[speaker001:] [Child] All right.
[speaker002:] 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 [LAUGHTER] down there, and we had a small, um, farm house out in Castroville which is just, uh, to the west of San Antonio
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and we [children in background] did a lot of gardening out there, and, uh, mostly in raised beds so we could keep the, uh, soil nice, 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
[speaker001:] How fine.
[speaker002:] 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,
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] in San Antonio because the heat would just dry them up after, you know, about three [child] good weeks of nice weather before the heat started
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] and here they are supposed to last year around
[speaker001:] Oh boy.
[speaker002:] 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 [child].
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Just about anything you would want in Texas as a gardener is here just around us.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] We got here at the end of about a four year drought. 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. So,
[speaker001:] Oh really.
[speaker002:] Yeah, we're getting replenished, and so there is, 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.
[speaker001:] Wow.
[speaker002:] 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 waiting for the rain to subside so we can [LAUGHTER] mow. We, after about a month, we finally got to mow this weekend.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] But, um, we're just so happy to see green. It's just so nice. We haven't [child] really done too much else other than that.
[speaker001:] Um. Well we just moved to our first home, and we had lived in a condominium before. So we didn't have any lawn and garden type duties. So we're just learning the ropes here and,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] But when we moved in, um, our backyard has so many bi-, tall trees in it that there jus-, there wasn't even a blade of grass in the backyard.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] So do you have to get a shade tolerant grass? Is that what you're,
[speaker001:] Yes. We are. We tried, we planted [child] some fescue last, um, fall
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and it's really, really pretty, and, um, [child] green, * I think this should be part of the previous slash unitwhat follows the conjunction is NOT a clause it stayed pretty, pretty green throughout the winter, and it's pretty goo-, it's not as thick and as nice, it doesn't look like it can withstand too much, you know.
[speaker002:] Oh. Does that last through the summer, too?
[speaker001:] It's supposed to die off like in August, and then you replant it in September and,
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, um, so mostly, you know, we're not even to the point where we're getting into flowers,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] and flower beds or even gardens, that, we're just saying, let's get some grass [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Just get grass to grow.
[speaker001:] 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.
[speaker002:] Well, when we [child] had our house, um, out in Castroville, the problem with ours is that the, uh, plots there are a third of an acre [child].
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And [child] trying to keep grass alive during a summer on a piece of ground that big was expensive [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Oh yeah.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Oh no.
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] It's going to have to do whatever it's going to do because,
[speaker001:] On its own,
[speaker002:] we can't really afford the front yard.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And so when we left, you know, the back yard had some, um, I think it was [child] Saint Augustine that we had. It had held onto a small portion, but primarily once the weeds [child] start in the back 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
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and put everything back on top of it again. 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.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Yes.
[speaker002:] So.
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] in Missouri. It just happened.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] 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 [child] lot of people, um, we live in north of Dallas.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, um,
[speaker002:] Arlington area.
[speaker001:] Plano.
[speaker002:] Okay, Plano. Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, up north [child]. 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
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and big market for, for yards, yard work.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I imagine [child]. So, well everybody, it seems like everyone is so particular, especially in the Dallas area.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] There, there's so much money and everyone can afford, they have enough leisure time to afford a nice lawn. And, another thing I've noticed is that the lawns in some of the homes the area is so small
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] that they take great pride in being able to use whatever lawn they do have to look really nice.
[speaker001:] 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
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] that run behind, and, so that really cuts into your backyard space, and. But we don't do our work here out of enjoyment so much as [talking] [man's voice in background] 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 [child] the necessity.
[speaker002:] Right, I know. Oh, it's awful the first house. Our house in Castroville was the first one, too. And we had no idea the expense that lawns and gardening [LAUGHTER] would run into
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] 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. 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
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] if you could do it. People that were building the new homes that put those in, 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.
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] And that was so nice. But, we didn't have that luxury, so we were dragging th-, the sprinkler around everywhere.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] And so, I hope you can find, uh, I don't know what type of grass grows in the real shady areas. I remember the guy that was on the radio, um, [child] 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.
[speaker001:] Hm. We,
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] 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,
[speaker001:] Grass,
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] But I don't remem-, I don't remember if it was Raleigh and Saint Augustine or, or what.
[speaker001:] Or what it was.
[speaker002:] But I do remember they had used a blend.
[speaker001:] 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, 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 [LAUGHTER] go out in our back yard and not get wet [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] 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.
[speaker001:] Well, that's what we're looking forward to, and that's what they say the payoff is but,
[speaker002:] It makes the biggest difference,
[speaker001:] Well, we ha-,
[speaker002:] 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 [LAUGHTER]. They, any time they had people over they had to do it on the patio because it just got too hot during the day.
[speaker001:] Too hot, yes.
[speaker002:] So, oh, that's great that you have them. Are they oaks?
[speaker001:] Well, there are all different kinds.
[speaker002:] Oh that's even better.
[speaker001:] There are some oaks, magnolias, and like plum trees, peach trees, there are some big tall oak trees...