PLANTING MY PATIO FLOWERS...FURNITURE ASSEMBLY TOMORROW!

After several trips to the nursery, I about have my patio plantings finished.  This hanging pot is my favorite....my first spaghum moss basket and I think it turned out pretty good.

The basket is planted primarily with geraniums and sweet potato vine.  I love the vine because it falls over the edge of the basket and will grow to the ground.  The geraniums are bubble gum pink and in the middle is a spiky grass.

Here is my favorite planter.  I bought this frog several years ago and he always wears an heirloom daylilly...it will eventually look like he has big hair and a bow!

Frog is talavera pottery made deep in Mexico.  Because we live close to the Mexican border, we had easy access to pottery.  Now, with the drug cartels wrecking havoc in Mexico, no talavera is coming out of Mexico.  The trip, 22 hours from the Texas-Mexico border, is just not worth the risk.

And here are my tried-and-true red geraniums.  I have several of these pots for my porch and the brilliant red is the first thing people see when they drive up.

  These talavera pots have antique petunias....a petunia I have never raised before....but they are gorgeous.  The other flowers are a cascading flower that are very dainty and go well with these petunias.

This wall will also have a hanging metal hose hanger.  Hopefully tomorrow while we are assembling the patio furniture!

MY "NEW" DINING ROOM FURNITURE -- PRICELESS!!

I have shopped and shopped for the perfect dining room furniture.  Everything I find is extremely expensive or not fitting for my high ceilings....textured walls....and ornate doors leading out to the front porch.  Tuscan, Old World lends itself to bold, massive furniture with metal accents...I thought.

I found a few suites I liked...either they were extremely expensive, the buffet did not fit in the 66" opening on my shorter wall, or the buffet was exquisite with an ultra-disappointing china cabinet.

Sooooo....My sister just bought a home that does not have a dining room. Honestly, times have changed and there are more and more homes that feel like their square footage is better utilized without a formal area. My sister's home is awesome...Texas Hill Country....gated community....but no dining room.

"Yes, Little Sister, I will store your furniture for you....

Well, here it is, and it looks pretty good in my dining room!

I do want to explain that these 8' doors are not the entry doors.  I designed my house to have a medium-sized dining room that would open up to the expansive front porch when entertaining.  The purpose is to better utilize the front porch by being a part of my home's living area....genius....right?? :-)

Soooooo....Why you understand now why my furniture is new and priceless?

It is my SISTER'S!!!!

And it looks great!  No more dining room stress for a while....Now we can move on to another room.

Now we have to decorate!!!!

Soon.......

We aren't going to tell her that the trip in the gooseneck trailer took its toll.  She should know that traveling in a real livestock trailer is going to result in cow manure to be stuck to the bottom of her ivory silk-covered dining chairs and a few bumps and bruises elsewhere. LOL

RAIN....RAIN.....GIVE ME A BREAK....I NEED TO PLANT TODAY!!

We woke this morning to clouds and mist.  And I sooooo want to plant today.  My garden is thriving because of the rain.  The plants and trees on the back porch are surviving on well water....better than city water....but not the same as good old rain water.

Notice the peach tree on the back porch. It has 3 peaches on it!! Amazing.  I'm not sure if they will mature because even though dwarf fruit trees do mature and produce faster than regular trees, I'm pretty sure they are not supposed to produce fruit the first year.  We'll see! 

Do you see why I am so ready to get these flowers and veggies planted?  Notice the squash plant....twice as big as when I bought it.  And the antique petunias are beautiful.  I have a spaghum moss hanging basket for these.  Does anyone know what kind of flowers are beside them....they are going to really complement the petunias because they will flow nicely over the side.  Finally, I will add sweet potato vine to the hanging basket.  It will literally touch the ground before summer is over, and it is bright light green.

My best buy has to be the two grape vines seen in this picture.  They were reduced from $10 to $1 each because they really looked dead.  Not dead!  They are looking great!

I'm still looking for the sun  --  mist and 58 chilly degrees is not what I was looking for today.

