Glynn's Farm

Update Coming Soon

2008-04-30T09:37:00.002-05:00

I haven't updated the Glynn's Farm blog for a while due to poor health and the fact that not much has happened on the "farm" during the winter months. Lots of activity however now that spring has sprung in East Texas. I'll have some new pics of the garden and spring flowers too as soon as I work through some problems with getting them downloaded from the camera.

Thanks for stopping by.

Morning Glories: The Saga Continues

2007-07-27T10:35:00.000-05:00

Well, of all things. I finally got a couple of morning glory blooms! I think what's happened is that as the sun gets higher every day, the morning glories get more morning sun, prompting a bloom or two. See the pictures below, which I made on July 24. There is a problem (which I've had consistently when planing seeds) What comes up are not what they were supposed to be. In this case they're purple and the seed package said they'd be red. Read on after the pictures for the complete story of the "Red" morning glories.

I planted what was supposed to be red morning glory seeds in early May and because I've had bad luck with seeds for a time, I got impatient when they didn't come up in a timely fashion, but the seedlings finally emerged about May 30. This is what they looked like by June 2. The seed package said to thin them to 1 foot apart, but I decided to see how they did without thinning.

By June 10 they were well on their way to the top of the railing, still no blooms however.

By June 19, they had grown to the top of the deck railing. Once they got up to the deck, I reused some plastic netting for the morning glories to run on that I had previously bought for black-eyed peas to run on, but turned out not to be heavy enough for the peas. You can see it in the picture below

Below is a view of the vines from inside of the deck and they have started to twine around a rook for a hanging basket.

And finally the first ones to reach for the sky! I've pruned two others that reached the top of the deck rail, but I let these grow to see what they would do and they began to fork in abundance. No flower buds were apparent on any of the vines yet.

Well, the morning glories reached the top of the deck railing and twisted around each other. See below. Unfortunately I've got beau coups vine, which would be OK if I had planted a sweet potato, but not so great for morning glories. I did a bit of Googling on the web and I think I found out what's wrong. Although they get lots of sunshine in the afternoon, they're in the shade in the morning and they have to have morning sun to bloom; otherwise I guess they'd be called Afternoon Glories--sort of like four o'clocks, they are picky about the time of day to bloom. I also found out that for my location on the deck, I should have planted moon flowers, which bloom in the afternoon and sometimes all night. I had some when I lived in New Orleans and they did put on quite a display and got lots of oohs and aahs from the night people, I lived a block outside the French Quarter and had lots of night-people passersby; usually noisy and drunk but they did enjoy the moon flowers.

I guess I'll leave the morning glory vines for the rest of the summer, but next year I'll plant yellow jasmine to grow on the deck railing--and probably moon flowers too because they'll outgrow the jasmine--and I'll be on the lookout for a better place to plant morning gloris.

The Farm House on the 4th of July

2007-07-09T14:17:00.001-05:00

The "farm house" on the 4th of July. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Here's a special patriotic pot of red (verbena) white (verbena) and blue (salvia.) Again, click on the image to see the blue.

Volunteers

2007-07-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

My mother called plants that came up on their own without being planted "volunteers." Maybe it's a widespread usage, but I've not heard it anywhere but from my mother. She used to tell a story about an unmarried, dim-witted woman who got pregnant. Someone asked her who the father was, and she said she didn't know, it just volunteered. Hmmm. Anyway, I've had some interesting volunteers this year. Click on any of the images to get an enlarged view.

First all the zinnias in the birdbath bed volunteered from last year's plants. When I dead-headed the blossoms, I threw them into the bed, and this spring, guess what. I had beau coups zinnias that came up on their own and I had to thin them out ruthlessly--and they were pretty true to those I planted last year, plus a few I didn't remember, like a pure white one that I'm going to keep seed from. Here's this year's zinnias in the birdbath bed.

In spite of the urban legend that you can't transplant zinnias, I even transplanted some of my volunteers to pots. Here's a picture of a pot of zinnias that share the space with a rooted coleus.

And on the right is another pot of transplanted volunteer zinnias sharing a pot with a volunteer ilex of some unknown variety that volunteered in the pot two years ago.

In addition, I've had a few others:

Last year I had red salvia in two pots that I put pink geraniums in this year. I'm pretty "cheap" by nature, so I reused the dirt in the pots. Guess what, I had red salvia come up in both pots to compete with the geraniums. I didn't think the red looked good with the pink, so after I dead-headed the geraniums , I let the salvia bloom. Then when the geraniums started to bloom again, I dead-headed the salvia. Pesto!! double duty pots that are alernately red and pink.

Here on the right are the pots in their "pink Phase."

Although not strictly a "volunteer" I have a new spout coming up from my yucca. Here 'tis.

And also, not strictly a volunteer, but a surprise anyway, I have a caladium coming up in a hanging basket of verbena. In early spring (April) I planted several caladium tubers in pots, but I either planted them too deep or upside down, a common mistake I make. Telling top from bottom of a caladium tuber for me is like telling the sex of baby chicks--I'm at sea. Anyway, I fished most of the caladiums out of the pots and planted them in the ground in front of some coleus I rooted from a mother plant I got last year and wintered over. It's a wonderful plant by the way, grows like wild fire, roots like the dickens, and never puts up those annoying coleus "flowers." Here's the mother coleus.

Here's the bed with the caladium and rooted coleus.

And here is a picture of the caladium in the verbena pot:

And finally, here's a pine seedling in it's second year that volunteered in the yucca pot. I transplanted it this year to a pot of its own, which it's sharing temporarily with white and red verbena and a kalanchoe I'm rooting. My goodness how I love to root stuff! Such power!

Extending the Deck

2007-06-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

I reassembled a deck that I had built for my travel trailer "Chez Sugar" (see left below.) and it was higher than the back door of the house in San Augustine, so you had to go out the back door and mount four steps to get on the deck. I had planned from the beginning to extend the deck in front of the back door at the same level as the back door, one step lower than the deck. On the right below is how it looked when I attached it to the house.

On the left below is a close-up of the end of the deck where the extension will go.

The two pictures below are what the deck extension looked like after the first day's work.

The last three pictures are after the second day of work on the extension. It is finished except for some "prettying up" and finishing trim. I also need to put up hand rails for both sets of steps. The dimensions of the original deck were 6'x12'. The extension is 4'x6', so now it's 16'x6' on two levels. The extension doesn't add much "usable" space, but it does provide some space for a few more containers, particularly for kitchen spices, oregano, thyme, basil, etc., near the back door and it's more convenient to pluck green peppers and egg plant from the back-door bed. It's also more convenient to get to the deck from the back door.

The next deck project is to build a pagoda using a modification of a plan at the Lowes.com site.

