The Bottle Tree

South Texas gardening Journal

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🌿A South Texas Gardening Journal.

Journal 🌸 Plant Bio 🌸 Garden Bio 🌸 Reference

[the-bottle-tree]

Did some minor weeding in the garden today! Things are looking super great. Nothing much to report. Had to cut back some dead bits from my citronella but other than that just normal maintenance today. There is some tiny dill sprouts. Kinda excited about that.

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Today was the first day in over a month I have really had the time or the energy to go out and really work and take stock in the garden. I'm happy to report that with the bare minimum maintenance I had been doing during my husbands surgery recovery I managed to keep everything alive. Hopefully moving forward I can help them thrive.

I gave everything food today and will water tonight. We'll be having a lot of rain in the forecast due to a tropical depression and honestly I'll take it. Just don't drown everything pleass.

[the-bottle-tree]

First harvest of the year! Things seem to be going pretty well so far though it's getting hot quick this year.

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Garden update photos! This week is simply a maintaining week. 🧡🖤🧡

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Spring has been here for months! We did quite a few upgrades…

- We are growing amaranth and okra and pepper plant from seed.

- We added an herb planter box to the seating area full of rue and mint.

- We added on to the butterfly garden

- We added raised garden planters for cilantro, cucumbers, and watermelons.

- we added a cauldron cat nip planter for all the kitties we lost.

I started an analog journal for most of my detail oriented planning…. BUT this will be where my photo dumps go.

[the-bottle-tree]

I worked in the garden just a little bit today! Things are coming back pretty nicely all things considered. The mums are about to bloom and the Angel’s trumpets are budding! The basil reseeded itself so I have tiny tiny basil growing by our big basil and thankfully our spinach haven’t died yet! Granted I’ve yet to plant them. I’m kind of a little afraid to. At some point I know that i will have to. But today was not that day.

So I had been keeping all of the tags from the plants we buy and plant just as a way to keep track and remember the things we plant. And our wonderful grey cat named Spooky Jack aka “Boo” for short has been making a game of finding them and my seed packets and hiding them around the house. So I took matters into my own hands and made a binder to keep track of them. No BOOS allowed.

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Two days after we planted we got rain. Rain for probably the first time in months. Maybe two months? It came down so hard and so fast that it crushed this spinach babies. We were so sad and my husband really wanted to give it a try so we went out and got a second batch and some seedlings. I planted the seedlings today but something is telling me that i need to wait till October 1 to plant the babies. I have an app that helps me to plant with the moon and there are no transplant days until then…. So I’m going to wait it out and keep them in their little baby pots.

Everything seems to be going really really well other than that! I found a baby basil plant in the purslane too.

We put some adornments on the altar space in preparation for Her holidays coming up. I also found some super cute spooky lights!! I am so excited for fall and October. It is my favorite time of year!

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We decided to plant our fall garden today! After cleaning up everything looks so good and I am absolutely excited to spend our weekends enjoying the cooler weather! I foresee lot’s of bbq in our future.

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Today was the first day in what feels in a very long time… I know at least a month….maybe 2? That it wasn’t over 100 degrees outside…albeit it was close. It was tolerable enough to FINALLY do some yard work! I’ve forgotten what clouds and rain looks like and the heat has been exceptionally tough this year. I can handle hot temps but this heat hits different. My goal has been to keep what I could alive. We had a few casualties…. The tomatoes didn’t make it. The heat caused the basil to bloom and I didn’t trim it back so I made the executive decision to harvest what was left and keep the seeds to plant for the spring. I lost the marigolds in the altar as well.

My take away from this is as follows - I do not like tomato plants. Unless my husband plans on taking over tomato care, I refuse to plant them again. I have no luck with them and I hate the bugs they bring. Next year it’s all peppers and herbs!

Also we are planning on doing a small fall garden. I’d like to get some mums, more marigolds if I can find them, and if I can find some basil I may replant some for the fall.

At any rate it felt really good to get back out in the yard and work with the plants. I was a little sad at the plants I lost….but honestly the heat and drought has been the absolute worse. It’s been the worst it’s been since we started gardening when we bought our house 8 years ago. Every year we learn something new with planting. Sometimes it’s a hard lesson. This year has been one of those. I’m honestly so happy that we didn’t lose more than we did!

[the-bottle-tree]

The past few weeks I have been doing quite a bit of self work. I’ll go through periods in my life where I focus on it pretty hard and then I will step back to let the information percolate for a while only to start back up. It is interesting because if we think about the cycles of nature one would think that the fall going into the winter months would be the time to turn inward but for some reason my cycle is to do it in the summer months. It might be the oppressive Texas heat that makes me want to hole up in my cave? It might also be that during these months that I have the energy to do the work that is needed to be done. It’s also possible that events and traumas that have happened in my past come forward during these months so my head automatically goes into a processing period. Regardless, I am in a structured mode of discipline for a higher goal at the moment.

Now you might be asking yourself what this has to do with gardening? Working the earth helps me to process and transmute things that I am going through. Right now, I am working on the why’s with a troubling co-worker that seems to bring out some of the more darker aspects of my personality. At it’s core it has to do with trust but I want to know the why. Why is it triggering this aspect of me. How can I change my reaction. Do I need to change my reaction. I’ve also been working through past traumas and childhood issues while I read some self help books. (How to do the work and How to Meet yourself by Dr. Nicole Lepra). In the process I’ve gotten back into yoga…and not for health. It intrigues me that it helps with anxiety. I wanted to know the why’s. So I’be also been reading a bunch of books on Yoga and it’s history. One of the most important things I’ve taken away in this moment is that life is hard. Things are always going to go awry. It’s not about what is happening to you but how you respond. But a lot of times our response comes from a subconscious place and we don’t even know why we act the way that we do. This comes from taught responses that we learn as children. Our body will get put into this place of response but if we haven’t taught our body healthy coping mechanisms we react without thought from a place of trauma. Yoga helps us to retrain our body, through breath and body positions and stretches, to take the uncomfortableness of life and use our breath to focus that “pain” in such a way that we can work through it and not let it control us.