DRY-STACKED FLOWER BEDS

Just like every other home we have ever built, we are having to start from scratch on our landscaping.  In order to even HAVE a yard, we had to take 18 inches of pad out.  Otherwise, when we added dirt and grass, our home would have been below ground level.  Therefore, you can see that the asthetic quality of the house is lacking around the base...with jagged parts of the foundation protruding.  So.....we are masking this with dry-stacked beds around the entire perimeter of the house.  These beds will be filled with easy-to-maintain groundcover.  And like the house, I want these beds to look as if they have been here for hundreds of years.

Dry-stacking is back-breaking manual labor!  After the first weekend, my husband and I decided we needed young, buff teenagers.  I hope we didn't scare them off after today!

Notice that our beds are double-stacked.  Really, as long as you are just dry-stacking 3 stones high, this is not necessary.  However, just to be on the safe side, and just to err on the side of caution, they doubled everything.  In reality, deadmen can be used ever so often for sturdiness.  Deadmen are stones turned with the end out and the majority of the stone's weight back into the bed.  When dirt is added, it adds even more stability.  Notice also that these doubled stones are lower than the front.  Dirt will cover the inside stone and no one will ever know that the wall is 2 stones thick.

Remember when you are dry-stacking stones.  Make sure they overlap in a brick pattern.  More importantly, each layer of stone should be back-stacked a bit which also gives more stability.  Otherwise, the pressure from the added dirt can push a wall right over.  I'm sure that would make a grown man cry!!!

I think they will finish the flowerbeds tomorrow afternoon.  Then on to the steps and the two retaining walls for my terraced yard.  Not long before we can get the dirt moved in and the yard started....

"DO YOU HAVE POPCORN SEED? NO, THIS IS NOT A PRANK CALL!"

I am amazed at the heirlooms and different varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers available on the internet and even in the local stores.  I'm also amazed that popcorn is a variety of corn...some popcorn is better for eating and some is better for kettle corn.  There is even red corn and dark blue corn and ornamental corn.  I think I'm going to plant all different kinds!  Early May is the time for planting corn....it likes a really warmmmmmmm ground.  So I have a bit of time to decide on the corn varieties.  Any suggestions?

BTW, the clerk at Palmer Feed really did think I was being a smart-elick when I asked if they had popcorn seed.  I thought she might hang up on me.  I had to explain FAST that there was such a thing!

I called the local feed company and they were out of black-eyed peas...also known as cowpeas in other parts of the country.  Surprisingly, most of the seed companies online were out.  I'm a bit surprised that black-eyed peas are THAT popular, but I'm REALLY being pressured to find some. 

My husband just informed me that farmers plant black-eyed peas to put nitrogen back into their farmland...that makes more sense.

Then there are the watermelon.  YUM!  Black Diamond was my family's favorite when I was growing up; but, we have become spoiled and accustomed to the seedless variety.  My mother does, however, frown upon heirloom varieties (her father was a dryland farmer) insisting they lack hardiness.  So, I will also have to plant some tried-and-true varieties. 

If anyone has any ideas on plant selection, I'm all ears!!!!

GARDEN IS BACK...WINTER IS GONE

So I was a little overzealous when I planted my garden during Spring Break.  I have had to cover plants to protect them from Jack Frost....I've had to cut back frost-bitten leaves and stems....but we have weathered the final weeks of hanging-on cold weather.  The early-planted vegetables will now be my late crop while my early crop will be planted this weekend after all possibility of freeze is gone.  These tomato plants against the tin wall faired better with just this bit of north-facing protection.

The Old Farmer's Almanac says to plant above-ground crops on the 19th and 20th of April. Saturday will be the 16th...might have to be close enough to plant the remaining tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and squash.

Here is a picture of my garden gate.  It is unique, and it is an antique.  My husband designed the garden to accommodate the 6' gate that was brought from my childhood home. 

Things are picking up around here.  My 10-acre field is plowed and waiting patiently for wheat to be planted.  I'm also planning to plant sweet corn and blackeyed peas on one end of the field.  I even have fruit trees ready to plant.  So check back often! 

Anyone with good relish and pickle recipes are more than welcome to share!

Here comes the rain.....