Officially Spring

I'm a few days early, but it looks to be safe to plant now. We're consistently in the 70s. Unfortunately, the winds have been unusually rough. The winds in west Texas are especially fierce, and there have been tornadoes from Texas to Missouri. We escaped unscathed.

I keep seeing pictures of other people's greenhouses destroyed by high winds. It breaks my heart. I know how much work it takes to put a greenhouse together. It guts you to see all your hard work in a pile of debris.

Next week, I hope to get the materials we need to build a structure for a shade cloth. Meanwhile, I'm working on my landscaping in the back yard.

Lately, our progress has been back and forth, but eventually the work gets done. We got as far as leveling the ground so we could lay large pavers, but then Greg says: "We forgot to buy new screens for the gutters." So it's another step back while we wait for the screens to be delivered and then installed before I can finish the back yard landscape.

We had wonderful luck scavenging though. I found this concrete cherub that someone had thrown away. The dolphin's nose is chipped but I think it adds to the charm. It will take pride of place in my landscaping project. 

I think I've bought all the trees and bushes I'll need for the immediate future. My job now is to make sure they survive until they're big enough to fend for themselves.

New this year: 4 olive saplings, 4 mulberry saplings, 2 persimmon saplings, 2 new grape vines, and 1 boysenberry bush. Everything looks to be alive but I always worry until I start to see buds. The persimmon and two apples are still bare, (but the trunks are alive).

I would love to buy an avocado tree, but they take so long to mature and bear fruit. I'm keeping an eye out for a tree that's several years old. We actually grew an avocado tree from seed, but the last hurricane we weathered wiped it off the face of the earth. I couldn't bear to start over, so I'll pay the extra money for a mature tree if I can find one.

We live in zone 8b, so that little tree will have to be pruned to stay in a pot. It won't survive our coldest temps. Back when we lived in zone 9, it was fine outside. We're just a bit chillier here in zone 8b.

My citrus trees are looking grand. I wasn't sure they were going to make it because I had neglected them so much last year. Before winter hit, I repotted them and gave them fresh soil. All of them seemed to have recovered from their mistreatment. I think I'm going to have to prune them more heavily this fall to keep them pot-sized.

In other news: Greg is leaving me in a few months to help my sister move. I would've gone with him, but my dogs' godmother already has plans so Greg will have to go solo. Odin likes only one outside person, and that's because she wouldn't take no for an answer. She's very lovable. It took him a while to figure that out.

I'm excited for my sister and my niece who both will be moving to new homes. I know most people hate moving, but moving is my guilty pleasure, specifically, moving into some place totally new. I love everything involved in setting up a new home. 

How do you feel about moving? I know it's exhausting, but isn't it a little exciting too?

Has anyone grown trees from saplings? Any advice?

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