I lost administrative access to my this blog some time ago. I can still write new posts as a Contributor, but I cannot update settings or make any other changes to it and have failed to break into my old Administrator account despite my best efforts, so I am cutting my losses and starting fresh.
I guess this old blog will remain on the interwebz in perpetuity, so posts prior to 2021 can still be found here, but everything new going forward will be housed at Emmy Girl's Garden.
Redoing the grass in the back yard between the patio and the rock garden beds. Turned all the soil manually with with a shovel to dig out the weeds and loosen the soil.
Seeding with Scotts Turf Builder Bermudagrass (Highlander) WaterSmart Plus:
Seeded the back yard in two parts.
4/23/2021 - partly dug
5/21/2021 - first signs on sprouting on the right, left side still needs to be dug
5/26/2021 - first seeding
6/2/2021 - 3 weeks out from first seeding (NW quadrant is second seeding, 11 days out)
This used to be my old fish pond. I filled it in many years ago after a snake ate my fish and the liner cracked. Since then it's been nothing in particular, but it still has the old rock border around it which was concreted in. I've grown tomatoes, watermelons, and weeds in it. It is highly visible from inside the house, and I was tired of it looking like crap, so last year I started a concentrated effort to make it look nice.
It gets full sun ALL day long. The soil holds water well, but "normal" plantings still have a tendency to wilt every afternoon in the summertime because of the intensity of the high-summer radiant heat, so I am doing it all in desert rock garden type materials.
Back when it was a fish pond:
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| 2000 |
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| 2004 |
2016 (home to a tomato plant):
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| Black Cherry herloom tomatoes - prolific and delicious! |
2020 (even the cosmos fried last year):
2021 (so far, and granted it's been raining like crazy):
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| 'Moonshine' yarrow |
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| Purple Ice Plant |
Ripped out the ratty, old nandinas and replaced with agave pots, Petite Knockout roses, and lantana.
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| Before... |
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| After! |
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| Before... |
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| After! |
The Century Plants (agave) in the pots are pups from an overgrown plant that originally came from my grandmother's garden.
I filled the pots with crushed cans before planting to reduce the weight and keep the roots from staying too wet.
Passion vine were particularly beautiful this year! This was a gift from one of my nursery customers, and I didn't think it would be hardy here in Lubbock so I planted it in a protected space by my front door but it has handled the our Lubbock winters just fine!
Click HERE to learn about the symbolism of the passion vine!
