I still check on the news in Central Illinois because we have a lot of friends and family still there and it’s nice to know what may be impacting them. And here was a breaking news item from today, Friday, April 17, 2020.
Yuck!
A snow in April is fairly unusual and it will melt quickly and become a slushy mess for a few days before being pleasant outside again… but it made me grateful for the mild weather and beautiful wildflowers we’ve been enjoying in South Central Texas. So here are some of the wildflowers from our property and local area.
And of course, living in Texas, I must give special attention to the state flower, the Bluebonnet!
My garden continues to do well with blooms on my strawberry plant as well as on one of my tomato plants.
tomato and strawberry plant blooms and early fruit
I hope spring blooms soon for you in your backyard! We also hope you are staying safe and sane as we finish a 5th week of social distancing and sheltering at home. Thanks for stopping by and hugs,
Saturday, John and I went to the property and spent the afternoon working on the yard. We reflected that it really was the first time we worked on the property together. Partly because we got this new toy, errr, I mean tractor!
It fits perfectly in our new barn and it’s so easy to maneuver! I used it to pick up scrap wood from around the house while John built a 4’ X 4’ frame for a raised garden bed.
We decided it was a good time to start a garden off to the southern side of the house. I wanted it easily accessible and it made sense to put it off the mud and laundry room side of the house. It also needed a space that got at least 6 hours of full sun, which also limited our choices since we have so many trees.
Filling the bed and sectioning off the squares
I’m doing square foot gardening. It’s efficient, low maintenance, and simple for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time weeding and fussing in the garden. Instead of planting in rows, you treat every square as it’s own plot and plant 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants, depending upon its size. Tomato and pepper plants are planted 1 per square, while green onion seeds or carrots are 16 per square.
I also have a little plastic grid, the Seeding Square, which has holes that help make sure everything is planted evenly. Just poke the orange stick down into the soil as deep as directed on the seed packed, and plant the seeds into the hole, then cover up the hole and water. It included a color coded sheet that tells you how many of each plant goes into a square plot.
Seeding Square helps make gardening idiot proof for me
I’m not exactly sure how this garden will go… I’m used to gardening in USDA zone 5b and now we are in 8b – quite a difference! This little 4X4 garden has 4 different tomato plants, 4 types of pepper, 2 types of onions, green onions, Swiss chard, 2 types of lettuce, spinach, and 1 strawberry plant. We may be starting this too late for the spinach and lettuce because it is already regularly in the 70’s and 80’s, but we’ll see. I was surprised that I actually did get a little compost out of the compost pile we started in the fall. But the garden still needs more compost and I couldn’t get vermiculite at the local Ace hardware store, which helps the soil mix retain water. Finally, we need to build a lattice for the tomatoes and fence around the little plot so varmints don’t get our plants…. But overall I’m very pleased with our progress in just a few hours.
View of the garden from the mud room door
Laundry room window in the background
The other exterior progress we made is that the cedar brackets were added to the cedar posts on the front porch.
Before
After
We really like how it gives a more finished look to the cedar posts and beefs them up a bit.
On a more personal note, I spent Saturday thinking often of my oldest brother, Beau. He would have been 65 years old on Saturday, but passed away back in 2016. He loved being outdoors on his farm with his horses and dogs and his sudden passing was part of our inspiration to move to Texas and build this house and lifestyle. And with the current Covid-19 health crisis, I think it is more important than ever to live the life you want with those you love. John and I wish each of you a wonderful and healthy Easter Sunday. As always, thanks for stopping by!
Two posts in one weekend? Crazy. And if you are here again – thanks for stopping by! We are super lucky that we can drive out to our property, hike around, and be socially distant while still sharing our journey with all of you. John and I hope you are all well and staying safe during this “Shelter at Home” period.
Our view from last November
One of the things we love best about our home site is its view of the valley. From our porch we can see numerous farms (including cousin Cliff’s!), trains going by, and closer, birds flying over the meadow. Now that spring has sprung here in Texas, our view has leafed out such that there isn’t much view at all.
Our view today. It’s March 29th – doesn’t it look like summer already?!
So today we went to the property and marked trees that need to go. Some were already dead, and some are so small/short that trying to trim them will make them look like a lollipop. And two need to go for our (future) circle driveway to go by the front door.
Sorry trees with yellow tape!
Do not make yourself uneasy, as this will not be a scorched earth approach. Much more of a tactical first strike. Once we get a sense of the impact our first wave had on the view, we will bring in a tree service to trim a few selective branches and keep the big trees healthy.
This tree’s left branch goes straight across the horizon and our view, so the branch may have to go., but not the tree.
And trust me, we have LOTS of big oaks all around our house that we are keeping! Here’s a sample below:
So that’s how we spent our Sunday, along with John hunting for Native American artifacts… We hope you and yours enjoyed your weekend too!
Thank you Bob and Julia for our cool stainless steel martini glasses!
