Free Mulch in Austin!

I have two sources of free mulch in Austin.

1. Austin Resource Recovery

When I have some extra cardboard boxes and I'm heading to south Austin, I'll stop off at the recycling center and pick up some mulch. You fill your own boxes, so bring gloves and/or a shovel. It's fun. The quality is extremely variable. This is shredding from yard waste, so you could get some really nice shredded hardwood, or they might only have some garbage infused unknown plant shreddings.

The path to my front door uses nice mulch I got for free at Austin Resource Recovery

2. Leaves

This is my primary source for veggie patch mulch and for leaves to go into my compost. There are some beautiful trees on my street, and my neighbors don't mind me taking the leaves.

Across the street tree

I collect the leaves in fall, and I store them in my leave storage silo (along with other stuff like paper bags and newspaper).

Leave storage silo

Then I use the leaves as a mulch in my veggie patch. This will help with soil moisture retention and soil temperature moderation.

Leaves as mulch in my veggie patch.

Why buy mulch? Maybe you need some beautiful looking mulch in large quantities, and that's a good reason to buy mulch. But if you are just using mulch for small areas or for the veggie patch, then look to free, local sources. I especially like my leaf mulch because I'm trying to reduce my carbon emissions, and the leaf mulch used zero gasoline to get into my garden.

Bluebonnets in bloom and in seed

Here's a quick update on Bluebonnets.

Back in October, I planted bluebonnet seeds in the backyard. That was documented in this post.

It's now late March, and we have got a couple nice patches of bluebonnets in the backyard. Interestingly (although, unsurprisingly), there are a few stray flowers far away from where I distributed the seeds.

From what I've read, the important thing this time of year is ensuring that the flowers go to seed before you mow them to smithereens. However, I've not seen a picture of what that looks like, so I'm posting one.

On the lower half of the plant, you can see the seed pods forming.

The important thing (so I've read) is to let the seed pod dry out and turn brown. Only then can you mow down your spent bluebonnet. That will ensure that the seeds are properly developed and will germinate in the ground next year.

I got my seeds from Native American Seed. They germinated at a high rate. I am pleased. I will be buying more seeds in the fall (but this time will go with a wildflower blend rather than the bluebonnet monocrop).

Ben's favorite gardening companies in Austin

My Top 3 Austin Nurseries:

3. Tillery Street Plants - The staff here is always friendly, but some of them seem to not be very knowledgeable about their products. The selection is pretty small. But for the East Austin gardener, it's extremely convenient, and that's why it's in my top 3.

2. Great Outdoors - Knowledgeable staff. Big selection. Fun to look around. Bigger selection of planters and pots than Tillery Street. They also carry a lot of soil, mulch etc. that I'm not sure Tillery Street carries.

1. Barton Springs Nursery - THE BEST DAMN NURSERY IN AUSTIN. Super knowledgeable staff. They sell all kinds of native plants. They sell tons of different trees. I bought 1 gallon trees here for $3! Decent selection of planters and pots. Good indoor section where they sell gloves and that kind of paraphernalia. My mom educated me on the fact that this is the place to buy plants in Austin, and I'm a believer.

SIDE NOTE: Natural Gardener - Okay, so you can't have a blog post on Austin nurseries without mentioning the Natural Gardener. I do enjoy the Natural Gardener. I love all the information John Dromgoole puts out (whether on the radio, on KLRU's Central Texas Gardener, or on their website). The staff at the Natural Gardener is knowledgeable. It has a huge selection. Big soil yard with lots of choices. Yada yada yada. It's the grandaddy of them all. But it's a hike to get out there, when you're there you have to fight the crowds. It's fun to go every once in a while, but it just generally ain't my scene.

How about Veggies?
Veggies - This year I went to the Sunshine Gardens spring plant sale. Damn that was awesome. I was amazed by the variety of different kinds of veggies and herbs. That is now my go-to source for veggie transplants.

How about Trees?
Ted's Trees is in East Austin, and since this is an East Austin gardening blog, I should mention Ted's Trees. Ted's a nice guy and very helpful. He's got a bunch of different trees for sale. It's really fun to go walk around on his property. But here's the deal. I'm not really interested in what Ted sells. He sells bigger trees. They are expensive, and that makes them riskier to plant. I think that might interest a house builder or someone who needs to make something look good quickly. But as a gardener, I want to buy a small 1-5 gallon tree and then let it grow into something large. Because it didn't spend so much time in a pot, it will be a healthier tree (and less expensive). I heard on Central Texas Gardener that if you plant a 5 gallon and a 30 gallon tree next to each other, in 5 years they'll be the same size. So why spend money on the 30 gallon? I perfer the tree selection at Barton Springs Nursery and at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant sales, where they sell them younger in smaller pots.

How about soils?
I bought my veggie patch soil from Organics By Gosh. I did a 50/50 soil/compost mix. I can't really speak to quality yet (we'll see how the spring garden goes). But I bought on the recommendation of my next door neighbor, who says quality is decent, it's closer to us (in East Austin), and the price better than the places out west. To save a little extra cash and effort, don't get it delivered, instead hire some high school kids off Craigslist to pick it up for you in their pickup truck and wheel barrow to your veggie patch or yard.

I've also bought rocks from Whittesley soil and stone yard by the airport. They have a huge operation there, so I bet the quality of their soil and compost is just fine. The guy working there has also been really friendly and helpful to me.

