Being responsible for an acre and a half of property when you come from a postage stamp sized suburban plot is not for the faint of heart. Add to that a much longer growing season which we can either embrace or fight every step of the way. This is me attempting to embrace while killing things and growing things along the way.
I try not to take it personally if something dies. I've made my piece with it. If it lives I try not to take too much credit for it. There's so much out of my hands that it would drive nuts stressing out about the weather (too much rain or not enough), pests and insects, soil management, and in our case - deer. Stupid deer.
My roses have had a banner spring!!! From what I hear from others they are saying the same thing. At first I thought it was because they were responding to the special fertilizer I gave them along with the fresh dump of soil and tilling I did around the base. I started patting myself on the back until others were saying the same thing only they've been completely ignoring their roses. I soon realized that the roses must have responded well to the freeze we had in February. They were looking pretty bare to begin with but man, they started filling in and were laden with flowers.
Elsewhere around the house has been some stunning purple clematis (just like we had in our backyard in Ottawa) and the cheeriest of yellow flowers by the door.
Earlier in the year we invested in some raised beds built within the fenced in area of the berry patch. If you recall, the previous owner was a Master Gardener (hence my problem) and she had planted blueberries and blackberries within a chain link fence with a cute arbor covered in roses. There was a lot of open area in it though and I tried growing some tomatoes two years ago with OK success. But I learned that in these parts anyway, raised beds are the way to go!
The idea is to finish it off with rocks but I haven't gotten that far yet.
I'm happy to report: It's looking like a banner crop of berries this year! Last year a blueberry plant died on me and so I replaced it and even that is producing some berries already.
In my raised beds I have one area with herbs and tomato plants. I was just down there and I already see some tomatoes growing!
Another raised bed has zucchini that has blossoms last I checked. There are also beets, cucumbers, and arugula which I've been eating like potato chips.
In the raised bed along the fence I have planted garlic, peas, jalapeños, and beans. Last time I was down there I spotted my first bean!! So that's pretty exciting.
It's definitely a learn as I go pursuit and a mix between consulting a good friend who's a Master Gardener, investing in a few good books specifically on gardening in Texas, and simply time to get to know the different plants and how they respond to different conditions. Right now it's too much and I'm looking for someone to help me move some plants around, dig down, and lay down rock to help alleviate some of the weed maintenance. Some plants die before I can figure out what they need and then I need to decide if I want to replace them or find something else. And keeping the deer away and finding deer resistant plants are one of many crap shoots.
I don't grow strawberries but they do well around here too so I bought some local ones the other day. I had fun making some freezer jam out of them. I'm the only one that eats it though so I guess I won't have to share:)
I refuse to let plants get the better of me! My goal is to learn something new, overcome my lifelong belief that I didn't inherit Grandma's green thumb, and enjoy the homegrown flowers and produce that manage to thrive while I cheer them on.
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