More Pictures

2007-06-08T08:59:00.001-05:00

Some Pictures of the Farm

2007-06-08T08:52:00.001-05:00

Potato Plants in May:

Squash Plants in May

Corn in May

What's Been Happening in May 2007

2007-06-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

May was a busy month at the farm and it’s time to play catch-up with what’s been happening. I’ve about laid the yard to rest, as far as new planting is concerned, until the end of August when it will be time to make decisions about what to plant in a fall garden.

This spring’s garden was not an overwhelming success.
Roma Green beans: a real success although I only got around to gathering the two rows once, I got enough to can 24 ½ pints and they are delicious.
Corn: the corn that I’ve tried has been hard even when the ears were small and immature. It may have been that the seed was “field corn.” If I plant corn again next spring, I’ll order some seed that is supposed to be “sweet” otherwise, I can do better buying frozen ears at the grocery store.
Carrots: The two types of carrots (yellow and a kind of stubby orange) were bitter, tough, and fibrous. I’m trying to cook one more mess and it that doesn’t change, I’m ripping them all out.
Squash: The squash–well another bad choice of seed. I tried some that I thought might me like the calabash (Indian) squash I like so much when I can find it in the grocery store, but the two types I planted were hard-shelled. I tried cooking them like acorn squash, but the meaty walls were skimpy and, again, it was fibrous and not nearly as tasty as acorn or butternut squash. I bought a calabash at WalMart and let it dry out. I’m planning to save the seed and try them; once pretty soon in early summer, again in late summer (for fall) and again in the spring. If that doesn’t work, it’s back to yellow crookneck and zucchini for me.
Turnips: Bah! another disappointment; partly because (on Carter’s advice) I didn’t get them thinned and they matured too late, which may have made them tough and fibrous. The greens are ok now, but the turnips are a failure. I’ll try planting them again for a fall garden but I’ll be backing up the seed from the feed store here in SA with some “store bought” ones.
Mustard: Another case of not thinning early enough, and probably not planing early enough–like last fall. I’ll try planting them again for a fall garden.
Potatoes: the four rows of potatoes did well and I had a nice harvest. I’m trying to store them in the cellar under the kitchen. I made some potato soup to can, but I messed it up by using the bitter carrots from the garden in it, so I’m throwing it out and starting over.
Onions: The sets I got in Center and planted last fall (red and white) only did fairly well. They were slow to mature and not as flavorful as the sets I got here in San Augustine that I planted in the spring. The latter will be my choice next year–and this fall if the seed store here has them for fall planting. I’ll be pulling them all later, when I have sunshine all day so they can lie in the sun all day and develop skins for storing.
Tomatoes: The jury is out. The vines are fine and have set some green tomatoes, but they require lots of staking.
Green Peppers: Both the ones in the garden (red and yellow there actually, not green) and in the back door flower bed appear to be producing.
Cayenne Peppers: From plants I got at Wal Mart. They're doing well; lots of peppers, although I don’t know what I’ll do with them. Maybe I’ll put some in chow chow (see below.)
Okra: Still too early to tell. I planted them in May (seed I got from “seeds of India”) and they’re about 1 foot high–but looking good.
Green Peas: another bust. I got very few peas and they didn’t taste very good. I had the same luck with black-eyed peas last year, so I don’t think peas are a good choice for Glynn’s Farm.
Cabbage: I set out plants from Center in the late fall; both purple and green. They did fairly well, produced lots of heads, but some either burst or something ate the tops out of them. I’m keeping a couple in reserve now to use for chow chow when I get a red pepper to mature. I want to make chow chow using all ingredients from Glynn’s Farm.
Egg Plant: Too early to tell. I set out plants in the garden and in the back-door flower bed. The ones in the flower bed look better, but they’re all blooming, so I hope to have a good crop. I want to can Caponata again when I get egg plant from the garden.
Garlic: I have lots of plants from planting cloves, but I have to wait and see what they do when it’s time to pull them up.
Sunflowers: I had a “volunteer” sunflower that came up early and died early in the old fish pond. I planted some seed too in early May and they are better than head-high, but haven’t bloomed yet.

That’s it for the garden for now. I’ll do a bit of catch up on the flowers in a day or two.

Days of Rest

2007-05-29T12:59:00.000-05:00

I've gotten the red-dyed concrete edging in place, plus I've planted delphinium, and foxglove plants I bought for $2.00ea at a WalMart clearance, plus I have red morning glories coming up in front of the deck. I also have purpler cone flower seed planted in front of the deck. I put a bed of caladiums and rooted purple coleus on either side of the garage door and another new bed with esperanza and purple petunias at the south end of the iris bed behind the garage. Next up: weeding in the garden and cleaning up the edges of the beds in front and west side of the house. I'm also expanding the bird-bath bed to include four rose bushes. I'll make pictures when some of this begins to show up enough in a picture, but right now we're having a nice rain every day, so I'm glad to take the time off. My "man " Carter plans to mow this week if he can get it done between the rains.

The Race to the End of May

2007-05-22T17:40:00.001-05:00

In East Texas, it is important to get all your heavy-duty planting done by the end of May, particularly seeds. There is still frequent rain, which helps get plants started and seeds sprouting, and it is not yet so unbearably hot, you can't work more than an hour or so in the morning before about 10 o'clock and maybe a couple of hours in the late afternoon, early evening. Of course, to complicate life, I decided to reassemble my "RV" deck at the side of the house. After I get it put up, I'll build a 3 foot extension so that the back door opens on the deck too. I couldn't manage to get it situated in the right place because of the back door steps, hence the extension. So, first the deck.....

Reassembling the "Chez Sugar" Deck
When I had the travel trailer, before settling down in San Augustine, I built a deck for the trailer that was bolted together so it could be disassembled go with me as I traveled, then set it up when I parked the trailer. Good idea, but not practical since it was too heavy to take along except on permanent moves and too much work both to disassemble and to reassemble. Never the less, I did move it with me to San Augustine and decided to reassemble it here at 610 East Columbia since I don't plan to move from here until it's time for a nursing home. Below is a couple of pictures of how the deck looked when it adorned the trailer. The sweet dog in one of the pictures was my shitsu, Chewy, who since the picture was taken has gone to doggy heaven.

The next picture is how the back door looked last year where I have now reassembled the deck.
Next are some pictures of how the deck looks now reassembled.

Edgings:
Another large project was to line the borders of the back-yard bed and the new beds around the deck with red-dyed, cement edging ($1.97 for one 16-inch piece.) This was necessary to keep the soil from running out of the beds when I water. The edging is not yet installed in the deck beds, but you can see it in the picture of the back-door bed.

Plantings:
While I was still assembling the deck, to "spell" myself, I began planting both plants and seed.

