Garden Metalwork

Metal worker by trade and gardener by hobby, it's nice for me when the two come together. It seems metal just goes well in the garden, the lawn or the patio. I always consider myself lucky when I get those kinds of jobs because I just enjoy it more and maybe because I have an artistic yearning to satisfy. While a gardener can get a lot of metal work from nurseries, it is usually cheap, poorly made stuff from Mexico or China. Some people have their own ideas of what they want and need to have it custom built. I've gotten to do a couple of jobs like that recently and both of the customers were great gardeners as well.

One was just a simple arch over a gateway. The house is just a beautiful old ranch house that has been restored. The lady that lives there was raised in the house but has only been living back there now for a few years.

She plans on having vining roses climb up and over the archway. It should look just stunning.

There are flower beds behind the snort rock wall all the way around the yard with roses staggered through them.

She showed me pictures of them from last summer and it was gorgeous. This was in early March and I have an invite to go back and see them all in bloom. Can't wait.

The next job was a gate for a deck. The lady that lives there has beautiful gardens as well as plants in pots just every where. She was worried about accidentally falling down the stairs while tending her potted plants on the deck. There really wasn't that much room to move around on that part of the deck. She is in my native plant club and had seen another gate I had built for some one in the club and wanted hers to be similar.

The gate turned out just like she wanted it and should fit it's function well.

After installing the gate, I was privy to a stroll through her gardens, and lovely gardens they were.While it was not a mature garden, as she has only lived here two years, it was still beautiful.

 She has a stunning Peggy Martin rose that sprawls along her fence. You can see the first pink blooms, a promise of the explosion that is about to come. I must have one.

There is still some grass in the front yard but it is short lived. The crew to remove it was arriving as I was leaving.

I like leaving little surprises when I do these kinds of jobs. I left a grasshopper at the first house and a lady bug at the last. Both ladies found them within a few days and called to say what a nice surprise it was.

 

I haven't posted in a while. The gardening just about came to a stand still. Lyn fell and broke her arm....bad.

 

A few days afterwards, her left leg started to give her some intense pain as well. After an MRI, it was discovered she has five bulging discs as well. I've had to do a lot more than normal around here. I didn't realize how much she takes care of until I had to start doing a lot of it. That and going to a lot of doctors has put the gardening on the back burners, but I'm getting back to it now.

Wandering Buffalo

Agnes Plutino was one of the first people I met when I joined the Georgetown chapter of the Native Plant Society. She certainly must be one of the nicest people I've ever met. She is also the most knowledgeable person on native plants that I know of. Last year her good friend and editor of our news letter, Christene Powell called me up and wanted me to help her with a birthday present for Agnes.

While Agnes' whole yard is planted to natives with blooms of every imaginable color, her back pasture has been turned into a prairie. I mean the kind of prairie that was here before most of it was destroyed. There are grasses of every sort along with all the prairie flowers. I mean a real prairie. However the one thing she was missing in a real prairie was a buffalo.

This is where it gets good. Christene wanted me to build a buffalo like one she had seen some where. It was cut out of a sheet of metal and had legs that drive in the ground to hold it up. It was almost life size. I would do the work for free and Christene would buy the metal. It came out very nice and Agnes was thrilled with it. Now her prairie was complete. Well, for a while it seems.

Some low lifes have stolen the buffalo. Now Agnes' prairie is incomplete again. Why would any one steal a sheet metal buffalo? If any one sees this buffalo any where, would you please get in touch with me.

Bugs

While most gardeners are always on the look out for bugs, fly fishers are as well. Gardeners try to determine if they are good or bad, anglers try to determine if they would be fish food. The very astute gardeners will observe them, take closeup pictures of them [ESP], and learn about them. If they are good, whoo hoo, if they are bad, squish. Astute fly fishers will observe them, take close up pictures of them and learn about them. If they are bad you just toss them, if they are good, [aka fish food] then you copy them.

There are two lines of thought on making bugs that catch fish. Some tie the bugs to sorta look like the bug they want to fish with. Fish aren't too smart and that is really good enough. However there is another group of fly tiers that fish with bugs that are realistic looking.

I know several people that do this and their bugs are just unbelievable. They are just so realistic looking and they also are tough. They will hold up to getting cast back and forth in the air as well as getting wet and getting mauled by fish.

I thought it would be interesting to show some pictures to gardeners of some of the bugs that these guys make. They are unbelievable in their looks as well as being fishable. I got most of these pictures off of flytyingforum.com if anyone wants to check them out.

Important Native

While hunkered down under a piece of farm equipment I was supposed to repair, the rancher that owned it was bent over, looking into the grass. I thought he had lost something for a moment but he looked up and had a little smile on his face. He looked over at me and casually said that the wildlife would get through this winter OK. I asked him how he knew and he pointed down to the ground and said "Filleree, it's every where this year and doing right well".


