new house new yard new owner

NEW HOUSE NEW YARD NEW OWNER

this is the second year that ive helped with the
williamson county habitat for humanity home builds

since ive ruptured my disk and am still in recovery mode
ive been limiting what i do when it comes to heavy lifting
and ladder work
but have continued to do the landscaping since i can do that
without doing a lot of lifting since i get help with some of that
with my wife shes help and with other volunteers who help

this house we just finished will be owned by a mom with
four kids who is the first ever homeowner in her family
she and her family are quite proud of her
she and her family put in a lot of hours helping build this place
and
will get the home at 0% loan for 20 years at about half the price
the house would sell for
since the materials and labor are donated mostly

when the final calculations are done
its as cheap to have this house then it is to rent an apartment
or house in this area
where those rates are starting to escalate a lot

for this house  i talked to the home owner who wanted
to do the yard as low maintenance as possible
especially saving on grass and its care

since the budget is limited i try to be creative and use
whatever is available from the build like left over broken
concrete left over limestone bricks left over landscape timbers
soil and sand that are left over from the slab build and the
driveway build
this dirt and sand are scattered and leveled around the place
since most of these sights dont have much soil

for this sight lucky for the home owner
a friend db/kb had planted 4 large arizona cypress that the
hoa you know those guys right the hoa
said those arent central texas native so they had to remove them
after they had recently planted them around their new home
so
when they had them dug up i then transplanted them to the back of the
property along the property line

the new owner plans to put up a privacy fence also
good thing as the deer have taken a liking to the first tree on the
right and has been rutting it a lot

then
a local nursery mcintires nursery in georgetown has given me trees
to use
ones that they were going to discard
ive kept them at the country n and resuscitated them
i planted 6 nellie stevens hollies along both sides of the back yard
to provide a nice visual break for the owner when they reach
their height of about 15 ft

on the right front corner of the house a beautiful weeping yaupon holly
was planted that will not get too much taller but should
fill in nicely with its drooping limbs and red berries

4 dwarf yaupon hollies that will get 3-4 ft wide and tall were
planted in the front bed on the right
these were bought very cheap from an wholesale nursery that gives
me a big discount on plants since they are used in the habitat for humanity
landscape

on the left side a viburnum spring blossom was planted in an area
that was heavily mulched
this viburnum will gow 6-8 ft x 8 ft and will actually fill up this space
and block the view of all the electrical boxes

a spineless cactus from the country n was placed as shown
in the first picture surrounded by crushed limestone bricks
it will grow to 6 ft x 10 ft
no watering or care needed

the area around the live oak was heavily mulched with
texas native hardwood mulch at about 3 inches over a
layer of cardboard to suppress weed growth
this cardboard will soon disappear over time
the temperature of the soil in the summer around this tree
will be a lot less and will be warmer in the winter
the mulch will also hold a great deal of water and keep it on
the property

on both sides of the front yard river rock was brought in and placed
over thick black plastic to keep grass and weeds from growing

the new homeowner will be putting decorative containers in this area
we also placed some blocks of concrete that look like native rock
leftover from construction

also concrete rock was used to line the mulch beds and left over
limestone bricks were used to line the front bed on the right

the area that was to have sod laid had an inch or more of landscape mix
of dirt and compost placed before the bermuda sod was laid

because of the beds and mulching we eliminated over 50% of the grass
and it will not ever have to be watered fertilized mowed or cared for

in the back 2/3 of the backyard the thunder turf from native american seed
was seeded
its made up of the native grasses buffalo blue gramma  and curly mesquite

once established it doesnt need care unless the homeowner wants to
no watering no mowing no fertilizing
it goes dormant when its dry but comes back to life when it rains
i have this planted at the country n around my barn and in my yard
its the grass that use to be here in this area before we destroyed it
you know when the buffalo use to come around

also in the back yard i made small berms of soil across the yard that
will slow down the flow of water as it runs off the house
to help keep the water on the property
the rock and mulch in the beds around the trees there will do the
same
i also have placed a row of rock on the lower part of the yard
that the homeowner will move against her fence that will also
slowed down the water flow
this will make her backyard native grass do much better and also
the trees

so what we have for this homeowner is a xeric yard
none of the plants or the native grasses will need any care once
they are established well after a year or two
saving her a lot of water and expense

