St John’s Wort is blooming at Gritman’s. These are beautiful blooms and a classic herb. This particular St John’s Wort is considered a Texas Native. It’s scientific name is Hypericum frondosum. The name hypericum is derived from hyper meaning above and eikon meaning picture, in reference to the traditional use of the plant to ward off evil, [...]

Here at the Gritman Garden, the drought is over and the rains have come. The garden is becoming overgrown.  There is not much blooming yet except the gardenias, pineapple salvia, and lantana. Honeysuckle’s blooms have faded along with the bloodroot. Flower seeds of butterfly weed, zinnia, four o’clocks, and echinacea are planted but nothing is showing. [...]

We start with the soil. We support organic gardening at Gritman. This means that we will not be using chemical fertilizers or pesticides. You can make your own soil by composting; thus shredded paper (mail, bills, newspaper),  garden and food wastes are recycled into the garden. Composting is easy and can be done in apartments, [...]

Gritman and the Garden DROUGHT! We are in a terrible drought only an inch or so since January. Many of the forest trees are in great distress. Some have begun dying and many more will this winter and next year. The level of  oppressive energy is very high. We did get  some rain, but the [...]

This is a rough drawing of the Gritman Garden.  Things have changed especially on the right end of the garden. We were not allowed to grow vegetables because the garden’s work was one of healing and it took too much to support both. Then three years ago, we were allowed to grow vegetables and created [...]

In 1994 we finished building our home on a heavily wooded plot in Friendswood, Texas. Since we were on the creek, the property would flood periodically. The highest part of the land fronted the cul-de-sac which had been a dumping site for the housing developer. It  is approximately 1/2 acre or 75  garden beds. The garden will become my friend, companion, [...]