Some Like It Hot

Site Has Moved

2011-07-18T08:55:00.003-05:00

I have relocated the site.

Please visit

willsfamilyacres.com

Inside Austin Gardens Tour Preview - Holt/Doolin

2011-05-10T19:22:00.016-05:00

Several of us had a chance to preview four of the homes that will be on the Master Gardeners Tour this weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed them. These are my kind of gardens. Not that the Wildflower Center sponsored tour isn't beautiful, but I like to see gardens that were created by the homeowner, gardens that I can aspire to create. If the homeowner did the heavy lifting themselves, then it's all the better. The tour will be this Saturday. More information can be found here. http://tcmastergardeners.org/what/gardentour.html

Each of the gardens we visited were amazing in their own ways. They were so very different and I was able to get so many ideas from each of them.

Rebecca Matthews Garden - 3712 Holt Drive

This garden was so whimsical and fun. One thing about this garden that I didn't notice right away is the lack of grass. Often in a garden with no grass something feels a little off, but this one feels very welcoming. Rebecca said that when she moved in the back was covered with a bed of mostly-dead Bermuda. What a transformation, it gives the rest of us a little hope.

One thing that makes this garden so inviting is all of the archways. Here is the view as you first step into the backyard.

The one here leads you into a cozy little seating area framed out with a cool chandelier.

A lovely wrought iron bridge adds interest to another pathway. The free tumbled glass from the city makes up the river bed.

Here's a few pictures of some fun garden art, placed throughout the garden. My favorite of which is this pond/fountain which uses the watering can for recirculation.

I loved the use of gates throughout the garden. Rather than just having them against a back fence they took center stage. I just bought a small gate this weekend when we were roaming around, and I'm about to go move it to center stage.

The entire garden was very bird-friendly, with cute little houses and feeders everywhere. The garden also had bee, bat, and owl houses.

What a cute little guy.

I loved the idea of making the bird bath into a little bed. It is so unexpected.

Wendy Brennan's Garden - 3303 Doolin Drive

You can find this garden and and an interview with Link, the neighbor and creator on Central Texas Gardener.

This garden is formed around this modern-style path. Link used a concrete saw to separate the plain old concrete path into these blocks and then created this geometric pattern. He did inform us that it was quite a bit of work, and not as easy as they make it out to be on the home and garden shows. Still, it was clearly worth the effort.

The back seating area is framed out by these homemade screens. He used air-conditioner screens that he found on clearance at Target, with chain-link fence posts. Although they aren't, they look extremely expensive, something you'd find in a high-end garden.

This old piece of ranch equipment provides a window into the river bed. The bed is framed out with a lovely assortment of well placed grasses and salvias. There are also a few small trees. Link said that Wendy really likes a sparse garden, which in this case provides a nice zen feel.

These rusted water heaters are such a cool idea. They really fit the space and could easily have ended up in a landfill somewhere.

We had a chance to view Link's garden next door, which has some of the funkiest yard art I've ever seen. He seems to be a master and sifting through items on bulk collection day and coming out with treasures.

When I first saw these small machinery pieces, I thought they were some sort of succulent.

My first time seeing a lawn mower on a pole. It is definitely an attention getter. I love it.

This rust-colored dragon fly looks like yard art.

I'll be posting on the other two gardens very soon.

New Front Beds - Now Ready for Inspiration

2011-05-09T06:18:00.003-05:00

Here is the before picture. This bed was here when we moved in and although it defines the space, I don't really care for it. I really want to front yard to have a natural look. This weekend I took the stone down to the first layer and was able to make two additional beds.

Now that I have the beds in place I need some inspiration. I know I want drought tolerant plants that will receive quite a bit of sun. I am excited for the Garden Tour coming up this weekend. It is focused on water-wise gardening, so it should be a perfect fit.

I plan on putting in some dwarf fruit trees in the bed on the left. I hope to be able to squeeze in three, 1 peach, 1 apple, and the third is still up for debate.

Recipe: Zucchini Cole Slaw, Bubbles and Squeak

2011-05-02T05:56:00.007-05:00

What to do with all of that extra zucchini?

We aren't too far into squash season yet, but at some point the family doesn't want to see another zucchini, even if you do hide it into a delicious loaf of bread. Last night I mixed it up with a zucchini cole slaw. My husband, who is not a huge zucchini fan, went in for seconds.

Fresh Veggies

2 zucchini, 1 red pepper, 1 red onion, 2 carrots

Thinly slice all veggies

- I used the peeler for the carrots to make them softer, depends on how much crunch you're going for.

For the sauce

Mix mayo and apple cider vinegar. Do this to taste, I believe my portion was either a 4 or 5 to 1 (mayo:vinegar). Add salt, pepper to taste and a dash of celery seed. I also added a dash of cumin to go with the smoky flavor of the BBQ chicken pizza we had with it.

Bubbles and Squeak

This is a great way to use a mix of your late spring veggies.

Veggies used: potatoes, onion, carrots, brussel sprouts

Boil potatoes and brussel sprout halves in water or chicken broth.

Finely dice onions and carrots and cook in olive oil until soft. Season with salt and pepper while cooking.

Once potatoes are soft and brussel sprouts have lost their leaves, drain. (You can reserve the chicken broth if you used it).

Add whole potatoes to onions and carrots and mash right in, along with butter, salt, pepper to taste.

Add brussel sprout leaves. I left out the centers this time, but feel free to add them.

Stir and serve.

I served mine with a side of turkey smoked sausage. Yum!

Cucs and Tomatoes Variety Review - 1 month in

2011-04-29T18:08:00.003-05:00

Suyo Long

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but this baby cucumber is really long. The tag says they get to be 15"! It's amazing how much of a difference I can already see between this variety and the others.

Sweet Slice

I have two of these plants. (You can kind of see the other in the background). These have really done nothing. I'm hoping they take off at some point, but right now they are just wasting valuable real estate. The one has at least grabbed hold of the trellis, but barely. I'm interested to see if I get any production out of them.

Suyo Long

This one has taken off vertically and seems to be doing pretty well. It has produced a few baby cucs so far and is flowering well.

National Pickling

Seems to like horizontal more than vertical and ignores any efforts at training it to go in a specific direction. It does have a few baby cucs and is flowering though, so I can't complain too much.

General Lee
This one is growing off very well and has taken to the trellis. You can see it also seems to prefer the horizontal direction. I have three plants all heading for the exact same corner, must be something about the morning sun.

Lemon

Doing well and seems to be a vertical climber, which I am very happy about.

Roma

All six of these have fruit.

La Roma

Neither of the two have fruit, but one has some pretty good flowers. I didn't think there would be much of a difference between Roma and La Roma, but apparently there is.

Black Cherry
These and the Sun Golds have maturing fruit, good plant growth and lots of flowers.

Yellow Pear Cherry

I have two of these and one just got it's first fruit today. I've had luck with these in the past, so I'm not too stressed about their late start.

Tomatillo Production

2011-04-27T07:57:00.002-05:00

Last year was my first year growing tomatillos. I love the flavor and couldn't wait to make all kinds of salsas and sauces, but much to my disappointment the plants would not set fruit. They finally produced about 10 total near the tail end of the summer, but that was hardly a good crop.

I had read that you need at least two plants, since they will not self-pollinate and proceeded to plant the minimum number. This year I decided to double them and have a total of 4 in the same bed. Already I have at least 15 full size husks. I am excited to see how the summer plays out with this kind of production so early.

Garden Firsts

2011-04-20T08:21:00.005-05:00

With the move and having to wait on the deer fence, my garden got in a few weeks later than I would have liked. It can be a little discouraging to see others' plants doing so well, where mine seem to be stagnant, especially my heirloom tomatoes. At least I've had a few firsts this week though, including my first ripe cherry tomato (Sun Gold).

First Cucumber Siting, General Lee

First full size pepper, Hungarian Hot

Not All Gardening is Fun

2011-04-17T13:01:00.003-05:00

Last night my friend and I were admiring the giant yucca stalk that will soon be covered in flowers, when we discovered my nemesis.

Mixed in with the 100 or so yuccas was poison ivy. Argh!

Do you know how much it sucks to pull out poison ivy while being stabbed by needles? Not only did it hurt like heck, but each little stab put a hole in my gloves, risking further poison ivy exposure.

I wasn't able to dig out all of the ivy, since some of it was in the middle of the yucca bed, so I'll just have to keep an eye on it and regularly trim it back. I think I'll also look into trimming back that yucca. I'm not sure which will be harder to get rid of.

Bloom Day 4/15

2011-04-14T20:27:00.008-05:00

I haven't done this in a while, and my garden is a bit sparse, but here goes...

Peach Iris

White Iris

Zinnia (in okra bed)

Marigolds (in tomato bed)

California Wonder Pepper Flower

Roma Tomato Flowers

Sweet Slice Cucumber Flower

Strawberry - much smaller than it appears. I'm not fond of this tiny variety.

Ancho St. Martin. The first pepper in the garden.

Salvia with Katydid. I'm not sure of variety. It was here when I moved in.

Pink Salvia Greggi

Sunflower that will be here year round.

End of Sabbatical

2011-04-12T13:53:00.011-05:00

Well, today is my last day. I've had 4 amazing weeks off. I was eligible as of August last year but purposefully waited until we moved into our new house to take it. I've accomplished so much in the garden and it's been so much fun. I've also taken some time to enjoy the view and the wildlife. The above picture is the neighbors front yard in the middle of the day.

I started my time off with 8 cubic yards of soil. I had Hill Country Garden Soil delivered at 8:30 am on my first day. My mother-in-law was in town, who I've mentioned several times before. We moved 6 into my raised beds the first day and then topped them off the second day.

On the second and third days we cleaned out all of the front beds, removing oversized red yucca plants (big pain), cutting out dead shrubs and trees, and removing weeds and (what seemed like) millions of wild onions. We then took a trip to The Natural Gardener and purchased

Fireworks Fountain Grass

Blackfoot Daisies

Pink and White Salvia Greggi (plant - not flower is deer resistant)

After mom left I picked up 2 cubic yards of mulch and then mulched the front beds and all of my raised garden beds. I also used the remaining cubic yard of soil to make a mounded raised bed for cucs and melon.

