Tag Archives: backyard garden

Ye Olde Garden

Consequences of Overspray

I aggressively sprayed the backyard with vinegar solution yesterday. This morning’s review of the backyard beds reveals the hideous consequences of vinegar overspraying on plant foliage. I believe that because this corner bed in particular was down at the bottom of the slope from where I began spraying, it incurred a lot of foliar damage.

Unfortunately this bed is host to new-to-my-garden plants such as Butterfly Gold buddleia, purple coneflower and salvia blepharophylla. Bronze fennel, blackfoot daisies, Nepeta Picture Purrfect, salvia reptans, Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), agastache and Mexican tarragon also bore the brunt of the damage

It seems most of the damage is concentrated on the south end of the yard. It may be that winds of 10-15mph swept towards the south side of the yard, carrying the 20% vinegar solution with it.

Most other beds including my raised grow bag garden appear spared most of the damage.

Ye Olde Garden

Basil Seeded

Something that’s been glaringly missing from this year’s backyard garden are the volunteer basil plants that normally sprout about this time of year. I fondly remember the monstrous basil plants that drew in all the pollinators.

I dug into my seed drawer several days ago to empty out some of the basil seeds that I ordered from previous years.

Sprinkled them into my stock tank beds and here they are aplenty, sprouting happily.

I’m looking forward to some colorful Purple Ball basil as well as Fino Verde and Amethyst Improved.

Of course I’ve always had rooted cuttings of the pesto perpetuo basil that I keep indoors. However, they don’t flower very well and they really can’t handle the Texas heat.

Ye Olde Garden

GMO Seeds in a Non-GMO Seed Catalog

While I am not a big consumer of tomatoes, I do find oddly colored produce interesting enough to try growing. I’m attracted to the ornamental value of edibles. The purple tomato variety mentioned in the article would have been something I would definitely have tried to grow. It is dismaying to learn, as a Baker Creek customer, that the company made this terrible error.

Read more about this story at the NPR article: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/28/1244374630/gmo-purple-tomato-seeds-baker-creek-controversy

Ye Olde Garden

New Plant Dilemma

Happens every year, every growing season, every time the plant shopping bug bites.

My Etsy starter plants arrived several weeks ago, and now I can’t figure out where to plant them.

Pictured: Golden pineapple sage, Nepeta Chartreuse on the Loose, and Buddleia Butterfly Gold hanging out in the backyard.

At this point, I’m seriously considering removing a couple of Walker’s Low catmints in the backyard so that I can juggle the plantings I want to keep.

A variegated blue-flowered hydrangea is also waiting for a pot to open up.