Plants: I found portulaca on sale 2 for 1, and bought two six-packs. One I planted with a pot of purslane in an old bird bath that wouldn't serve any longer as a bird bath. I had replaced the one in the bird-bath bed. I also had already planted six purple and white petunias and six pink petunias in the back-door bed. I bought two hanging baskets for the bird feeder hooks (plus another seed-type feeder) and planted red and white petunias in the new hanging baskets. In addition, I separated some purple and lavender verbena from a three-year old pot and planted a start of each color in the back-door bed. I also bought on "clearance" a hanging basket of Boston fern, which I plan to divide, a pot of "blanket daisies" which I planted on the left-hand side of the deck bed and a pot of yellow kolanchoe, which I planted on the right-hand side of the deck bed, but will probably end up moving.
Seeds: I don't usually have much luck with seeds, but I never give up. I planted miniature xenia seed strips from Parker (which don't come up--at least not more than about 1/2 of the seeds, but none the less, I planted strips just inside the cement border edging of the deck beds. I did the same thing May 14 when I put the edging around the back-door bed, but so far nada. I planted red morning glories (seed from Lowes that cost $2.24 for 17 seeds!!) I soaked the seeds overnight and planted them on May 18. Glory be!! they are coming up today (May 21.) I also planted purple cone-flower seeds in the beds in front of the deck. (52 seeds--count them-- for $2.24, also from Lowe's) I planted about 32 blue morning glory seeds back along the fence behind the garden. Soaked them too, so maybe they'll come up too. I've also planted Shasta
Daisies (two pots), thyme and oreganos seeds. The daisies and oregano are coming up, but so far nada from the thyme. I also bought a pot of basil with three plants in it. Divided it and put one plant in the back-yard bed near the rosemary, two in pots, and gave away one.
Transplanting: Although it's supposed to be hard to transplant Zinnias, I gave it a shot and transplanted into pots several that "volunteered" in the bird-bath bed. They are flourishing. Today, I planted two "game cock" coleus I rooted, one in each of the pots of zinnias.

How the Garden Grows:
Here are three pictures from the "farm" showing how the corn grew: April 3, April 23, and May 21.

Lots of Activity in May

2007-05-19T07:24:00.000-05:00

I'm hard at work outside during the month of May. Around here, if you don't get most of the "heavy lifting" done by the end of May, it's too late to beat the heat. I'm finally in the last stages of reassembling the deck I had when I was traveling trailer trash in Chez Sugar. The garden prospers, the flowers bloom. New rose bed established, and I'm spending money on plants and stuff like a drunken sailor. Pictures to follow soon.

Thunder Storms and Lots of Rain

2007-04-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

A front came through last night (April 24/25) with lots of lightening, thunder-banging and rain. Got the cats upset, but the rain was welcome--even if the same front wreaked havoc on lots of Texas and the mid west. But, as the saying goes: "It's an ill wind that blows no one any good.

Squash, Carrot, Roma Beans, and English Pea Update

2007-04-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

From the left: corn, corn, carrots, squash, carrots, turnips, mustard, turnips, mustard egg plant, green cabbage. The beans (not visible to the left of the corn) are blooming and appear to be making strong enough bushes to support fruit. The corn has at least a month to go to harvest. The carrots are still about 3-4 weeks out from being ready to eat. The squash all have small fruit and it looks like maybe two varieties from the shape. One is acorn shaped and the other looks like a fat zucchini. Since I ordered the seed through the mail, I can't remember exactly what kind of squash they're supposed to be and I don't know if I wrote it down anywhere.

The English peas are also blooming (visible on the chicken-wire trellis) and I ate the first pod raw this morning. I ought to have peas to eat in a week.

And Cabbage Problems

2007-04-25T15:11:00.000-05:00

Something is the matter with the cabbage. It's making heads but they look like the heads are bursting because they're growing too fast: both the red and green cabbage, but the green are worse than the red. It may also be that squirrels or something are eating them and causing them to burst at the top. I am able to eat the bursting heads by trimming them severely but esthetically it's disconcerting.

Turnip and Mustard Problems

2007-04-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

Carter wanted to wait to thin the turnips and mustard, but I think we waited too long. Thinning out the mustard now is not that difficult--and I've gathered some to eat already as tightly packed as the plants are, but the turnips are a different story. We bought the seed from the local feed store, so I had to trust Carter, but when I read a turnip seed pack in a store, they are supposed to be thinned to 4 inches apart when the plants are 2 inches high. They are about six inches high now and they're not making turnips. The root tops lie on top of the soil. I'll try and thin them and rake the dirt up on them so that maybe they'll make turnips, but I'm not too hopeful it will work. I think I'll probably pull out one row entirely and plant again (the 3rd time this year) and thin at the right time. I am able to harvest and eat turnip greens now, however, so I'll leave one of the rows just for greens. So far, I like turnip greens better than mustard any way.

Morning Glories and Moonflower

2007-04-21T11:54:00.000-05:00

I planted both white and blue morning glories along the wooden fence on the western end of the garden where I had Carter clean out the weeds. I'm hoping they grow "naturally" and smother out the weeds. The strip of dirt is only about 6 inches wide, so there is not much else that will grow there except weeds. I planted the moon flowers in a similar strip of dirt behind the garage that is too narrow for anything except a wild vine.

Okra and More Egg Plant

2007-04-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

I ordered Okra and "Japanese-type" egg plant from Seeds from India. India Seeds calls okra "komal" and the egg plant "shyamala" which are cylindrical in shape rather than the familiar egg shaped. They are more convenient to cook and don't get pithy as quick when large enough to harvest like the egg-shaped ones sometimes do. I hope they taste as good. I planted the okra seeds in the garden where I pulled up some of the collards that had gone to seed. I planted the egg plant seeds in a plastic tray, thinking it might be easier to transplant them where I wanted them--not necessarily in a row to themselves in the garden--instead of worrying about thinning them, etc.

More Iris are in Bloom

2007-04-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

There are new blooms in the iris bed: from left to right; Pallida Variegata (not blooming yet,) Mesmerizer (blooming,) Amas (not blooming yet,) Celebration (blooming,) Beverly Sills (not blooming yet,) Yakima Blue (blooming,) Crowned Heads (blooming,) Wabash (blooming,) Ginger Snap (not blooming yet,) Gracchus (not blooming yet,) Hello Darkness(not blooming yet,) Ruby Morn(not blooming yet,) and Stepping Out (not blooming yet.)

I've also put in a new bed along the south side of the house and planted 3 rose bushes that I got for under $10.00 at WalMart: Abraham Lincoln (deep red) Queen Elizabeth (pink) and Bloom (white.) Carter had already planted two rows of zinnias seeds (dwarf in front of 3-foot red) and the roses are spaced about 4-5 feet apart along the rows of zinnias--all are 3 feet from the house. The zinnias are coming up (April 25, 2007)

More Action Outside the Garden

2007-04-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

Don Juan Rose

This is a Don Juan leaning rose I planted last year and decided to "Peg" by pinning down the long canes so that they put out shoots along the canes. Then canes are sprouting new canes which will have buds and bloom. The canes ought to air root where they are pinned to the ground. Eventually it ought to produce some new cloned plants as well as a "fountain" of blooms.

