That was like reading a story of hope and aspirations leading to an ending that culminates in suicide. So sad.
I enjoyed reading this. After some 20 or more years of being too ambitious (plowing up way more of the yard than we could maintain and weed), we've gone over to raised beds, and it's really been nice. We just use pressure-treated, the new stuff doesn't have arsenic so no real worries there. Mostly tomatoes, peppers, garlic, zukes, squash, eggplant, last year. The garlic is such a treat we added more beds just for garlic. Each bed is 12x4 with a brace in the middle, butted up end to end with room to mow in between. We added another four beds this past fall again mainly because the garlic was such a hit. here's a pic.
What is that in the 9th pic a loquat? My neighbor has one and it flowers but I haven’t seen any fruit on it. How are your trees now? My lemon tree is dead I think.. my neighbor has a 30ft tall orange tree and it looks like it is in bad shape after this winter storm we just had
yes pic 9 is a loquat. Ours fruits. It survived the winter storm the best by far. Almost like it didn’t happen. think our lemon might be done. Orange tree is hard to tell. I think a lot of them will come back but it’s a question of would that be better than replanting? loquat fruit is pretty solid if you eat it at the right ripeness. our peach tree seems alright and I think it’s because it hadn’t started spring growth in any way yet. The nectarine on the other hand was already flowering beautifully. lots of other random dead or potentially dead stuff but I’m going to give it a month.
I think I paid in the low 7s per foot which was pretty cheap. Not the cheapest but a guy the was mid road after like 4-5 quotes that I talked down. Also because of the price I did not do the whole backyard. The parts deep in the shade where nobody goes I put down some large gravel rocks which was way way cheaper. it’s super easy to maintain as in there’s zero maintenance. also while I won’t get $ for $ back if I put my house on the market right now... considering it is Austin and relatively central.... the backyard would help it sell even more immediately than it otherwise would. but more than that it’s just freaking nice. The “grass” that was there was a combo of dying grass and dirt and mud most of the time. This otoh is fantastic and super useable. We’re out there all the time, outdoor movie nights, etc, etc. I highly recommend it.
I guess I should have specified like are you using a leaf blower and does stuff get under the edges? No light going through so total weed blocker?
yeah i mean if you have leaves falling from trees, they're not going to magically disappear Leaf blower works fine. Once last fall i spent an hour raking just for the pure relaxation of it... it had an oddly Japanese zen sand garden feel to it. So far its been a total weed blocker, but its only been about 2 years.... i don't think it will be forever because things wear and tear. the edges aren't 100% perfect, but pretty solid. Once a month i might pull a random oak tree starter from one of the edges somewhere... mind you there are a ridiculous amount of edges in mine.
both. I pull the sod to fill holes elsewhere in the lawn, turn over the soil underneath, and we usually get a truckload or two of compost/manure mix to add to what's there already
This was me yesterday but the zen stopped with the first blister lol. Got a ton of leaves for the compost though. I transplanted some marigolds, parsley, and mint yesterday. Planted some
I've got mine plotted and planned, just need to haul some goat poop and compost and make the hills & rows. Too early to plant up here. Oh, and I have to buy plants this year because 90% my starters froze in the greenhouse when the breaker on the heater (not the circuit breaker) went out due to the rolling blackouts I'm assuming, and by the time I noticed after 24 hours or so it was too late.
Y'all are making me sad I'm not growing anything this year. Maybe I'll grow one plant indoors under lights or something. lol.
Did that a few years ago, but cops broke it up. Tried chicken fights the following year, but the neighbors balked. I'm out of ideas.