We added some great solar lights as well, which we found at Costco.

My biggest obstacle was waiting for the deer fencing. I ordered it online without realizing that is was their busy season. It took me two weeks for the fencing to arrive. I was quite busy in the meantime, but it meant my veggies didn't get into the ground until March 29th. I was moving them in and out daily though, so I don't think they took too much of a hit.

While waiting for the deer fencing, I put up the rabbit fence. My garden area is cross fenced, so I was able to staple the fencing on. I haven't dug down at all (nearly impossible), but I did bend the fencing out to help discourage them from burrowing under.

The one thing I didn't do myself was to install the posts. I climbed on a ladder with a sledgehammer and hanged for about 5 minutes before calling my husband and telling him we were hiring someone. I was not concerned with the cost. This was a great decision. It allowed me to spend more time in the garden, rather than spending at least a week digging holes. The guys were out here with a jackhammer for at least half of them.

The fencing arrived the day after the posts went up and I installed it myself. Luckily it wasn't too heavy and it only took me about 4 hours.

The next morning I was finally able to put in the plants. It was a really emotional day for me as I had been without my garden for almost a year. It's amazing how quickly you can go from never having gardened to being unable to live without it. It really is how I keep my sanity.

I also transplanted my fig tree, "Fig Stick" to a nice spot on the hill. One of the problems with planting on a hill in the hill country is limestone. I didn't think it was possible to get that many giant chunks of rock from one tiny hole. I have a lot more appreciation for every tree on the property now.

The other problem with planting on a nice open hill is deer. On my information sheet it shows that deer do not like Fig Trees, so I didn't protect it. Big mistake! Turns out that all 8 in the group had to try it before agreeing that they didn't like it. I've since put some makeshift fencing around it, and it seems to be recovering nicely.

Fig Stick shown through the old hitching post.

I also finished up my husband's pepper garden. He loves super-spicy peppers and picked out several at "It's About Thyme" - a great little nursery in far South Austin. I planted them in pots, so he can bring them inside during the winter. We built a small stand for them to keep the dogs out as well.

I've also wanted a succulent garden for a while, but have never gotten around to building one. I was inspired by the brain coral near the pool and decided to make an "underwater" succulent pot. I have three other pots with strawberries that I plan to fill as well, once they've run their course.

A few other things that were accomplished during my time off...

New gutters with rain water collection. Each barrel is 200 gallons.

1 for the front

2 for the back (vegetable garden)

Pool has gone from green to a beautiful sparkling blue. I look forward to dipping in the pool after a hard days work.

Horseshoe Pit and Basketball Hoop installed to add to the ways to enjoy being in the outdoors.

I also managed to get us completely unpacked, except for the usual garage stuff. Good thing I'm headed back to work tomorrow. I am exhausted :)

Vegetable Garden In

2011-04-06T17:07:00.007-05:00

Here's the list of what I've got going this year...

Tomatoes

Romas - 8

Cherries - 1 each of Sun Gold, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear, Red Pear

Black Krim - 2

Cherokee Purple - 2

Green Zebra - 1

Kellogg - 1

Homestead - 1

Lemon Boy - 1

Striped German - 1

Peppers

Big Bertha - 1

Red Beauty - 2

Purple Beauty - 1

Poblano - 1

Anaheim - 1

California Wonder - 1

Serrano - 1

Jalapeno - 3

Tabasco - 1

Hot Hungarian - 1

Tomatillos - 4

Clemson Spineless Okra - 6

Tiger Stripe Eggplant - 1

Beans

Butter Beans - 4

Black Eyed Peas - 4

Yellow String Beans - 3

Green String Beans - 3

Cucumbers

Sweet Slice - 2

General Lee - 1

Additional - 3 (need to get the names)

Cantaloupe - 1 Sugar Queen, 2 others

Watermelon - 1 Sugar Baby, 1 Yellow

I decided against squash this year. I didn't have the energy to fight those Borers.

Coming Back Soon

2011-02-10T12:01:00.002-06:00

It's hard to believe it's been nearly a year since I've posted. It has been quite a year.

I have come to love my garden so much that I decided it was time to expand. Where do you expand when your vegetables have taken up the entire front yard and you have a shaded postage stamp of a back yard? ... You move.

We put our house up in May and it didn't sell as hoped. I had a very productive spring/summer with tons of veggies. I really got into canning - pickles, salsas, jam, tomatoes etc. All the while trying to show the house and stressing that we weren't getting any offers. Finally in September (as the spring garden had mostly died off), I decided to remove my garden. It could be that not everyone wants a giant vegetable garden in the front yard. Seeing as we live in Austin, I'm a bit surprised, but it had to go. What took 2 years to build took only a few hours to take down. In it's place is plain old bermuda grass and a few flower beds. That was a very sad weekend, but I just tried to look at the bigger picture.

We finally got an offer on our house in January and as luck would have it, a beautiful 2 acre property popped up just when we needed it. We have our inspection this weekend and hopefully move in the end of the month, just in time for spring planting.

I'm so excited to get back to my vegetables and back to posting. I haven't been following any blogs, as I've been pretty depressed about the whole thing. I can't wait to get reading again and see what everyone has been up to.

Now if we can just get rid of this pesky winter!

Winter Lessons - Bang for your buck veggies

2010-04-11T18:58:00.006-05:00

At the end of each season of vegetable gardening I like to put what I learned. My lessons this year tie in to my goal of being able to eat from my garden all year round.

For my birthday a month or so ago my husband bought me a freezer. This may sound strange to some, but I was so excited. I immediately envisioned freezing peppers, tomatoes, green beans and okra. I didn't think of spinach, carrots and onions. I didn't consider the winter garden as a source that I would draw from all year until now. I had to clean out the carrot bed to plant the peppers, and the onions to plant the green beans. Well, it was more than we could eat so I looked into how to freeze them. Onions are extremely easy, just chop and freeze. (I use my new Foodsaver, which I highly recommend). Carrots were a bit more work since you have to add blanching to the process. It still only took my an hour or so to do 4 batches. I plan on doing the spinach this week, so I don't know the details yet.

This leads back to what I learned ... I use carrots, onions, and spinach all year round and as plants go, they really don't take up too much room. Cauliflower and broccoli, on the other hand, take up huge amounts of space and aren't really a family favorite. Next winter I'll be changing my mentality to year round eating rather than trying to plant some of everything. I plan on having 2-3 beds of carrots 1-2 beds of spinach and other greens. Kohlrabi and radishes are also small, and would be great to freeze and add to all sorts of summer dishes. We love cabbage and brussel sprouts, so they'll make the cut, but in limited quantities.

I did a poor job of preserving my winter herbs as well. The cilantro has already bolted and been pulled. The parsley is just about finished. Next winter I really should pick and dry enough to use throughout the summer months.

Types of veggies I liked and didn't

Carrots

- Purple Haze - Yum! My ultimate favorite and so pretty

- Carnival - Don't like the white ones, not great flavor, won't do again

Beets

- Golden - They don't stain and taste just like the red, need I say more? I will only be planting golden beets.

Cauliflower

- Multicolored - Purple and Green are really pretty for Crudite, but not so great for mashing. They do taste just as good as the white.

Lettuce

- I've only had luck w/ leaf lettuce.

Flower Pics

2010-04-06T21:30:00.002-05:00

Bluebonnets

Bluebonnets being pollinated

Texas Star

Shasta Daisy

Living Easy Rose

First Knockout Rose of the season

Pillbugs

2010-04-06T21:24:00.004-05:00

The pillbugs in my garden are completely out of control. There have to be millions of them. I tried the beer trick, but there are just way too many of them. I accidentally tried duct tape, which captured a few hundred, but didn't put a dent in the population. I questioned whether it was the straw mulch, but determined that wasn't the issue. I tried leaving the soil exposed for a few weeks to see if they would leave on their own, nope.

The issue with the pillbugs is that they chowdown on young seedlings as well as eating bean seedlings before they can even come up from the ground. I finally went to the Natural Gardener, since my home remedies have failed miserably. They recommended Sluggo. I'm giving it a try and will post on my results.

Citrus Status

2010-04-06T21:16:00.003-05:00

The citrus trees are varying in stages from a handful of shoots (due to barely escaping the winter), to ripening fruit, to sweet smelling buds.

Lemonquat.

I was about to give up on the fruit, but it does seem to be softening, so I'll give it more time, especially since the tree is producing buds even with the existing fruit.

Lemonquat

Satsuma

Mexican Lime.

I decided this winter that all citrus in the yard would have to survive the winter or they would be replaced. Even though the mexican lime is in a pot I decided not to cover it or bring it inside. I fully expected this tree to bite the dust, but instead it is doing better than any of the others.

I am very confused, but happy!

The meyer lemon and pineapple orange have a few new branches. The kumquat has new leaves, but no buds yet.

Bloom Day - March 2010

2010-03-16T14:47:00.003-05:00

Bluebonnet

Bluebonnets

(Please ignore the giant weed)

Strawberry

Missouri Violet.

I picked this up at the Garden Bloggers field trip last fall. I've completely ignored it.

It is still in the plastic bucket w/out a touch of water or protection from the cold.

I'm really loving this flower!

Shasta Daisies

Society Garlic

Sweet Alyssum

Tulips - Don't remember the variety

This is the second year and they look much better this year than last.

Tomatoes Planted

2010-03-09T22:26:00.003-06:00

I started planting tomatoes this weekend. I didn't plant all of them, as I am still clearing out the beds. By clearing out the beds I mean eating lots of winter veggies. It's a tough job but someone has to do it :) Sunday night we had a salad with two kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, and kohlrabi. Monday night we had my daughter's favorite, bacon-lemon brussel sprouts.

I know it's risky planting this early, but I have row cover handy, and actually used it Sunday. It was windy enough that I thought it would be a good idea to shelter the plants. It seemed to work as they look really healthy. I planted romas, pear cherries, and sweet 100 cherries.

