OK, it's official. I don't like you people! Just kidding. I am a 63 year old novice at gardening, just starting my gardens on a small city lot. I have no idea what I am doing, but I am learning from all of you, so a great big "Thank you" from me.

A few months ago, I put in a fish pond beside my deck, and plan to begin there. A friend gave me several plants, so I have a start anyway. I am attending a RU in the Woodlands, Texas soon, and hope to score some more neat stuff.

I'll post the "before" shot, and hopefully in a few months it will look considerably different.... I hope.

I find that I am very impatient. I want a beautiful garden, and I want it NOW!

Edited to say, I recently had a load of topsoil brought in, so no grass showing right now. I still have rock work to do on the pond... so much to do, but I'm lovin it.

Santa Don
Your pond area is going to look great. Good job on the pavers. The tree close is also a good thing to build on. Hope it isn't a maple as I can't grow anything under a maple. If you can't plant under it you could do containers. That is what I am going to do this summer with mine.

Love the pond area! I also had a blank slate at this house. Everything was so overgrown with fig ivy when we moved in a bit over three years ago. The ivy was strangling the oak tree and had already killed everything else in sight. We pulled 99% of it out, but left some on the wall behind the air conditioners to keep the green effect there. What was left resembled what you have there to start with. You'll be surprised how quickly your garden will look mature in our climate. BTW, you and I have identical climates, Don. My lifelong best friend lives in Baytown, and usually I get her weather one day later. Her garden has many plants that were started here and took the roadtrip west to her house. The latest new arrival at her house was a Lecompte vitex tree that relocated from here to there last summer.

What kind of tree is over your pond? We have a tree over ours too... hate it when the leaves drop, but love it the rest of the year.

Thanks Veronica. No, it's not a Maple. It looks like an Ash. The only difference is, most Ash trees around here seem to attract web worms, but in the sixteen years we have been here, I haven't seen a single one on it, even though they love the neighbor's Pecan trees on either side of me. The tree looks pretty ragged after a visit from Hurricane Ike. Lost several major limbs, but thankfully, none on the house.

I plan to practice on my back yard first; then after I have learned what I am doing, I will likely attack the front yard.

We cross posted, Evey. Next time you get to Baytown for a visit, let me know and I'll buy the coffee.

Before I built this pond, I had a small (bathtub sized) pond and had some pretty nice EE's, ferns and Banana trees, so it looked pretty tropical. The liner on the small pond cracked during the super cold spell we had and my fish were just about having to carry canteens around with them, so had to put this one in out of necessity. I had planned to do it this Spring anyway since my one Koi was getting too big for the small pond.

I explained about the tree in my last post and yes, it is a royal pain when the leaves start dropping. After the fact, I bought a net to use this fall.

Here is the old pond:

Gorgeous gardens! Loving the tour! I have a koi pond also and it is under a large dogwood tree and a very tall pine tree. I bought the vinyl type window screen and sewed it together on my sewing machine to make it large enough to cover my pond. I put it over the pond just before the leaves start falling and leave it until about Feb. It really cuts down on maintenance. Before I made the cover out of window screen, I had a cover out of netting I bought and the pine needles and lot of the leaves just went right through it.

Love the pond....one of these days I hope to build a pond. There isn't room in this yard, but perhaps I will have one if we move to the farm.

Don, I've moved the posts about your pond to a new thread so that you can add to it with more photos this spring and summer. I'm looking forward to seeing the changes! =)

Don: "...a few months ago I put in a pond...." And you're already addicted !
Welcome ! You've just joined an enormous group of enablers ! No 12 step program needed.
We expect up to the minute progress reports from now on.

Don, love the pond, and the sitting area you have there. My daughter has some of the outdoor fans and they really do keep the bugs away.

Can't wait to see more pictures as your garden developes!

Don, for being a "novice" you're doing pretty darn good. Nice work! I'll enjoy seeing it fill in with plants.

Nice job with the stone work around the pond. I envy you with that blank space to work with. Keep us updated.

susan

Don,
Gotcha beat on years (I'm almost 71 and a just-starting-novice) but I will be watching your progress with great interest. I, too, have a blank slate. I do a lot of "creative staring." LOL Looking forward to watching your garden grow. The pond is lovely. Wish I had your energy!

Judy

Energy? Oh for some energy! Most of it is sheer will power; putting one foot in front of the other. Appreciate the compliments. I just hope they are warranted once I am closer to being finished.

A good way to create beds while you're acquiring plants is to lay down cardboard covered with compost. That will kill the grass underneath and encourage the worms to help you break up the soil.

You can mark out the beds first using a hose as a guide. Wavy lines are less formal. Corners are more formal.

Sweeps of color via repeating plants adds impact and drama. It's always a good idea to anchor any bed with hardscaping (like your pond or like a vine support) or an evergreen tree or shrub.

Think about multiseason interest. In winter, seedheads, bark color, evergreen plants. In spring, early bloomers. In summer, rely on things that will last through August. I find that autumn takes care of itself.

Find out which prolific reseeders you like - I like lunaria annua annua and tanacetum. They're easy to pull out, but they fill in nicely in spots at the end of summer when things are looking kind of ratty.

And lastly, don't forget to include some native plants in your garden. It's a great way to learn about your climate and microclimate and to have some things to rely on that don't take too much care.

That's pretty much what I know in a nutshell.

Oh, and buy yourself a little mini-greenhouse (plastic zip-covered) so you can start flats of your favorites to save money in early spring. Some things germinate so easily that it's a shame to pay somebody else for them.

You're so right about our senior "energy" being nothing more than sheer will power. I started my first garden 3 years ago and am moving along very nicely still lugging topsoil by wheelbarrow to cover the clay soil. Seventy is a good age to start all of this. It keeps you young.

That pond is such a beautiful starting point. Can't wait to see your progress.

I did indeed make some progress today. It was a beautiful, cloudless low to mid 70's day. I worked mainly in a messy corner behind the pond waterfall where I had some frozen banana trees and other stuff. Looks much better now, but boy, am I tired! I should have taken a before and after photo, but oh well. Hopefully, I can do some work on the pond tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be even warmer (76). Still putting up with green water, but hope to get a UV filter soon.

Don I love the stone work around your pond. Do you have any updates for us? Photos or just plants that you have growing. Did any of your EE's come back for you? Mine did and I thought they were goners for sure after all of the freezes. I'm in the same zone as you and Evey.

Oh yeah, the EE's are back. Pups coming up everywhere. Flower garden is coming along and veggie garden is going crazy. Got a bunch of baby fishies now too. I'll post a few pics.

I think this was taken about mid May.

Caladiums: