When I began my organic gardening in earnest, in early 2006, there were very few critters in my yard. I could dig all day, and maybe see one earthworm.

Nowadays, my flower beds are full of earthworms. The yard is also teeming with other critters, like praying mantises, ladybugs and geckos. I purchased praying mantis egg cases a year ago; but I won't need to this year. I am finding them all over the yard. I also won't need to purchase ladybugs this year. I am seeing them throughout the garden.

I even had a toad siting last year! I was especially thrilled with that, because I know that frogs and toads are much rarer than they used to be. I had not seen one in ages.

Last year I discovered that the Swallowtail butterflies enjoyed my dill and parsley plants. As you can see, they also enjoyed lighting on my verbena. This year I have planted a whole bed of parsley. I've actually planted it for use in my green juices and smoothies; but I'm anticipating attracting more butterflies as well.

One of the highlights of my days is hearing the birds singing in the morning as they come to the feeders, or looking out the kitchen window and seeing a sparrow on the patio. Sofar we have had cardinals, sparrows, doves and mockingbirds. I'm sure there have been others, but I'm not too skilled yet at identifying them.

Lilac Hedges - Lilies of the Valley

Lilac hedges, Lilies of the Valley, that is what I pictured as my sister Peg and I reminisced about our childhood as she was recovering from ovarian cancer.

My little lilac bushes are, of course, a far cry from those beautiful hedges. We'll see how they fare in their new spot in the garden.

It was winter of 2001 when Peg was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was immediately scheduled for surgery, and the cancer was removed. Her surgeon said the cancer was so aggressive that many doctors would just have sewn her back up and not even have tried to remove it. She was in surgery for 5 hours. Then came the chemo. She was very stressed, and I decided to quit my job and go stay with her. I was there for about 4 1/2 months.

Foot massage eased her pain, and helped her to relax, so that was one of my chores. Other than that, we mostly would sit and visit. We often would talk about memories from our childhood.
I write my own music, and Peg is one of my biggest fans. I told her that we would turn those memories into a song. It took me awhile, but the song did materialize. Perhaps one of these days I will borrow a video camera and sing it for you! In the meantime, here are the lyrics:

Lilac Hedges
copyright 2001 Mary K. Wykes
All rights reserved

Lilac hedges, lilies of the valley
Mama's in the kitchen, cooking all day
Sitting on the porch steps, counting all our pennies
Calculating riches of our old age.

Lilac hedges, lilies of the valley
Daddy's in the office working today
Sitting on the sidewalk, winding up a skate key
"Meet you at the corner. Let's race around the block."

And we sit here together, outside of time
Sit here together, with your hand in mine

Lilac hedges, lilies of the valley
Grammy's in the garden, weeding away
Sitting on the back porch, "I will be the teacher."
"If you are a good girl, I'll give you an A."

And we sit here together, outside of time
Sit here together, with your hand in mine
Sisters forever

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These are some of the scenes that the scent of the lilacs brings back to me - those days long past, that can seem like yesterday.

Lilac Hedges

The house I grew up in was located in Watertown, South Dakota. My parents had a big garden out back, with a rhubarb hill on which we loved to play "King of the Mountain."

There was a lilac hedge on the property which separated our yard from the neighbors on one side. I loved those lilacs!

Here in Texas, lilacs don't grow all that well. I purchased some about a year and a half ago that were supposed to be special for this area. They straggled through the summer, looking really shaggy. I ran into someone who told me she knew of a lilac bush that was doing well in the shade. So - I have transplanted all of my bushes into the shade.

Lo and behold, they are blooming! I am going to really make sure they get plenty of water this summer - and see if they do better. But right now, the most important thing to me is that they survived, and are blooming!

A Garden: More Than a Space

When I began my garden in January of 2006, I was doing it for me. It was a totally selfish self indulgence. It never occurred to me the effect it would have on the neighborhood, or on my family. I didn't anticipate the memories it would hold.

My yard has definitely become a focal point of the neighborhood. People stop to tell me how lovely it is. They wave at me. Sometimes they tell me about gardens they have known. In the fall, they stop by to get pears from my back yard.

This is the first year these daffodils have bloomed. My daughter Jennifer and her children helped me to plant them. Whenever I walk past that flower bed, I remember that we planted the irises and daffodils in this bed together. To me, that memory is stronger than it would be just looking at a photo.

The garden has also played an integral part in the visit with my grandchildren this week. It has been a year and a half since Jen and her children have been able to make it down from Kansas. I anticipated the children playing video games all day long, which is what they have done in the past. Instead, they have spent many hours playing outside in the yard. One of the highlights for my grandson Jeffery was finding a gecko when he dismantled my gecko castle, a stack of bricks on one side of the yard. To me, it has felt like I have been able to give them a piece of my own childhood, a taste of days gone by. But then, if we are living them now, they aren't gone, are they!

This afternoon, to my surprise, the garden once again played a central part in the day. We had an egg hunt for the children this afternoon, because Jen has to leave in the morning. What better place to hide eggs than in a garden! The children were scampering all over the yard. It was a delightful experience.

Another Reason for Gardening Organically

Yesterday I called home right after one of my grandsons had fallen into a bowl of diatomaceous earth sitting on the porch. He had heard his Uncle Walt refer to it as poison, and he was panicking. He thought he was going to die.

Instead, it became the basis for a science lesson on diatoms. I had thought they were microscopic animals. Turns out they are algae. I think I will have to look into this more. They are beautiful! Could be as interesting as the photos of snowflakes.

I will never forget the first time I saw one of Snowflake Bentley's photos in a copy of National Geographic. I was absolutely fascinated.

At any rate, the diatomaceous earth - dried diatoms - is very helpful in combating fire ants. Whenever I put it on a mound, they go away. Of course, they often just move to another part of the yard. I've been considering sprinkling it over the entire yard to encourage the ants to think of this as a hostile environment; but I'm not sure what effect it would have on other insects.

How grateful I am that I garden organically, and therefor my grandson had nothing to fear.

Fire Ant Invasion

Yikes! The fire ants have invaded!

Last fall, we put up a plastic greenhouse over a plumeria and an angel trumpet. Then we forgot to turn on the heater when it froze. Oh well. The plants didn't fare so well.

Nevertheless, the fire ants thought that greenhouse was just a dandy hideout. I looked in a few days ago to see a huge mound of fireants.

Then today, when I was walking through the garden with my daughter, she pointed out to me that the ants had moved into a freshly dug flower bed, where I had just planted azaleas. Never in my life have I seen what looked like a colony of new ant beds. There must have been 100+ openings to new little mounds.

Needless to say, it was time to get out the diotamaceous earth. Tom applied it liberally to the entire area. I sure hope it works!

Spring Has Sprung

Last night my son Walt commented that my front yard garden looked beautiful, even though there wasn't much blooming yet. I said I agreed with him. We both thought that it was the fact that I had it well groomed, with weeds pulled, and all the rose bushes pruned.














These pictures are from last year, but they show the basic layout of the front yard. My hispanic neighbors have begun calling me, "la señora de las flores," i.e. "the flower lady".














It is pretty amazing to me that two years ago there was nothing but grass and weeds in the yard. After my first year of planting, installing flower beds, etc. - someone told me, "You won't realize until several years from now what you have accomplished." I am beginning to understand what they meant. The plants are beginning to "own" the yard. The birds, and the little critters, are beginning to recognize it as a refuge. I no longer feel a need to move to the country - because the country has come to me!