Friends of the scarecrow

My late father-in-law told me that the scarecrow in his garden scared him more than it scared the birds. For that reason (ha), I don't have a scarecrow, but I do have an angry-looking fake owl and slithery-looking rubber snakes. These are purported to scare away animals and birds, but I'm not buying it. Squirrels avoid the owl's stare and enjoy a smorgasbord any time they like in my garden. Maybe they know that owls aren't really out in the daytime. And come on, who has ever seen snakes in neon colors?

I have tomatoes ...

... coming out of my ears! Every day I pick them three times. I like to get them when they're just barely turning pink so the squirrels, raccoons and birds don't get them before I do.

I guess this is why gardeners tell you to plant enough for you and the animals! I have 24 Better Boy tomato plants, so I guess I'm covered.

Cape Plumbago fills in nicely

I have named Cape Plumbago to my list of Plants That Take Over the World. If left unchecked, plumbago becomes this mounding, spreading thing 6 to 8 feet in all directions.

When my landscape bed was young, I planted plumbago there. In no time it was spreading as well as helpfully producing tiny versions of itself around the original. This kind of situation gives me a combined sense of panic and ruthlessness, so I yanked out all that pretty plumbago.

Now I have plumbago out in the little square of soil by the mailbox, where it will behave. Even so, it is so wildly successful that my husband cuts it back quite severely several times a year. It always comes back healthier than ever -- much to his chagrin.

See how my plumbago isn't blooming much right now? I think it got into a fight with some pruning shears, and lost.

Useful tools 2

This looks like Mr. Lawnmower Man, but it simply illustrates two tools that I use a LOT in my garden.

The gray metal post pounder weighs a pretty substantial 16.6 pounds and and is closed on the top to fit over a fence post. The green metal fence posts are made to pound about 12 inches into the ground, and I would find it impossible to do this without the pounder.

The yellow contraption has a little counter on it for measuring length along the ground. For instance, I know that my vegetable garden is 30.3 feet long and 15.85 feet wide. Handy little tool for just the knowledge factor alone, not to mention precise planning.

N-P-K on that bag of fertilizer

I have long been mystified by the N-P-K numbers on fertilizer bags. What do these mean? Well, lucky you, I looked it up so you don't have to.

This is a really dirty bag of fertilizer outside near the vegetable garden. Come to think of it, everything near my garden gets dirty. Especially me. (Note: You should probably not store your fertilizer outside. I just realized this had been outside all winter). 

Anyway, going from left to right:

N is for nitrogen - for plant growth. Nitrogen boosts new leaf and stem growth.

P is for phosphorus - for healthy root growth and good flowering.

K is for potassium - for the plant's general health.

N, P and K are the primary nutrients in fertilizer. Secondary nutrients include Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium ) and S (sulfur). Micronutrients include Zn (zinc), Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), Cu (copper), Mo (molybdenum), Cl (chlorine) and Wh (whateverium). Just checking to see if you read all the way to the bottom.

These roses are Knock Outs

Knock Out Roses may be perfect for your home landscape in that they are so easy to grow. Please note that Knock Out Roses is supposed to have one of those annoying little R's after its name.

Knock Out Roses are the country's number one rose. Bill Radler bred them especially for their disease-resistance. They are low-maintenance, beautiful and grow really well. If you want to grow roses, Knock Outs are the way to start.

Ivy

I'm pretty sure this is English ivy.

Ivy climbs more than a 3-year-old, but it's the growth along the ground that's the hardest for me to keep in check. Unless you want ivy to fill in a certain space, which is pretty, you had better keep ivy reined in, or in my case, pulled up. Ivy is insidious, and thus is on my list of Plants That Take Over the World.

Ivy has about a dozen species and originated in Europe, northwestern Africa and Southeast Asia. My ivy likes dappled sunlight, or at least shade some of the day.

Useful tools 1

For the klutz who has everything, and too frequently cuts herself in the kitchen, here is a pretty good accessory:

G&F 57100 CUTShield Classic Cut & Slash Resistant Gloves on Amazon.

