thawed and slightly flawed

I'd sort of hoped the freezing weather would kill this agave, which is just too big now.  

Austin had several windy days in a row last week in which the daytime highs barely hit 31 and nighttime lows were in the teens/low 20s. The week before that we had more freezing temperatures and measurable snow, which is extremely unusual for Austin.

Our 1941 house has its original wood frame windows, which we normally love, but I definitely did not love their draftiness in that cold weather and am happy to be wearing only one layer of clothing and no knit cap inside the house this weekend.

Outside the house today, I finally checked out the state of the garden. Our xeric lawnless front and side yards came through fine. The only things out there I covered were two potted succulents and my potted Blackfoot Daisies.

Santolina and rosemary fare well, whether it's 30 or 103.

Paperwhites' blooms crashed and burned, but their stalks and leaves are still perky.

Even in a pot, the Mexican Feathergrass is another xeric plant that can handle cold or heat.

I experimented a bit with the backyard vegetable garden, only bothering to cover a few of the tenderest plants. I'm pleasantly surprised by the results: lots of plants are damaged but not dead, and most of the damaged vegetable leaves aren't pretty but are still edible and will be fine tossed into a soup.

Covering these leaf lettuces paid off.

I covered this second round of beet seedlings, and although they're small, they look healthy.

I covered my potted aloes, but it wasn't enough--should have brought them inside. I think this one will bounce back, though.

Violas fared well covered and did double duty as an anchor for the row cover  protecting the garlic.

front yard transformation: 2001-2009

True confessions. I wasn't too interested in gardening until about 10 years ago. But once husband Kurt and I decided we WERE interested, especially because we had a blank slate front lawn with which to work, we were motivated. Methodical and slow, but motivated. We vowed not to buy a lawn mower, although we did pay a guy to mow parts of the lawn for several years. Not the most thrifty move but a matter of principle for us at the time.

Our mission was to transform our flat, plain, grass-and-weed-covered front/side yards (we're on a corner lot) to a xeriscaped, lawn-free front yard garden without pesticides. Our side yards are still a work in progress. It's taken eight years, but here are the before and after photos (with no photos of the years of plastic-covered grass-killing).


fall 2001


spring 2002


late fall 2009

rain gauge and window screens finally get a workout

A month ago, I really didn't imagine we'd ever see a day like today until maybe November. But I was SO wrong: it's 65 degrees (F) right now and has rained 3 inches in central Austin in the past 15 hours! We finally had custom wood window screens constructed and installed a month ago but haven't had a chance to air out the house and enjoy them until today. The talented John Hindman of Red River Restorations made them out of cypress and aluminum and did a great job!


note half-open window!


screen detail from inside

Day 125: house project finally finished!

Yesterday, the last few paint touch-ups were completed, and this morning the awning guys installed the final awning. Ta da! Our exterior house repair and paint job is finally, officially 100 percent finished today. Of course, "it" is never finished with an older house, but for now we can get back to work on the yard and the veggie garden while enjoying the house’s cheery new facelift.

Day 91 house progress: 99 percent finished

Most of the awnings were installed this morning! One of the back awnings will have to wait until our carpenter modifies one window’s top trim. The list of remaining work is really getting whittled down!

Day 89 house progress: almost finished

I just couldn’t wait until tomorrow for more perfect lighting: as of 4:15 today, this is our house. Next week, the stucco skirting will be painted a dark earth tone, the new (striped) awnings will have been installed, the back screen door will be hung, and a few other carpentry odds and ends will be finished. We’ll also put new screen stuff in the front screen door, maybe this weekend.


east side


closer east side


back

Day 84 house progress: body color just finished!

Husband Kurt will be working on repairing the original metal porch roof this weekend, including replacing the ragged edge with new stainless steel flashing. Painters’ to-do list starting Monday: paint trim (ivory) and window sash accent color (chartreuse), then doors and screen doors (deep bronze), then skirting. Then we'll figure out any loose ends. The end is in sight!

More day 80 house progress: color begins!

Whoo-hoo! 4 p.m. shady back yard light.



5:45 p.m. shady back yard light

Day 80 house progress

I was a little too optimistic before the holidays thinking I’d see the first stroke of color outside by now. But I know it will eventually get done and get done well, so I’m trying to remain patient. Today there’s only one painter here, but it appears he’s doing THE final prep work. I tried to ask him if he would be painting today, and although my Spanish is truly terrible, I think he said something about “manana” and “mejor”. I’m choosing to interpret “tomorrow” and “better” as “tomorrow, the full crew will be here to begin painting the body of the house your obsessively chosen 75% lavender blue color."

First floret and last carrots

My broccoli is finally producing, well, broccoli. I don’t know the proper term for when a broccoli plant makes florets, but it’s happening now. I was afraid I was just going to have to be grateful for huge leaves, which do at least make for tasty greens. But we’ve had a whole lot of kale lately and need a little break from dark leafy greens.






arugula buddy, I mean pest

I wonder if these last carrots are a little stubby because they were too crowded, but they were delicious anyway.



Another surprise: a crummy nandina was chopped down by the painters (with our blessing), revealing this lovely paint spackle dusted paperwhite narcissus, originally planted more than 19 years ago by a previous occupant.

Odds and ends

No, the painters didn't come today after all, so color on our house will have to wait until next week. It’s a good thing we like Caesar salads, because my romaine remains profuse. Kurt created some supports to make it easier for me to cover the vegetables on freezing nights. If only the local forecasters would make it easier for me to know when to cover the vegetables.



We just ate all the beets and lots of the carrots, so today I weeded the beet bed and shall sow some arugula seeds there, next to the new spinach. I’m not sure if it’s too late in the season to start from seed, but our weather’s so unpredictable, I’m trying it.



It seems a little weird that I’m watering our 65-year-old Sycamore tree right now, but this year’s continuing drought is more than a little weird, too. Tomorrow, I’ll give my front yard xeric plants their last supplemental water of the year. Apparently 2008 was the fourth driest year in Austin’s recorded history. Cheers!

Day 61 house progress

All the carpentry is finished and all the priming (including scraping, sanding, spackling, and caulking) is done! The painters will return Tuesday, so we’ll see if it’s finally time for some color. There’s no way this whole project will be finished this year, but maybe we can hope for the second week of January?


All columns are now straight. Husband Kurt is going to repair the original metal porch roof himself and add the proper flashing. Painters haven't primed the doors, so the old green and red with the white primer combination comes across as Christmas-ey. Sort of.


Column caps


Column feet


Back door last extra trim detail


Even the crawl space door got some help.


Reminders