According to our closest Weather Underground station, we’ve received around 7 in of rain so far from Tropical Storm Hermine.  Estimates in the Statesman for this area are higher, at closer to a foot of rain yesterday (Tuesday) alone.  While our turf grass in the front is very, very happy, our dry creek bed and bare soil in the back are less so.  The creek overflowed onto the back patio last night, and water flowed fast down across the slope of our yard.  Today you can clearly see the path the water took in some spots, as well as small piles of debris left behind by the rushing water, sure signs of erosion:

At the top of this weekend’s list are creek clean-up and planting or mulching bare soil patches.

Green June Beetles (Cotinis nitida) have been whizzing over the open spot in our backyard in large numbers this weekend.

Nathan took this excellent photo.

We IDed the beetle on BugGuide.Net.

The beetles came out around 1 pm this afternoon and yesterday afternoon and have stayed out for the warmest part of the day.  A few amorous couples are finding cozy spots to share in the leaf litter in our yard.

This morning it was cooler outside than in, and the whole Seeds family spent the morning in the backyard.  This will be our first full Fall in this space.  It was about this time last year when I first fell in love with our shady yard’s cedar elms and live oaks.

We spent most of our time this morning cleaning up after our 6-month old puppy, Ash, who decided to mulch the dry creek bed that BioGardener just designed and installed for us (before and after photos to come).

We shoveled all the mulched rocks out, we’re cleaning them, then replacing them in the dry creek.  Quite a pain.  And something tells me this won’t be the last time.

We found all sorts of cool stuff to explore in the backyard this morning.  The new rocks in the creek bed are an endless source of interest for B and M.  We also found the first falling cedar elm leaves, snail shells, a cricket, and a possum (?) jaw bone buried in the soil.

Near our new neighborhood, at the corner of Duval Road and Amherst Drive, is the designated wildflower area at Balcones District Park.  I drive past it almost daily.  Yesterday afternoon was sunny and clear, with a temp of more than 80 degrees, and I enjoyed a rare solitary afternoon there with camera in hand:

Balcones District Park oaks and cedar elms

False garlic growing under the oaks.

Also under the trees were yellow wood sorrel and Southern anemone (above).

There were a few of these around…

And lots of broomweed (I think).

Broomweed covered the shady slope under this oak as well as the sunniest spots of the wildflower area.

I saw only this one Indian Paintbrush at Balcones District yesterday afternoon.  But I spotted blankets of them this morning in the median along 360.

Prairie verbena

Indian Blanket

Anyone know what this is?  Looks like some kind of poppy?

Here it is again, growing along Duval Road.  I loved the way the drooping seed heads looked next to the road.

Here’s another that I don’t know.  These spikes were about a foot tall, I think.  Can anyone ID it?

Six months since my last post, and now we have a new garden.  Last October we moved from North Central Austin to Northwest Austin, just south of Duval Road. We moved in search of more space for our growing family and better schools.  We’re also within a bike ride’s distance of Nathan’s current job, and in a neighborhood with lots of other young families.  We’re enjoying our new home immensely.

The soil here is different; I’m discovering how each time I dig.  The soil here is rockier than the black clay of our previous garden, but still seems dense.  It is unfortunately tightly compacted in most spots.

The most exciting thing about our new outdoor space?  The trees!  I was in love with them the first time I saw this place.  A big Arizona ash tree sits in front of the house, as well as several cedar elms.  Behind the house, we have a large live oak, lots more cedar elms, and a few young red oaks.  Glorious shade!

I don’t know anything about gardening the way I want to in the shade.  I want to grow natives/well-adapted non-natives and vegetables.  I have a sense that I have only to research and learn more about the former.  As for veggies…there’s a sunny spot or two in the front yard, and I can only hope our HOA will be amenable to the raised bed or two that pops up out there.

That’s it in a nutshell: we’ll be caring for more trees, we’ll be learning about shade gardening with Texas natives, we’ll be trying to grow veggies in the front yard.  Wish us luck!

I’m still caring full-time for two other little seedlings under the age of three, too, so who knows?  It may be another six months before I post again.  Until then, we’ll be checking out bugs under the shade of the cedar elms, daydreaming about tomato vines in raised beds, and trying to loosen the dirt here a little.

We suffered through a summer with record high temps and one of the worst droughts in Austin’s history, and now in the early days of fall we’re being rewarded with frequent cool rains.  It rained most of the day yesterday, and by the time I stepped outside yesterday evening, everything looked crisp and clean and cool, including this Blackfoot Daisy:

The daisy, which is in the new circle bed we installed last spring, managed to survive this nasty beast of a summer with truly minimal care and watering.  It’s now flourishing on the fresh fall rains, and is officially on my list of favoritest Central Texas plants ever.

It’s good to post here again.  Almost as good as it is to be able to tolerate being outside again.

I’ve missed lots of garden moments, and I’ve missed lots of you, but this year has been intense in more ways than one.  Caring for two littles under two leaves precious little time for gardening or for blogging!

Hope you’re all enjoying the turn of the seasons wherever you are, too.

Carrots, which we quickly devoured right after harvesting:

and beets, which I’ll likely steam with a little salt and pepper, oh yum.

Plenty of chard and kale to harvest now, too.

Last weekend Nathan, my father-in-law and I toured a few of the coops on the first Austin Funky Chicken Coop Tour.  Here are a few photos from the last coop we toured, on Justin Lane in the Crestview neighborhood, just a little south of our house.

After seeing the coops on the tour, we decided that we want a walk-in coop for ease of cleaning and maintenance; we learned that the deep litter method really works; we learned that you can select among breeds of chickens for different temperaments, heat tolerances and egg types; we learned about different feeding and watering set-ups; and we saw several different ways to integrate a chicken coop into a backyard garden.

We’re excited about starting our own backyard flock, but we’ll probably wait until next Spring to get chickens, when the babies are a little older.  Hopefully then we’ll be a little less slammed around the house than we are right now, and the babes will be better able to appreciate watching chicks grow up.  Which means we’ve got about a year to build our coop–whee!

Our most recent project, a new circular bed in the back yard:

The circular design is inspired in part by recent posts on Digging and The Grackle.  The stones for the limestone border are from the cemetery on Hancock Drive.  They dig up a lot of the stuff there at the cemetery, and they’re only too happy for gardeners to cart the limestone off for free. Random, but true.  A great tip that I got on the Austin Permies list.  (And lucky for me Nathan and my father-in-law were willing to haul rock from a cemetery for me.)

Can’t wait to fill this new space with native plants!  I need to get my hands on a copy of the new Grow Green Guide.

In the garden this morning

veggies are growing:

Detroit Dark Red beets

Calabrese broccoli,

Dinosaur kale,

Red Core Chantenay carrots,

and Ruby chard.

The redbud tree is blooming,

the apple tree is blooming,

the loquats are ripening,

and the figs are all leafing out.

Here’s hoping for rain soon,

water to sustain

this early spring burst.