use our herb beds here at home for recipe developing, testing, personal use and just to try different herbs that we are not familiar with

. About 4 years ago we planted Mugwort. And let's just say I have been trying to eliminate since then! LOL This herb makes mint look docile and non-aggressive! It has a very pretty varigated leaf. But, once you plant it, it will take over! And replant itself everywhere! It also grows pretty tall and bushes out. So, if you ever decided to grow Mugwort, know that you can hack away at and it just comes back.

Mugwort was used in cooking to add a bitter taste to fats and meats. Before hops came along, it was used to make beer. It was a big medicial herb in Asian medicine. It produces a toxic oil when concentrated and used in large quanities over a prologed time. Pregnant women want to avoid it. And quite frankly, I am trying to avoid it by getting rid of it because Mugwort pollen is one of the main sources of hay fever and allergic asthma in the USA.

So, today I have been really working at pulling it all out. I will have to stay on top of this plant areas because new little sprouts seem to come from no where quickly!

For more info on this herb, check out Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugwort

basically a sloping meadow that now has grass and a planting bed I dug in two years ago. The water seems to run off the top of the meadow straight into the bed washing away the soil and mulch I've put around bushes & perennials. So far I've lost three weigelas, an elderberry and various grasses and coneflowers. Any suggestions on plants and/or ways to absorb the water (it gushes because the soil is such heavy clay it justs runs across the top). Oh, and if the water or weather doesn't kill the plant the deer &rabbits might munch it so keep that in mind.

level the ground where the tub would set, put down the 2 x 2 concrete blocks, set the tub, and said we'd deal with the rest of the yard later... That didn't work so well for me, so yesterday - with a flat shovel and a wheel barrel, I got to work escavating around the tub area. There is a slope in the ground, so I am building up in the back. I need to finish killing the grass, relocate the flower bed... lots of work to go still. Hill Country is full of rock, so it's no easy task out here! I like home talk because I can keep track of my progress as I go, I will post more as I get it completed.

backyard into a secret garden I envisioned a peaceful retreat overflowing with beautiful flowers and plants. I began the process by using "lasagna gardening" to cover all of the grass in the entire yard. On top of the grass went newspapers and cardboard followed by garden soil and then mulch. Now I had my "blank canvas." For a bit I got a case of "writer's block" (or should I say "gardener's block!) and felt overwhelmed by what I was doing. Where to start? I had an entire backyard to fill. This post is documenting how my secret garden is developing. All the plants seem so tiny! I know that it is going to take a few years before it becomes the garden of my dreams, but I am enjoying it tremendously! Hope you will enjoy watching too. Let the gardening games begin :)

seem to buy houses that have no landscaping, I have learned how to do it on the cheap.

Here are some of my best tips: .

#1 - Use as many free materials in your landscape as you can. Every part of the world has at least one thing in abundance that you can use for free, be it gravel, rocks or stones; wood,pallets or pine needles; dumpsters, landfill sites or Craig's List and Freecycling networks as cheap sources for repurposed items. Find out what's in your own neighbourhood or town and use it! I've used my local freecycling network to find plants and shrubs for free. I got a whole lilac hedge that way, it really works!!

#2 - Beg for plant divisions or cuttings from family, friends and neighbours. Anyone who has perennials , bulbs or tubers will have to be dividing them up every so often and will be happy to let you have the extras.

#3 - Look for local gardening clubs, they usually have plant sales once or twice a year to raise money for the club and you can get beautiful plants for much less than gardening centers sell them. Plus you know they will survive in your climate because the local gardeners have grown them.

#4 - Watch for end-of-season sales. You can pick up loads of plants at a discount from department stores that have seasonal garden centers. That's where you can pick up your trees and shrubs for less and save big!

#5 - Grow your own plants from seed. Some plants are super simple to grow, you can even just toss the seeds out in your garden at the right time and they'll grow well. Hardy geraniums,sunflowers and pansies are easy to start from seed. Poppies and cosmos are good examples of seeds you can just sow directly in the garden. Opium poppies can even be sown while there is still snow on the garden

#6 - Grow plants that self-seed or spread easily. Examples are creeping thyme, culinary thyme, Johnny Jump-ups, Ladies' Mantle, campanula, euphorbia, lamium, bugleweed, poppies and bee balm. I don't quite understand the desire for growing borderline plants in the garden. I personally don't want to drag some plant kicking and screaming into my garden, I'd much rather have ones that are happily growing and flowering and self-seeding all over.

The best part about rampant growers and self-seeders is that every year, you can dig up the extras and sell them at a yard sale to make some extra cash for the landscaping items that you can't get for free.

Hope I've been able to give you at least one tip you can use. Happy gardening!

#landscaping #gardening #Maygarden

rather than angular, and used cut-down mailbox posts for the railing balustrades. It was our little backyard oasis!