"Free" Rose Bush

This is a pink rose that I got as a baby plant as a premium for some seeds I ordered last fall. It's planted at the north end of a new flower bed on the west side of the house. In one of the pictures You can see some of the red salvia planted in the bed on the right side bed at the front of the house.

My Neighbor's House
On the left is a shot of my neighbor's house to the west with her azaleas still in full bloom although almost all the others in town are gone.

Birding Through the Window

2007-04-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

I have a bird feeder outside the breakfast room window where I and my cats, Surely Goodness (AKA Shirley) and Mercy, can watch the birds. The cats do a lot of switching of their tails because I think they disapprove of the birds' table manners. I've bought the following books to help me identify the birds that come to dine. If you'd like to order the books from Amazon.com, just click on the links below.

Action Around the Farm--Outside the Garden

2007-04-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

Iris

The old "cemetery" iris that I gathered in the wild from my great-great grandfather's grave has been blooming since Christmas Day.

New Iris

One of my new fancy iris is also blooming.It's a tall bearded iris called "Mesmerizer." The color is supposed to be Blue-Violet but it looks white to me. It was first propagated in 1885 and is supposed to bloom in early spring, which it seems to be doing.

Front of the House

I'm putting red salvia in the beds in front of the house again this year. I've also planted pink geraniums in the pots at the front entrance, but I plan to change them to red soon since they don't look that good with the red salvia. I'll also probably put something in front of the salvia as a border; probably something white.

The white azelias were very impressive during the last week in March, but unfortunately, I didn't get pictures.

Also, Carter has already mowed twice.

Spring Is Here

2007-04-11T10:51:00.000-05:00

There's lots of activity nowadays at Glynn's Farm, but I guess I better start back in the October when I set out broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (red and green), collards and onion (purple and white) sets. I also planted beet and carrot seeds. The cauliflower did nothing and I eventually pulled them all up. The broccoli was also a disappointment although I did get enough for two different meals--but I think it was too warm for them and they went to seed almost immediately. The collards, cabbage and onions have done better and I have pulled 3 of the green cabbage to eat and lots of collards (more than I really care to eat--and they're also starting to go to seed too, although I keep the tops cut to prevent it. The red cabbage are not quite ready although they have 3-4 inch heads already. The beets and carrots came up, but the cold got them before they were up enough to survive. I should have planted them in late August or in September, although it was too dry then to do so without watering a lot more than I wanted to (too expensive since I have to pay "sewerage" for all the water I use, even if it's on the garden.

With the help of "Carter" my gardener (He comes every Thursday and has been a great help.) we did some major planting for the spring garden starting on Valentines Day through the first part of March. Carter finished preparing the ground in the new plot and extending the rows in the old plot. We planted (from the west in the new plot) two rows of "Roma" green bush beans, two rows of corn, a row of carrots, a row of squash, another row of carrots, 4 rows alternating mustard and turnips, then the two rows of cabbage planted in the fall. He also planted a row of garlic as well as interspersing garlic (as well as some onions) in vacant spaces between squash and cabbage plants. The first planting of mustard and turnips came up, but failed because it got too cold for them--as well (according to Carter) the ground was not fertile enough. He replanted them the first part of March after fertilizing all the new plot with a granular, time release fertilizer. The first picture above is the west end of the old plot. The first picture below is a view of both the old and new plots as seen from the east.

The following pictures are: (1) The west end of the new plot followed by (2) the center of the plot and (3) the east end. The last picture is the east end of the old plot.

Hiatus in Posting to this Blog

2006-10-18T10:42:00.000-05:00

Regrettably, I was not able to post to this blog for the past few weeks because of vision problems which required cataract surgery on my right eye on October 16. The surgery went well, and although I am now able to do some limited reading, etc., I still do not have complete used of my right eye, which necessarily slows me down, especially in working in my garden since I have to be careful not to get dust or grime in my eye. I did manage to get half my fall garden planted; carrot-seed strips and cabbage (green and purple,) broccoli, cauliflower, and collards; and I pulled up what remained of the beans, black-eyed peas and okra. I still have to get my onion sets planted and I also have left-over cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli plants as well as carrot seeds. Hopefully I'll get it all done next week and be able to post some pictures. The surgery came at an awkward time as well because it interfered with doing the final proofreading of the publication galleys for both my novels: a revised edition of A Perfect Peace, to be published soon by Aydy Press, and the initial publication of my second novel Arise Beloved, being published in early November by Anchor Chain Books.

If you would like to be notified when the books are available at Amazon.com, please let me know by emailing me at glynn@glynnsbooks.com.

It's Been Too Hot . . . .

2006-09-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

It really been too hot (in the high 90s and low 100s) to work outside--besides the only thing needing to be done is mowing, and since it's so hot and dry, the grass doesn't grow much and mowing it in this heat would kill a lot of it anyway, so I've stayed indoors--mostly working on the manuscript for my novel Arise Beloved. I got my ISBN numbers from Bowkers this week, so I'm ready to upload the manuscript as soon as I've been over it one last time looking for typos, etc. I am sure having a hard time finding all of them. They seem to hide from me, then pop up the next time I read a page. I find the same thing happens in the kitchen and other places: I can look and look for something and not find it, then the next minute there it is right in front of me. I suspect elves or fairies are involved.

I have been harvesting okra, eggplant, and black-eyed peas. I have one or the other or all three almost every night for supper. I've been giving away eggplant because if it gets too big, it has too many seeds, and the plants are producing more than I can eat myself, and since I don't really like the recipes I have for canning or freezing eggplant much, giving it away is the only thing besides letting it rot in the compost pile. I've been able to stay ahead of the okra and what I haven't eaten, I've frozen whole. I've also had enough BE peas to freeze some, but not enough yet to can.

We've been having cool nights lately--in the low 60s, which is nice because I can sleep with the windows open and the A/C off, but it still gets up in the 90s during the day. It's quite a span--30 degrees between night and day, but I'm hoping fall weather will get here soon in the day too.

I'm planning on planting some of the fall garden next week even if it is hot. I can get a lot done in the morning before it really heats up.

More About Iris & The Garden in the Heat

2006-08-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

I got my order of iris from Schreiner's Gardens on Friday and because of the heat I did not want to wait too long in planting them, so on Saturday evening at 7:00pm after it cooled off to a little above 80 degrees, I dug the grass out of the bed along the east side of the garage and planted all thirteen. Here are pictures and descriptions of four of them. I'll put the others up later on.
BTW, Schreiner's sometimes puts an ad here on Glynn's Farm blog, so click on them here when you want to order iris.

