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Ok, I know that just a blog or two ago I said that I'd decided to curb the need to build more garden beds for the time being. I was mistaken? I lied? I changed my mind? Yeah, that's it! I changed my mind. ;) You see, I have a VERY good excuse! I was sitting this morning on the patio having my second, (or was it third) cup of tea, enjoying the buzz of the bumble bees and the birds chirping minding my own business when something began to gnaw at me. That dead spot near the raised garden bed. The one that was bare of grass and looked absolutely hideous! It was really messing up my view! Hmmmmm.... well? If the grass isn't growing that makes it all the easier to dig a new bed... right? Yep! I was right! It took me no time at all to get out the garden fork and shovel and dig a rather odd shaped bed (I like odd shapes.) and dump in a mess of that peat moss that B got by accident. (I'd sent him for sphangum moss, not sphangum PEAT moss!) The soil was really h...

A few weeks ago I was whining about the fact that "nasty caterpillars" were chewing the daylights out of my Butterfly Bushes. In the midst of my whine I thought, "Hmmmm, I wonder if these could be...?" Yep! They were! Monarch butterfly caterpillars! (Last year I unwittingly killed off a whole slew of them because they were mowing my parsley down to the ground!) And so, I left them alone this year, despite the fact that I wondered if my Butterfly Bushes would survive. This morning, I decided it was time to divide up my Lamb's Ear plants. I knew I'd better get it out of the way quickly because I could feel a migraine coming on. And so, pretty early, (like around 7am) I was out in the garden working away when I came upon the little guy pictured above. At first, I was thinking... "Oh my! His wings are all deformed! Then, my brain kicked in and I realized that he/she had just emerged from his/her cocoon and was still in the process of drying out...

    It's no secret that I am a serious tea enthusiast. I love trying new teas and creating my own blends. Today, while out running some errands I came across a tea I had never heard of before. As I read the description on the box I grew even more curious. It was described as; " A roasted Japanese Green Tea". Hmmmm... I love green tea and had never heard of the roasted variety. Always wanting to educate myself on what I'm drinking and loving all things tea, I decided to do some research. The following is what I found. " Hojicha (also spelled houjicha) is customarily produced from the sun-grown Japanese green tea known as bancha , which is typically harvested from the tea plant later in the season, after the first and second flushes of tea. (It can also be made from earlier-harvested sencha leaves, and may or may not include a lot of stems and twigs.)" I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. It is deeper in color than the green teas I have tried in ...

Well, this will be try number 3 in the last few days to post. I must say, either this ipad or the new blogspot deal has totally thrown me. Not a huge surprise being that I'm not the most tech savvy person! I've been totally distracted with the outdoors the past few weeks. The weather here in San Antonio has been nothing short of glorious! Cool evenings and mornings with highs in the high 70's - low 80's during the day has made for perfect gardening weather. To be honest, I might have contracted a HUGE case of the gardening bug! I'm not sure that it hasn't quickly become nearly an obsession! Being out in the yard on a cool morning, or in the evening, planting, weeding, feeding, and pruning is a huge form of relaxation for me these days. In reality, I'm pretty sure that I inherited this love for playing in the dirt from my mother. One of my biggest memories from childhood is of her working away in her gardens. My very first memory had to have be...