For the spray-paint project:  

Spray trigger at Big Box Land

What are these holes from?

I'm a bit mystified. These holes are all over the garden and tend to be 3 to 4 inches in diameter, and pretty deep. What is making these holes? Raccoons, armadillos? New holes appear almost every day. Any way to deter? Please comment. I need help -- they're going to ruin all my work in the garden!

Lantana

"How do I grow things," I asked my friend, Beverly, a number of years ago, when I was struggling with a particularly persistent black thumb.

She told me, "Just dig a hole and plant something in it."

For me, that only holds true if I have the right plant. I've found that flowers and shrubs and vegetables and fruits that do well here on the Gulf Coast of Texas are basically those that like sunshine, rain, humidity and drought.

For that reason, Lantana is my all-time favorite flower or flowering shrub. I noticed the pink variety growing alongside woods, so I figured it would grow in my garden. And within two weeks of sticking a seedling down in a hole, that seedling had expanded its territory to half the side of my house.

I love seeing lantana in large plantings where, unlike my side garden, there is enough room, such as the ones at malls and public buildings. Landscapers in these settings tend to use the varieties of lantana that are mounders or spreaders. My favorite lantana sight is when it's spilling over a curb or landscape timber.

Up close, most lantana has tiny petals of different color combinations, such as bright pink/bright yellow/magenta, light pink/bright yellow, purple/white, or one of the originals -- bright yellow. I love the fact that when you step back, those individual colors meld into a lovely combination. If you've ever seen lantana, you'll know what I mean.

Not only are the colors fantastic, but lantana comes in various growth forms. My favorites are those that spread out low, such as the bright yellow ones. Those are great as ground covers for large areas and I have seen people using the weed whacker on them just to keep them in check. On the other hand, I have a shrubby lantana that is over 6 feet tall. This champ came back after a really hard winter. I would like to get the trailing type of lantana that is so good for containers.

Not only is it beautiful, but if you have a butterfly garden or live near the beach, lantana is for you.

I should tell you that lantana is on my list of plants that take over the world. So be sure to check the growth habit (it will be on the plant tag) before planting. You don't want it to take over your world!

Lantana

Light: Full sun

Water: Moderate

Prolific bloomer

Loves hot and humid

Flowers: varied

Invasive
Poisonous

Pole bean timeline

Pole beans are green beans that have feelers that flop about in the breeze and grasp anything they can climb on. It's kind of creepy when you think about it.

Moving past that haunting mental image, I had great success with my first pole beans last spring. I had grown bush green beans with success for several seasons, but wanted to save space and have my bean plants grow up instead of out. This necessitated giving them something to climb on.

Making a good start, 28 days after planting. 

For garden structures, I usually make do with whatever I have. I could have made a nifty teepee structure out of rebar, but I decided to splurge and buy two of Burpee's Pole Bean and Pea Towers. I'm glad I did, because the beans sure liked them.

Putting out feelers, 36 days after planting.

Growing, 39 days after planting.

Climbing, 48 days after planting.

Flowering, 64 days after planting.

First pole bean, 70 days after planting.

Backyard farm girl - then and now

Here this little farm girl is 2 ...

... and now at 8, she's ready to dig into gardening!

Rosemary

Any time I pass a rosemary bush, I am compelled to pinch off one of the pointed leaves and crush it between my thumb and forefinger. I love that aroma!

Rosemary is super easy to grow

Rosemary is simple to grow, and a good herb to try if you're just starting out. It's pretty much foolproof.

Rosemary can get 3 to 4 feet tall with very little care. You'll see a lot of landscape rosemary in the Hill Country because there are a lot of deer, and deer leave rosemary alone.

Rosemary is one of the most popular and useful in the kitchen. I like to place it in the cavity of a baking chicken. The aroma permeates the meat and perfumes the whole house.

Rosemary lends itself to hedges, formal shapes and topiary. Were I to make a formal garden, I would use rosemary as a border. Think of sitting out on a breezy evening and smelling the rosemary.

I found out that you can propagate (grow a new one) from an existing rosemary plant: Clip a 4- to 6-inch shoot from new, soft growth. Strip off a few leaves and stick it in the dirt. I will conduct an experiment and report back on the progress.