This one is called "Amas." Type: Tall Bearded
Color: Blue-Violet
Style: Bitone
Originator: Foster
Year: 1885
Height: 25"

This one is called "Crowned Heads." Type: Tall Bearded
Color: Blue
Style: Amoena
Originator: Keppel
Year: 1997
Height: 38"
Bloom Season: Early
Mid
Awards: HM '99, AM
'01, Wister Medal '03,
Dykes Medal '04

This one is called "Celebration Song." Type: Tall Bearded
Color: Pink and
Lavender
Style: Amoena
Originator: Schreiner
Year: 1993
Height: 37"
Bloom Season: Early
Mid Late
Awards: HM '95, AM
'97, Wister Medal '00,
Dykes Medal '03

This one is called "Beverly Sills.: Type: Tall Bearded
Color: Pink
Style: Self
Originator: Hager
Year: 1979
Height: 35"
Bloom Season: Early
Mid
Awards: HM '81, AM
'83, Dykes Medal '85

Here are also a pictures of the poor wilted okra plants and sunflowers in 102 degree heat. I did gather a mess about 8 pods for supper last night. Good! and I also had a mess of yellow wax beans. I didn't care for the yellow wax beans all that much, so I doubt that I'll plant them again. I like green beans much better. I also gathered a few black-eyed peas and shelled them. I'll cook them tonight along with some green beans I picked yesterday.

But, the heat doesn't affect the zinnias at all. (See the picture below of the ones I planted about three weeks ago.) They were up to about a foot tall and had buds, but I pinched out the tops so they would bush more. They'll be pretty in another week.

Surviving the Heat

2006-08-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

It would seem to me that if your major concern were the plants on your balconey, there's an easy solution--water them stupid!!! There seems to be a lot of profound ignorance residing in NYC.

‘A Drink,’ the Morning Glory Gasped/ By Michelle Slatalla, Published: August 10, 2006

My plants are suffering in this heat. On the balcony outside my bedroom, a potted banana plant presses its desperate wilting leaves against the window, trying to catch my eye. Next to it, a morning glory droops. The star jasmine is writing a will.

Glynn's Farm is Adding a New Garden Plot

2006-08-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

I've ordered close to $100.00 in seeds and plants from Park's Seeds, who advertise on the Glynn's Farm blog site. I know it's way too many, but how do you know when to stop when you want it all. Since my present garden plot will still be bearing (it's still producing egg plants and peppers and starting to produce a few black-eyed peas and beans and I ought to gather my first mess of okra that week.) when it's time to plant for the fall, I've decided to dig up a new, larger plot.

I gathered a couple of bell peppers that had turned red and several other peppers that were supposed to be hot, but are not--"like letting the moon shine in your mouth" as my grandfatehr Harper used to say about my mother's coffee. I'm diappointed in the Bell peppers too; not much flavor and very thin-walled skins--also almost tasteless. There from plants I bought at WalMart, so I'm hoping to do better with seeds from Parks.

I got an email from them this morning that the seeds had been shipped, so I'll list what I plant when I plant them--when I get the new plot tilled up of course. I started by scraping the sod off with my tiller, and as soon as the sod is dead (it happens quickly in this heat) I'll till it up to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches, the deepest the tiller will reach. It's back-breaking, hot work, but it only has to be done once, so next year, all I'll have to do is till it when I get ready to plant and not scraping off sod, unless of course I decide in a moment of insanity that I need yet another plot. I'm already planning to enlarge the present plot when I plant in the spring. I think I'll need more space than I've got now for a potato patch.

Revealing the Secret Fantasy of the Proprietor of Glynn's Farm

2006-08-03T08:32:00.000-05:00

This is one of my fanasies, except that I don't try to make my fantasies come true all the time; just two or three times a month.

Born 150 Years Too Late, by Joyce Wadler

Lots of Bush But Few Beans

2006-08-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

I gathered two more eggplants this morning and plan to make lasagna with them for supper. I also gathered the beans off the three rows that have gorgeous plants that produce lots of blossoms but very, very few beans. I have two theories: one, the soil is too rich, or I planted them too late in the season and it's too hot for the beans to develop. (See picture.) Any help out there?

Also I here's a picture of the first sunflower blossom--aiming right at the morning sun as you would expect.

Breaking News About Iris Changing Color in the Wild

2006-07-31T20:00:00.000-05:00

A year or so ago, I dug up and brought home some iris rhizomes I found growing on the grave of my gggrandfather in a long-neglected cemetery in East Texas and planted them in a container when I lived in New Orleans. When they bloomed they were a dingy white that looked like they may have been violet or pink at some time in the past and had faded while they were growing in the wild. I revisited the cemetery recently and dug up a few more to plant in Glynn's Farm. I wrote to Schreiner's gardens in Oregon to ask for information on my "wild" iris and received the following email from Tom Abrego at Schreiner's Gardens. He writes:

"There are no bearded iris native to Texas (or anywhere else in the New World) so I believe these are iris that were once cultivated and have now escaped. Iris do not change color, so the color of these new iris in your garden is the color they have always been, as you said, an older iris without vivid color. The makeup of the soil, its pH, water and climate may cause subtle shifts of color in an iris, but a pink iris will never be a blue iris. Even if this iris lacks vivid color, you know it will grow well with little help, as you have discovered at the cemetery and the area surrounding it. Believe it or not, there are people who are specifically interested in old iris. I had a friend (we've lost touch) from the rural Midwest who used to put ads in small town papers looking for iris like yours. They may not be the biggest and the brightest, but they are tough!"

Thanks to Tom for his help. I have also learned that there is no plural for iris: it's one iris, two iris, three iris, etc. Anyone out there want an old-timie iris? I've ordered a couple of sample packs from Schreiner's Gardens so I can have some splendid, vividly colored specimens alongside my old ones.

I Laid a Purple Egg on My Handyman's Cap

2006-07-28T03:39:00.000-05:00

I laid a Purple Egg (Plant, that is) on my "handyman's" cap today. Hey, excuse the National Inquirer style headline, but the competition in farm blogging is hog eat hog.

This is the first fruit from the egg plants. I had to stake them up yesterday. They all had fruit big enough to weigh the plants down and they were almost on the ground. I harvested the biggest one this morning because it's so big it will be a life-time supply by tomorrow. Looks like I'll be eating egg plant every day for the next day or two, plus freezing some too, I guess. If you slice them and coat them with deli-battering before you freeze them, and fry them (slowly) in cooking oil (I prefer olive oil, but you have to keep the oil temperature moderate.) straight from the freezer, they're delicious.

It rained most of the day and all night two days ago--which was a welcome relief from a long dry spell, although there were several thunderstorms the last week or two, they don't deliver enough rain to matter much when it's dry.

The only down side is that now the grass needs cutting again and it will push me to get it done before Sunday, but if I wait any longer than that it will be so high it will be that much harder to get mowed in one day, and I've got other things on my plate right now--trying to get the final manuscript of Arise Beloved to the printer and the bishop's visitation on Sunday.