I decided that the swiss chard takes up entirely too much room in the beds. I've seen them mixed in with flower beds and thought I'd try it. This spot was previously occupied by "Purple Heart". Although I really liked them, I like having edible chard more. The chard took quite a beating with the 80 degree temps today. I'm hoping it bounces back, otherwise, I'll be taking a trip to "The Natural Gardener" for new plants.

Here's my new toy! It is just amazing for hauling dirt, rocks, and plants.

First Bluebonnet!

2010-03-09T22:08:00.006-06:00

Taken this evening after getting home from work.

Here's a few pictures I took this morning, before the actual flowers popped out.

While I'm at it ... the first Society Garlic flower showed up today as well. I'm so excited for spring!

Front Yard Update

2010-02-20T15:14:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted in a while, but it's not because I've been avoiding the garden,

just too lazy to post. The last two weekends the weather has been beautiful so I've been

working on the front yard.

I dug out the bed on the other side of the front walk. (The first half I did over Thanksgiving break w/ my MIL). I filled the bed w/ mulch, society garlic, and "shasta" daisies. I've been wanting society garlic since I moved in 2 1/2 years ago and finally found the perfect place.

I took another trip to the cemetery on sunday morning for rocks. I added a border to the front yard to help w/ erosion. I also put a border around the new melon bed that I dug out. I am very sore from swinging that pick-axe!

Here are my new potato bags. I bought these from "Gardener's Supply Company".

I planted the potatoes 4 weeks ago.

Here's the first sign of life in one of the potato bags. Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried. The paperwork I have says it takes at least 4 weeks, but I always worry until I see the first sprout. This is my first time growing potatoes so I'm excited to see how it works out.

Pruning the Roses

2010-02-20T15:06:00.004-06:00

As most Austin gardeners know, Valentine's Day is the time for pruning the rose bushes. Last sunday I cut back the Knockouts pretty significantly. I found these instructions in a flower gardening book, and I've used them for a few years now.

1. Cut back the smaller of any twisted canes

2. Cut out any canes smaller than a pencil

3. Cut back any dead canes

4. Thin out the bushes to give plenty of breathing room for new growth

5. Cut back the all canes by 1/3

I added number 4 myself after discovering how quickly the rose bushes recover. I was scared my first year that I had over-pruned, but they came back to over 6 feet tall by the end of the season.

Seedling Progress

2010-01-16T11:05:00.003-06:00

Romas & Cherokees

I just moved these to the grow light shelf yesterday, so they still look as little sad. The true leaves haven't shown up yet, but should within the next few days.

Peppers, Romas and Herbs

The peppers are looking really great. They are already growing their third set of leaves. I thinned them out this morning to give them a little more room to grow.

I did some calculations and realized that I will be running out of space once I transfer to 4" pots, even w/ 18 sq ft! I'll probably have to use the window a little bit this year as well.

New Seeds

2010-01-10T09:56:00.004-06:00

Friday the 8th during my lunch break I drove to The Natural Gardener and picked up some seed packets. Since the peppers and herbs are well underway, it's time for tomatoes. I picked up "yellow pear" cherry, "supersweet 100" cherry, "cherokee purple", "green zebra", and "celebrity". I also bought toma verde tomatillos and some amaranth.

Planting Dates

Romas - Jan 7th

Cherokee, Zebra - Jan 10th

Cherries, Celebrity - Jan 16th

Last fall I spoke to The Natural Gardener about making my own seed mix. They recommended a mix of Worm Castings, Perlite, and Vermiculite. As for amounts, you want it too retain moisture, but not be too soggy. The amounts I have used for my seed mix are 4 parts perlite, 3 parts worm castings and 2 parts vermiculite. So far it's working great.

Canning

2010-01-04T21:08:00.003-06:00

The cold weather can be a bit discouraging. I found I had a bit of cabin fever over the break, all of the time off and too cold to go outside. I'm not as brave as some, as under 60 degrees is pretty much off limits for me. The few nice days that we did have were spent outside with the family roaming around.

I did manage to put some of my time to good use, practicing my canning skills. Canning is a necessary step for my goal of eventually eating produce only from my garden. They also make great gifts :)

I used Jenny's recipe from "Rock Rose". This recipe was so delicious, I'll be using it again. It was also very easy. My 12 year old daughter made a batch and turned it into shortbread lemon bars, mmm! I've frozen several bottles for later.

This corn relish recipe is from the official Ball canning cookbook. It uses frozen corn, which is always in season, and cabbage straight from the garden. It has a great vinegar bite to it, with a nice sweetness as well. Next time I may add a little heat.

Fig Jam. This was my first attempt at jam. It was very easy and turned out well. This one is made with dried figs, so can be made year round. This was also from the Ball cookbook.

Christmas Present - Jump Start on Spring

2010-01-04T20:39:00.003-06:00

For Christmas this year my husband bought me this awesome new grow light from Gardeners Supply Company. Last year I grew seedlings in the back window, which was less than ideal. I had a small space and not enough light. Now I have 18 sq ft to grow my seedlings.

Here's my little greenhouse. I only have 1 heating mat, which I may have to expand to two soon, since my light is eagerly awaiting more seedlings. There are jalapenos, poblanos, wonder bells, basil, dill and summer savory. The poblanos and bells were planted on the 26th, just a little slow to germinate. The others were planted on January 3rd.

Here are the first seedlings under the grow light. These are serranos, purple beauty and canary bell peppers. These were planted on December 26th.

Just for fun I thought I'd share a few pictures of my purple veggies. We cut these up and had them for snacks on New Year's Eve.

Chef's Choice Blend Cauliflower

Purple Haze Carrots.

Both of these varieties are grown at the White House Garden. I saw them last night

on the food network, pretty cool!

Garden Week Update

2009-11-29T15:25:00.000-06:00

Well, my week of gardening is almost done. I didn't complete all of the tasks on my list, but I did complete some tasks that weren't on my list. All in all it was very successful, and tons of fun! I really enjoyed having my mother-in-law here for the end of the week. She said that she hadn't been that sore in years, but loved every minute of it. I can't wait until she moves to Austin in a few years so we can do this all the time.

Here's my progress in pictures ...

1. Make pvc/rebar freeze-protector hoops for the veggies

2. Clear out the grass between the raised beds and place new weed blocker down that I received from Gardener's Supply in the mail last week

I didn't quite finish this, but I'm close. I only have a few sections left. If the weather cooperates I could finish today.

3. Dig out more grass and make glass mulch/flagstone pathways. (Thanks to Robin of "Getting Grounded" for the glass mulch idea.)

Path near front door. You can see the new pink pot as well. I had a boring old white pot that was left here by the previous owners. My mother-in-law suggested we paint it pink. It really pops next to the Knock-Outs.

Another view of the front path. I moved the bowling ball to this new location

to showcase the path.

Path in backyard, next to Nana's garden which we put in Easter of this year. It is surrounded by some extra limestone that I got from the Cemetery. I moved these 1.5 inch flagstone myself, which was quite a feat. I plan on getting help next time.

Closeup of the glass mulch

4. Increase the size of the melon bed.

I didn't increase the melon bed, but I did clean it out. I had a watermelon plant still hanging on as well as some sweet potato vines that were out of control. Apparently, I should have pulled these a few months ago. They have to be the biggest sweet potatoes I've ever seen. When I managed to wrestle these guys out of the ground I found that most of them were hollow. You may be wondering what eats such a giant vegetable from underground ...

prepare yourself, it's gross!

Seems the world's largest grubs eat the world's largest sweet potatoes. Ewww!

I found three of these nasty things.

5. Pick up limestone from the cemetery and border the melon bed (Thanks to Brianna of "Seeds

for this idea)

Picking up the limestone was so easy. I just went to the front office and he told me to help myself. They have several large piles of rocks that are free for the taking. I recommend not going the day after a heavy rain, as I did. It makes it a bit more difficult to walk around and park. I will definitely going back here for more rocks at a later time. I love free stuff! My daughter painted the cinder blocks w/ some extra spray paint we had.

6. Pick up mulch from Natural Gardener and mulch all beds

A few of the mulched beds

My mother-in-law and I bagged and hauled 30 10-gallong bags. This new bed sucked up 20 of them. Two days ago this bed was a mix of half dead St. Augustine, another type of grass and weeds. Now it looks just awesome. This took most of yesterday to complete. I hadn't planned on digging out this bed, so it affected a few other projects. It was completely worth it through. The curb appeal is so much better than before.

We also added two grasses. I plan on growing potatoes in barrels in this area next spring.

7. Make wine bottle borders for beds in the back yard.

I didn't get this finished. When I started puting in the wine bottles I decided it would be much easier after a good rain. I'd rather spend a few hours than an entire day.

I'll revisit this project soon.

8. Add two bird baths in backyard.

Finished one bird bath. (Thanks to Caroline from "ShovelReadyGarden" for this idea).

For my second bath I wanted to steal an idea from Eleanor from "GardenOfE", but turns out that round pavers are really hard to find. I may have to come up with something else.

9. Improve borders around citrus trees

Mulched all of the trees. Here is the kumquat tree, which will have ripe fruit very soon.

10. Finish drip system for other two 4X10 beds

I decided to wait on this. Drip systems don't go together very well in the cold. You really need to heat to bend the tubing. We've also been getting decent rain, so I should be ok hand watering through the winter.

11. Put in edging by the road to keep the water/mulch in the new beds

Haven't done this one yet.

12. Sand/paint new potting bench

And the unfinished projects continue... I really will get to this one soon.

13. Plant new plants from San Antonio road trip, and any others I happen to purchase in the next week.

Finally, back to some success. I'm really excited about this one. My neighbor, Dana, recommended that I use this hollowed out tree stump as a planter. I found a pot and planted my "Living Easy" rose from the Antique Rose Imporium. I've also wanted a succulent garden, but didn't know where to put it. I've decided to put little pots around the stump. I've got one already, and will keep an eye out for little pots (or coffee mugs).

