[speaker001:] all right okay well um we lived I grew up in San Antonio and I was used to the heat and I was used to what couldn't grow
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] down there and uh we had a small um farm house out in Castroville which is just uh to the west of San Antonio
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and we did a lot of gardening out there and uh mostly in raised beds so we could keep the uh soil nice
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] because basically out there it was mostly a clay soil very hard to to grow very hard to cultivate and when we came up here uh to California uh we're in the Monterrey area and it's very uh nice sandy soil rich soil and the weather is perfect for growing just about anything you want to grow
[speaker002:] how fine
[speaker001:] so we've been out here well really in the house since December and we've been uh planting flowers that we could never plant in San Antonio uh because the heat would just dry them up after you know about three good weeks of nice weather before the heat started
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] and here they are supposed to last year around so we have some really pretty flowers growing and uh we're at the edge of a forest area so there's a lot of pine mulch
[speaker002:] oh boy uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh just about anything you would want in Texas as a gardener is here just around us you know we got here at the end of about a four year drought uh we've had a whole lot of rain uh it's been raining pretty much continually now uh off and on maybe one day of break for about a month
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] so yeah we're getting replenished and so there is uh when I first came here everything was yellow the grass was dead everywhere and now with all the rain everything is just gorgeous lush and green and beautiful and I hope that it holds out here after the summer
[speaker002:] hm wow
[speaker001:] but uh that has been the major change that we have noticed in gardening and that's about the extent of what we've done just a little bit on the patio and uh and waiting for the the rain to subside so we can mow we after about a month we finally got to mow this weekend but um we're just so happy to see green it's just so nice we haven't really done too much else other than that
[speaker002:] hum well we um we just moved to our first home and we had lived in a condominium before so
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] we didn't have any lawn and garden type duties so we're just learning the ropes here and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but when we moved in um our backyard has so many big tall trees in it that there just there wasn't even a blade of grass in the backyard
[speaker001:] oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] so we're you know going talking to some of our friends that are landscapers and things and learning about different kinds of grass we trying to go grow grass and it just seems so funny to me that when I grew up in Missouri and you didn't have to worry about growing grass there it just happened automatically
[speaker001:] uh-huh so do you have to get a shade tolerant grass is that what you're
[speaker002:] so yes we are we tried we planted some fescue last um fall
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and it's it's really really pretty and um green it stayed pretty pretty green throughout the winter and uh and it's pretty good it's not as thick and as nice it doesn't look like it can withstand too much you know
[speaker001:] oh okay does that last through the summer too
[speaker002:] it's supposed to die off like in August and then you replant it in September
[speaker001:] um oh
[speaker002:] and uh so but we don't the Saint Augustine and all that supposedly was back there just wasn't like I say there really wasn't even one blade of grass in the backyard
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and um so mostly you know we're not even to the point where we're getting into flowers and flower beds or even gardens that
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] we're just saying let's get some grass
[speaker001:] just get grass to grow I know
[speaker002:] let's get grass so that the kids can play in the yard and not have to be worried about the dirt so much you know
[speaker001:] uh-huh well when we had our house um out in Castroville the problem with ours is that the uh plots there are a third of an acre and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] trying to keep grass alive during a summer on a piece of ground that big was expensive
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] to water it and uh and eventually well especially when it was so bad last year well I guess it was the year before now uh it was so hot that year that was the year that I think it started out a hundred in February
[speaker002:] oh no
[speaker001:] um we were just watering all the time finally what we did was we said we're going to have to let the back yard die it's going to have to do whatever it's going to do because we can't really afford the front yard
[speaker002:] on its own uh-huh
[speaker001:] and so when we left you know the back yard had and the Saint um I think it was Saint Augustine that we had um it it had held onto a small portion but primarily once the weeds start in the back yeah we were just you know resigned to well the only way we were going to fix this one is that if you plow it all under and put everything back on top of it again
[speaker002:] uh-huh hum
