least we got to be together.





We were tired, but whether or not the move happened, knew we'd helped Buffy and made a difference.

This post, 2015-February BUFFY'S GARDEN DAY, was written by Annie in Austin/Diva Glinda  for her 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.