14. If I have time ... make new patio where grill is currently sitting

I didn't put the patio in, but I did pick up all the supplies while I had my friend's truck. These things were not light, 54 lbs a piece!

I had an incredible week gardening. It was so relaxing to just get away from it all and be outside. I had a great visit with my mother-in-law. It's amazing how much you can bond without saying a word, just digging in the dirt. I also enjoyed meeting so many people. I couldn't believe how many passers-by stopped to chat about the garden. I must have met at least 10 new people, several of whom I chatted with for a good 30 minutes. There were also at least that many who waved or gave a thumbs up as they passed by. It feels great to know that the hard work I've been doing is appreciated by others. Now I think its time to go outside with a beer and appreciate my hard work.

Garden Projects Here I Come

2009-11-20T10:52:00.002-06:00

Starting today at noon I am off work until the 30th. My plans are to garden the entire time, except for Turkey Day when I'll be busy cooking and watching football. I've borrowed my friends pickup truck for the next 3 days for hauling all kinds of goodies. Here are the projects I have planned.

1. Make pvc/rebar freeze-protector hoops for the veggies
2. Clear out the grass between the raised beds and place new weed blocker down that I received from Gardener's Supply in the mail last week
3. Dig out more grass and make glass mulch/flagstone pathways. I picked up the glass mulch from Eco-Depot yesterday. With the rain washing off the sand last night the pile of mulch is looking really cool in the driveway.
4. Increase the size of the melon bed.
5. Pick up limestone from the cemetery and border the melon bed
6. Pick up mulch from Natural Gardener and mulch all beds
7. Make wine bottle borders for beds in the back yard. The drinking-er collecting of wine bottles is already done.
8. Add two bird baths in backyard.
9. Improve borders around citrus trees
10. Finish drip system for other two 4X10 beds
11. Put in edging by the road to keep the water/mulch in the new beds
12. Sand/paint new potting bench
13. Plant new plants from San Antonio road trip, and any others I happen to purchase in the next week.
14. If I have time ... make new patio where grill is currently sitting

My mother-in-law will be out starting next Wednesday to help me out, which will be awesome. Other than that, it's just me. I've got some lofty goals, but I'm excited to get to work. I'll post pictures as I can.

San Antonio Road Trip w/ the Austin Garden Bloggers

2009-11-12T19:33:00.010-06:00

As usual, I'm last to post. I won't go into too much detail, other than to thank everyone for a lovely time. I'm looking forward to our next outing.

Here's my pics...

Cranberry Hibiscus. I admired a similar one at Eleanor's garden

Awesome Barbados Cherry

Piney Woods Trail Pics

Japanese Garden Pics

Tropical Conservatory Pics

Cacti Conservatory Pics

Sugar Cane - I had never seen one before

Banana Tree - Oh man, is this what I'm in for. The tree in the backyard looks so small

Saving the Fall Harvest

2009-11-12T07:28:00.003-06:00

I had seen a few holes in the leaves over the weekend, but didn't think much of it. I should have known better and next season I will. By Wednesday morning things were getting out of hand. It's amazing the damage a few little caterpillars can do. I believe that I would have lost all of the cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and kholrabi if I had waited a few more days. I picked off all of the caterpillars I could find and then sprayed Bt all over everything. I think even the most damaged plants will pull through ok.

Cabbage

Another cabbage view

One of the culprits

Salad Feast

2009-11-03T20:17:00.003-06:00

I made a tasty salad from the garden... radish, pepper, spinach, lettuce, and tomato. Mmmm!

Master Gardeners Tour

2009-11-03T19:46:00.007-06:00

I know I'm a little late, but it's been a crazy week and a half. Sadly, now that I waited so long I don't remember all of the names of plants or gardens. I'll put them in the order I took them, so hopefully I'm close. I drove in the order of the brochure, since my house is closest to the first one. I really loved this tour. The gardens were beautiful, but also seemed attainable (with a little more creativity and skill than I currently have).

Garden 1 - Rollingwood

I loved this bathtub pond. I knew my husband would too, so I took a picture for him. What an ingenious idea!

Silver Saw Palmetto

Garden 2 - Crowheart Cove

Dwarf Lions Tail. I bought one of these, so thought I'd take a picture of how awesome it looks one established. I have since planted it where my white honeysuckle that succumbed to the heat and our dog.

Garden 3 - Lucas Lane

This garden was quite different than the others, very tropical. It's awesome what a different look you an achieve while still keeping native and adapted plants.

Some sort of palm

Ornamental Peppers that I absolutely loved. I remember seeing a post from Jenny (RockRose) about this plant. I'll have to see if she knows the exact name.

Update - Iris from Society Garlic gave me this info

ornamental pepper "Black Pearl" (Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl'

Thanks Iris!

Garden 4 - Eleanor's Garden

I loved this garden. It had to many treasures. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I was running low on time.

White Spiderwort. What a great looking ground cover, and it seems to like the shade. These would be beautiful in my backyard.

Really interesting coleus. I've never seen one quite like this before.

Chinese Ground Orchid. This one is really amazing.

Garden 5 - Cheryl's Garden

What a magical, whimsical place. I loved the plants and yard art. I feel like I probably missed half of it.

I loved this bed. I plan on getting some recycled glass later this month for some pathways. I also loved how the wine bottles were mismatched. I'm in the process of building a border and had been working to try and make them the same height, but after seeing how good this looked I believe I just saved myself some time and effort. The bowling balls are a nice touch too, and I've already got one of those in the yard as well!

Loved the boston terrier. I've got 2 myself and had been eyeing some statues I saw passing through Hempstead. Wonder if you can get these in town?

I purchased a mint marigold here and took a mature picture for reference. What a great looking plant. The MGs at this site were giving the hard sell on this one, so I figured I had better listen.

Garden 6 - Randy's Garden

Unfortunately, I only took one picture. It was of this huge banana tree. I wish I had taken more, since this was a beautiful garden as well. The patio was really spacious and a great place to sit back and take in the scenery.

Thanks for all of the participants for sharing your gardens with us!

New Potting Bench

2009-10-17T17:24:00.003-05:00

As I was driving back from the farmer's market this morning ( unfortunately, I still need some supplemental veggies) I saw a beat up desk/hutch with two big "FREE" signs on it. It looked like the perfect potting bench. My husband has volunteered to help me paint it. Here's the before pics. There are also two additional shelves not pictured.

Bloom Day 10/15

2009-10-15T17:56:00.004-05:00

Marigolds (in my tomato beds)

Zinnias

Zinnias w/ Purple Heart in the background

Knockout Roses - wanted to show scale

Mums - one of two that survived the summer

Knockout Rose closeup

Batface Cuphea w/ Cosmos in the background

Trailing White Lantana - just planted

Black and Blue Salvia w/ Gold Lantana in the background

Black-Foot Daisies

Thai Basil - I don't like the flavor as much as the standard,

but the flowers are awesome

Not technically a bloom, but the color of the

"Bright Lights" Swiss Chard is worth a photo

Lamb's Ear w/ Penta (and a cute little friend)

Horseherb - With all the talk of this ground cover lately,

I thought I'd post mine. I am a big fan.

"Fruit Cocktail" Shrimp Plant

Asp / Puss Caterpillar

2009-10-11T10:30:00.004-05:00

I found this crazy guy on the knockout roses yesterday. I knew I had seen it in the "Texas Bug Book" and luckily didn't touch him before finding out what he was. He has sharp spines hiding under the soft fluffy fur that are apparently pretty painful and full of poison.

I found another one stuck to the front door this morning.

Soldier Bug Update

2009-10-07T21:42:00.002-05:00

Today I looked closer at what I thought were "Spined Solder Bugs", which are beneficial insects. I found three of them sucking from a tomato. Well, I was thinking that it didn't seem like a very beneficial thing to do so I took another look at the Texas Bug Book and found that they are stink bugs. So I now have the trifecta on my cherry tomato plants, Tomato Horn Worms, Leaf-Footed Bugs and Stink Bugs. I will try and get a picture tomorrow while I am removing them.

I like the Texas Bug Book but wish it was organized a little differently. It would be nice if there was an index that was organized by the type of plant the bug was found on. I find that I usually have to look through the entire book a few times before narrowing down the culprit.

One of those Days

2009-10-06T19:20:00.004-05:00

Today I got home from work early enough to spend a few minutes in the garden. I wandered around only to find two new pests. It's one of those days where you wonder why you even bother. Why don't I just leave it to the professionals?

Here is where the cutworm laughed at my attempts to block him. I caught him in the act, stretching as far as possible to bite just above the straws I put in yesterday. I found a second one, but destroyed them both before taking pictures.

Here are the next culprits. I don't know what they are, but would appreciate any help. I couldn't find them in the Texas Bug Book. These little critters eat through the stems on the tomato plants. You can see the droopy end, completely cut off from nutrients. I may have to resort to some organic pesticides on these guys.

Why do I bother? Well ... I just finished eating some sauteed okra. Simple olive oil, salt, pepper and whole okra. I also mixed in some zucchini and mushrooms. Mmmm! I agree with a friend of mine that plain old sauteed okra is just as good as fried, as long as you can handle a little slime.

Garden Update in Pictures

2009-10-04T18:00:00.005-05:00

New Lantanas (white trailing, yellow mounding) and Black and Blue Salvia. Since I took this picture I have added two more Black and Blue Salvias to balance it out.

Here's a picture of the rest of the plants I still need to put in. They include, more Lantanas, Pink Skullcap and Russian Sage. This morning I put in one Lantana and Two Skullcaps. I hope to finish the rest throughout the week, one or two a day after work.

Black and Blue Salvia.

Butter Beans and Green Beans

Okra. Yes, they really are as tall as the house

"Crimson Giant" Radish

Romas, round two

Winter Garden Beds

First Winter Harvest

2009-10-04T17:36:00.003-05:00

Today I picked the first of my "winter" veggies, radishes! No, I didn't leave them in the ground too long, these are called "Crimson Giants" and are meant to be the size of a small apple. I'm going to make a salad tonight and decide how I like this variety. I also picked some serranos, cherry tomatoes and okra. The okra is still hanging in there, but the cool weather severely stunts the production.