Gardening and Stem-Cell Research

2006-07-24T06:37:00.000-05:00

Anyone who is not a gardener would probably not recognize the link between stem-cell research and a very normal part of growing plants. It starts with the fact that unless you always buy plants at a nursery (or hey, even occasionally at WalMart) most of what you grow starts with planting seeds. Also, anyone who's ever read the instructions on a seed package knows that most of the seeds that come up will have to be thinned out. Maybe I'm a little too sensitive, but I've check with other gardeners and they usually know what I mean when I say that I suffer a tiny (very tiny sometimes) bit of remorse every time I pull out and discard a little-bitty seedling to make room for it's buddies on either side to grow up into healthy plants. A plant needs growing room to produce the blossoms or vegetables or whatever. . . for which I planted the seeds in the first place. Thinning is not something that can be done once either because, as the plants grow, sometimes you have to go back and thin more than once, so each time, you destroy a plant that is further along in its life cycle.

Occasionally I do try to save some of the little ones that would otherwise be lost, by transplanting some to another location, but it's usually too hard to do, and too likely to disturb the plants on either side of the one you're trying to save. So you're left with a hard choice; destroy two plants trying to safe one or destroy one plant so that another can survive. (There's a human parallel here. Every time doctors and parents are forced to separate Siamese twins who are joined in fashion that would prevent them being able to live in the world, they're making life and death decisions that favors one life over another--particular when the twins share vital organs.)

But back to seeds. Of course, you could always plant seeds at sufficient distance from each other so that you don't have to thin out the ones that come up, but every gardener knows that not every seed will come up, or that what does come up will actually be a healthy plant, or even that what comes up will actually be the kind of plant you thought you were planting. Nurseries that produce seeds can and do make mistakes. So, you have to plant way more seeds than the plants you expect to grow to maturity.

One could make a connection with thinning seeds and drowning unwanted kittens when yo' mama cat gives in to a bout of indiscretion with a persuasive tomcat, but there is not really a legitimate connection since a responsible owner of cats will have them neutered thereby doing away with the moral question of drowning cats (or puppies) or whatever.

And not only does a gardener have to sacrifice beneficial plants, he also destroys life every time he pulls up a weed, and no body objects to weeding the garden on moral grounds, I hope. Although if there were something to be gained poltitically, I suspect somebody might. (An exception perhaps being the parable of the tares (Matthew 13:24-30.)

So the brutal reality of nature is that a lot of life and potential life has to die in order to make way for the life that survives. There's an old joke about the fact that every female alligator lays a zillion eggs every mating season and the male alligator eats 95% of them. There's a moral to the story; the reality is that if it weren't for the male alligator, we'd be up to our asses in alligators. By the same token, if every acorn produced an oak tree, we'd be up to our asses in oak trees. So, in the actual world that God created lots of potential life never gets to live. It's not tragic however, it's just an example of the tremendous natural abundance that God provides.

Which gets us to stem-cell research. The prohibition of stem-cell research is based on the notion that using the surplus fertilized eggs produced by fertility clinics for research "destroys life" in the same sense that abortion does. That's making an unacceptable, and one could say blasphemous connection. In the first place, not every fertilized egg can or should be implanted in a woman's womb--remember the story of the alligators and oak trees? In the second place, it puts a surplus fertilized human egg on the same moral level as one that has been implanted in a woman's womb, which really does have the potential to become a viable embryo. A surplus fertilized egg that will be discarded if not needed is not an embryo and only with a stretch beyond reason can it be considered as such. And finally prohibiting stem-cell research trivializes the issue of abortion, which is always morally reprehensible even in cases where it has to be considered the best of two bad options. (And using abortion purely for birth control, as if it were just a form of contraception, is always evil and, to a rational religious person, always sinful.)

Opposition to stem-cell research is a silly and misguided idea, and one deeply suspects those who argue for it are either invincibly ignorant themselves or are simply grandstanding to the ignorance and gullibility of a political base. Far from destroying potential life, stem-cell research has just the opposite potential; saving lives. Condemning stem-cell research is the actual immorality because it interferes with using reason--a gift from God to the human race--for good.

So, every time, I have suffer that little bit of guilt when I pull up a tiny seedling so that its brothers and sisters can live, I remember that because God has been so generous in providing the potential for life in the world he created, that I'm not destroying life, I'm saving it. If there were some way to use my discarded seedings for research, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but in the meantime, I'm satisfied that destroying unwanted seedlings is my only moral option.

Who said gardening was a mindless way of killing time? Hey, it's one of the few chances I get to think deep thoughts without being interupted by the telephone.

Big Blow Last Night

2006-07-20T07:51:00.000-05:00

A thunderstorm came through last night and blew down some pecan tree limbs. Pecans are brittle and are bad about losing limbs when the wind gets up. The wind also blew down the support for my black-eyed peas that I worked all morning yesterday putting up. The thunderstorm brought some rain however, so I won't complain about the damage to the trees (which was not too much really) or the support for the peas. I hear on the radio that the wind blew down some power lines south of town and up in Shelby County. My lights went off a couple of times too during the storm, but they're on now so I had better luck than some of my neighbors.
My new digital camera came in the mail on Tuesday, so I've made some new pictures.

I went to Lowe's in Nacogdoches on Tuesday and bought netting and stakes for supporting the peas and beans. I also got Roundup Concentrate and some Periwinkles to replace the petunias in the birthbath flower bed and the one outside the back door. The petunias succumed to the heat and I'm hoping the periwinkles will stand up better. The zinnias are up in the birdbath bed too. This morning I plan to use the Roundup on weeds behind the garage where I plan to put in a bigger garden in the fall. I also plan to use the Roundup to kill the grass for put a flower bed across the back in front of a rock wall. I've got eight azaleas to put in the bed in front of the rock wall. The azaleas are left over from the ones I bought in the spring to put in front of the house.

I don't remember of I mentioned it or not, but the black-eyed pea seeds I planted were part of some I bought to eat from the grocery store. Evidently the peas were from running plants because they've got shoots 6 feet long. I'll not make that mistake next year since it looks like all I'll get this year will be lots of plant and not many peas. The yellow wax beans, which were supposed to be the bush type, are trying to run, but the problem may be that the soil is so rich all the beans are making lots of bush. Both both types of green beans and the wax beans are full of blooms and tiny beans. Maybe next week there will be enough to make a mess to eat. Hope so.

I got out the dehydrator and expect to set it up to dry the figs I gathered on Tuesday. I also downloaded the instruction manual for the pressure canner from the Internet yesterday and intend to can some chicken broth that I made when I deboned some chicken thighs earlier in the week. I make the broth by simmering the bones all day then cool it in the refrigerator. In the past, I've always frozen it, but I plan to can this batch. I like to use the broth as liquid when I cook stew meat.

Here's something interesting I found on the Internet. The link is below if you're interested.