sure hated to put down that bermuda but its a compromise we made

lets all do this xeriscaping stuff at our house

the organicgreen gardener

a time to kill

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WEAR PURPLE ON FRIDAY 
 

A TIME TO KILL
its time to kill your winter weeds
by treating them before they start growing
once they pop up out of the ground 
its too late to doing anything about stopping them 
except to manually pull them the out of the ground

its recommended not to use the weed and feed products 
that you see advertised at the big box stores and on 
tv and on the radio
those weed and feed contain chemicals such as atrazine
that is not good for the environment
its actually banned in europe canada and other countries
where the chemical companies dont have so much 
political influence

there are 3.3 million tons of atrazine dumped on the state 
of texas each year mostly via agriculture
it is found in most city water systems
(note my water system has 0 ppm of atrazine in it since i 
have a rainwater system so my frogs in my pond only have
two eyes and four legs)

if you follow the instructions and apply this stuff when its 
recommended it doesnt work as the weeds have already seeded
and started growing

so what do you do 

you add a product called corn gluten which is a by product of 
corn production
you can get it from your local nursery or feed store
it inhibits seed production 
if you want to know if it works just put some on your garden or
your yard then plant seeds or grass seeds 
you wont get any seed germination 

now in central texas is the time to apply corn gluten to your yard
before the winter weeds begin to germinate
then repeat the application again in february to control the 
spring weeds
you apply it like you would a fertilizer and water it in so 
the yellow color is washed away
this gets it into the soil

the corn gluten also acts as a mild organic fertilizer
spill some on your yard and see how green it will get in that spot

so dont weed and feed just corn gluten your yard
for the sake of your kids and your frogs

SEEDING TIME

if you live in central texas its time to put out wildflower seeds 
so they will have time to sprout before the spring

you can get them from your local nursery but i get mine 
from the native american seed company 
another source is the wildseed farms

to sow them its a good idea to rake up bare spots in your yard
sow the seeds then rake them in then walk all over them as 
this pushes them into the soil
then let mother nature do the rest

you can just sow them about your yard but youll get better 
seed germination by doing it this way and 
in the spring it will be worth it 

i have noticed that some of my bluebonnets have already popped
up out of the ground

the organicgreen doctor

native seeds, should have texted

NATIVE SEEDS
years ago in this area the buffalo roamed the great plains
there were native grasses everywhere
the buffalo would come through and tear up the ground
then nature would reseed the disturbed ground with more
native grass seeds and wildflower seeds
this would keep the native grasses growing

now very little native grass still exists in texas
there is a company called the native american seed company
at www.seedsource.com that sells pure native grass seeds and
native wilflower seeds just like the buffalo use to plant here

here at the country n we have a lot of disturbed ground from
the drought where no grass is growing now
our two large dogs provided the buffalo like conditions that
mimic the great plains years ago
am sure this is what it was like

the seeds are actually easy to sow
just rake up bare ground
sow seeds like youre feeding chicken scratch to chickens
rake in the seeds well
then walk all over the area seeded
then nature takes over
no watering or mowing or fertilizing
just          nature         doing       its       job

so we are going to sow native grass seeds and native wildflower
seeds in those bare areas

two of the invasive species here are johnson grass and king ranch grass
both introduced years ago for cattle
luckily im not too overran with those two
i dig up as much as i can

in the bare areas my wife she and i will be sowing a native texas mix of
wildflowers with blackeyed susans, indian blankets, cone flowers,
lemon mints, mexican hats, coreopsis, and of course the favorite
around here the texas bluebonnets



 we will also sow with these a mixture of native grasses which
include buffalo, blue gramma, and curley mesquite and a mixture
called midway mix of vaious short grasses which are all
drought resistant native grasses



now we will let nature take over from here
these things sprout when nature is ready
its all based on weather conditions
eventually we will get a wildflower native grass meadow in
our one acre front yard

most of our pastures are already native grasses and
wildflowers

now just need some buffaloes

(they also have a native turf grass they sell that can be used
as a lawn grass thats called native sun turfgrass that uses
little water and little fertilizer)

SHOULD HAVE TEXTED
the rangers won another one
now they are ahead 3-2
lets go rangers
bet nolans happy

that cardinal coach just needed an iphone or droid and should have
texted the bullpen to let them know what pitchers to put in
it was too noisy and the pitching coach didnt hear the
right pitcher to put in
will watch the next game  and see if tony has his iphone in his hand

the organicgreen doctor