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Dill

My dill is actually producing this year.

Imagine pickles without dill! Some homemade ranch dressings call for dill; in fact, I think it is the secret ingredient. You can also use dill in dips, salads and soups. I've never had any luck with dill until this year. Must be the mushroom compost I'm using this year.

Dill needs full sun, a moderate amount of water, and good, rich soil. Dill can reach 3 to 4 feet in height. It's best to harvest the leaves when they're 6 to 8 inches tall and before flowering.

Dill is in the same family as cumin and parsley. So try it out! It's a delightful feathery plant that's as easy on the eyes as on the palate.

Peggy Martin rose

I've always wanted a climbing rose but was afraid I would kill it. Then I noticed that my neighbor's was thriving. I went begging them for cuttings, and they graciously let me get several.

Bringing home my cuttings, I planted about 12 or 15 eight-inch twigs in this way: Peel away a few inches of each stem's "bark," dip the end in root stimulator, stick down in the dirt of a potted plant outside. It took about two years for me to get any kind of growth, and I only got two viable rose bushes. I planted one in the ground to climb up a trellis set against my brick. The other one is still in the original pot but going like gangbusters compared to the twig it once was.

This beautiful climbing rose is called the Peggy Martin Rose -- a true survivor from Hurricane Katrina. Gardener Peggy Martin's house and garden were covered with 20 feet of salt water. When the water receded, however, her rose was still alive and thriving. Thus, the famous climbing rose named after a veteran gardener.

Leave me a comment and tell me your climbing-rose story.

Here's an idea: Herb blocks

If you already have some concrete blocks, like I did, why not line one edge of the garden with them and plant them with herbs? Last spring I filled the holes with the same rich dirt as my garden. All my herbs came up except the chives, and I am trying those again.

First try at cantaloupe

Cantaloupe 10 days after planting seeds. Why do my things take longer than the Todds'? But notice the cute marker. It denotes that this is cantaloupe planting date #1 (of 3) and that I planted on 3/21/14. I like to label things.

Cantaloupe on 5/9/14, 19 days after seeds were planted. I mulched with oak leaves.

This year I am trying cantaloupe after hearing a rave review from a gardener who knows what she's doing. "They go crazy. You won't believe how many you'll get," she said. So I thought, why not.

I planted Hale's Best Jumbo seeds on 3/21/14. The Brazoria County Master Gardeners suggest this variety: Ambrosia. The only one I could get seeds for around here was Hale's Best Jumbo. The seeds cost me $1.35 and I put a lot of thought and new technique into it, but I might as well experiment, right?

Oh those crazy tomatoes

Seven weeks ago I planted sad, spindly, 2-inch-tall tomato plants. Now look at them -- some are over 3 feet high! Realistically speaking they'll probably reach 8 feet. Radioactive soil? That's certainly possible but I sincerely hope not. Rather, credit goes to the mushroom compost I had brought in this year. Seven cubic yards and enough men to till it in and build my rows.

Half of my tomatoes are from seeds I started indoors in Dixie cups. The others were seedlings I bought when I lost faith in the Dixie-cup batch, which rallied when I decided to plant them in the garden.

So this year I have 50 tomato plants, way too many for just two people, so if you stay on my good side and you're local, I might turn my garden into a freebie U-pick zone. Stay tuned.

Here are the tomato varieties I have: 24 Better Boy, seven Fresh Salsa Hybrid, six Bush Early Girl Hybrid, eight SuperSauce Hybrid and five Celebrity Hybrid.

Before I counted today, I had given away six plants to my friends Joyce and Francis, though I'm not sure if they (the tomatoes) survived. There's something sad about gently pulling out a giant tomato plant and sending it home with someone else, because those babies almost immediately wilt. It's a little like sending your children out into the world: They may wilt at first, but you hope all the effort and prayer and years and tears have given them strong roots on which to build the rest of their lives. Amen.

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More about tomatoes:

Determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes

How to remove suckers

How to tie up tomatoes

Stem bumps