My father and mother bought a piece of property in 1991 at 824 Harris Ave. Two trees and half a yard of grass. They planted three Crepe Myrtles and a Texas Red bud and a Texas Mountain Laurel. Those trees are all still there. Though I feel that the Red bud may be on its way out. For years my father attempted to grow the grass thick and hearty, a mighty feat here in Austin. My mother planted a few perennials, some of which are still alive and well. About one year ago I began to redo the entire yard. With my father's gracious blessing I installed a raise bed vegetable garden,(Dimensions-12'x12'x10"). That was the first leg and is the center piece of the yard.
Vegetable bed- Built of reused decking lumber nicely donated by the Seibert family. I first obliterated the grass beneath by hand and hoe. Then I spread about two cubic yards of composted horse manure, I mixed in a few garden bags of fallen leaves to add some carbon to the manure in order to help break it down and neutralize the nitrogen rich manure, then I covered it all with about two cubic yards of "Hill Country Mix" soil from "The Natural Gardener".
By the time all that was ready it was approaching summer. I planted peppers, watermelon, basil, green beans, squash, corn and a few other things. I had a few successes but all in all I think the soil wasn't ready yet, everything looked stunted and a little freaked out. However, the Green Malabar Spinach grew like mad, I had to defend all the others from it overtaking the whole bed. That stuff is aliens.
In the meantime I planted some perennials in a space just to the east of the Veggies. Hibiscus, coneflower(purple), gregg's mist, plumbego, etc. I've cut most of those for the winter and am ready and waiting for them to poke their lovely heads out. Those reside behind the Mountain Laurel. In front of the Laurel, and just before the street curb I planted 5-6 Blue Agave that I rescued from someone's garbage. They were pretty beat up but I put them in the ground gave them a massive sun to live under and fed them copious amounts of water. Now they look absolutely magnificent. Refugees of a culling. And among them I have sewn wild flower seed. Oh Spring arrive yourself!
Next I mulched nearly the entire front yard. GRASS BE GONE.
I also convinced my father to allow me to remove two homely old Juniper trees flanking the front stoop.
That's a pretty good introduction. I have planted a few trees, but we'll talk about those later. It will give us something to look forward to. Long term stuff.
I will be updating weekly; maybe more.
