Hello

Hey everyone -

I'm new to Dave's Garden (and new to gardening in general) and would like to introduce myself and get to know some of y'all, if you feel like sharing.

A little about me:
My name is Andrea, and I live in Cleveland, TX with my husband and 8-month old son. I started gardening (on a small scale) last fall when I received a lot of potted plants after my father's funeral, and am now working on landscaping our yard. Like all of you, I'm dying for some rain and afraid of what this month's water bill is going to look like. :)

What about you guys? How long have you been gardening? Do you have any tips or tricks for a newbie?

Hi, Andrea. Welcome to Dave's. You'll find lots of friendly folks on here that are happy to share in their abundant knowledge. I don't think I've ever come up with a problem that at least a few people hadn't already encountered.

I live in Houston and I've been gardening for most of my 55 years. I started out early, trailing at my grandmother's side while she worked her garden magic. I have a large corner lot and a cottage style garden. In the back garden, I have a mix of ornamental, vegetable & fruiting plants. I don't have all the room I wish for because most of the back is taken up with a swimming pool. I have something blooming year round and enjoy my garden and online garden buddies immensely.

Hold your breath on that water bill. Mine last month was the highest I'd ever had at 170. This month's was 254. Yikes! I guess it's a good thing I've changed all the toilets to the water saver type, changed the washer to a front loader and installed low use shower heads. If I hadn't done all that, my water would be as much as my electric bill. Wow!

Jump in with questions, plans, photos, etc at any time. I have seeds of a number of things and I'm happy to share. You can take a look at my garden journal to see photos of what I have.

Hello Andrea, My name's Lee & my dear wife (DW) is Dee - we live in Willis....almost a stone's throw from Cleveland.
You've arrived at a great spot to learn from so many knowledgeable folks (like I've been doin' for a few years).....here at Dave's Garden!
I've made lots of friends who were/are willing to share in many ways....as I'm sure you will too! Please don't be afraid to ask any question.....'cause someone will help you along the way.

I've been gardening about 50 yrs or so....and currently grow a variety of plants....focusing on native Texas plants or plants from a similar environment....mainly because of our current climate conditions. I need my plants to hold their own ...with a little (or no) help from me.
Much easier and less frustrating....and besides,....there are SO many wonderful plants of all categories growing here in our state.
I've been growing veggies & fruit for years for my own enjoyment and for sharing during all this time, as well!
By the way,...I maintain a group of plants where each has a special connection with lost loved ones....a way of remembering them....so
I think I understand your desire to grow some of those special plants....as a rememberance of your Dad...I would think!

We live on a little under 5 acres and have ample space for just about any venture. We have our own water well and I'm certainly using it
just about every day...with this brutal heat/drought.....so keep in mind that you're starting to experience and learn gardening during an extreme climate situation....so try not to get discouraged if some of your projects don't grow the way you expect!! We're all being tested right now!! (smile)

Looking forward to getting to know y'all....and hopefully,...in the future,.. you will participate in one of our wonderful get-together events known as a Round Up - I promise you won't be disappointed! Until later, Lee & Dee

edited for sp

This message was edited Jul 21, 2009 12:25 PM

I too welcome you to the world of DG. We are all plant/garden nuts. I find that each of us have an area that we love so have become pretty good at growing them. Folks here are knowledgable, generous and just a fun bunch. The RU's are a great way to meet folks and put names and faces together.
Warning ! this can be addictive and take much of your time. When too cold in winter are too hot in summer we tend to spend more time.
Ask and you will recieve.
DD

Hello Andrea, welcome to the Texas forum, you will love it here.
Josephine.

Welcome to a friendly place, where you can ask any question (even "dumb" ones - it's only dumb if not asked, because you don't know the answer). There are a lot of knowledgable folks here, including Master Gardeners, that are more than willing to help you out!

Thanks for the welcome; it's nice to meet all of you.

Lee - you're right about the memorial garden; I really want to keep the plants from my Dad's funeral alive as a way to remember him. It may be weird, but caring for the plants feels like a final way that I can take care of him, you know? I've also decided to try to grow things that my grandparents used to grow (they were both big gardeners - flowers for her, veggies for him) as a way to keep a connection to them.

