Dizzy Days Ahead

I suppose it's about time that I ignore the kids, stop cleaning house and and take a break from piddling around outside to say a few words about my "Holding Pit".

It has been a busy and exiciting summer. Thank goodness it's almost over. School has been back in session for my kiddos for three weeks now and the weather is starting to show signs of "milding" up! It has not been a harsh hot summer as far as Texas goes, but definetly hot enough to prevent any major projects outdoors. Instead of digging in dirt we spent a lot of our time down at the pool and just hanging out in the ac.

Now that doesn't mean I have been totally lazy! I did get a little bit of work done outside, just nothing major! I have one bed almost finished. I just need to move one plant, go pick out a couple more plants, then mulch and edge with stones and I'm done. In January I'll be getting a Celeste Fig Tree to go in the bed so it will look a little blank in one spot for a while. I also need to get some screening material for the ac unit (yes I made a garden bed around the ac unit) and rig something up. Looks like hubby will be busy one of these weekends helping me build something. Maybe between the two of us we will have enough carpentry skills to get the job done.

Being that it is the middle of September, we are heading into prime planting season here in North Texas. I want to finish that bed I was talking about above, start work on a second bed and also get a nice shade tree in the ground near the kids play area. All the box store nurseries might be shutting down right about now but the real nurseries know what time it is! Alan Vargo at D and L nursery in Aubrey is going to help me pick out a good shade tree. I'm looking forward to going to a nursery in Fort Worth with 5 acres of demonstration gardens and free seminars. On October 6 there is an Info fest being sponsored by Denton County Master Gardeners and a plant swap happening soon. I am excited about everything going on up here in my neck of the woods but also a little dizzy just thinking about it all. I'll definetly be getting plenty of exercise this fall. So will the checkbook!

I have it all planned out, kinda sorta, and am looking forward to getting it all done. I think I FINALLY have gotten a shaky grasp of garden design. I am learning to think a little bigger. Instead of a strip at the back of the house I pulled it out a lot further. A lot. And I made it curvy. The whole "bones" thing is starting to take root in my mind. Now that I am planning BIG garden beds I can see where I have room for things like, imagine this, trees and shrubs! It's only natural to want to plant flowers first but I have promised myself for each bed I make I will do a tree, a shrub, a grass and THEN flowers. I also have come to realize that nothing is permanent and if I plant something in the wrong spot it can always come out later. This whole gardening thing is new to me and I don't always know what a real life mature plant looks like! Of course, thats what garden tours are for, right? My whole point is, I don't entirely know what I am doing, but I am learning. I think at this point I am doing pretty good! I know at some undetermined point in the future I'll be doing damn good. It just takes time.

I will have to make sure to carve out enough time to write and post some pictures here throughout the fall planting frenzy. Just be patient with me folks, I'll have something to show off soon enough!

Happy digging

Rebecca