yardwork – variegatagal

Warm Winter Bolt and Plantings

Here’s another loop Texas weather has thrown our way.

My spinach seedlings have also begun to show buds. I snipped those off and, as seen on my IG feed, put out the rest of the leafy green starts, plus some bunching onions.

I also decided to plant out the nasturtium starts into the backyard garden beds. These are the Alaska, Jewel Mix and Black Velvet nasturtiums that I started indoors back in November.. I’m not sure what caused them start yellowing (too much light and fertilizer perhaps), but I can always start a new batch when January comes around.

With wet cold weather forecasted for the end of the year, I’m not sure if these young starts will make it outdoors. However, I’m just happy to get at least one salad harvest from current plantings.

Winter Veggie Garden Update

There are more veggies scattered throughout the backyard!

I had to find a home for the leftover brussel sprouts and broccoli starts that I purchased from Burpee in October. The cinderblock planters and grow bag where we relocated the lorapetalum seemed ideal.

It’s been nearly a month since these veggies were planted, and they appear to be faring well in their new homes. Although the broccoli and brussel starts nearest the fence line appear to need more sun.

I also random-sowed some fenugreek seed in a pocket next to the unfinished water feature. This spot gets full sun throughout the day. The fenugreek seedlings seem to handle the cold winter nights pretty well.

I still plan to perform much-needed maintenance on the foundation garden beds, but I’ve tasked DH with repairing the border stones before I can resume work on them. I have a pile of compost that needs to be laid, and weeding needs to be performed on the shade bed.

Bulb-tastic

My Brent and Becky’s bulb order has arrived! 450 tulip and narcissus bulbs just in time for north Texas winter planting.

Now digging up places to plant them! In the end we expanded the northern border bed by another foot, weeding out the bermuda and re-installing the stone edge as we went along.

Looking forward to seeing the spring flower show!

More Stone Please

Just as winter brought a chill to the air, our pandemic water feature project gained another ton of rocks. It seems we won’t be finished with this yard crash this year.

We had the finish line in sight when a flow test revealed that the waterfall just didn’t produce a significant amount of noise. At least not enough to drown out some road noise. Now while the slow flow was part of the original design, I convinced the DH that we needed a bigger waterfall.

So the plan is to erect a taller falls behind the original, which necessitated removal of the newly planted lorapetalum tree.

Spillway, pump and PVC tubing are on order from Amazon; now it’s just a matter of agreeing on the placement of the falls and the actual construction work. However, with this winter weather, we feel less inclined to work outside.

Winterizing the Backyard Beds

Finished trimming shrubs and trees, planting out the last of the brussels and broccoli starts, and composted the beds last week. Just in time for November’s first frost date.

At first I thought I’d have to discard the extra starts, but I decided to install them into the cinder block wall, as well as the 65 gallon felt pot in which the lorapetalum has found a new home.

The nights have dipped back down into the 40s and 50s, so I’m hoping my outdoor greenhouse tent will keep my sensitive plants protected. I’m researching ways to keep things warm in there without resorting to expensive heating.