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Three Sisters Garden Update
Experimenting with a Three Sisters Garden this year has certainly been an interesting project. Most likely I will try this again for one more year at least, so that I can benefit from lessons I’ve learned this year and perhaps improved soil maturity, but beyond that I don’t know. Vegetables take more work and water… Continue reading
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Cicada-Killer Wasp
This impressive looking insect is an Eastern Cicada-Killing Wasp (Sphecius speciosus), which is one of the largest wasps in the USA. They’re considered beneficial because they prey on cicadas, which in turn can damage trees. Despite their size (females are up to 2 inches long), they are unlikely to sting humans, and in fact the… Continue reading
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Composting Progress
In October 2023 I wrote about how the first few months of composting had not gone well. I use a small dual-chamber tumbling composter, and my first loads had merely dried out without evidence of decay or reduction in volume. I emptied the composter then and started again, this time paying more attention to not… Continue reading
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A Precocious Standing Cypress
I seeded Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) last fall in the rear section of the back yard. This is a biennial plant, growing a short rosette in the first year and producing a tall (3-6 ft) flower stem in the second year. I do indeed have dozens of first-year Standing Cypress rosettes, and so I’m hoping… Continue reading
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A Gift For The Garden (And My Hands)
The “green mulch” approach of growing annual plants to fill my space this year means that I am generating quite a bit of biomass when it comes time to cut those plants down. In the short term, I have been able to lay cut stems on the ground as pathways but I will eventually run… Continue reading
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Sometimes I Just Work Around A Plant
I like Lemon Beebalm aka Purple Horsemint (Monarda citriodora) and there is one pretty volunteer that kept falling over in the garden. Before I could get around to staking it, it had become quite comfortable just laying across a path and the flowers had adjusted to growing upwards, even though that was technically sideways. So… Continue reading
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More Clearing, For An Important Project!
The biggest project that I am embarking on this year is installation of an ecosystem pond. This will be a water source available to everything from birds down to the tiniest of wildlife visitors, and I hope it will be an attractive feature for humans to watch as well. The first of many steps is… Continue reading
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A Sea Of Sunflowers
There are primarily two kinds of sunflower here, both volunteers: Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) and Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus). I have mostly allowed them to grow in the furthest part of the back garden, which was seeded with tall plants. Of the three types of seed that I dispersed in that area, only one grew… Continue reading
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This Moth Fooled Me At First
I happened to be in front of the house when I saw something flying around the pollinator garden. It was about the size of a hummingbird and it was flitting around like they do, but something didn’t seem quite right. After a while, it landed and sat among the leaves of my Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia… Continue reading
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A Lanceleaf Coreopsis Stowaway?
I have a volunteer plant in the bed behind the house that appears to be a Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata). I did put this plant elsewhere in the garden, and they are known to self-seed, but the one that I planted has only just begun to flower so that can’t be the origin. I think… Continue reading
About Me
Nature Lover.
Inquisitive Observer.
Student Gardener.
I invite you to join me on my journey to convert my sterile (from a nature point of view) new house lot to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, as I make discoveries, mistakes, and hopefully progress. I am not an expert or professional. The project started in February 2023 and the location is Seguin, Texas, USA.
Rewilding My Lot 