Cleaning up the Back Yard

More yardwork today. Manperson dispersed the rest of the big load of compost we bought way back when. My friend T and I went through and got rid of all her dead plants and moved the ones that need water closer to the patio. My first hugelkultur bed is almost ready for planting, though maybe should refer to it as a lasagna type bed, just needs to be smoothed out. It is filled with pecan leaves and shells, though, which will limit what I plant.

Manperson and I dug holes of blackberry plants. Sadly just figure out two of them will have to be moved because they are too close to the pecan tree. Pecan trees are part of the black walnut family and produce juglones that will eventually kill the blackberry. I was so excited too to have something that I thought would grow along the fence.

T gave me her Brown Turkey Fig tree which is supposed to form a guild with Blackberries, so maybe it is time to start digging the huge hole I will need for the fig, so I can plant my newly purchased blackberries next to it.

The the list of vegetables /fruit that I might plant that cannot grow near juglones  are

• Cabbage, Brassica oleracea capitata
• Peppers, Capsicum species (some)
• Tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum
• Blackberry, Rubus allegheniensis
• Potato, Solanum tuberosum
• double-flowered cole vegetables
Granted, I can't help, but wonder since Privet/Ligustrum supposedly can't grow near juglones and I have two next to the Pecan Tree, granted as the Ligustrum got bigger and closer to the Pecan large sections died and fell. Maybe it just took that long to hit the root zone.
What I will be growing in my new garden bed then is Squashes, Melons, Beans, Carrots. I think I will start with melons and squashes. I'm thinking Babby and I will be off to Natural Gardener tomorrow for seeds and some cutting of plants that I want to get ID on. I guess actually that is now today.

I'm starting to realize that what I thought was mostly ligustrum regrowing is actually chinaberry and hackberry/sugarberry. Hackberry/sugarberry also has juglones that inhibit the growth of certain plants. Joy. Sugarberry trees will do great with the pecan tree. I'm thinking of just letting them grow.

Yay! Yardwork!

I really missed working in the yard. While manperson was working from home today and babby was napping, I went out back and did some maintenance. One of the plants I thought was ligustrum growing back is actually a very nice pomegranate which is blooming today. My leadball tree has it's first yellow leadballs and they are beautiful.

My favorite yellow flower, the calylophus, is blooming as well. I'm falling in love with my yard again in it's new form. I'm now envisioning more of a natural space. I plan on planting blackberries that hopefully will outweed the weeds in the back corner especially the poison oak or at least block it off. Due to the ligustrum and their poisonous ickiness for kiddos, my backyard is not a safe space for babby especially since babby likes to put everything in her mouth and taste it, but eventually once she is past this stage maybe we can have a piece of nature in our backyard with some veggie raised beds. I figured if I can keep the ligustrum berries from forming I can at least safe other natural spaces from the evils of ligustrum.

I have two of the seeds in the veggie garden coming up. No idea which ones, though I'm pretty sure one is a squash.

As I was working back there today, I was daydreaming about putting up lights and having people over hanging out back there, eating, drinking and conversating.

I have this little ball of happiness growing inside again as I think of what I can create back there...

Backyard Update Pictures

If you checkout the backyard label, you can see pictures of the changes in the backyard from bareness of when we first moved in to the emptyness of ligustrum removal to now...

Recipe: Gluten-Free Oatcakes Variation w/Almond Meal & Evoo & Whey

This recipe uses raw milk whey instead of kefir and more oat flour. Mostly because I was out of ingredients...

1/4 cup rolled oats

4 cups oat flour

3 cups Whey

1/4 cup filtered water

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

4 tsp rapadura sugar

1 cup almond meal

Mix rolled oats, oat flour, kefir, & filtered water together. Let sit at least 7 hours (mine sat out covered for 16 hrs).

Mix in evoo, baking soda, almond meal, sugar & salt. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet. I used EVOO to grease and let it pool just a little so that my end oatcakes and crispy edges.

This variation came out with a slight bitterness. I think it was the whey and more oat flour. It is also more bread like in texture than biscuit crumbly.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or so depending on size of oatcakes. Makes 22-24 oatcakes. 

Keeps for 4 days in air tight container on counter. Best in Frig.

Lumpy Fabric Letters

I was browsing through Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby: 24 Easy Projects for Newborns to Toddlers at the bookstore. I keep meaning to buy it because it has lots of great ideas and a really neat dress pattern for toddlers. It had a fabric alphabet pattern. I used large printer font to make my patterns for the alphabet. I used my kiddo's old flannel receiving blankets for the fabric. Polka dots on one side, yellow on the other. I have 3 different sets of these receiving blankets. I originally planned on making a rag quilt, but I think I will be making more of these not just for my kid, but as gifts. Great for flopping, throwing, and chewing which is what she does now and for later great for word building...

Recipe: Gluten-Free Olive Oil Cake

1½ cups almond meal
1 cup finely shredded coconut
4 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of lemon zest
1 cup olive oil extra virgin
bag of frozen blueberries (stalbush island farms has the best tasting)

1. Preheat oven to moderate, 350F. Lightly grease a 13x9x2" pan. 
2. In a bowl, combine almond meal, sugar and coconut.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, olive oil and lemon zest. 
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until smooth.
5. Spoon into prepared pan, smoothing the top. Drop in blueberries
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Let cool in pan
   for 5 min

Making Peace with What is Gardening Style

My fabulous playgroup has started a gardening round robin. I got to be first. They all came over with their 3 to 11 month olds, we set up a little water playground for the kiddos, and then we weeded both my 4x8 raised bed, and my 4x4 raised bed. With that many people it only took an hour and half which was good because that was about the time all the kiddos needed to go home. It was a lot of fun. We are set to go to someone else's house next.

I just planted a bunch of seeds today. Most of which was from my playgroup. Beans, melons, chard, spinach, basil, zuchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and okra. I didn't bother labeling them because I didn't have the time, but did make sure to have a general idea of what I planted where. Only veggies my kiddo and I can eat. I've retired the ollas for now since I just wasn't up to digging holes to bury them again since I removed them so we could weed and break up the dirt and will try my hand at watering. Luckily it is going to rain tomorrow so I don't have to water yet.

The Manperson has been mowing the weed grass (not sure what kind of grass or grasses it is but it grows over everything) and once mowed it doesn't look so bad for a weed. The ligustrum and crepe myrtle that I thought we had destroyed all grew back while I wasn't able to garden. Happily, many of my texas native plants are also growing back among the johnson grass. They are holding their own. I don't have the time to garden like I want to, so I've decided to make peace with those things that I really just don't have the time to work on. I'm going to keep the pathways clear and try not to let the crepe myrtle and ligustrum get really tall again or overtake the plants I like, but beyond that C'est La Vie.

The poison oak has also grown back, but at least it is keeping to its area. I'm contemplating just planting stuff to block off that part of the yard. I'm thinking blackberries which if I remember correctly have thorns.

My backyard looks okay. It isn't quite what I was hoping for, but if I didn't know what some of the plants were, I would be pretty happy. I'm also storing my friends container garden which adds a unique element. I plan on posting pictures soon of the yard now.