Tomato Pests

2009-10-04T17:22:00.007-05:00

I've been so busy with my new veggies and flowers that I've been neglecting the tomatoes. This weekend I gave them a little attention and found that both leaf-footed bugs and tomato horn worms. Argh!

I found both the adults and nymphs of the leaf-footed bugs. I killed about 20, but at least that many escaped. I'm worried it's only a matter of time before I have to rip out the plants. There are some really nice looking cherries that should be ripening soon, so I'm hoping to fight them off long enough to get a few.

I found two tomato horned worms. I looked them up in the Texas Bug Book and found that the adults only lay a few eggs, since a single larvae can do so much damage. Last year there were four of five on the plants, so I'm hoping there aren't too many more. Also last year I only found these guys in the fall. Has anyone found them in their spring/summer crop?

These guys can be hard to spot, but I've discovered another way to detect them. Their droppings seem to be pretty distinct, especially with the relatively large size.

Green droppings, after he's been eating leaves

Orange droppings, after he's been eating my precious tomatoes

I did find a few friends in the garden today, which was nice after fighting off the others all morning. Here is an Anole I found in the Basil. I didn't get a picture, but I did find some Soldier Bugs too.

Fall Veggie Garden Started

2009-09-07T09:04:00.003-05:00

The fall garden is in full swing. Last weekend I bagged the last of the dirt for my new beds. I also installed a drip system for the bed I had planted the week before. Here's what I have going so far.

mid August - put together bean tent and planted butter beans, green beans

mid August - Planted cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli ( in pots to monitor sun)

Aug 29th - Planted carrots, radishes, lettuce

Sept 2nd - Planted spinach, swiss chard

A few pics ...

Carrots, Radishes, Lettuce and new drip system

Butter Bean plant climbing new "tent". I grew this plant from a seed from my spring butter bean plant. Pretty cool :)

Fall Seedlings

Limequat - Mission Accomplished (almost)

2009-08-31T18:54:00.006-05:00

I mentioned as one of my spring goals that I wanted to find a limequat tree. I didn't have much luck and just crossed it off the list. Last week at The Natural Gardener I didn't find a limequat tree, but I did find a lemonquat. I think that's close enough. Turns out they were having a 40% off sale on all trees, so I picked up three citrus trees. All are Texas hardy, so I can plant them right in the ground. This is a requirement, since I already have the fun of moving my Meyer Lemon and Mexican Lime in and out.

Lemonquat

Pineapple Orange (dwarf)

Otwari Satsuma (dwarf)

Meyer Lemon, just starting to ripen

Mexican Lime.

These taste more like an orange than a lime. I'm not sure if that is normal,

but they are extremely tasty.

I got a very useful tip from one of the workers at The Natural Gardener. She showed me a shoot that was coming up from the base one of the trees. It looked very green and healthy, but the leaves were a bit different, three parts to it, rather than the one big leaf of the tree. She said these would suck up all of the tree's energy and should be plucked off. I recognized them from my lemon tree. This year the lime has been doing much better than the lemon and I wasn't sure why. Turns out it was these shoots. I plucked them off this week (a few were so big I had to cut them) and the lemon tree is thriving.

Annuals that can take the HEAT

2009-08-23T09:12:00.002-05:00

I've decided that any annuals in the garden have to be able to survive on water no more than once a week. Here's the one's that can take the heat.

Zinnias

Cosmos

Moonflower

Tithonia -

The seed packet said these do really well with little water. I'm not buying it. I won't be repeating these guys.

Recipes 8/16

2009-08-16T11:31:00.004-05:00

My garden is at an in between phase right now, so I'm not producing much. I started going to the farmer's market again, until mine picks up. Here's a few recipes I made from farmer's market goodies.

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

(This one if from my mom. It is sooo good! I haven't ever put in the cherries, but I have tried

it with and without nuts. I've also never done muffins, just bread.)

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups zucchini -- grated

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup pineapple -- crushed

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1/2 cup maraschino cherries (optional)

Beat eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Add zucchini, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pineapples, nuts, and cherries. Pour into two greased 5 x 9 inch loaf pans or 24 muffin cups.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour for loaves, or 20 minutes for muffins. (24 Servings)

Makes: 2 loaves or 24 muffins

Black-Eyed Peas over Pasta (serves 4)

5 slices bacon, chopped and cooked until crisp ( set aside)

1 yellow onion

1 bell pepper

1 jalapeno/serrano (optional)

1 italian sausage ( I use hot)

around 2 cups diced tomatoes

8 oz egg noodles

5-10 diced mushrooms

1-2 cups fresh black-eyed peas ( to your liking)

cook onion, peppers, sausage until sausage cooked through and veggies soft

add mushrooms/peas and cook for another minute or 2

add tomatoes and enough water to covPublish Poster peas

bring to a boil and cook until peas are soft (30 mins to an hour)

serve over egg noodles

put sprinkled bacon and basil on top

(Forgot to mention ... add salt and pepper as your cooking to taste)

Lessons Learned in Spring Garden - Year 2

2009-07-29T20:27:00.003-05:00

1. Tomato towers work great. Last year I only used small tomato cages. This year I spent a little more money and bought the towers from Gardeners.com. They are about 5 feet tall and really support the tomatoes well. I will be investing in a few more next year.

2. Tomatoes need so much room. Again, I planted the tomatoes too close to each other. I put 6 tomato plants and two pepper plants in one 4X8 bed. I should have left out the pepper plants. The tomatoes were crowded and the peppers ended up so shaded that they didn't produce well. Cherry tomatoes get huge! They were at least 8 feet tall and spread like crazy.

3. Cherry tomato varieties. You can't beat sun gold tomatoes in the spring, but they really don't taste well when things warm up. Regular old cherry tomatoes were not quite as good in the spring, but I preferred them in the summer. The overall winner are the pear cherry tomatoes. They tasted wonderful spring through summer, and are still producing well now.

4. Drip systems do wonders. I had problems last year with cracking tomatoes and blossom end rot. I was watering myself with the hose and couldn't seem to get the watering even. This spring I put in a drip system and I haven't seen the same issues. The next thing I need to do is get a timer. This waking up at 5:15 to turn on the water and go back to bed is not fun.

5. Beans get huge. Those little beans start so small, but wow do they grow. I did not plan well enough and the production suffered. I had a few small (about 3 feet tall) stands, but they couldn't hold the weight of the beans. For the fall I have switched to metal tents, which should work much better.

6. Squash just may be too much work. I did get some good production this year, but those squash-vine borers are just impossible to deal with. The only thing I found that really worked is to get an early start, get as many as possible before the heat brings the SVBs. I was able to cut into the zucchini and yellow squash to dig out the pests, but the pumpkins are impossible. The plants are just too big you don't know where to start. Due to the overwintering larva, I think I'll have to skip squash next year altogether.

7. I love straw. This makes such a great mulch. A friend of mine can get organic straw from his parents' farm. It also doubles as an addition to the compost pile.

8. I need to fix the melon bed. This year the melons and pumpkin plants grew like crazy. Unfortunately, this kept me from cutting the grass around them. Last year I put a winter garden here, but this year I will spend the winter ripping out all of the grass and making a nice bed.

9. Dewberries are my favorite. Of blackberries, raspberries and dewberries I really like the later. Aside from having thorns, the berries taste wonderful and the plant grows very bushy rather than one or two long branches. I plan on puting a few more of these in next year.

10. If you see a few holes in the leaves pay attention. I saw holes in the swiss chard and just ignored it for a week or so. By the time I really looked the plants looked like skeletons and I couldn't even count the number of caterpillars. A little Bt would have fixed this right up. I used Bt on the tomato plants when a few spread over there and it was fixed in no time.

11. Back to tomatoes. I love romas. I don't care for brandywines. The brandywines didn't taste all that great, didn't produce very well and tended to crack, due to their size.

12. Zinnias and cosmos handle the heat really well. Mums do not. I planted the mums soon after moving in almost two years ago, and they're calling it quits. I love my knockout roses. They really love the sun and heat. I want to try them in other colors.

I think that will do it. I'll have to come back in and add pictures later.

Gearing Up For Fall

2009-07-29T20:16:00.005-05:00

It's hard to think about fall in the midst of this brutal summer, but it's right around the corner in gardening years. Last week I picked up cedar for my new raised beds and last weekend my friend Rudy helped me build them. I have three new 2"X12" 4'X10' beds. We made them w/ the mortis and tenon style to match my other beds.

I also built a new bean tent. My neighbor gave me some fencing from a dog run she had in the back yard. It was made of thick gage wire and pressure-treated pine. Obviously the pine wasn't going in the veggie garden, so I cut the wood off and will have enough wire for 3 tents in total. I put the beans where the zucchini used to be. The squash-vine borers hit again and I just didn't have the energy to fend them off. Plus, the zucchini was coming in really hard, which I read can happen when the plant gets too established.

This week I trimmed back the tomatoes. The brandywine had stopped producing, the romas are almost done, and the cherries are still producing quite a bit, but the flavor is severely lacking. I also planted 4 new bell pepper plants in place of the swiss chard that was desimated by caterpillars.

Tonight I plan on planting some seeds. I have kohlrabi, radishes and lettuce. I still need to pick up more, but it's a start.

I included a picture of the okra, just because it deserves the spotlight. These plants have been solid producers through this heat. I've been eating them, pickling them, and giving a ton away. I will definitely be repeating these!

Bloom Day July Edition - What's Dead in the Garden

2009-07-15T07:12:00.010-05:00

With this heat wave and drought it's not easy to show what's blooming. Walking around this morning it was much easier to find what is dead or dying.

Columbine -
bought at the Wildflower Center sale this year, has never bloomed

Fig Tree -
Not dead, but looking sad. Come on! This is a fig tree.

Looks like the squash-vine borer has hit again. I just don't have the energy to dig them out anymore.

Here's the culprit, the adult SVB. I found him hanging out on the okra.

Hot and Spicy Oregano -
Barely hanging on.

