28 January 2016

garden planning . . . or undoing

My illustrated journals are really a "one place for everything" gathering place. Notes, memories, testing art supplies, snippets of daily life -- all find their way into my books. And by posting everything on this blog (and remembering to add labels!), I can always find something later on.

We moved into our cabin during a drought; now we have seen the effects of flooding rains and scorching summer heat. So some changes need to be made to the planting beds that were here when we moved in.

Along the walk leading to our front door was a flower bed that I turned into a culinary herb bed. But the heavy downpours of rain continually washed the sandy soil onto our patio, leaving drifts of sand dunes and drowning the herb plants. Bill plans to redo the drainage system ___ the French drains were not installed correctly ___ but we also are letting this bed go back to grassy sod to stop the erosion.

On the other side of the patio is a flower bed where former owners had zinnias. They only lived here five years, all during the drought, so the flowers thrived. But during heavy rains, this bed becomes a wet swamp. So we are going to lay in some decorative rock here and set some containers of herbs. We can always move the pots away from the heaviest rain as needed.

The existing lantana that was in the rose bed have been moved to the south of the cabin where they are doing much better in full sun. So I am considering doing a new herb bed here. The patio cover shades it part of the day but it seems to get a good amount of sun as well. And if I include plants that attract hummingbirds, our constant stream of hummers will be happy as well.


I jotted down more garden notes on the next couple of pages. We have a separate raised vegetable garden near the woodshop but are still trying to figure out which tomatoes grow best here. So I listed some varieties a central Texas gardening book recommends. All names we are not familiar with. I wonder if some are actually the same varieties we grew in Kansas but under different names? Bill likes to grow ingredients for homemade salsa.

We also need to replace a photinia shrub that died; a dwarf holly would add green color all year while hiding the AC unit. And our birds might enjoy the berries.

10 comments:

  1. I read all of your post Vicki and never seem to comment. But believe me, I enjoy everyone of them. This is a lovely page and I feel a though I am walking through your garden with you. I love the way you use your journal and your sketches are always beautiful

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  2. LOL! I'm guilty of the same, reading favorite blogs (like all those in the right column) but never leaving comments. But if we commented on all the amazing and interesting things out there, we'd never get any drawing done.

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  3. I love these kind of working sketches, Vicky. And you made me hungry for homemade salsa! But it will be awhile before we can have any fresh tomatoes here in Ohio (although, they're saying we could hit 62 on Tuesday!?!?).

    I read a lot of the same blogs you have listed here. I find myself wanting to comment on them all, but you're right, if I did, I wouldn't have time for sketching.

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    1. Here in central Texas we are having some days in the 70's, though there are still some cool nights in the 30's. After we return from Arkansas, we'll get serious about this redo. Need to plant a shrub to replace one that died and repot an over-grown aloe vera.

      Warm-loving plants like tomatoes will be planted mid-March here, with a bit of protection if needed at night. We have two growing seasons for them, with a hot, dormant summer in between.

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  4. What an interesting topic! And you are true! I realized I do not sketch often, because I am usually so fascinated by reading blogs and looking at all those sketches and paintings, that I can't do my own... But! Thanks to possibility to see all this - I started doing my journals... So - THANKS FOR SHARING!

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    1. I used to spend more time commenting and studying other art blog posts --- we can learn so much from what others are doing! But I was ignoring my own sketching. Those of us with "art in our souls" need some regular art-time, whether it's spent making art or enjoying others' art. If we're not careful to balance the two, the art of others will satisfy that need within us, leading to our own art suffering.

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  5. Vicky, this article might be helpful to you about the tomatoes:

    http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/home-and-gardening/headlines/20140305-choose-the-right-tomato-varieties-for-perfect-summer-flavor.ece

    Love the sketches and notes. You've done an awesome job assessing it! xoxo, Aimeslee

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  6. Now that will be helpful! Thank you so much, Aimeslee!

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