A couple of years ago I switched over to a water-wise, native buffalo grass/blue grama (BG/BG) mix, and the whole endeavor was, quite frankly, a real chore. First, there was the issue of the grass that was already there, which was Bermuda. Now anyone familiar with Bermuda grass knows that removing it from your lawn is not as simple as digging it up. Leave even the tiniest scrap of a root behind and it will bounce back like a rubber ball. It took me months to get rid of it (which I had to do because it out-competes buffalo grass), and I had to compromise my “organic” principles to do it. Even so, sprigs still pop up here and there from time to time.

Wanda and Neutron get to work.

March is a busy garden month. There are seedlings to transplant, seeds to sow, weeds to pull, fences to mend, and compost to spread. Of course, spreading that homemade compost is a lot more rewarding if you aren't attacked by fire ants crawling up the shovel handle. It's also best if your compost doesn't carry hundreds of seedling-eating pillbugs into your freshly made garden beds. To root out the insects that are inevitable in the compost bin but aren't so welcome in the veggie plot, I turn to my on-site specialists: Neutron and Wanda.

For years I’ve relied on the professionals to start my plants from seed, buying them whenever they’d reached the fledgling stage. But this is very limiting. There are all these intriguing heirlooms out there, just waiting to be discovered by the adventurous gardener, but the problem is, you aren’t going to find them at most local nurseries. I mean, when was the last time you picked up a six-pack of “Aunt Ruby’s German Green” or “Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter” at Home Depot?

By Casey Kelly Barton

Freshly planted onion sets

I love gardening this time of year because onion sets arrive at area nurseries, and they're incredibly easy for kids (and adults) to plant. My boys helped put in a few rows yesterday with minimal oversight by me.

By Susan Tomlinson

Now that you’ve picked out your seed, you’re ready for the next big question: how to offer it up to the birds. Despite the array of options, this is a pretty easy task. A few simple feeders, filled with the right food, are really all you need to have a bustling, species-rich backyard.

There are all kinds of feeders available, each with their own purposes and strengths. The styles range from hanging tube, to hoppers (the ones shaped like tiny houses), to net socks, to platforms—the possibilities are seemingly endless. As with the feed itself, though, you can stick with some basics and satisfy nearly all the needs of your backyard visitors.

By Susan Tomlinson

What to do when you see a train wreck about to happen? Keep your mouth shut and let people make their own mistakes, or butt in and look like a pushy, insufferably superior know-it-all?

Just the other day, I was standing in the bird seed aisle of a local store when this same sort of advice pickle came up. I’m busy loading up my cart with a couple of bags of seed, when a couple of women arrive—all a-bustle—and start picking out a bird feeder and the seed to go in it. It was clearly their first feeder. I knew this because I was eavesdropping like any nosey parker worth her salt should. I’m not going to go into all the details here, but it was immediately apparent that they were headed down the Path of Regret.

By Casey Kelly Barton

I can hear sleet hitting the windows as I write and I'm reminded of what I like about winter in Central Texas: It's usually mild and brings some needed rain. My half-acre suburban homestead is more than ready for the change in the weather. Wanda and Neutron, our laying hens, are snuggled in their insulated house. The rabbits, whose duties include eating weeds, producing organic fertilizer and delighting my children, are in for the night. Out in the vegetable garden, the Swiss chard can handle anything Mother Nature throws at it. Lettuce, collards and carrots don't mind a little cold, and while this might be the last hurrah for the cosmos and alyssum interplanted to draw beneficial insects, the pansies and dianthus will no doubt soldier on through the cooler months.