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Catherine Castle

~ Romance for the Ages

Catherine Castle

Tag Archives: Texas Gardening

A Writer’s Garden–Gardening in Texas by Kathy Bryson

20 Thursday May 2021

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Writer's Garden, books, garden blog series

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

A Writer's Garden, garden resources, Kathy Bryson, Texas Gardening, wildflowers, zucchinni

Welcome to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing. Today’s writer/gardener guest is author Kathy Bryon who will be talking about the trials of Texas gardening. Welcome, Kathy!

One upside of the pandemic and working from home is that I got to observe the rain and light in the garden before putting in flowers. And what I learned was, I know nothing! My experience is all based on gardening in Florida which is nothing like gardening in Texas, and everything I look up may or may not apply!

The flowerbeds were easy enough to build out and thanks to sturdy cardboard bottoms, they’re pretty weed free. Unlike Florida however, the cardboard didn’t break up – even with a week’s worth of snow! Texas is dry to the point that new dirt feels like ash within a week, which is really weird because we have high humidity from breezes off the Gulf, but the moisture doesn’t always hit the ground due to hilly country or the Balcones Escarpment – https://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/041/index.html  – but wildflowers, like these bachelor’s buttons love it!

  • Cornflowers
  • Early Wildflowers

So watering is done by hand from a watering can with a chopstick to direct water into the ground. Watering by hand is actually a requirement from the city to conserve water. Lawns are problematic in Texas. Who knew St. Augustine grass could actually die?! But without water, it can, then the topsoil gets washed away when it does rain. May is when the rains start – thank goodness! Texas temps can go from 60 to 90 in a single day, seriously stressing the gardener if not the garden. However, May and June thunderstorms also create mini flashfloods that thunder downhill between raised houses, taking everything in their path with them.

This explains why people don’t mow their lawns. You need the grass to keep the topsoil and disperse rainfall. It also explains why people plant in pots. They’re are easier to move to manageable conditions. But we have some impressive gardening resources, so I’m determined to tweak the yard anyway:

  • San Antonio Botanical Gardens
  • Garden Style by San Antonio Water Systems
  • The Big Red Barn by Texas A&M Univ.
  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Wildseed Farms

The other big change is the lag in seasons. In Florida, I put out new plants over Spring Break in April. In Texas, plants don’t show up in the big box stores or Farmer’s Market until almost May. Spring bulbs are only just now sprouting, but the vegetables are already budding.

Zucchinni

The geraniums are happy. How many can I stick along the back fence? Will the veggies do better under my one shade tree next year? Nothing’s taken where the neighbors’ two-story house throws shade though! Ooh, how about ferns? Would the city fine me if I let the front yard go to wildflowers? Excuse me while I go look up the rules on bluebonnets again!

About the Writer/Gardener:

Kathy Bryson is the award-winning author of tongue-in-cheek fantasy that ranges from leprechauns who play the stock market to zombies who harangue med students. She’d like to say she’s climbed tall mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and saved small children, but actually she tends to curl up and read, is a life-long advocate of Ben & Jerry’s, and caters to spoiled cats. She also works regularly with student writing, so she can claim to have saved a few term papers.

Connect with Kathy onFacebook – Twitter – website – 

Available in ebook, audio & print at your favorite online retailer – https://books2read.com/ap/RDLNLR/Kathy-Bryson

Restless Spirits

by Kathy Bryson

Marilee Harper is desperate to find another job after she accidentally set fire to the home of the richest woman in town. Converting an old hospital into a bed and breakfast seems like a golden opportunity. Stressed and aggravated, Marilee wants nothing more than to redeem herself, even if faucets and lights turn themselves off and on, and old baseballs fly without help.

John Smith has every confidence in the bossy, strong woman he hired to launch his bed & breakfast. She handled difficult customers at the bank and now she’s handling electricity and plumbing and whatever unseen force keeps throwing baseballs. But when the angry, treacherous King of the Fairies shows up, can Marilee become his champion?

Available at your favorite online retailer –https://books2read.com/u/38MEnO

Available in ebook, audio & print at your favorite online retailer – https://books2read.com/ap/RDLNLR/Kathy-Bryson

A Writer’s Garden–Building Foundations by Kathy Bryson

18 Thursday Jun 2020

Posted by Catherine Castle in A Writer's Garden, garden blog series

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

A Writer's Garden, Fantasy, Giovanni Haunts the Hospital, inside-out-gardening, Kathy Bryson, retention gardening, Texas Gardening

Welcome to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing. Today’s writer/gardener guest is Kathy Bryson, who is talking about gardening inside out for Texas. Welcome, Kathy!

 

Building Foundations

by Kathy Bryson

Life had been particularly challenging for everyone lately. Compared to many, yet another move on my part in the past year was no big deal. But when I ended up working from home at the onset of the pandemic, I had to take steps to settle in and settle down! Naturally I turned to the garden.

When you discuss gardening in the Hill Country of Texas, you hear a lot about drainage. Vigorous thunderstorms roll by between days of ninety degree weather and the soil is compacted clay. Water puddles, so houses are built on elevated lots and foundation issues are not uncommon.

Rain gardens then are the perfect solution. They go by different names – bioretention, mound planting, hugelkulter – but the basic idea is a sort-of inside out garden bed. Instead of filling a raised bed with dirt and topping it with mulch, you put mulch or even gravel down first, then layer in dirt. This creates a sort of pocket where water can collect ac act as a reservoir for plants. Considering that Texas temperatures don’t get below ninety from May through Oct, this opens up opportunity for a much wider range of plants, as long as they don’t mind wet feet.

So I started with the damp spot near the front door. Pulling back the grass was easy.

 

Someone had laid out a flower bed there earlier and the St. Augustine grass has simple put out runners over it. It hadn’t even rooted through the plastic weed barrier.

Laying out the bricks, mulch, then dirt was harder but only because those things aren’t light.

Vinca or periwinkles added the final touch of charm.

I suspect the backyard beds won’t be as easy. There’s a bit of a slope there to contend with. But I can’t wait to get in and start digging!

 

About the Writer / Gardener:

Kathy Bryson is an award-winning author of tongue-in-cheek fantasy. She’d like to say she’s climbed tall mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and saved small children, but actually she tends to curl up and read, is a life-long advocate of Ben & Jerry’s, and caters to 2 spoiled cats. She works regularly with student writing, so she can claim to have saved a few term papers.

Her most recent release is the 5th installment in the adventures of a hapless med student caught between the twisted worlds of the supernatural and medical science.

In Giovanni Haunts the Hospital, Giovanni accidentally calls up Prohibition-era Giovanni Haunts The Hospitalgangster ghosts trying to locate his elderly missing patient. Can he survive rotations and graduate, or will they take him for a little ride?

Book link –

 

Connect with Kathy at: Facebook  Twitter – website –

 

 

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