Hot and Humid!

Whew!! It is hot out there. Went out this morning to pull some weeds in the veggie garden, and five hours later I'm done. Of course, you can't just pull a few weeds...there are always more things that have to be done.

The veggies are coming along. The only fenced area here is an 8 foot by 24 foot veggie garden.

It's not in the ideal place....but it came with the house. It was waist high with grass when we moved in. But, lots of work later, it's looking good. Just have to keep fighting those grass seeds.

Little tomatoes. These are Sweet 100....a kind of cherry tomato.

Summer squash. I was worried these might not make fruit. We left the first weekend of April and I covered the tomatoes, but nothing else. It got down to 27 degrees, on April 6. But, they made it and are putting on lots of little squashes. Just hope the squash borers don't find them too soon.

The pole beans are climbing up the fence. Peas are looking good and the cucumbers will be climbing soon.

And, even a fig! The fig tree isn't in the ideal place, either. Fig trees get very big, and this one looks like it's been here a while. So, moving it would be more than I want to take on. So, we'll just let it sit where it is.

As you can see....it's right against the corner of the house. Oh well....time will tell.

Looks like summer is here.

MELLOW YELLOW

Here we are at the start of another new week. Time really flies by fast, these days.

We had guests for the weekend, and we had a great time showing them around the area. The weather was just right.

We had a small shower Sunday morning before they left. But, it wasn't enough to keep me from having to water the veggies. While I was about it, I noticed there seems to be a theme going on with things blooming right now. There are lots of colors, but yellow and orange seem to predominate.

The first of the day lilies showed it's pretty face. I think it's Happy Returns.

My new Jerusalem sage, phlomis fruticosa. (Notice the protection I made from a tomato cage and deer netting....just in case.) Yellow Bulbine.

A Gaillardia Fanfare with double petals.

A yet to be planted orange Esperanza Tecoma Stans.

And the yellow Pansies.

There are pinks and purples and corals. But, many more yellows and oranges. That seems to be the wildflower theme around here, too. More yellows survived the drought in our area.

Right now, we're having some glorious rain. I was afraid it would miss us again, but it's coming down nicely right now. The veggies will be quite grateful.

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BEGINNING

I've been "lurking" on Austin area garden blogs for a while. So now, I think it might be fun to have a blog of my own. It will be another new learning experience.

For years, I gardened in the Dallas area. There, you have black, sticky clay. When it's wet, it's sticky and hard. When it's dry, it's concrete. It takes a lot of compost. But, if you want to garden there, you learn how to amend it. We were in the same house for thirty years. So, you can imagine how many times the garden changed.

Now, we're here in the Hill Country. Gardening here is a whole 'nother world. There are lots....and lots...of good old limestone rocks. Digging is even more work than the black clay.

Then, there are the deer. Of course, we think they're cute. We never had cute little deer at the other house. But, it seems they can't read the "deer resistant plant" lists. Even if they don't like to eat it, they pull it up....over and over again.

Luckily, there is a small, fenced area I can use for veggies...and my day lilies that my friends thought would be a great new-house gift. They're beautiful deer candy.

I believe my new neighbors....who are all great, by the way....think I'm crazy. They just smile knowingly when they see me out digging and planting something new.

But, I won't give up. My head is just about as hard as those rocks I have to dig up.

So, I may be venting here when things get chomped in the garden.

Thanks for listening.

This is the view from my kitchen window.Look close and see the cute little deer.