Drbarb’s Weblog

It has been absolutely beautiful here and I can’t stay OUT of the garden! I say I am going to only work for a couple of hours and then three or four hours have passed. All my veggies are coming up – chard, beets and peas so far. Also planted some new oregano, marjoram and thyme. Because our growing season is so long in Texas some of our perennial plants just wear themselves out. So they need to be replanted every few years. In a few weeks I will plant basil and tomatoes.

My friend Judi told me that the squirrels weren’t eating my Japanese maples – they were just sharpening their teeth! Could they not find a trash tree to sharpen their  teeth and NOT my maple that is probably worth at least a thousand dollars….  Please!

Anyhow my art in the garden today is this pathway I am creating. I saw this idea on the garden tour last year so it is not original but I love it. We have a great slope in our yard – good for drainage but not so good for keeping decomposed granite from washing away. Here is what I did yesterday!

And here is some swiss chard that overwintered from last year and a blossom from our ornamental peach. The peaches from this tree are not edible but the squirrels like them and plant them all over the place – so I now have five peach trees growing in my backyard and I have given a few away. Yesterday I found two new japanese maple seedlings while clearing some leaves . I will transplant them once they get a little bigger . I already have 18 little trees in four inch pots that I rescued last year - they are ready to move up to one quart pots.

And finally my DH is a great and in the Spring when I am so busy in the garden he cooks for me. Here is a dish he made last week – pan seared scallops, mashed sweet potatoes flavored with ginger and a wilted spinach salad.