Tag: #gardening

TEXAS WEATHER IS CRAAAAZZZYY!

The Sleet Storm

There’s nothing like Texas weather in February!!! Is it winter? Is it Spring? Is it Summer? Sheesh! Today, it feels like early Spring. The rest of the week is going to be in the 70’s.

If we ever get snow, it’s usually around Valentine’s Day. This year, the bad weather arrived two weeks early. It came in the form of a sleet storm, in Ft. Worth, with very frigid weather. My son, and sister-in-law , live in the Austin area. They had a severe ice storm that brought down trees and wires, all over Austin. My sister-in-law and hubby just had their electricity turned back on, this past week. They were without electricity for about 10 days, and ended up being at a hotel for five or six of those days. They are still cleaning up debris. All of the streets in their area are lined with piles of tree branches. Austin and Ft. Worth, and surrounding areas had multiple wrecks. It was all quite the mess.

And then……we had a beautiful sunset ! Don’t like the weather in Texas? Stick around!

A beautiful sunset.

Two years ago, we rented a condo for Valentine’s week. We were at a lake, southwest of Austin. Our anniversary is on Valentine’s Day, so we like to celebrate in some fashion. As were at the condo unit, we had a major ice storm. We were iced in, and there was hardly anyone at the resort. During the week, two gentlemen had had their unit flood from burst pipes. They asked if they could come in and get warm. They ended up staying with us for that week. It was an interesting experience, with no water, and roving electricity. We played a lot of cards.

Before
Old door mat
Pansies in the flower pots, and new door mat. My dad made the head.

So here we are in the middle of February. It’s starting to feel Springy. I decided to rip out the dead plants from my front porch planters…it’s about time!….and plant some pansies. I also bought a new door mat for the porch. So far, that’s all I have done, but oh, I feel so much better! Now, I need to get my back flower pots done, and get the garden areas cleaned out. Truthfully, I love Spring! That is one reason I’m glad we moved to Texas. Spring comes earlier here.

How is the weather in your part of the world? Are you still having winter, or is it Spring weather? Leave me a comment .

Hugs,

Grandma Ruddell

My Garden Update

How does your garden grow???

My husband’s banana plants grow to the top of the windows.

How are you doing with your gardening? Is it your thing, or are you not a gardener? I do a few herbs, but mainly flowers. This week we’ve been weeding the flower beds, and planting new things. It’s starting to get really hot, so we’re working in late mornings or early evenings.

In March, I was just starting to dream about things…OK…I’d been dreaming about my garden since January! I wasn’t even sure that half of my perennials had made it through the winter. I started thinking about what flowers I would plant. I use some seeds, such as zinnias, and some starter plants. In the fall, I had ordered some bulbs and plants from Gilbert and Son Nursery. I hadn’t planted most of them. (Story of my life! I get excited and buy lots and don’t get them all planted!)

Oh I have dreams of a beautiful garden!

In April, the nurseries were full of plants and I went a bit crazy. Oh, the prices of plants have gone WAY up! I decided to plant things in the front flower beds first. I planted petunias in the pots, on the front porch. Then I added a pot of petunias on one flower bed. The other side has shade. So I planted begonias in the bed, and more begonias around the tree. These photos are recently taken. We’ve decided to use black mulch this year. The last photo is how my mums look in the fall.

To the right of the petunia pot, in front, are my phlox. They are beautiful.

My mums in the fall.

The shady side of my flower garden.

On the west side of my house, I have some giant elephant ears. They get humongous. I used to have a couple of little girls who took piano lessons from me. They would go out and sit under the leaves of the elephant ears. Elephant ears remind me of my Daddy. He had some great ones.

My elephant ears on the west side of my house. They have come back every year for 18 years. They’ll get twice as big as this.

Here are some photos from April and now, on areas of my back yard. We just planted a day lily /iris/elephant ear garden. It’s new. Hope it all comes up and does well.

Before I weeded my perennials.
After adding some annuals.
The germ of an idea.

The new day lily bed

Ready to grow!

My hubby built my “casket” several years ago. I have two pepper plants and several herbs that need hair cuts.

I will update my garden , later in May. It should have filled out nicely by then. I also have a huge Rose of Sharon bush, that has a ton of buds on it. Can’t wait until it blooms!

So cheers to gardening! I get so excited in the Spring. But when it gets hot, I kind of poop out. I’m not a very patient gardener . I want quick results.

How many of you have a gardening folder, for ideas? I make a map of my garden. I also belong to a Facebook group, Addicted to Gardening. It shows a lot of gardens in progress, answers questions and is a great site. My favorite YouTube site, in relation to gardening, is Garden Answer. Check them out.

Happy Gardening! Leave me a comment about your Spring activities.

Love,

Grandma Ruddell

Giving My Coffin New Life!

My “Coffin” raised planter. So happy when my hubby made this for me!

Have you ever had a project that you put off, and put off and put off? That is exactly what I’ve done with several projects. I kept thinking that cleaning out my coffin planter box and refilling it would take forever. I’d look at it and think about what I wanted to do. Yep, it was going to look really nice. I even bought two new mum plants. Did I get them planted? NO. They roasted their little heads off.

Then, the weather cooled down and I was happy to work in my backyard again. This past week, I went to Mike’s Greenhouse, and found some plants that would take me through fall and beyond. I paid a bundle for these. My hubby always gives me grief when I bring home things, and they don’t get planted for awhile…or never.

The old plants that were in the coffin.

There were some old plants in the “coffin”….big Coleus, which I wanted to keep; a cucumber vine that was at the end of it’s production life; a huge vine that had come up and wound itself through everything; and other plants that I thought would be good, but they never had any flowers.

Lo and behold, it only took me about 20 minutes to clean out my coffin. (Just in case you were wondering, when my hubby made this big raised planter box, on sturdy legs, it looked like a coffin. ) After cleaning out any weeds, I had my husband put in a bag and a half of potting soil.

Tall coleus and new potting soil.

Next, I planted three mums, pansies and ornamental cabbage. I am still going to plant tulip bulbs in the front. (Yes, I’ve had the tulip bulbs in my refrigerator for 2 years.) I also planted 4 lettuce plants in my side garden. Haven’t raised lettuce before, so we’ll see how it does.

Newly planted for fall.
Lettuce in the side bed.

Why in the world did I put this off so long? I just needed to make a little effort and get with it. Now, maybe I can move on to the next project. I’ve been putting off cleaning out a big closet full of old photos and teacher things. All of the recommendations are to take 15 minutes on your timer, and bite off a chunk at a time. I think I can, I think I can, I KNOW I CAN!

Let me know what projects you are working on. Do you have any that are weighing you down and you don’t want to start them? Remember the 15 minute rule.

Happy Columbus Day,

Grandma Sherry

Things I Love About May

Check out my blog post: Things I Love About May.

Preparing for a big car showdown!
  • The greening up of the grass and trees.
  • Flowers everywhere!
  • Taking walks with my dog, Bill.
  • Having outdoor play time with my grandkids.
  • Seeing relatives at my niece’s Graduation.
  • My upcoming,annual,family reunion in Missouri.
  • Having all three grandkids here at once.
  • Meeting new ministers and organist at our church.
  • Having my close friend move back from S. Korea.
  • Perusing the Spring Gardening magazines.
  • Seeing progress of my piano students.
  • Purging and getting ready for the church garage sale.
  • Finding a $50 bill that I thought I’d lost.

What do you like about May and Spring time?? Are you being deluged by the rain? Leave me a comment, and press LIKE if you enjoyed this post.

Grandma Sherry