Crowelli - I looked at your garden journal for a little while this morning; your plants are beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Also, we got our water bill yesterday, and it wasn't as bad as I expected. High, but not horrifying. :)

Hi Andrea - I have a professional gardening team so I know all the answers. LOL. The first part is true - about the team. They aren't professional though - only 4 yellow and 1 black Labs that dig where you don't want a hole dug, rest in flowerbeds where you don't want them to rest and prune plants that you didn't know you wanted pruned. I just joined up in June but have already learned a lot. There are so many places to find things I'm sure I haven't even been to 1% of the stuff on this site. So, have fun, keep that baby out of the sun (and you too), and remember everything can be relocated if you don't like where you put it the first time. Your garden is an empty canvas - paint it however you wish.

Welcome to Dave's Garden and especially the Texas Gardening forum. You will find some very educated gardeners on here. Lot's of times I just sort of "lurk and learn."

Shirley

Another hearty welcome from the greater Houston area.

Dave's Garden is fantastic, so invite your DH (dear husband) to check the Forums, too.
Bet y'all find a dozen or more forums to watch. There is something for everyone.

And - if at all possible join us at the fall or spring roundups. They are a blast.

Hello there and welcome to Dave's. This website has great info and lots of friendly, knowledgeable gardeners.

Here's a couple of websites that I find particularly useful.
http://texassuperstar.com/
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/lawn_garden/landscape.html
http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/

and i am the resident smart aleck. nice to meetcha. where is cleveland exactly? i have seen it some where.

mama, you aren't the only smart aleck on here! Takes one to know one!

annette, dear, we haven't met. you mean there are 2 of us. that is good to know. lol.

No, we haven't. Maybe someday we will. You are so far north of us, I doubt we will any time soon. Maybe at one of the RUs. In the mean time we can cause a little fun.

Cleveland, Texas is NE of Houston ....I'm guessing about 45 - 50 miles or so,.....on Hwy 59

Welcome. I have lived in Texas for about 15 years and gardening incrementally more as the beds get bigger and bigger.I think I have transplanted almost every plant atleast once. Before joining Dave's, I had Howard Garrets book practically memorized trying to find the best native and adapted plants for the area. I have learned so much on this forum and continue to do so.
I understand the connection you feel to the plants you have inherited from your Dad. When I look at my plants,I remember who gave them to me...usually better than the name of the plant.
My advice is to make sure the beds have lots of compost / manure and if available coffee grounds, earthworm castings, lavasand. Others may have other amendments to recommend. Also know the mature height and width to avoid transplanting later. If you need to cram it in, use annuals to fill.
Last piece of advice is to cover the empty parts of the bed with about 6 layer wet newspaper before mulching.
Have you lived here long?
Enjoy the blooms :salvia sinaloensis

Hello! I'm new to Dave's Garden but not to gardening. I've lived in Austin for almost 11 years, but spent 16 years in East Texas, so I've grown a wide variety of plants over the years. I've enjoyed this forum so far and look forward to getting to know you all. Thanks so much for the links posted above. I am always looking for good websites about gardening.

tips for newbies....plant as much as you can from sept. thru feb. if you wait much later than that you have to water more through the summer. when you can... garden in the rain. if you have to move plants do it in the rain. this spring was great for gardening. we don't always get that as you know.

some people use head lamps and garden at night in years of triple digit weather. it's nicer to dig when it's 100 degrees rather than the 110 during the day. lol.

if you ever get into trading plants and you trade with yankee gardeners send your plants now and let them send in the fall. another thing if you get into trading dig your stuff in the fall, pot it up and wait till spring to trade. i rarely like to dig into any bed after apr. or may latest.

you can "winter sow" here but to me the best way that works is to wait until the rainy season starts and then sow the seeds. some people throw them out in the fall but i did that one year and we had no rain until late winter. none of the seeds came up.

and andrea.........you are new to gardening but you are not new to texas, is that right?

Welcome, from a 5th generation Texan. I've gotten more into gardening in the last 5 years, after spending a little less time at work. I've slowly eliminated annuals except in planters on my patio, and am experimenting with perennials to see what works here and what doesn't. I've become addicted to roses in a big way, and am always looking for places to put in more. This is a great, friendly place to visit, and there's a wealth of knowledge here. I've been fusing glass the last few weeks, and haven't checked Dave's as often as in the past. Catching up today.

Lynn

Welcome to you too,...SALLI! Just reading this very thread....you can learn some tips to help you
with your gardening and meet some interesting, funny,knowledgeable folks

Wow! I missed a lot of messages - thanks for all your replies!