It's good to know about these choices as a gardener in East Austin, because you shouldn't need to drive all the way out to SW Austin or Dripping Springs to get your soil and compost. We have sources close by.

Callahans?
As an East Austin gardener, it's good to keep Callahan's in mind as a nearby source for tools and garden supplies that's not Home Depot. People don't know this, but they have a gigantic warehouse in back with tons of garden stuff: tools, rain barrels, etc. I bought my ollas there. Prices can be high here, but I don't mind paying a few extra bucks to keep those dollars local.

Special Mention: Brite Ideas
This place is in South Austin. They are a hydroponics store with a split personality between veggie growers and marijuana growers (although I guess you could be both). The staff here is really nice and helpful. I mention this place because they sell recycled rain barrels for $30!!!! That's a great deal, and I don't think many people are aware they sell those. It's important to me to get my rain barrels recycled, because it takes a lot hydrocarbons to make that big piece of plastic. I feel that I'm lowering my impact on the planet by using a recycled barrel. They also give away compost tea. So kudos to Brite Ideas.

How about that ornamental garden?

It's been a very long time since you've heard anything about my ornamental garden in the front yard.

A quick review to get you up to speed:
In summer, I solarized the lawn.
In fall, I put down a compost soil mix and then mulch on top of that.
Soon after that planted a bunch of beautiful plants.

I planted:
-gopher plant
-silver ponyfoot
-indigo spires sage
-Henry Duelburg sage
-Berkeley sedge
-blue grey sedge
-lindheimer muhly
-pride of barbados
-red yucca
-firebush
-arbequina olive tree
-firecracker fern
-ghost plant

So what happened over winter?
Old man winter murdered the pride of barbados, 2/3 firecracker ferns, and all the indigo spires sage.
Old man winter tried his best on the Henry Duelberg sage, silver ponyfoot, and the firebush, but the roots survived, and they are growing quickly this spring.
Everybody else had no problem with the temperature.

Obviously there are some blank spots in the garden now. I am resisting the temptation to fill in those blank spots. I will allow the plants to grow into their mature size before filling in the gaps. Every day I walk into the garden excited to see the newest growth or changes. It's an exciting time in the young garden. Come next fall, I will take stock of how the garden has matured, then put some new plants in.

I did a lot of studying of garden design before starting my garden. This town has some amazing gardens, and many have distinctive styles. When planning our garden, Christine told me she wanted a wild looking garden. I like the wild look, but I need some order and hard lines to provide some contrast and visual foundation/starting point. As I look at my garden today, I see that I utterly failed at that.

I grouped plants well in terms of size, but I did not do well in terms of shape, color, and texture. The cool thing about gardening is THAT'S OKAY! I left myself gaps, and more gaps were created when winter killed some plants. I now have room to evolve this garden into more of what we want for our garden. It's so hard to not run to the nursery and get plants to fill those gaps now, because there's some hazy vision for what I want to achieve with my garden. But I am going to be patient and let the garden develop itself over this spring and summer before I insert myself.

It's spring and I'm back!

Pardon my absence. I have not been idle in the garden. I just haven't summoned the desire to sit down on the computer and document my work.

But it's a pleasant Sunday morning. I'm lying on the inflatable couch on my back porch with the laptop. The veggie patch is watered. The shed is clean. The house is organized. Time to catch this blog up.

First, the veggie patch-
My last post was early January, documenting the construction of my backyard raised garden bed for veggies. I immediately planted rainbow chard, arugula, kale, and carrots from seed. It was basically a giant failure. Nothing got much bigger than an inch. I started some broccoli and cabbage indoors for transplanting. Same story. The arugula, carrots, and chard and still struggling along in the bed, but they just seem stunted in growth. I don't know if it's the soil, the light, too much/too little watering. It's not clear. But until it's time to plant okra, I'll just keep them there to see what happens.

More importantly, I planted the spring garden in the past month. February was so warm, and so I bought two tomato plants (San Marzano and a big slicer) from Tillery Street Plants (not a great selection, but they were cheap and it's close by my house) and put them in sometime in mid February. It was an inexpensive gamble for an early spring tomato harvest. No freezes since I planted them, so I think the gamble paid off!

On March 4, I went to the Sunshine Gardens Spring Plant Sale and picked up another tomato (Super Marzano), a tomatillo, and an eggplant (Feng yuan variety). I planted those in my raised bed, along with some seeds I bought online this winter. I planted two kinds of basil (not in raised bed, in a big pot), Persian cucumbers, zucchini, and green beans. The green beans and basil are from Baker Creek. The zucchini is from a Burpee seeds stand at Home Depot. The cucumbers were harder to find, but I snatched them from Renee's Garden. I am excited about the Persian cucumbers, because I think they're the same kind I eat when I visit my family in Israel. They are smaller than the one we normally eat here in the US, and they are extremely crunchy. Sometimes they sell them at Central Market, but I'm excited to have my own supply.

A seedling popping up. (I can't remember but I think it's the cucumber)

The raised bed after planting. The cage is made of invasive bamboo I harvested from a vacant lot down the street. My tomatoes are indeterminate, so I'm trying to give them tons of structure to grow on.

That's my update from the veggie patch. I'm excited to see how this spring garden pans out. A month or so in and so far so good! The early-planted tomatoes are growing, and the seeds have all germinated. Some are putting on first leaves. I will keep the blog updated as the garden progresses.

Stay tuned. The next post will be my ornamental garden (front yard) Spring update.