Mums -
I've had the plant for two years, but I don't think it will survive the summer.

One sad lamb's ear

White Penta - or should I say brown

Daylily -
Not only is it unhappy with the weather, but it appears someone
attempted to dig it out last night.

Tithonia -
These are supposed to need very little water, but they have just been so thirsty in this heat. I refuse to water them more than once a week and I really don't think that will be enough.

Nasturtium -
Faint signs of life.

One bright spot -
The coneflowers are doing great. You can also see cosmos in the background.
I'll be planting more of both of these next year.

Recipes Week Ending 6/21

2009-06-21T08:57:00.009-05:00

I'm going to start keeping track of recipes I cook w/ the garden veggies. These are self creations, often inspired by ideas from cookbooks or the internet. I don't put amounts since I never measure. I just go on appearance and taste. I'll also start taking pictures next week.

Two Bean Salad

--------------------

Fresh veggies used - butter beans, green beans, cherry tomatoes, onion

Cook onion and bacon

Boil butter beans for 20-25 minutes (until tender)

During last five minutes throw in kitchen sliced green beans

Quarter cherry tomatoes

For dressing, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, fresh cilantro

Pico de Gallo

-----------------

fresh veggies used - romas, cherry tomatoes, red onion, mexican lime, serrano pepper

Chop up tomatoes, pepper, onion, a few cloves of garlic, cilantro

Blend together using "stir" level

Add lime juice, salt

Layered Zucchini/Tomato Bake - My new Favorite Dish

--------------------------------------

fresh veggies used - zucchini, romas

Cut zucchini and tomatoes in slices. Make tomatoes about 1 1/2 - 2 times as thick as the zucchini, since the tomatoes seem to cook faster.

Layer zucchini, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper

Layer tomatoes

Repeat

Sprinkle top w/ bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake in oven at 350. I can't remember how long, I think around 30 minutes.

Cajun Chicken Tacos

-------------------------

fresh veggies used - okra, romas, onion, jalapeno or serrano pepper, corn

Shred a rotisserie purchased chicken

Cook onion, okra, pepper, garlic for a few minutes

Add tomatoes (crushed consistency) and cajun spices (cayenne, paprika, chili powder)

Cook for a while until okra is soft

Add corn and chicken to warm through

Put mixture in tortillas, yum!

Succotash

---------------

fresh veggies used - butter beans, corn, onion, cherry tomatoes, can also use zucchini or squash

Running out of time - will do quick version

Cook veggies

Make white sauce

Mix and serve over rice, sprinkle with cherry tomato halves and cris bacon pieces

Flower Pics

2009-06-20T10:25:00.007-05:00

I missed bloom day this month since I had just returned from a trip to Washington DC / Virginia. I thought I'd post a few pics anyway, since there's been some good stuff happening in the garden.

Sweet Potato Flower

Bat-Face Cuphea

Cosmos -

I got this flower from the horticulture club at my daughter's school.

Coneflower

This plant was in the backyard last year and didn't do well. It was too shady and only produced one flower. This spring we moved it to the front yard and the results are awesome.

Zinnia

Lantana - Finally blooming

Homemade Pickles

2009-06-20T10:08:00.003-05:00

I planted cucumbers for the first time this year in hopes of making pickles. The type I grew is actually called "homemade pickles". When I first looked online at recipes I was overwhelmed. Since I've never pickled before the task seemed daunting. I found a video on youtube and after watching it didn't seem so difficult. My first two attempts were flops. The first came out way too salty. The second came out with way too much vinegar. I had also run out of white so I decide to try cider vinegar, which I had seen used in several recipes. Yuck! We quickly learned that we are not fans of cider vinegar pickles. Both batches were also mushy.

Finally, last night after two weeks of waiting we tried the third batch. Winner! This one was the perfect mix of salt, vinegar and very crisp. It seems the trick is learning what ratios you like. We decided that we like a 3:1 water to vinegar.

Here's the recipe... (Makes 2 quarts)

Soak 4 cucumbers for 2 hours in ice bath. This is where the crispness comes from.

Make brine w/ 3 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/6 cup pickling salt. I also added a bunch of peppercorns and red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes do add a bit of a spice to the pickles, but don't change the flavor like adding whole peppers does. Bring the brine to a boil at the same time that you are boiling the jars.

Wash the jars and lids with soap and hot water. Boil the jars for 10 minutes.

Cut the cucs in spears and place in the boiled jars. Pour the brine over the top, covering by an inch or so. Add 2 garlic cloves and 2-3 dill sprigs per jar. Put on lids, tighten and boil for another 15 minutes. (The water should still be boiling from the previous step)

That's all there is to it. I waited two weeks to open the jar and last night an entire quart of pickles disappeared!

Veggie Update

2009-06-07T08:20:00.006-05:00

The vegetable garden is really doing well. I haven't gone to the farmer's market in weeks and we've been eating like kings. Squash, tomatoes, okra, green beans, onions, pepper (notice no "s"), swiss chard and plenty of herbs.

Sugar Pumpkin.

Hopefully the Squash Vine Borers don't destroy the entire plant before I'm able to see this one ripen.

Sun Gold Tomatoes. These are so incredibly tasty I can't see us planting any other type of cherry. We just can't get enough of them.

Brandywine.

Until just a few days ago when I spotted a few more tiny ones, this big guy was the one great hope. The production has been so bad on these, that tasty or not I don't think I'll be planting them again. Next year I'll try Cherokee Purple instead.

Romas.

These have just started ripening in the last day or two. I'll be making some spaghetti tonight. Mmmm!

Octopus Swiss Chard.

Really it's just plain old swiss chard, but the twisty stems remind me of a certain sea creature. If I was ESP I'd be adding some really cool pics here :)

Okra.

Like the zucchini, these guys can get really big really fast if you aren't paying attention.

Zucchini.

Still hanging in there. From this picture you'd never guess that I've cut into every one of these and lost half. Obviously, I overplanted the bed. Who knew vines could grow like this :)

Moon Flower

2009-06-07T08:14:00.006-05:00

Thanks to Diana from Sharing Natures Garden for the lovely moon flower plants. I lost one to a cut worm or pill bugs early on, but the other is doing great.

Bug Battles

2009-06-07T07:49:00.007-05:00

This weekend I've been battling two bugs, the leaf-footed bug and the dreaded squash-vine borer. The squash vine borer took out half of my zucchini several weeks ago, but had not been near the pumpkin. I read that they prefer other squash to pumpkins, so I was hoping mine would go untouched. Unfortunately, no such luck. I did have SVBs take out pumpkins in the same bed last year, so there is always the chance that these came from an overwintering pupae. Just in case, I plan on avoiding pumpkins next year, since I only have one spot to plant 30 sq ft :)

We're still getting tons of zucchini, so I'm happy with my little survivers. I check for SVB eggs several times a week and still find one or two each time. I'm just waiting for the day that they get past me and I lose another plant. In the meantime I'm just eating, sharing and attempting the zucchini world record. (completely by accident of course).

I've found the leaf-footed bugs on both my tomatoes an the pumpkins. They seem to prefer the romas. I believe it is because they have more places to hide. I killed about 10 yesterday. I kept a watchful eye for several hours, waiting for them to emerge. I even discovered two mating, which I put a quick stop to. The ones on the pumpkins are a lot easier to see.

Leaf-Footed Bug Nymph

I'm not to the point where I can squash a nasty bug w/ my bare hands, so here's my weapon of choice. I grab the bug with the tongs, throw it on the ground and smash it with my shoe.

First Passion Flower and Skullcap

2009-05-23T10:50:00.002-05:00

The first of my passion flowers showed up this morning, along w/ the skullcap blooms. I purchased the skull cap plant at the Wildflower Center sale. It's been slow growing so far, but I've heard that they really take off once fully established. I planted the passion flower vine last year, and with our mild winter it has done really well.

Incense Passion Flower

Heartleaf Skullcap

Butterfly that arrived on the passion flower vine as I was taking pictures.

New Border I put in a few weekends ago. My neighbor was nice enough to give me the free stones from an old fountain she took down several years ago.

Rockrose. These are one of my favorites.

Squash Vine Borer Research

2009-05-22T11:17:00.006-05:00

After my tough day on Wednesday I started doing some research. These squash vine borers really are nasty little creatures, and not the easiest to prevent. I found some good web pages.

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=804&bhcd2=1243008843
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page30.html
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2153.html

Here are the main suggestions I've found...

1. use row cover until plant flowers
- This one wouldn't have worked this year. By late April I was already harvesting squash, so covering them until they were blooming would have done nothing.

2. Watch for eggs and remove
- I planted too many squash plants too close together. There is no way I could have seen anything. Next year I'll create a little more space in between. Now that I have removed several plants (due to death) I can really get in there and have been able to find eggs.

3. Spray / Wipe down plants w/ BTK
- I don't know much about this. I've read that it's safe, but would like to talk to The Natural Gardener about it.

4. Plant sacrificial squash
- The ohio web site mentions that SVBs like hubbard squash more than other kinds. This would be an interesting experiment to put different types of squash in different areas to see which ones get hit the hardest. Hopefully, the more popular would keep the SVBs away from the less popular ones.

5. Create multiple roots
- I like this one too. You bury different sections of the base so they'll generate roots. This way if part of the plant is damaged it's change of survival is higher.

6. Rotate Beds
- I already plan on doing this. This is my first year with a garden big enough to rotate. I definitely plan on having the squash in a different location next year. This year was my first time doing summer squash, so I know that the larvae came from eggs, not from overwintering.

7. Succession Planting
- Keep planting new squash plants throughout the season. If some get destroyed than you should have seeds going in the ground for the next set. This is a great idea. You harvest all of the squash you can before the SVBs hit and once they do just start over. The family could probably use a break from all of that squash anyway :)

Update ...

I went to the Natural Gardener yesterday afternoon and got one more suggestion.

8. Hand Pollinate

- Keep the row cover on permanently. Instead of having the bees pollinate, do it yourself. At first I thought this was a bad idea, very labor intensive, but after thinking on it a bit I realized it's much less work than slicing open plants and digging out larvae. I may consider this one next year.

