That's right ladies and gentlemen, spring is right around the corner because our local Walmart has put out a lot of the lawn and garden supplies just ready to go. I can hardly wait. It's February 7 and I have actually worn shorts for most of the day today. It's really nice outside, but I don't know if I'm really ready for spring yet. I'm one who doesn't like the summer very much at all so I like to make sure that I am really tired of the winter cold. But since I saw the scene at Wally World, I guess I need to prepare myself. I didn't actually see it, but I bet somewhere there is still a row of Christmas items they still can't get rid of.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Spring Is Coming!
Most people use the little furry groundhog in Pennsylvania to forecast the coming of spring. If he sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't, he stays out and spring is on its way. I however choose to use what I think is the more accurate means of forecasting.......Walmart!
That's right ladies and gentlemen, spring is right around the corner because our local Walmart has put out a lot of the lawn and garden supplies just ready to go. I can hardly wait. It's February 7 and I have actually worn shorts for most of the day today. It's really nice outside, but I don't know if I'm really ready for spring yet. I'm one who doesn't like the summer very much at all so I like to make sure that I am really tired of the winter cold. But since I saw the scene at Wally World, I guess I need to prepare myself. I didn't actually see it, but I bet somewhere there is still a row of Christmas items they still can't get rid of.
That's right ladies and gentlemen, spring is right around the corner because our local Walmart has put out a lot of the lawn and garden supplies just ready to go. I can hardly wait. It's February 7 and I have actually worn shorts for most of the day today. It's really nice outside, but I don't know if I'm really ready for spring yet. I'm one who doesn't like the summer very much at all so I like to make sure that I am really tired of the winter cold. But since I saw the scene at Wally World, I guess I need to prepare myself. I didn't actually see it, but I bet somewhere there is still a row of Christmas items they still can't get rid of.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
A Little Tour
Okay, so since I'm going to make this about gardening, I might as well put some pictures on here showing you a little of what I have so far. Some of these are random, but it will give you an idea of what I'm up against.
Last year for Mother's Day, I thought I would give Catherine a little flower bed she could call her own. I went and bought a few annuals and it wasn't long before we had what you see here. The bed actually worked out very well and produced a lot of good color 
throughout the season. My next plan is expand it a little further away from the house and longer maybe including some curves and such. A few of the plants that are in this bed are petunias, Iris (Catherine loves Irises and we got these from the neighbors yard), and you don't see it here, but we added a Lantana. That will be coming back and should be pretty. We are looking forward to see what the irises will do this year. This picture was taken toward the end of May last year.
This was a project that took some time. We have a propane tank next to our driveway and while I really don't mind the look of it, I decided to mask it with some kind of plant. I wanted an evergreen and the only one I could find for our area was Carolina Jasmine. I built a trellis and planted the plants. I didn't take long for one to take off and it's beautiful in the Spring. The other one seems to be stunted for some reason. I don't know if it's hit a rock or what. I planted both plants at the same time, so we will see what happens. When we moved in, there was no retaining wall around the tank, so I had to build that. That came out really nice and has worked well. That was my first retaining wall experiment.
And the last thing I will subject you to is a picture of my compost pile or piles. These are not really effective because I do not have a water source nearby and they don't get full sun all day. The composting process is rather slow. I built two because after a while, I will take the compost from one and transfer it to the other turning it to try to speed up the process. Anyway, I will add other images of my yard later.
Last year for Mother's Day, I thought I would give Catherine a little flower bed she could call her own. I went and bought a few annuals and it wasn't long before we had what you see here. The bed actually worked out very well and produced a lot of good color 
throughout the season. My next plan is expand it a little further away from the house and longer maybe including some curves and such. A few of the plants that are in this bed are petunias, Iris (Catherine loves Irises and we got these from the neighbors yard), and you don't see it here, but we added a Lantana. That will be coming back and should be pretty. We are looking forward to see what the irises will do this year. This picture was taken toward the end of May last year.