Scientists decode how plants avoid sunburn

I Finished Mowing

2006-07-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

I finished mowing on Monday by 9:30:AM before it got too hot outside. After finishing the mowing job, I did what is probably the part gardeners love most of all: puttering around the yard. Puttering amounts mostly of tidying up--dead-heading spent blossoms (I throw them on the ground around the plants because in some cases, like marigolds, some of the blossoms are mature enough to include seeds that come up -- "volunteer," to use the old-fashioned term -- and surprise you the next season.) If you don't want them where they come up, you can always transplant them or treat them like weeds, but since they usually come up earlier in the season that seeds you sow or than plants are available in retail shops, you get an early start on the season. In some cases too, as with coleus and zinnias, the volunteer seedlings turn out to be hybrids that are unique and (we can always dream) valuable.

My stepfather, Joe Grado had a dream like that. He was a great gardener and was an amateur cross breeder of day lilies. He sometimes came up with new and very beautiful new varieties, but (alas) he never hit the jackpot he dreamed of: a blue day lilie, which he believed would make him rich and famous. Everybody needs a dream like that even if the chances are better of getting hit by lightening or winning the lottery.

Monday's puttering included pulling up the few brave weeds that have committed suicide by coming up in my garden and flower beds. (I am ruthless.) If you pull it out every time you see a weed, then big-time weeding is never needed--you just need to put in some puttering time every day or so.

Not only have we been suffering through a major heat wave, it's been dry too, so I decided it was time to irrigate the garden by running the hose in the trenches between the rows for about 1/2 hour per row. You can tell when it's enough by watching the "wet" line as it creeps up by capillary action of the soil towards the top of the row. When it's almost to the base of the plants, you've done enough. I don't usually sprinkle with the hose unless the plants looked wilted or the leaves are dirty from debris thrown up by mowing. A little sprinkling at the end of a hot day perks up the wilted plants nicely, but I do it early enough for the leaves to dry before dark. If you sprinkle and the leaves are still wet when the sun goes down, you take a chance on mildew--which is ugly and interferes with a plant's photosynthesis because it blocks the sunlight.

I did turn the sprinkler on for the flower bed at the back door, the one around the birdbath and the ones in front of the house. The zinnias are up about 2 inches around the birdbath. Zinnias literaly spring up almost overnight when it's this hot. They'll be blooming too in a week or two.

The neighbors' dog slipped his rope this morning and kept me (not entirely welcome) company while I worked. Dogs, God love them, love to hang out with people, even strangers and they can be a pest, mostly because they want to be involved in whatever you're doing and they get in the way. If they just watched it would be OK, but they want to help--or whatever. And when you turn your back on them, they'll find the very place to lie down for a rest where you have been working. I lost the better part of a zinnia that was about to bloom to doggy bedding on Monday.

I went over to the neighbors' house to tell them the dog was loose at about 9:30AM when I thought they'd be awake, but they didn't come to the door, so I left the dog to wander when I went inside.

The last piece of puttering Monday was to pick 12 1/2 dozen ripe figs from the tree in the back yard. Now I have to get out the book on dehydration and learn how to dry them.

One on other thing, my new digital camera arrived in the mail Monday, so I'll have some new pictures of Glynn's Farm to put up soon.

And. . .in reading back over Saturday's issue, I think I may have been painted too rosy a picture of what cars and gasoline, etc. were like in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I'll back-track to that discussion later on.

I have been invited to give the invocation at the San Augustine Chamber of Commerce meeting today (Tuesday) at lunch, so I have to quit posting now to get ready to be presentable there.

Keep your hoes sharp and your tillers fueled.

Mowing Today, But It Was Too Hot To Finish

2006-07-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

I got up early this morning to mow the yard, but I only finished the front and side yards because it was 90 degrees (F) by 10:00AM. I didn't crank up the mower until almost 8:00 AM because it's Saturday and somebody was probably trying to sleep in. If they're still asleep at 8:00, then they stayed up too late and if they're that tired, they can probably sleep in spite of the noise. Anyway, it got too hot and I'll finish Monday.

I don't mow on Sunday. I'm old fashioned about keeping the day holy--or maybe, I just like to take a day off from physical labor at least one day a week; more than one day if I feel like it. Hey, I'm retired.

When I was growing up no one did chores on Sunday, at least not where anyone could see them. It was considered disgraceful to hang out washing (Nobody had driers then. I don't even think they had been invented except for commercial operations then ca. 1935 to 1954 +/-. The neighbors would talk if you even got out and swept the steps in front of the house. I can't remember when "blue laws" were repealed--some time in the sixties I think--but before then stores were never open on Sunday, except for "emergency" places like "filling" or "gas" stations on major highways. Neighborhood stations were all closed. That was when most people had two days off a week and women didn't usually work outside the home, except for widows and spinsters (spinster means and "old maid" stupid.)

I remember when petroleum companies stopped calling their retail outlets "filling" or "gas" stations too, and started insisting they were "service stations." That went by the boards with the first gas crunch in the seventies when "service" got to be an antique concept and everyone had to pump his own gas. Before that they wouldn't let you pump your own gas. Not only that, but back when "service" was still part of how they kept you as a customer, they'd check the oil and put air in the tires and wipe the windshield for you too. Finally filling your gas at a "service station" also became an quaint antique concept too and now you fill your own tank (and wipe your own windshield) at a "conveniene store," or a "retail outlet" if you're feeling real pissy. I suspect most people never check their oil now--or change it either. They just drive the sucker for a couple of years on the same oil and let the next owner (or the next) worry about the consequences. Few people check the air pressure in their tires either, which is one reason they don't get very good mileage--besides driving too fast. I plead guilty on the last count, so sue me.

Funny how the words "service" and "convenience" stopped applying to the customer and became the right of the merchant. Back when "service" stations stopped pumping gas for you, if you didn't pump your own gas you had to pay 3-4 cents for an "attendant" to fill your tank. "Filling your tank " was not the usual way to buy gas either back in the day. Nobody I knew had enough money to just pull in and "fill 'er up when I was a kid." I don't remember Daddy ever filling up the car. He usually told the guy that pumped the gas: "Give me "5 gallons." Sometimes he'd put in 10 gallons if he was feeling flush or going on a trip. Gas was about .25 9/10 back then, so you were only talking about $2.00 to $2.50. I never remember Daddy getting less than 5 gallons however. It was just too much of a "white trash" thing to do. He certainly would never have pulled up and asked for 50 cents worth. That was really white trash. His picture, taken in about1940 is on the left. His name was William Bruce Harper and he was born February 23, 1908 in Jacksonville, Texas. He was a school teacher by profession and education, but he hated teaching school and got fired from his last school for cussing out the superintendent of schools, who happened to be his sister-in-law's husband. He was working as a ship fitter at the Todd Shipbuilding Company building Liberty ships during WW2 when he died of pneumonia on New Year's Day in 1945.

