It has its ups and downs...

I had a really great weekend. Really great!

It all started on Friday when I found out that Natural Gardener is having a great sale on berry bushes. DH has said multiple times that he wants to have berry bushes in the yard. Also that we needed to expand our herbs in the yard.

So, I wrote DH an email detailing why I wanted to go and when. I made sure to keep with it all Friday and Saturday morning. I even brought him some breakfast tacos to fortify him through the day. We finally left at 2 (I wanted to leave at 1) and got to the place at about 2:30. Then, someone did a body snatcher on my husband!

All of a sudden, this other person (who looked like my DH but surely could not be) started making suggestions, wanting to help out - even handing over his credit card for the purchases! DH even suggested that we order the compost (a large delivery that will be dumped onto his precious driveway) before we left the place! WOW!

We did take some time to wander around the place and get some more ideas of what we can do in our small space. DH and I marveled at the huge lettuces and cabbages and cauliflower and realized that our *next* house would have a large yard that would have full sun for said veggies.

It was a wonderful afternoon and I hope to find other garden centers in Austin to visit to keep him thinking about this kind of stuff and to get some inspiration for me too!

*sigh* I love him, I really do. What other girl would ask for and get 4 cubic yards of compost for her birthday?!?! He even keeps asking if that is OK?!?!? ;-)

Gardening in Texas

Whenever I think about my garden (or lack thereof), I realize how much work I would need to do to make it look the way I want it to (and to water it in June/ July). My plan to get an irrigation system backfired. Maybe DH will understand better next year and put aside money to do this VERY important addition to the yard.

Do I really need all those tools? I was taking a look through some catalogs and magazines and was wondering... All I have is a small shovel, some pruning shears, a hand-held tiller and some gloves. Does it matter if I don't have a fork to turn the soil, a flat shovel to take out sod, large loppers for shrubs? I mean, really, do I need them? I am afraid to take out some of the flowers to divide them without a fork and I am hoping to get a delivery of soil late this week so I can make better beds.

Ah, the beds. After the icestorm last week, the lantana is really, really dead. I either need to cut it back to get rid of it altogether. It is the only thing that looks good in July however. hmm.
I know I want to change out the flowers near the door and cut back the crape myrtle near the garbage bins. I still have no real idea of what to do with the bed near the cars or on the side of the house. Maybe I should look through some garden centers this weekend - the Lowe's at La Frontera has some really knowledgeable people. BUT - the Red Barn plants I buy, while slightly more expensive, have lasted and lasted.

Point in fact - the Bluebonnets in the ice picture are actually seeds from a plant I bought late last year at Red Barn. The plants went to seed and now they are everywhere! I LOVE self-seeding plants! Maybe I'll get some more so they will creep over to behind the mailboxes... it is just bare dirt right now.

Why is it sooo hard to find good advice about gardening in Texas? I still need to get some sort of soil test to determine what I need to do in terms of fertilizer. AND I need to get some better system in place for watering this summer. I also need to keep some notes about what I am putting where and what is going on with the garden. Ah well - at least I can pull weeds without too much thought this weekend. :-)