Squash Vine Borers

2009-05-20T17:41:00.004-05:00

I've been enjoying my squash bounty knowing that it would eventually come to an end. The squash vine borers took out my pumpkin plants last year and I was waiting for their arrival this year. This morning I did my walk through before work and found one plant looking extremely pathetic. All of the leaves were drooping. Once I thought about it I realized that the leaves were a little droopy yesterday but I didn't think anything of it. I should have known. Well anyway ... it was too late for that plant. I ripped it out and started inspecting the others. Turns out I had a serious infestation on my hands. I found these terrible little creatures in all but one of my plants. I spent two hours digging them out. I lost two plants this morning and it looks like another three won't make it. We'll just have to wait and see about the rest. I hope I got all of them, but I'm not sure. By then end of my major surgery I was getting pretty good at determining exactly where the SVBs were, which hopefully did less damage to the plants.

Squash Plant completely eaten through

An early catch. Here's what to look for. The yellowish substance is called frass. You can't always see it, since it is often underneath the plant, but you'll always be able to feel the gooey glob where the SVB entered the plant. The plant feels dry aside from this.

Carnage

More carnage

May Bloom Day - a day late

2009-05-16T16:40:00.006-05:00

I took pictures yesterday evening, but didn't have a chance to post them last night. Here's what's blooming in my garden...

Cantaloupe

Bluebonnets - round two. I was sure these were done for the year.

Butter Bean Blossom

Cilantro

Zinnias. These are two of the seven colors I have growing.

Nasturtium

Knock-Out Rose

Mums

Columbine

"Fruit Cocktail" Shrimp Plant

Tangerine Abutilon

Coreopsis w/ Plumbago

More Nasturtium

Also blooming...

texas yellow star

rock rose

blackfoot daisy

marigolds

penta

purple heart

four o'clock

all sorts of fruits and veggies

The Search for Batface, The Dangers of Squash Blossoms, Mysterious Seedlings

2009-05-11T08:03:00.006-05:00

Not much gardening occurred this weekend, but that doesn't translate to nothing to report in the garden...

Ever since the Grow Green book came out this year I've been pining after a batface cuphea. I've looked all over the place with no luck. I talked to someone who bought one at the Zilker Garden Festival, but I didn't make it this year. Then last week I talked to a friend of mine, a casual gardener, who had recently planted three batface cupheas. That is just not fair! She shared with me that they had several at the Red Barn in North Austin. I drove up Friday during my lunch break and was able to find some. They aren't flowering yet, but I was told they are fast growers. Now I just have to figure out where to plant them.

We had guests over for dinner on Saturday night and I decided to make goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms. I grabbed several from the garden Saturday morning, but as I started to put them together I realized that I could use a few more. As I started opening the newly gathered blossoms one of them was buzzing. I peaked and saw a bee inside. I immediately moved towards the door to throw the squash blossom outside, but before I could, the bee escaped. I screamed, threw the blossom, and yelled to my husband that there was a bee in the house. He seemed less concerned than I was. Well after I had a chance to collect myself I went for the blossom, since you don't want to waste a perfectly good squash blossom. As I picked it up, a bee flew out. I screamed and threw it again. I was then very confused, I could have sworn I saw the bee fly out. Turns out there were 2 bees in that squash blossom. Luckily they flew to the sunroom and were buzzing around the windows. After about 10 minutes of coaxing I swas able to return those bees to the outside. Maybe that's why they say to gather the blossoms in the morning.

On a side note, I also made pesto with the garden basil and cooked up some zucchini and yellow squash. Yum!

On to the mysterious sprouts... For the past several weeks I've seen what I swear are squash and tomatoes seedlings. I could be wrong about the tomatoes, but the squash family is pretty distinct. I couldn't figure out how these were getting everywhere, especially in the back yard. Finally I figured out that I had used homemade compost in the recent plantings. The compost must not have been hot enough to kill the seeds, so last seasons veggies were sprouting in the garden. I guess this is why you're supposed to avoid weeds in the compost pile. A few squash plants are much easier to deal with than milkweed.

Garden Update - New Toy

2009-05-04T07:51:00.005-05:00

I had a very busy garden weekend. I started out Saturday morning by digging out a beds for the Lithonia seeds and moon flowers I got at the blogging get-together (thanks Diane from Sharing Nature's Garden). It seems like such a huge area when you are digging, but once you're done it's very underwhelming.

I also dug out grass and planted a bed in the back yard. I was at The Natural Gardener friday afternoon (snuck out of work for a few minutes) looking for another tomato cage. I got the tomato cage, but also grabbed two shrimp plants and a tangerine abuliton. The shrimp plants are called "fruit cocktail" and are a yellowish-green and red. They were too cool to resist.

"Fruit Cocktail" Shrimp Plant

Tangerine Abutilon

Between garden chores, I decided to map the sun. I know my back yard is shaded, but didn't really know how much. Turns out at about 1:30 in the afternoon there is no shade to be found, the entire yard is in complete sun. I had no idea. I plan on doing this again around the summer solstice.

My weekend finished off with a trip to Costco, where I found a new garden cart. I've been wanting one for a while and this one was just perfect. It carries 1200 lbs, converts to a flat bed cart and has a dumping feature. It also comes with a thick plastic insert, so you can carry loose dirt. My husband had to work last night, so I put it together myself :)

I spent way too much time this weekend admiring my handiwork. The vegetable garden is really taking off, and it makes me so proud, I just can't help but stare.

Okra and Swiss Chard

Scale of Squash Leaves

Yellow Squash and Zucchini

Sun Gold Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes

First Green Beans

Green Bean Blossom. I just love the delicate pink flower.

Swallowtail Caterpillar. We affectionately refer to them as "bird poo" caterpillars. I caught this one mid chomp.

First okra. I took this picture for scale of the okra versus a giant zucchini that I picked a day too late.

Zucchini Everywhere!

2009-04-25T14:56:00.008-05:00

I've heard that zucchini grows like crazy, but I really had no idea. I don't think you can understand until you witness it yourself. I've been checking the squash plants every morning and everything looks fine, then I check again in the evening and the each zucchini is twice the size and suddenly there are huge ones that I swear weren't there that morning. Needless to say, our friends should be well stocked with zucchini this year.

The rest of the garden is also doing well. The peppers have finally taken off. I really think it was just to cold for them. I don't have peppers yet, but the plants have doubled in size this last week and I can see the makings of blooms.

The first tomatoes appeared this week as well, sun gold variety. The rest of the tomato plants all have blooms, so things are moving along nicely.

I spent some time looking through the garden and found aphids on many of the pepper leaves. The ants had already beat me to them and were chomping away. I was able to smash and brush away the rest of them. Hopefully, this doesn't turn into a bigger problem. I'm glad I spotted them early.

I also replanted zinnias. I planted them several weeks ago, but that late cold spell took them out. The new ones are much prettier anyway.

Bloom Day 4/15

2009-04-15T08:34:00.009-05:00

With the way my garden was looking last month, I wasn't sure when my garden would ever be worthy of bloom day photos, but here they are...

"Jethro Tull" Coreopsis

Plumbago

"Graffiti White" Penta

Columbine

Four O'Clock

Mexican Lime Bud

Texas Yellow Star

Black Foot Daisies

Bluebonnets

Sun Gold Tomato Blossoms

Marigolds and Nasturtiums for bug control

Squash Blossoms

Strawberry

The first mums

Last, but far from least ... Knockout Roses

Garden Fun with Mom

2009-04-12T15:13:00.009-05:00

My mother-in-law came in for the weekend and the theme of our visit was gardening. She was a master gardener in Indiana, but has lived in Phoenix for the past 7 years. She's been doing her best to garden in the desert, but misses the gardening she was accustomed to.

We started out our visit with a trip to the Lady Bird Wildflower Center. It also happened to be the annual plant sale, so we had a great time.

Bluebonnets

Sculptures from the current exhibit.

Aspen and her Nana atop the tower

View from the tower

Cave on meadow trail

After shopping Friday, Saturday it was time to plant. We started bright and early in the front yard. We increased the size of the bluebonnet and daylily bed and transplanted the coneflowers from the back yard, and planted black-foot daisies, and texas yellow stars.

Then we moved to the back yard. I gave mom a plot of land that had been previously donated to Aspen and then quickly abandoned. Mom had her run of plants and yard art. She planted lamb's ears, coreopsis (Jethro Tull), pentas (graffiti white), and rock rose.

Nana's Garden

Welcome Sign

Nana with her Garden

While Nana was working on her garden I planted elsewhere in the back yard. In the corner where I had recently planted a yellow and yellow/purple columbine, I added a turk's cap and two red/yellow columbines.

I also planted a dwarf palmetto and two heart-leaf skullcaps along the side fence.

I planted this white honeysuckle right outside the kitchen window. It should make dishes more pleasant in the coming years.

I haven't taken pictures yet, but we also added some yard art in the form of a ceramic owl, a flamingo w/ a pink gazing ball body, a trellis for the beans, a bright yellow pot for my new manfredo, and of course all of the pieces for Nana's garden.

Just when you thought the weekend couldn't get any better we woke this morning to the sound of rain, just what our transplants needed. Thanks mom for a wonderful visit!

Back Yard Before Pics

2009-04-12T15:03:00.003-05:00

Before pictures are usually followed by after pictures. That's not really going to happen in this case. I took a few pictures of the backyard so my progression will have some place to start from.

Currently the my backyard is a small plot w/ a creek flowing diagonally through the middle. Due to all of the trees in and along the creek bed, the yard is very shaded. This will create a challenge when planting, but makes it a wonderful place to relax.

I have planted a few trees (kumquat, lemon, lime, fig, banana) and planted a few passion flower vines, but other than that it is a blank slate.

Here's a few pictures.

Full yard view

Future location of stone patio

Creek view along the fence

View of the creek bed

Argh! Austin Weather!