Filleree, as the old rancher pointed out, is probably one of the most important plants in the hill country where wild life is concerned. I'm sure he also knew that his cattle as well as the neighbors Barbado sheep would make good use of it as well. The native plants in the hill country of Texas are notorious for having very low protein values with very few even over 10%, and that is when they are at their prime. In the winter time they are closer to zero. Filleree has a protein content of over 17%, even in the winter, as that is when it is young and growing. That protein will be utilized by deer, turkeys, rabbits and other wildlife to keep them healthy through the rigors of the winter when many other food sources for these animals are lacking or gone altogether.


Such an important plant and you would have to look closely to even see it, growing flat to the ground. It's really easy to see though, if you know what to look for. During the winter many of it's tiny leaves are crimson red instead of green, and show up easily.




While the old rancher knew and appreciated the filleree for it's benefit to the animals, he could have cared less about the show of violet blooms that all native plant people would recognize as Stork's Bill. It's not one of the big show natives, with the blooms only hanging around for less than a month, but while it's here, it's here with a bang.

All those blooms will make the very thing that Stork's Bill is named for, the seed pods. They look just like a stork's head and bill.


So, whether you call them Filleree or Stork's Bill, it's a very important plant to have. And just how many plants can be this important and be this beautiful as well?

Quality Tools

As the shank of the little garden trowel broke, my hand shoved the handle on down into the soil, my index finger sliding over the edge of the blade. I looked at the finger and just caught a glimpse of the bone before the blood flow hid it. I said a few choice words about what a blankity blank piece of crap it was and slung it into the cedars. After letting it bleed for a while I headed into the house to get the cellophane tape. Lyn is big on getting cuts stitched up. I on the other hand, am not. I was able to get it taped up tight and just hoped she wouldn't see it with cellophane tape on it. It had worked before.


I got out another trowel and noticed it had a big notch out of it. It was crap as well. There just had to be a better garden trowel out there but I had never seen it. I looked at my Corona pruning snips laying on the porch and thought about what a quality piece of equipment they were. They are just a joy to use as were my Mom's Felco snips. They cost more than the cheap ones but here it is nearly thirty years after buying them and they still work perfectly. The Coronas still snap a limb right off and they have never even needed the spring replaced. Buying quality is always worth the extra price in the long run.


In snips, Felco and Coronas have long been known to be of top quality. What about garden spades and trowels? Uhhhh, I don't know. You never see any good ones in the stores or nurseries. There had to be some available some where. Before I started looking, I thought about what I would require in a good garden trowel. A strong shank from handle to blade came right to mind as I looked at the cellophane tape hiding my wound. I didn't want any soft or pliable material on the handle. It seems that it always wears off or breaks over as you push on the handle in really tough soil. Stainless construction for no rust and last forever tool. Tough blade, no aluminum here. I've got trowels with aluminum blades with notches and broken blades. Lastly, did I mention a strong shank between the handle and the blade.


Every one knows that the English make the best gardening tools, so I started out looking at them. The best of these are Snow and Neely, Spear and Jackson, and Burgon and Bull. Why each brand has two names I don't know. [I'll have to ask my friend Philip at East Side Patch Blog about that, he's from over yonder] The English love wooden handles and I could get by with them, even though they can crack, splinter and flat out break. The steel in the blades is top notch and you shouldn't have to worry about it...ever. Then we get to the shank. On every one of these, the shank is very small and is riveted or spot welded to the blade. I kept looking.


I tried Japanese gardening tools next. While they have some great pruners, weeders, hoes and sickles they don't use trowels. They dig with a knife. Keep looking.


Finally, I looked at American made tools and there it was, the perfect trowel for me. The Wilcox All Pro. I was literally giddy with delight. It was just perfect. Stainless construction, solid built handle with a good grip. The best part.....there was no shank. It was a part of the blade, just blending right into the handle. Did I mention that it was just perfect, well perfect for me, you might not like it at all.


I figured I would try to find one in the spring before I started planting and promptly forgot about it. I did however tell my wife, you know, the one that likes stitching for woulds and never forgets anything. Well while opening my presents for Christmas, I got to the ones from my Mother in Law, the best Mother in Law in the world, and there they were, a pair of Wilcox All Pro trowels. And yes, they are just like I thought they would be, the perfect garden trowels. Thanks Mom, your the best.

Winter, Blahs

Winter, my least favorite time of the year. I look out at the barren emptiness of my gardens and grimace. How I miss the green tendrils of vines growing across pathways, making Bonnie's garden patrols that much more difficult.

I miss the rich greenness of Thalias.

I miss cantaloupes,

watermelons,

and cucumbers, looking good and tasting great.

Beautiful red tomatoes, ready to eat and so delicious but now gone.

Green beans, thick as hair on a dog's back, complete with a surprise that came up right in the middle. It was so pretty.


Deep reds,

delicate pinks,

and not so delicate pinks. Not there now.

There were vibrant yellows,

and orange.

Even blues and purples were there.

Even brown is nice when it's on a flower.

Now, nothing but the bare nakedness of the winter landscape.

I want my gardens back.