Rock Garden

The whole idea behind putting a renewed focus on the rock garden area was to have something pretty to look at from the house. It's working! I swear, every time I look out there it just makes me happy!

The green grass on the right was seeded in about 10 days prior to the area on the left. 

The sunflowers seem to grow noticeably every day!

Mexican Feather Grass, Hardy Ice Plant,
'Moonshine' Yarrow, spineless prickly pear

Red Yucca in the foreground, rosemary and
Mexican petunia (Ruellia) in the background

This is some kind of yellow blooming weed I dug up from another spot in my yard and transplanted into the rock garden! It suffered some transplant shock but is about to bloom again.

 

I broke up a sedum tile to plant around the path through the rock garden. I'm just crazy about it! Hopefully it will fill in all around and between these rocks.

Whenever a piece breaks off because the dogs walk on it or something, I stick it into the in-between spots...

Catnip

I bought catnip seed probably 10 years ago, and it has been reseeding itself in the garden even since. It's really happy this year in this part shade location and with all the rain we've been receiving.

I pinched a little off the top and took it out to the front porch kitties to see what they thought, and the loved it and rolled all around on it. So adorable! (These are some of the semi-feral cats I TNR'ed a few years ago who have taken up residence in the front yard.)

New Blog (a.k.a. Cutting My Losses)

I lost administrative access to my old blog some time ago. I can still write new posts as a Contributor, but I cannot update settings or make any other changes to it and have failed to break into my old Administrator account despite my best efforts, so I am cutting my losses and starting fresh.

I guess my old blog will remain out there in perpetuity, so posts prior to 2021 can still be found at My Lubbock Garden, but everything new going forward will be housed here at Emmy Girl's Garden.

Reseeding the Grass

Reseeding the grass in the back yard between the patio and the rock garden beds. Turned all the soil manually with with a shovel to dig out the weeds and loosen the soil.

Seeding with Scotts Turf Builder Bermudagrass (Highlander) WaterSmart Plus:

Seeded the back yard in two parts.

• First planting on 5/12/2021 - first signs of growth on 5/21/ 2021 (9 days)
  
• Second planting on 5/22/2021 - first signs of growth on 5/30/2021 (8 days)

4/23/2021 - partly dug

5/21/2021 - first signs of sprouting on the right, left side still needs to be dug

5/26/2021 - first seeding 14 days out

 

6/2/2021 - 21 days (3 weeks) out from first seeding (NW quadrant is second seeding, 11 days out)

 

6/11/2021 - 30 days (4 weeks) out from first seeding; (NW quadrant is 20 days out); has been really hot this weeks with temps 98 - 108.

6/13/2021 - fertilized

6/16/2021 - 35 days (5 weeks) after first seeding; (NW quadrant is 25 days out); reseeding area over by flower bed in upper right where it's not growing thick enough. Seed may have washed out with some of the heavy rains.

6/23/2021 - 42 days (6 weeks) after first seeding

6/30/2021 - 49 days (7 weeks) after first seeding

7/7/2021 - 56 days (8 weeks) after first seeding

7/14/2021 

MONEY SHOT! 6/20/2021 - Amazing at just the right angle!

Redoing the Rock Garden

This used to be my old fish pond. I filled it in many years ago after a snake ate my fish and the liner cracked. Since then it's been nothing in particular, but it still has the old rock border around it which was concreted in. I've grown tomatoes, watermelons, and weeds in it. It is highly visible from inside the house, and I was tired of it looking like crap, so last year I started a concentrated effort to make it look nice.

It gets full sun ALL day long. The soil holds water well, but "normal" plantings still have a tendency to wilt every afternoon in the summertime because of the intensity of the high-summer radiant heat, so I am doing it all in desert rock garden type materials.

Back when it was a fish pond:

2000

2004

 

2016 (home to a tomato plant): 

Black Cherry heirloom tomatoes - prolific and delicious!

  2020 (even the cosmos fried last year):

2021 (so far, and granted it's been raining like crazy):

'Moonshine' yarrow

 

Purple Ice Plant

Pretty Parsley Going to Seed

 

Garden Helper