I'm new to gardening, but I've lived in Texas my whole life (30 years so far). :) I grew up in Cleveland and Rosenberg, lived in Austin for a few years (Hook 'Em Horns!), lived in Houston for a few years, and moved back to Cleveland in 2005. I'm the fourth generation of my family to live in Cleveland, so moving back here was a real homecoming.

My husband and I lived in rental properties before we bought our home last year, so this is the first time I've had the space and desire to get into gardening. I also appreicate all of the advice you guys can offer, as I'm starting from scratch with all of our landscaping. Though our home was built in 1968, the previous owners didn't do any landscaping aside from grass and a few trees. Though I'm grateful for the trees, I'm eager to see some of the grass give way to flowerbeds. :) We cut/dug some big beds across the front of the house and I've already planted some gardenias, altheas, and hibiscus in those. I've also planted liriope, begonias, and a couple of dwarf hibiscus in some small beds along our front walk. I haven't done anything in our courtyard or backyard yet, though.

BorderPatrol - I also have three dogs, so I'd love to hear any tips you can offer for creating a dog and kid-friendly yard.

Lynn/Irwells50 - what is fusing glass? Do you make stained glass?

Glass fusing is actually done in a kiln - basically making a glass sandwich and "baking" it, until it's fused together, cooling, and "slumping" it into or over a mold to form whatever shape you wish. In this case it's a little 5" X 5" plate. I'm experimenting a little before I make some larger stuff. Fusible glass is expensive, so it's always a good thing to see how things are going to look with a small test first.

dang irwell...is that all glass? looks like fabric. ain't you the one who made frostweed's bowling ball? and you got red monarda too don't you? dawn and i aren't getting rich because our bee balm turned out not to be blue but lavender. lol.

Well better late then never Welcome Andrea, Salli to Dave's Garden!!!

It is a great place to be..gardeners or not makes no difference and everyone on here is WONDERFUL!!!!!

I'm Phyllis and I live by Tyler
my DH and I moved here July of 2007 and soon after I joined to learn the Texas was of Gardening
Everyone was and is super at making ya feel welcome and helping
Not to mention the wonderful Plant Rounds ups we have.....You never go home empty handed or on an empty stomach

Irwells50...Oh my that is lovely
I do stained glass and would love to learn fusing but have to save up for the items needed to do it. hehehe

That is beautiful! I've seen plates and vases that look similar to that in stores, but never knew how they were made. Very cool.

irwell is that all glass? it can't be. surely it isn't. does it bend? it looks so much like fabric. where is irwell?

Mamajack,
Im the one who made Frostweeds garden globe out of a bowling ball..lol.I do Stain glass work too (in addition to about a zillion other things) but not fusing..

well blkraven that ain't glass up 'air. is it? where is wells? you want in on the great fall move in greater fate? lol

Well, ok I'm a little late to the party. I'm Anne and I live in College Station. Been gardening for a few years, mostly containers and mostly tropical hibiscus. BTW do we want a fall round up this year?

me

It is all glass, mamajack. Mostly scrap I bought off ebay. I cut the pieces of dichroic (the sparkly, shiny stuff) put a piece of clear on top, and put it in the kiln. Once it's fused, I clean it, and "slump" it in a mold. Here's another one I made the same day.

You asked for a hint - in my case it has to do with animals but I originally heard the idea on a garden show.

I placed a dishpan underneath the air conditioner condensation drain and with this horrible summer heat my pets have fresh, cool water all day long.

The original idea was to collect the water for plants. I embellished the idea by buying a pvc elbow a little larger than the 5/8" drain. One end of the elbow fit over the down spout and the other end of the elbow had a"faucet-like" screw on. I attached it to a garden hose and was going to move the hose about my yard to water plants. However, there wasn't enough decline and the water didn't drain well. I think if I cut the drain pvc pipe off a little shorter I might be able to get the water to drain.

Any other ideas?

I have no idea what a round-up is. Does everyone travel to a central location? And then what happens? Trade? Meet the people you converse with?

How do I find out where/when they are being held?

Whoever is hosting one will start a thread here in the Texas forum. Just keep watching. :-)

So would anyone be interested in having one here in October or November?

I would probably attend - and bring my sisters

K, I guess I need to start another thread.

I think starting another thread is a great idea, Anne! :-)