2009-04-06T09:04:00.003-05:00

I have to say I am a little irritated this morning. It felt a little chilly so I checked the weather. There is a change of a light freeze tonight. It is April 6th. This just isn't right. Yesterday I cleaned up all of my garden stuff. Put my row cover neatly away, along with all of the skewers I use to stake it down and clothespins I use to attach it to the tomato cages. Now I have to get everything out again. Also, my plant are much taller now, so I had to buy some larger skewers (last time I used short bamboo ones) to prop the row cover above the plants. Luckily, Central Market had them on clearance so I bought a bunch. I hope my newly planted melons survive the night.

Alright, enough whining. At least it's not snowing, like it has been in Seattle for the past week.
Things could always be worse :)

Bean Sprouts / Okra Blossom

2009-04-01T18:00:00.006-05:00

Once of the second type of tulips ( which I didn't write down ) is up. This is the one I've been waiting for, with the yellows and red. It's just beautiful. It is much smaller than the other variety though.

Here is a picture of the soon-to-be melon garden. It is twice the size that it was last year. Two nights ago I removed the old winter veggies that had already flowered and gone to seed. All I have left is carrots and a few herbs. The 3x3 herb garden is pretty full, so I'll have to relocate these to one of the other beds. We'll plan on eating the last of the carrots this week. I have 2 cantaloupe, 2 watermelon and 2 cucumber seedlings that I picked up last weekend, awaiting their new home. The natural gardener only had 1 variety of each, which is why I got so few. I plan on going again this week to see if their selection has improved.

Herb garden with society garlic taking center stage.

Dewberry. I found it interesting how bushy this plant is compared to the blackberry, which is one long stick.

I love the instant gratification of beans. As soon as they pop up from the ground they are instant plants, no tiny delicate leaves. In a day or two they'll be double the size of my peppers. I planted both green beans and butter beans. Mmmm!

I also have two tomato plants in this bed from a swap I made with my neighbor. I gave her 1 roma and 1 sun gold. I have no idea what she gave me, I'll have to ask her again. I'm noticing a trend here of me having no idea what's planted in my garden :)

The okra took quite a beating from the cold. I covered everything with row cover, but the leaves still haven't quite recovered. It appears the flowers don't care though. They plan on blooming anyway.

Thai Basil. Added this because I thought it was pretty.

New Banana Tree - First Tulip

2009-03-22T19:43:00.007-05:00

Tulips are my favorite flower and I finally planted some last fall. They started sprouting weeks ago, but didn't flower until this morning. I'm not sure if the flower is supposed to be so close the ground, but I'm not complaining. I planted a total of 10 ( 2 different types) , all of which have sprouted, but only 1 flower so far.

The dewberry plant is flowering. You're not supposed to get any berries the first year, but I just may get a few. The blackberries are just about to flower as well.

I planted both nasturtium and marigold from seed a week or two ago. I haven't had any luck with the marigolds, but almost all of the nasturtiums came up. I didn't get a chance today, but plan on running drip lines to them as well.

After giving up on the marigolds coming up, I picked up 6 yesterday. These worked so well last year at keeping the horn worms away that I just can't do without them.

At the farmers market this weekend a guy was selling banana trees. My husband has been wanting on forever so I finally gave in. I ripped out some ruelllias that I wasn't too fond of and put the tree in a nice corner spot. This location will block the north wind and hopefully keep the tree alive. The type is "Gran Nain". This is the same as the commercial variety. From what I've been reading it should do fine with our weather. The only trick will be keeping the soil moist.

I noticed that a few of the veggies are looking a little rough. The squash is a little yellow in the leaves and the okra has some white veins and just overall looks unhappy. I have all of the veggies on the same drip system, and figure that the amount I'm giving the tomatoes is just too much for the other plants. I attached some 2GPH emitters to the tomatoes, so they'll receive twice as much water as the other plants. I also attached some on-off switches to the okra, so I can give them even less water, if necessary.

The same guy who was selling the banana tree also had columbine. I picked up two, the standard yellow, which is a Texas native and a very pretty purple and yellow. I planted these in the back corner of the yard where there isn't much sun. My only concern is the soil. I read that columbine prefers sandy well-drained soil and my soil is clay.

Spring Veggies Planted / Drip System Installed

2009-03-11T07:42:00.004-05:00

I know it's not quite to the last frost, but I looked at my schedule for the next few weekends and I just won't have time to plant the veggies. I took half a day of vacation friday and got my seedlings into the ground. Saturday I worked on the gazebo again. I'll have to post some pictures soon to show exactly what took what could have been 9 full days of gardening work since late November. Sunday I installed a drip system. The new beds are really more than I have time to manage with the hose, and my tomatoes didn't do as well as they could have last year with consistent watering. It wasn't expensive, and not too difficult. I haven't hooked up a timer yet. Right now I just turn on the hose while I'm getting ready for work or taking a morning walk.

Tomato close-up. I plan on putting straw on all of the beds, once this cold front passes. I did some research and found that straw is a cooling mulch. That is perfect for out hot summers, but no so great when you're trying to keep the beds extra warm.

Brandywine, romas and misc. peppers. I planned on remembering which peppers were which when I transplanted them into bigger pots and that didn't work out so well. I planted all of them, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. I'll figure it out eventually.

Okra and swiss chard. I'm also thinking of planting some sweet potatoes as well.

Yellow squash and zucchini. The seed packed said these don't always transplant well, but mine have really taken off in the last few days. My trick will be trying to ward off the squash-vine borer. I didn't have much luck last year.

Rainbow Cherry, Sungold, misc. peppers. I have also scattered onions though all of the beds.

After planting on friday the weather forecast kept getting worse. Monday afternoon I bought some row cover and covered everything last night. This should protect against potential frost, and the sub-45 degrees that we'll be seeing the next few nights.

To fix my bloom issue ... I picked up a few bluebonnets at the Natural Gardener. I planted them right by the front walk. Ahh ... spring is here, except for that pesky cold front.

Last night I planted some daylily bulbs in this bed as well. I'm hoping the rain will encourage them to pop up quickly. I'd eventually like to make this entire bed full of daylilies. One of my neighbors has a similar thing on the side of the house and it is really beautiful. I am planning on doing the yellow/orange varieties.

Severe Lack of Blooms

2009-03-04T21:37:00.006-06:00

I have been so focused on edibles this winter/spring that I really have no flowers. It is a bit depressing, but I walked through the garden today, taking pictures of new growth instead. The green leaves don't quite have the same visual appeal, but at least it's progress.

Meyer Lemon Buds

Chile Piquin.

This plant was completely smashed last fall when a tree fell on it from across the creek. I am happy to see it recovering so well. Hopefully, we'll get a good harvest this year. I just discovered these tasty peppers after moving to Austin and now I don't know how I lived without them.

Dewberry.

I planted this one just a few weeks ago and it already seems to love it's new home.

Fig stick is now officially one year old.

Strawberries, planted last weekend.

Kumquat Tree.

The yellow has completely left the leaves and the tree is looking extremely healthy. Now we wait for the buds.

Squash, Okra and Pepper Seedlings.

Tomato and Pepper Seedlings.

No blooms, but some beautiful winter color.

I was just heading inside when I turned to the right and saw this bloom peeking out at me. One single rose!

Cooking Up the Veggies

2009-02-24T19:33:00.005-06:00

This week has been a great garden week. Tonight we finally picked our one and only brussel sprout plant. It took me about 5 minutes to get the root out of the ground. I now know why they are in the store/farmer's market w/ all of their stems missing ... they all rip off when you are trying to uproot the plant :) I cooked the brussel sprouts with some bacon, onion, butter, and lemon. mmmm!

Last night we had a salad with the mesclun mix that I grew from seed. I also threw in some home- grown carrots. Sunday we had spaghetti with all fresh herbs and more carrots. I also pulled one of the heads of cabbage and started a batch of sauerkraut. I have never made this before and am excited to see if it turns out. It is so simple to make.

I can't wait for summer veggies!

Squash/Zucchini Planted, Unexpected Flowers

2009-02-22T19:10:00.002-06:00

Last year I had no luck with squash, due to the dreaded squash-vine borers, but this year I've decided to try again. I picked up two packets of seeds, 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash. I planted the seeds Wednesday night and they are already looking great. I plan on moving them to the sunny window in a day or two. I put 4 seeds in each pot, and there are 1 to 2 sprouting in each.

When I was watering the plants this morning I found that two of the tulip bulbs I planted last fall are sprouting. I planted a total of 10, so we'll see if I get any more. I have to say I am pretty happy with the two though. I'll put up pics when they bloom.

I also found an interesting looking flower at the top of the onion. It hasn't opened yet, but the shape is intriguing.

Blackberries/Raspberries Planted

2009-02-15T17:36:00.004-06:00

Today I planted the 2 blackberry plants, 1 raspberry, and 1 dewberry. I planted them along the creek that runs through our yard. I figured this is where they would most likely exist in nature, so hopefully they will do well. I mixed the soil w/ compost, added some buds and blooms and mulched them.

Blackberry

Raspberry

Dewberry

I had gazebo duty this weekend, so didn't get much garden work done, but I am slowly making progress on my to-do list. I bought some zucchini and squash seeds at the store last night, that I may try and plant tonight. I haven't yet convinced DH that we should have a pomegranate tree/bush, so I'm not sure if that will happen this year. I'll keep working on him :)

I know it's bloom day, but I am sorry to say not much is blooming in my garden besides the broccoli! It's not much, but the bees sure love it.

Seedling Update

2009-02-11T18:17:00.001-06:00

I realized that I haven't posted pictures of the seedlings since the first week. They are doing really well, in fact, after the first week I already had to transplant the okra. The tomato roots are growing way outside their little containers, so I envision transplanting the them soon too. The peppers seem to be a little slower than the tomatoes, but when they do germinate, their leaves appear really solid.

I went to my first organic gardeners association meeting at Zilker on Monday. I really enjoyed it, and plan on going back next month. They are having their annual herb and vegetable transplant sale in early march, where the members sell the seedlings they've grown. I hope to be able to participate next year. With as many seedlings that one packet of seeds generates, it would sure be nice to share.