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Toadsylvania, my home

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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I've moved back home to our place in the country after being away in the city for what seemed like forever during the pandemic. We remodeled the downstairs of our smallish house so my dad with Alzheimer's could move in with us. With his two cats and a puppy I acquired in town, it feels cozy.  My dad and his cats made the transition beautifully and seem right at home.  Dad says it feels like he's been living here for years.  Even though we were stressed out by the remodeling and the move, I think my husband and I are recovering.  I know he was getting sick of all the driving back and forth.

I've immediately started working on my neglected kitchen garden, in which I am planning to plant a small rose garden and a number of new fruit trees in addition to vegetables, herbs, and more flowers.

Idle dreamer

 
Trace Oswald
pollinator
Posts: 3925
Location: 4b
1422
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I haven't seen any posts from you for a while now.  I'm glad you're okay and that things are working out well.  It's nice to see you back.

A build too cool to miss:Mike's GreenhouseA great example:Joseph's Garden
All the soil info you'll ever need:
Redhawk's excellent soil-building series

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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Thank you!

Idle dreamer

 
Joylynn Hardesty
master pollinator
Posts: 5129
Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee
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Welcome back home Tyler!

'What we do now echoes in eternity.' Marcus Aurelius
How Permies Works Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Series

 
Tereza Okava
steward & manure connoisseur
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Welcome back, good to see you!!
(toad pics? )
 
Anne Miller
steward
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Your presence was missed! So glad you are back and everyone is okay.

No lizardsville?

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Rebecca Blake
pollinator
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Welcome home!

What a relief to be out of there, I’m sure your dad will continue to be happier on your land too :)
 
Dave de Basque
pollinator
Posts: 373
Location: Basque Country, Spain-43N lat-Köppen Cfb-Zone 9a-1035mm/41" rain
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Welcome back! Glad everyone's well and hope your lemon trees are still alive!

Long balcony garden in the green Basque Country

 
Rebecca Norman
gardener
Posts: 2548
Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5
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Good to see you back!

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

 
Kim Goodwin
gardener
Posts: 803
Location: 4200 ft elevation, zone 8a desert, high of 118F, lows in teens
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Great to hear what happened and see you post again.  I have learned so much from your comments in the past.  Please take care of yourself, too. Sounds like your gardening plans will be very healing. :-)

Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts. ~Wendell Berry

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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Thank you to so many familiar names.

20210827_074733_HDR-3.jpg
Toad
Toad

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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The lemon tree had frozen down to the graft during the Big Texas Freeze, and we thought only the trifoliate orange rootstock had survived, but in the heat of summer a tiny shoot of lemon emerged and is now establishing itself as a healthy little tree.
20211001_074416_HDR.jpg
Meyer Lemon
Meyer Lemon

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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Pineapple guava in the food forest
20211001_074622_HDR.jpg
Feijoa
Feijoa

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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Jelly Palm in a new section of food forest
20211001_074811_HDR.jpg
But is capitata
But is capitata

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
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1268
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Toad of the day
20211007_082614.jpg
toad of the day
Toad in mulch

Idle dreamer

 
Kim Goodwin
gardener
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Interesting how you can guess the [plant] predators by the strength of the tree protection!  ha!  We have similar concerns, I imagine.

My husband puts in our tree enclosures with #4 rebar, on account of peccaries. Do you have peccary there?

Also, how much, if at all do you have to water your jelly palm?  I'm in an area with average 12in per year.

I killed two jelly palms while in the Joshua Tree area of CA, I think I underwatered one and overwatered the other...! It's a little easier here as the soils hold water a little more than in JT.

Love the updates!

Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts. ~Wendell Berry

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
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1268
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I haven't seen a peccary ( called javalina here) in this area since I was a young teen.  I think they are rare or even extirpated here.  Wild hogs are moderately prevalent but so far we haven't seen any on our land.  Our big problem are deer and to a lesser extent, porcupines.

I'm planning to water the jelly palm once a week for it's first year and after that may not need to water it at all.