This was a project that took some time. We have a propane tank next to our driveway and while I really don't mind the look of it, I decided to mask it with some kind of plant. I wanted an evergreen and the only one I could find for our area was Carolina Jasmine. I built a trellis and planted the plants. I didn't take long for one to take off and it's beautiful in the Spring. The other one seems to be stunted for some reason. I don't know if it's hit a rock or what. I planted both plants at the same time, so we will see what happens. When we moved in, there was no retaining wall around the tank, so I had to build that. That came out really nice and has worked well. That was my first retaining wall experiment.
And the last thing I will subject you to is a picture of my compost pile or piles. These are not really effective because I do not have a water source nearby and they don't get full sun all day. The composting process is rather slow. I built two because after a while, I will take the compost from one and transfer it to the other turning it to try to speed up the process. Anyway, I will add other images of my yard later. Saturday, January 31, 2009
So I've had this blog for some time now and really didn't have a purpose for it. I just wanted to create a blog to say, "I have a blog!" I just figured that was the thing to do. I've had it several years now, and have updated it very little. This morning, I was outside planting some onions in the garden and it hit me. Why don't I make it a gardening blog?! I love to work out in the yard and having 2.5 acres gives me plenty of yard to work on. I have many projects that I want to do and those that I need to do involving the yard and garden. I have lots of thoughts and this is as good a place as any to record them. I am by no means a professional gardener. In fact, most of the things I do are by trial and error. I don't really do much in the way of "experienced" gardening, so if you are reading this and hope to receive some powerful knowledge or tips on making your garden a showplace of color and aroma, just forget it.
That being said, i was stating earlier that I had planted some onions today. I thought you would like to see them. This is the earliest I have planted any vegetables and I thought I would go ahead and try even though it is the end of January. The other plants you will in these pictures are Buttercrisp lettuce (just the sound makes my mouth water) and cauliflower. I planted those last weekend and we had an ice storm last week with low temps hovering around 20 and so far it looks like they will survive.
For those of you who don't know, I live in far north central Texas, along the Red River. I'm at the southern end of zone 7 so it gets a little warm here in the summer. In fact, it's January 31 and the temp is about 70. Most everything I read seems like it was written for the northern half of the country. I think that's what a lot of my
problem is. In the past I have planted things at what I think is the right time only to have my vegetables scorched by the end of June so I'm going to try a few things a little differently this time. Oh, I have had some victories and enjoyed the fruits of my labor, but it just doesn't seem to work as well as it should.
That being said, i was stating earlier that I had planted some onions today. I thought you would like to see them. This is the earliest I have planted any vegetables and I thought I would go ahead and try even though it is the end of January. The other plants you will in these pictures are Buttercrisp lettuce (just the sound makes my mouth water) and cauliflower. I planted those last weekend and we had an ice storm last week with low temps hovering around 20 and so far it looks like they will survive.For those of you who don't know, I live in far north central Texas, along the Red River. I'm at the southern end of zone 7 so it gets a little warm here in the summer. In fact, it's January 31 and the temp is about 70. Most everything I read seems like it was written for the northern half of the country. I think that's what a lot of my
problem is. In the past I have planted things at what I think is the right time only to have my vegetables scorched by the end of June so I'm going to try a few things a little differently this time. Oh, I have had some victories and enjoyed the fruits of my labor, but it just doesn't seem to work as well as it should.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
One Semester Gone!
Well, I made it through one semester of my first year of teaching. There were some rough times, but I have a lot of support and made relatively unscathed. I'm teaching 7th and 8th graders, so if I can handle them, I can handle anything the way I see it. I have discovered that I am going to have to find ways to keep my technology chops up while teaching very basic things to the students. I have found that if I don't stay on top of things in the tech world, it will quickly leave me behind. I just hope I can stay informed. Things are changing so quickly and there were many promising new gadgets at CES this year. I wish I could have gone, but I was able to hear about some cool new toys that I would certainly like to get my hands on. The new watch/cell phone really looks cool. It reminds me of Dick Tracy stuff. There is also a wireless computer keyboard that has a computer inside of it with a small touch panel. It's designed to work with your media system and supposedly will transmit a wireless HDMI signal to your big screen TV. I would love to test it out.
Friday, August 15, 2008
I'm a new teacher!
I am now an official teacher with a local school district. I will be teaching Middle School technology applications. I'm excited!
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
My First Post
I'm just starting and was wanting to see if this blog stuff was worth the time and effort.
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