Anyway, back to mowing the yard. It takes about a tank of gas for the mower to cut the whole yard. I just emptied my first 2 gallon can and I've cut the yard maybe five times since I bought the mower, so it gets much better mileage than my Ford F-150 pickup truck. The pickup gets about 18 miles per gallon if I stay under 50 when I'm on the highway and about 15 if I drive 70, so I usually get about 14 miles per gallon.But what the dickens, the sucker is paid off. It's only got 88,000 miles on it (It's a 2001.) and will last me the rest of my life if I don't get in a wreck or something awful like that and don't live past 90 or so and can still drive without hitting the curbs too often.

I do think conservation is a good idea and I'm PC enough to worry about C02 and global warming--hey I had to stop mowing at 10:00AM because it got too hot. And, if I had to get a new vehicle, I'd try to find some kind of dual fuel or other "conservation" transportation. But I'm 70 and a pickup truck is a Texas icon and I still haul stuff for the garden, like mulch and plants and so forth, so driving the 2001 pickup is the best thing do to. If I got rid of it that doesn't mean it would be off the road anyway, so I might as well keep on driving it myself (and BTW changing the oil, getting regular tune-ups, and checking the air in the tires too.) I take care of myself too; regular check-ups and good dental care. I've still got all my original body parts in reasonable good operating condition too, including teeth.

Speaking of mulch before I got of on talking about teeth, I got a palletload of pine barck mulch from a fellow down in Pineville about 12 miles south of here on State Highway 147. It wasn't necessarily cheaper than buying the stuff from WalMart, but it's from local trees and if it's got bark beetles or something like that, at least they're local pests and not from some God-forsaken foreign trees with Lord only knows what kind of infestations.

That's enough for now. Tomorrow is church and I've got to start thinking about a sermon. You can check to see what I said at www.christchurchsatx.blogspot.com if you're really hard up for a holiness infusion, but don't expect me to get the sermon up until about Wednesday or Thursday. BTW there's a link on in the right hand column to the church web site as well as the blog

Hello and Welcome!

2006-07-14T14:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog where I hope to entertain you and myself with a journal of my "backyard farm." I'm located in the historic city of San Augustine in deep East Texas, behind the Pine Tree Curtain on the old El Camino Real de Tejas, a 300-year old road first laid out by the Spanish when Texas was a colony of Spain. You can read more about San Augustine and El Camino Real by clicking on the link in the column on the right. There are also links to Christ Church, Episcopal, where I am the vicar.

Gardening in San Augustine is a joy. The rich red-brown soil is just the right mix of sandy loam which holds water well and won't clot when it's wet. You can work it after a rain without it gumming up on you. It will grow just about anything when there is enough rainfall, but it is also suitable for irrigation during the drier summer months.

Irrigating might get expensive, especially since the city sewer bill is determined by how much water you use; usually about half the water bill. But---I have my own well and water system so I can irrigate without paying for the sewer. Most of the houses in San Augusting have water wells because until the 1970s the city water was from a deep well and the water was too hard and alkaline to use for watering plants. It was sure death for azaleas. In th 70s San Augustine switched to a surface source from a newly constructed Town Lake, so now the city water won't kill your garden, but the water bill will kill your budget. Luckily my home water system still functions and I'm not dependent on city water for watering the garden.

I like to work at landscaping my yard as well as work in the garden and my home was recently chosen as "Yard of the Month" by the San Augustine Garden Club. I'm posting some pictures of the yard and flowers as well.

The picture at the top of the blog is the front of the house. The beds in front are red salvia with white azaleas behind. In front of the azaleas are a row of white begonia and in front of the begonias are ageratum alternating white and blue. It's geting too hot for begonias now and they're starting to look sun-burned. The red salvia blossoms fade rapidly too in the sun, but they'll be back looking vivid agian in September and last until frost in the fall. The ageratum is going great guns in spite of the heat. I had a little trouble with some kind of spider that withered a few of the ageratum, but I just pulled up the effected plants and put put them in the garbage and that seems to have stopped a full-scale infestation.

I put down a weed barrier webbing in the front flower bed for the first three feet from the foundation of the house then added another three feet, curved at each side and mulched the whole bed with pine-bark mulch, which is readily available in bulk from Pineville, a small community close by.
I scooped out a shell-shaped bed outside the back door which has an old nandeena I inherited as a foundation plant. I planted a Don Juan "leaning" rose--a rad variety that is my favorite rose next to the nandeena. In front of the nandeena and the rose, I planted three crook-necked yellow squash plants, which have turned out to be producing fools. I've already gathered and frozen 5 pounds of squash, plus I've had meals of of them non-stop for about a month. They're still producing althought the plants are showing their age.
I planted a lantanna in the center of the bed in front of the squash, which I have to hack back once a week to keep it from taking over. I bordered the bed with yellow marigolds with purple petunias behind the border, and planted some ageratum left over from the front bed in the apex of the triangle the bed makes with the driveway and the sidewalk from the back door. The petunias have just about given up in the heat so I pulled up some of the worse-off ones and planted four pepper plants; two small "button" purple ones and two others that are also small. The latter start off yellow and get fire-red as they ripen. Both the purple and yellow/red peppers are hot, hot, hot, and make wonderful pepper sause for purple-hull peas and speckled limas.
The garden patch in the back yard patch is about 10X15 feet and has a row of okra, two rows of green beans, one row of yellow wax beans, a row of black-eyed peas, a row of bell peppers with three sunflower plants at the far end, a row of four egg plants with a hill of yellow crook-neck squash at the end, and a final row of climbing speckled lima beans. I didn't get the garden in until fairly late in the season because I didn't get the ground tilled in time. I planted everything except the lima beans on June 14 and everything was up in less than a week. The picture of the patch was taken about two weeks after I planted it. The black-eyed peas literallly shot up in two days. The green beans are blooming and I expect to eat my first beans in about two weeks (probably raw while I'm in the garden weedig.) I didn't get the limas planted until July 3 because I didn't know when I boughtthe seed that they were the running kind and I had to wait until I had something for them to run on. I'll post some later picture of the garden when my new camera arrives. (My old one died and I've ordered a new one.) Because the growing season here usually runs through October, I'll have a good harvest of beans and okra probably as late as the first of November.
The last picture is a small flower bed that is visible from my breakfast room window. It's the first place I broke ground when I moved to this house last September. I had a dog-wood tree I'd been wagging around in a pot during the time I was living in a travel trailer while I was promoting my novel "A Perfect Peace." When I moved in here I planted the tree and finally got around to digging out a flower bed around it in March. The second picture is what the bed looked like in March. I planted pansies in the bed then, but when it got too hot for them, I pulled them out. I've got some coleus and marigolds in pots sitting in the bed, but I've also got four coleus in the ground and have planted zenia ("old maids") seeds, which will probably be up next week.