Hallson Gardens

Not a bad idea at all. Yessir I brushed up quite a bit on container gardening too. It was tough because the soil could get hot, soggy, dry, frozen, etc, so easily! I think I ended up with Red Yucca, Gaillardia, bulbs, Clammyweed, and Prickly Pear. They were mostly self-tending. There was a year between moving into the house and selling the boat. When I went back to clear it out most of the above was still alive and healthy.
Having done the liveaboard life for so long, do you ever miss it? I sometimes find myself missing parts of it like the surroundings of a state park, the deer and ducks coming up to you for food, the great weekenders that set up big breakfasts and dinner parties on the dock for everyone, the peace of it all... BUT I don't at all miss the haulouts, the dock spider invasions, and the smelly cantankerous holding tank!

Cap'n Tim, I miss it alot, but mostly during storms! There is something wonderful and awesome about being on the water during a storm (although securely tied-up!) Miss the relaxing gentle rocking motion.

I miss the laughing gulls and other wildlife... and the sunrises and sunsets. I lived on a channel between two bays, and had to drive through marshland to get to the marina. The Atlantic City skyline was my view across the bay. Fabulous from a distance!

Sounds like you have some favorite plants you tend to fall back on..."Red Yucca, Gaillardia, bulbs, Clammyweed, and Prickly Pear." Same ones on the houseboat as under consideration for the new garden... Maybe do a nautical motif...

Oh yes, the storms were fantastic. the rocking and the sound of the rain hitting the water. Put me right to sleep. I know I would do it again, but differently, with a bigger, low maintenance pontoon houseboat and something to eliminate the holding tank like an incinolet or something like that. I'd also choose a marina/lake/riverway/coastal area much closer to a city. It sounds like you were in a great location, away from everything, yet close to civilization. Up in those mountains it was beautiful but so isolated that it became very lonely, especially through the winter. That was the main reason for leaving.
Those plants are among my favorites, mostly because they're so tough and they're rampant out in the country here so it gives a blend-into-your-surroundings feel. I wanted more variety in my flower bed out back but settled on the above again for the same reasons as I did on the boat. They're the only things that will try to survive at all!
That Clammyweed knocks me out because I love to collect plants/seed from the wild and it's the weirdest and most succsessful thing I've found.
I love the idea of a nautical motif as much as my other favorite design, the prarie land motif.

Tim,
Did you ever get the soil checked? I am betting there is some type of soil problem. I was thinking chemical, is your house gas? Could there be a gas line that might be leaking in that area? I ask because it happened to me when I lived in Choctaw many years ago. One area, nothing would grow in, but all around they did fine. Found out there was a really really old gas line under that part with a small pin hole leak. Not even enough to notice on the bill, but made a difference to the soil.

Good luck!

From a fellow "OK Gardening Sucks" member

Ginger

That's a good thought, but the house was converted to electric about 35 years ago and all lines removed.
I haven't had the soil checked, but I've found that putting 'prarie' type plants that are grown locally do well, so I'm going that route. Gaillardia (4 different varieties), hardy cacti, Mexican Feather Grass, Pompus Grass and Daylillies of various types are proving tough enough. I also gathered fallen rock from the local Turner Falls area to make rock-garden arrangements. I think I'm finally on to a winning formula. All I need now is a wild deer romping through it.

Hey, I lived in Choctaw too, for about 4 years (back in the 1980's). Four of the longest, most god-awful years of my life!
It wasn't the area neccessarily, but the circumstances.

Hope to hear how your gardens are doing when another sucky Oklahoma growing season is upon us (some say it's 'challenging' which is German for 'please kill me!')! I'll be in full battle mode by March.

Cap'n Tim

vintagedude wrote: (some say it's 'challenging' which is German for 'please kill me!')!

Thanks for the chuckle, Tim. Glad to hear you are on to a plan for that 'please kill me' area.
Linda P

Thanks Linda! I always have a plan. 99% of the time it's a failure, but I always have a plan!

Linda P

Sounds like a good place for a pond.

Actually, it would be but I've gone the pond route before and always ended up filling it in because it just became too darned much work to maintain.

By the way, love your signature GT!

I may have missed it scanning thru the posts, but is this spot perhaps on the south side up against a cement, concrete or bright wall? This may have been mentioned before, but we used to have a wall like that on the south side of the house and the sun reflecting back off the wall and the concrete retaining heat was more than anything could stand. Sorry if this is off base....

Hmmm, it may not be off base at all. It's up against a southwest facing wall that reflects a lot of light in the afternoons and is surrounded on all four sides by concrete. I had wondered if elements of the concrete were leeching into the soil but hadn't considered the heat retention of such conditions. This may be why the only things that have survived are local native plants that typically grow in rock or rocky conditions.
I've noticed that in summer the top 2 inches of soil in this particular bed dries hard as a rock in less than two days (sometimes less than a day) even after a very deep soaking. Could very well be a big part of the problem, thanks!

So far my short list of surviveable plants in this bed are Prickly Pear, Gaillardia, and Daylillies. I've planted Mexican Feather grass, and this summer will tell me if the MFG will make it. I transplanted the Pompus Grass to make room for the rock and unfortunately killed it (I'm guessing from transplant shock). I planted three boxwoods last fall and so far have lost two of them. For some reason the third one is thriving!

Cap'n Tim

I wonder.....if you painted the concrete a color that would absorb light rather than reflecting....or maybe trellised vines - honeysuckle, clematis?, or something else hardy covering the concrete would soften the reflective issue - they would have to be really close to (almost attached to) the walls? Just guessing, don't really know....

I wish I could do that, I love those vines, but the surrounding concrete composes the driveway, sidewalks and back porch, the foundation of the house being the only raised portion, and it has a crawlspace that can't be covered up. Good thought though!