Guerrilla Gardening, Part II
Well, the WORK has started on our aforementioned "Guerrilla Garden". We've decided on Halloween pumpkins and some annual and perennial flowers to avoid the pollution issues, and to keep it relatively drought tolerant and low maintenance.
And let me tell you, Texas clay (especially when situated in the middle of a median) is not a very hospitable medium. It's hard as a rock, totally void of ANY insect or worm population (we saw ONE burrowing June Bug and a grub), and full of rocks, old pieces of asphalt, and pieces of old houses... But it's coming! We worked on it for about 3 1/2 hours yesterday, and got about half of it dug, sifted, and raked. Tonight we will have to finish digging, mix in a BUNCH of compost and plant tomorrow, because we leave for our Honeymoon Thursday!
And yesterday we chicken wired the top of the chicken run (no more squirrels in the coop!) and cleaned it, planted some lantana and lavendar near the container garden to attract some pollenators, and made some homemade biscuits with MaryJane's Budget Mix, my new favorite ridiculously easy, baking mix.
And let me tell you, Texas clay (especially when situated in the middle of a median) is not a very hospitable medium. It's hard as a rock, totally void of ANY insect or worm population (we saw ONE burrowing June Bug and a grub), and full of rocks, old pieces of asphalt, and pieces of old houses... But it's coming! We worked on it for about 3 1/2 hours yesterday, and got about half of it dug, sifted, and raked. Tonight we will have to finish digging, mix in a BUNCH of compost and plant tomorrow, because we leave for our Honeymoon Thursday!
And yesterday we chicken wired the top of the chicken run (no more squirrels in the coop!) and cleaned it, planted some lantana and lavendar near the container garden to attract some pollenators, and made some homemade biscuits with MaryJane's Budget Mix, my new favorite ridiculously easy, baking mix.
posted by Lacy at 7:58 AM
3 Comments:
hmmm... i should do an entry about our soil sifting method...
basically, Wes digs up a row with a straight shovel, then i pick it up out of the ground and sift it through an old screen door we found (that has about 1/2" wire mesh. Wes says his grandpa used three screens of varying size), then we dump that elsewhere in the median, rake the row with a metal rake, then sift the remnants to rid them of rock. It takes forEVER. There's probably an easier way (with hefty equipment or whatnot) but we're doing what we can with a shovel, rake, wheelbarrow, and old screen door.
Does Oleander grow in TX? It loves pollution and does well along roadsides.
I feel your pain. While we dont have a bunch of rocks, we have that good ole Georgia Red Clay. It sticks to the shovel. I love your pumplin and flower idea- cant wait to see the fruits of your labor :)
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