Garden Wearables Plus

This picture shows that I've place this large planter as a focal point of my garden. Therefore, I raised it up from the ground with some leftover bricks.   Nonetheless, let's focus on the paving stone between the brick and the planter.  It allows free flow of water and liquid plant food.  I can see the water flow over the paver to the ground:  no leftover standing water. Try placing your vegetable and/or flower planters on stone pavers as oppose to the naked ground, for good drainage.  Matching planter saucers look great, but can be a haven for mosquito larvae.  Some gardeners prefer rocks that can also block drainage holes, so be careful that you don't drown your green babies.  They may turn yellow and die sometimes of "Root rot,"   (From Elite Tree Care )  "Root rot" symptoms are: Gradual or quick decline without an obvious reason.  Stunted or poor growth Small, pale leaves Wilted, yellowed, or browned leaves Plant stems or leaves are yellowish and mus

One of our local mockingbirds is nesting again in our yard...Uh, oh.   The Northern Mockingbird is the Official State Bird of Texas  (the first to choose this bird), but Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi have also chosen it. With that information I asked myself, Why have so many states chosen the Northern Mockingbird to represent them?     Reason:  the male is very territorial after mating: protecting it's nest. I've seen a mockingbird chase a coyote out of the vicinity of its nest. Also, I've read that this bird was chosen for Texas (my present home state) for the very reason of his territorial spirit: in the "defense" of its home and would die protecting it.   Thankfully, because he chases away all other birds, it seems, God saw fit to give him the song of all those he's cast out of my yard. Therefore, outside the fact that I won't see other species of birds around the house for a while I'll still hear them.  How Precious, Lovely, and Won

Hey, y'all. The reason I purchased this wrought iron sign (the size of a license plate) was because it reminded me of the day Jesus visited my finished garden.  One day, whilst I looked over all the work I'd done I felt the power of the Lord's touch (like a father strokes the head of His child): a sign to me that He approved. Initially, the sign was on back order, which was saddening for a moment, but when I thought about the issue of having to wait for those words of Truth to be on display in my garden, I realized that I wasn't the only person who believes that God has given us His stamp of approval on our work we couldn't have done without Him . And we can thank Him for the precious souls or the company that produced this special sign.                                          Happy Gardening. And have a blessed day.

My friend's plants were so lush and healthy I had to ask her what she was doing. Is anyone else familiar with this white powdery wonder?  Years ago, I was losing too many seedlings after transplanting them.  I'm 65 years old and female. Y'all know I've dealt with and heard about HORMONES for a LONG time, but PLANTS needing them too??  Well, whatever this powder does to help those seedlings is a very good thing.   I also use Take Root  during transplanting my larger babies (like trays of petunias, marigolds, and such).  Now I don't lose them from weird sicknesses the way I use to. If you want to order it, Amazon carries it.  Or, you can pick it up at Lowe's, as well. 👍                                                                                                     Happy Gardening, Girls!

That fuzzy thing hanging from a stone ceiling is an Eastern Pipistrelle bat. This one's a loner.  Normally, it can hang out in groups of 1000 or more.  As you can see, no crowd there.  It weighs in at only 0.12 to 0.30 ounces. Small. However, the Eastern Pipistrelle's wingspan ranges from 7.1 to 9.8 inches.  That's big enough to spark a little fear in me when flapping around my head. I was allowed to take that shot (without the flash), while visiting the  Longhorn Cavern State Park in Burnet, Texas. We wouldn't want to awake it. Bats are bug-eaters, even the famous Vampire bat. One Eastern Pipistrelle will devour 3000 gnats and moth-like bugs per night. A bit of a weird trade-off.  Bats or bugs? Consider this: they'll work all night for you. I've experienced them darting around feasting high in the atmosphere at about dusk. They're so fast you could miss seeing them. Therefore, when you awake to workout in your garden spaces, you'll experience less fly

This picture was posted on Facebook by one of my Soil Sisters. Information we all need to remember.  Presently, we have Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac in our yard, so having this detailed picture is very helpful.  In Tennessee, we had all three in our yard, as well. Therefore, I taught my children early on about the Poison Ivy that ran up many of the older tree trunks around our property. And thankfully, for 21 years the children never witnessed an incident.  Strangely, one of our male pygmy goats, Festus (below), loved pressing his head against the hard poison ivy stems that ran up the trees. Never knew why. However, all our goats loved to eat poison ivy leaves .   According to the National Wildlife Federation, goats are able to eat poison ivy because of their split hooves. This allows them to spread their weight more evenly, which prevents them from getting blisters or burns from the plants. In addition, their stomachs are able to down the plants better than other animals.  All Anim

Yes, mosquitoes are drawn to us when we exhale carbon dioxide.  However, I try not to go the extra mile by looking like a walking streetlight at dusk. I avoid looking like things, I can plainly see them being drawn to.   Dusk is an unusual time for a morning-person to do yard work. However, I headed for the field wearing all grays with my head wrapped in a blue scarf.  I used my heavy loppers (long handled pruning shears) to chop down the milkweeds under bushes around the field instead of uprooting them, which would've been best.  The loppers were definitely over-kill, but heavy enough for a good workout. On my way back to the house I looked down and there was a fat gray striped female mosquito on my thigh. I slapped her dead. I've read, mosquitoes like hanging out under bushes (shrubs) and such like. I probably brought her back with me from the bushes.  Also, I remembered, spraying perfume on myself after my morning shower. Had no intentions of going into the yard that day.  H