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
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1268
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First Pecan Grove experiment planting Pecans from seed. Pecan seed collected in the region and some purchased, planted approximately one foot apart because I expect low survival. Support include Palo Verde, Black Locust, Honey Locust, Bluebonnets, Mung Beans, Black eyed Peas, Lentils, and various native wildflowers.
20211012_142035.jpg
Pecan planting
Pecan planting

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
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Many new projects this year, and many failures revealing themselves.

New projects:

Fence for family cemetery (nearly finished)

Eclipse Camp (a big project)

New chicks!

New big garden


Plants that died or are failing:

Jelly Palm (died)

Pineapple Guavas (died or just sit there)

Meyer Lemon (froze almost to graft)

Inexpensive fruit trees from TyTy Nursery (all died)

A bunch of subtropical stuff I shouldn't have bought (died)


This may be the last year I can do anything new as my Dad is rapidly failing from Alzheimer's and I'll soon be devoting most of my time to caring for him.  

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
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The old big garden has been reconfigured as a main crop or staples garden.  Currently planted:

Flour corn
Tatume summer squash
Rancho Marques winter squash
Some other variety of Moshata winter squash
White potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Fava beans
Watermelon

Also some trees:

Apple
Peach
Moringa
Mulberry

I'm using grass clippings as the primary fertilizer/mulch for this garden.
20230504_094307_HDR.jpg
staple crops garden
staple crops garden

Idle dreamer

 
Tereza Okava
steward & manure connoisseur
Posts: 4300
Location: South of Capricorn
2327
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Looking great! it's good to see you back, wishing you good days.
 
Dave de Basque
pollinator
Posts: 373
Location: Basque Country, Spain-43N lat-Köppen Cfb-Zone 9a-1035mm/41" rain
149
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Hey Ludie, my memory was you planted more than one variety of lemon... Did your other ones besides the Meyer survive? I had heard that Meyers were particularly sensitive to cold. Just wondering if your great water wall did any good, what do you think?

Long balcony garden in the green Basque Country

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
1268
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I think I only ended up planting one variety, the Meyer.  We had one good lemon year, with about a dozen fruit, but since then we've had a couple of extreme cold events.  I might try again with a hardier variety of citrus, such as Satsuma, and improve winter protection.  

Idle dreamer

 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
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Important new feature is a composting chicken system.  My chickens are still very tiny, but already working in the compost pile.
20230531_184736.jpg
compost chix
compost chix

Idle dreamer

 
Tereza Okava
steward & manure connoisseur
Posts: 4300
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Tyler Ludens wrote:I think I only ended up planting one variety, the Meyer.  We had one good lemon year, with about a dozen fruit, but since then we've had a couple of extreme cold events.  I might try again with a hardier variety of citrus, such as Satsuma, and improve winter protection.  


my citrus productivity (still young trees) seems to be all over the place- some years we get a lot and some years zero! i think planting hardier trees is an excellent idea for covering all your bases.
 
Suzette Thib
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Tyler Ludens wrote:The lemon tree had frozen down to the graft during the Big Texas Freeze, and we thought only the trifoliate orange rootstock had survived, but in the heat of summer a tiny shoot of lemon emerged and is now establishing itself as a healthy little tree.



I'm so excited to hear this! I had asked about your lemon tree experience in another post and just getting around to finding this. We are in South LA and it is a little more humid - similar winters from what I gather. Thanks! Sorry about Alzheimer's. My grandmother had that and it was a real journey - it is a beautiful art to care for the elderly. God bless you.

"The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command." -Samwise Gamgee, J.R.R. Tolkien

 
Suzie Park
Posts: 28
Location: Austin, Texas area
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Sorry to hear about your papa. Great you can take care of him. Thanks for the updates. I'll be checking the past stuff soon.

We're back and forth between our 8B Austin place which is 5 minutes from our daughter's family and our new grandbaby. So no immediate plans to be fulltime at our 8A (but barely) country place where we've recently had awesome earthworks done. Really, the temperature difference between the two places is only about 2 degrees. Extremely different soils and almost no sunny areas in the burbs but haven't planted at the country place yet till we get rainwater catchment going, hopefully in the next month.

Eternal optimist, passionate about revitalizing the land, awake but conscious of how illusive truth really is. Much love to all!

 
Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of tiny ads!
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