Today, I slept in. Ive been tired from work. I’ve been doing my best to listen to what my body tells me when it’s tired. I knew that I need to work in the garden. This is a promise I made to myself for many reasons…. If I can keep up the self discipline to keep my garden healthy then I can keep up the self discipline to keep my body, mind, and home healthy. Throughout the years I’ve learned to use my garden as a litmus test for my well being. When I let it go? I’m usually pretty close to being burnt out. If I can keep things balanced enough to keep my garden happy, no matter how insane things get I find that I’m in a better place to face those things. I don’t know if it’s the healing aspects of the earth and plants that do this for m? Or if it’s the self-discipline that keeps me focused through the uncomfortable bits? Or if it’s me keeping the promises to myself that help me trust myself and my decisions more? Maybe it’s all three. Regardless, I chose to keep the promise of going outside today again. It was very hot and uncomfortable and I had to take lots of tiny body breaks to keep myself hydrated and safe. I feel really good despite being exhausted right now.

I had a bunch of really deep existential thoughts today while working out in that heat, huh? Lol. Regardless! We did have an inch and a half of rain this week which was much needed. The harvest this week was a little lacking but it always is during the summer months. It’s an upward battle to keeps things alive in July and August every year.

I took a video and a few shots of the butterflies living their best life. This was around noon today. I usually try to be done by 10 to 11 but sleeping in that extra hour put me a little behind today.

We did a small bbq Saturday night to meal prep for the week. It was such a nice night to be outside and our loud neighbors gave it a rest so we could enjoy the sounds of nature!

[the-bottle-tree]

Harvest was a little week this week... it has absolutely unbearable outside between 10 and 6 so im not surprised harvest is slowing down.

Everything is doing okay.... but by 6 most if the plants are sun stressed. I had thought about getting a screen for some of the ones in the sun a bit more but there'd be so much extra work to do that I've been putting it off. I think we might have lost one of our lantanas and our berry plant isn't looking well either. It's just about time to feed again so im hoping that will help. Honestly we just need rain and clouds to give e Everything a break.

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It has been extremely hot here lately…. Like 100 degrees plus….and everything has been stressed but the plants are doing okay despite. I’ve recently started using the sprinkler to get everything good and soaked bc the heat is just so much. I only have a few hours in the early morning and late afternoon before it gets so ridiculous that I can’t handle it so I don’t get to do a lot of work like I can in the spring or fall. But that’s okay. This is the part of the year where my goal is to just keep everything alive. The chamomile is blooming finally! Super happy about that.

Today Bean’s helped! She’s such a doll.

Harvest this week wasn’t much but it was still better than nothing! And honestly I’m just grateful at this point that I haven’t actually lost any plants. I sure hope rain comes soon to cool everything down!

[the-bottle-tree]

Today was a good harvest! I pulled some yarrow, basil, lobelia, plumeria, marigolds, echinacea, habanero, tomatoes salsa peppers, ball moss and cicada shells! Not all of these are for eating (the cicada shells obvs) but I love to have them. They remind me of being a little girl. Did you know ball moss blooms? I was today years old when I realized that.

I also finished out the back of the garden behind the chiminea. I found some salvia a Walmart for $2.50 a pot on clearance and could not leave them there. I love he way that salvia smells. Makes my heart so happy! It turned out so great and I am so happy I did it!

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Waxing Moon - Garden Tips

In the northern hemisphere, the waxing moon looks like an upside-down letter C. During this phase, plants resist diseases much better. For the gardener, time to splurge: pruning plants, harvesting fruits and flowers will let the plant grow back more vigorously. Fruits will ripen over a longer period and flowers cut during a waxing moon will hold for much longer in a vase.

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Waning Moon - Garden Tips

To define the waning moon, simply look at the lit portion of the celestial body. If the “C” letter is upright, in the northern hemisphere, then it’s the last moon quarter. At this exact moment, plants send their sap to the tips of branches. It’s the ideal time to fertilize the soil. Vegetables and plants tend to be a bit more tired at this time, and fruits are more tasty and have a stronger fragrance.

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Today was the first real harvest! We had tomatoes, and bell peppers, and habaneros and jalepenos! And basil and marigold and purple globe amaranth.

The basil, marigolds, and globe amaranth I set out to dry. It'll be ready to jar in maybe a month or two. I'm pretty excited about this! I need to harvest some sage.

Kitbo came home today. I am both grateful and very sad. His little pawprint is so precious.

I few days ago I found those beautiful pots on clearance for $10 each. I went out to find some plants that might look good in the pots... Today I found two black eyed susans for those pots. I also found a thai basil plant. It smells like licorice! I love it! I also found a beautiful white and pink Mexican Rose and a flame Ice Plant for the pot hanging above the bird bath garden. The celiosa seem to be doing much better in the ground than in that pot.

I also bottled up some herbs I had harvested a while back. Rose, Rue, Marigolds, Citronella, and Mugwort. Boo was escorted out of the area as I did not need help (and honestly I didn't want him to get sick from eating something). We will not be using these for eating....these are for offerings and ritual/cleansing herbs.