[speaker001:] but I don't know that's the bad thing there is that we spent so much money or you would spend so much money trying to keep a large lawn alive that was the only thing I didn't like about lawns and we were sitting there wondering there must be a better way to landscape so that you don't have to spend so much money trying to keep the lawn alive and green and the weeds out
[speaker002:] yes and
[speaker001:] so
[speaker002:] it's pretty remarkable because growing up we've always had a beautiful lush green lawn and we never there was no such thing as watering your lawns in Missouri I mean it just happened
[speaker001:] uh-huh  uh-huh
[speaker002:] and um so it's been real fun here to see there's a big market for the nurseries and for the landscaping companies and a lot of people um we live in north of Dallas and um
[speaker001:] uh-huh Arlington area
[speaker002:] Plano
[speaker001:] okay Plano uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh-huh up north and um and so there's a lot of market up here since it's kind of the area that people are moving into in the Dallas area and big market for
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] for yards yard work
[speaker001:] yeah I imagine so well everybody it seems like everyone is so particular especially in the Dallas area there there's so much money and everyone can afford they have enough leisure time to afford a nice lawn and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] another thing I've noticed is that the lawns in some of the homes the area is so small that they take great pride in being able to use whatever lawn they do have to look really nice
[speaker002:] uh-huh  yes they do I noticed that they're really putting in small back yards because they have these most of the houses have the alleys that run behind
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and so that really cuts into your backyard space and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but we don't do our work here out of enjoyment so much just right now we're just this is we just moved in in September so we're just still at the point where we're talking about the
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the necessity
[speaker001:] right I know oh it's it's awful the first house well the our house in Castroville was the first one too and we had no idea the expense that lawns and gardening would run into
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and the time that it took especially when you start mowing and then when it comes to fertilize then it would come to raking and then when it comes to making sure that somebody had put the timer on the water
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and the one thing that I did notice is that people that have the underground irrigation systems the sprinkler systems just that was the way to go if you could do it people that were building the new homes that put those in
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] that was that was the only way to go because it was just so convenient they would just turn it on and the timer would run and it would water their lawn and they didn't have to worry about it at all
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] and that was so nice but we didn't have that luxury so we were dragging the the sprinkler around everywhere and uh so I hope you can find uh I don't know what type of grass grows in uh the real shady areas I remember the guy that was on the radio um they had a gardener and he I don't know I had this one well I've still got the book it's um I think it's just called Texas Gardening and it talks about the different grasses to use for the shady areas versus the really sunny areas
[speaker002:] uh-huh hm we
[speaker001:] and but there is a grass that you can use that is shade tolerant but I don't remember what it is but it's got like a boot on the front of the book
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] it's just a real fancy decorated boot it's like Texas Gardening and it talks about you know different problems that your lawn can have and how to recognize it and it goes into the full gamut of gardening you know everything from flowers to bulbs to perennials to grass to weeds to trees and to uh how to prune but one of the things I do remember was when it talked about the grass and there being the shade tolerant types of grass and I think one of them was a blend of two types of grass that they had used
[speaker002:] grass oh um
[speaker001:] but I don't remember I don't remember if it was Raleigh and Saint Augustine or or what but I do remember they had used a blend
[speaker002:] or what it was well we're going to have to do that because we have the shade the trees this is an established and older home that we moved into and um
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the trees are just so tall and there must be ten or twelve big tall trees out there so that like even if its raining you can go out in our back yard and not get wet
[speaker001:] oh but that's so neat because so many homes don't have that so you'll be cool all year around in the summer that's great
[speaker002:] well that's what we're looking forward to and that's what they say the payoff is but
[speaker001:] uh-huh it makes the biggest difference when you have the big old trees and the people that moved in next to us they built a new house on the empty lot and they just had their brand new little trees They didn't have any shade they any time they had people over they had to do it on the patio because it just got too hot during the day
[speaker002:] too hot yes
[speaker001:] so oh that's great that you have them are they oaks that around there
[speaker002:] well there are all different kinds there
[speaker001:] oh that's even better
[speaker002:] you know there are some oaks magnolias and like plum trees peach trees
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] there are some big big tall oak trees one across
[speaker001:] uh-huh