I got a call the other day from a neighbor. "I have seven bricks, do you want them?" "Yes! Yes, I do!" I have plans for bricks, and free ones are the best kind! These plans were sparked by regularly spending hours on Pinterest (Can't sleep? It's Pinterest time!) and randomly remembering a few pins … Continue reading Painting Pavers To Look Like Books
Who knew these make great wine? Update: this recipe came out excellent. I did not have to backsweeten after about a year and a half of aging. It really mellowed nicely. The sharp notes from the peel, are now smooth and give it depth. Although, I think I'll make it next time without the peel … Continue reading Armenian Cucumber Wine
These cute glass mushrooms with solar lights built in are so easy and so cheap! Since I haven't had a craft on here in a while, I feel like I'm overdue. I'm super excited to share this idea with you! We're coming up on a year since my husband was able to come home and … Continue reading DIY Red And White Mushroom Solar Light
Corn Blackberries Persimmons (Fuyu) Tomato in a hydroponic bucket Potatoes, tomatoes and onions I'm using for scallions Marionberries, tomatoes and iris Peppers are perennials down here. These are bird peppers from last year. These were a gift from a great neighbor who loves to garden. Cherries on the left. I replaced the apples with a … Continue reading In The Garden
I'm trying a lot of new stuff this year. I've got wicking beds started. I made huge, permanent ones for fruiting bushes. Beginning of permanent wicking beds. Find this project here: wicking bed Then I have some specialty holes I have for two trees that don't like my soil. Completely replaced soil, plus small raised … Continue reading Off Grid Hydroponic Buckets
This is how I used to start things when I had no natural shade. You can see how I created shade for seedlings. I need to divide these daylillies and I haven't weeded or planted in here yet. (I'm really behind this year.) But this set up is ideal for starting vining plants on trellises … Continue reading South Texas Sun Burning Up Your Seedlings?
I live in Texas. Things get hot fast and our springs are usually very hot, windy and dry. Putting out transplants is tough. If you are using grow lights and have sprouted your seed indoors (or if you bought from a nursery that grew inside a greenhouse): your plants are not going to like immediate … Continue reading Planting In A Raised Bed: Getting Around Hardening Off
I usually grow my vining melons on a trellis. Trellising makes them easy to care for and the plants themselves are healthier. Getting melon vines off the ground keeps the powdery mildew under control and I can easily spray the leaves when the inevitable aphid explosion comes. Since I like to research things, and I'm … Continue reading Melon Trellising
Long day today, but it was nice out, so I didn't mind. Worked on the wicking bed. I did a lot of it trying to film with my video camera but I need to sit down and actually read the directions. I'm really not good at electronics! Shoveling a bunch of gravel into my wagon … Continue reading Crazy Day, Numero Dos
Today and tomorrow are going to be in the 70's. Probably the last two days like this until fall. So, I'm trying to get a ton of stuff done. My husband was supposed to go after the boxwoods that are out of control. I needed to cut back the giant fig I have. Since I've … Continue reading How Much Craziness Can One Girl Get Up to In A Day?
I bought two blueberry plants from Raintree Nursery a couple of years ago. I'm really enjoying having my own supply. This is today's haul: Just enough to make me happy! The plants are still small, but they're still young. Blueberries need acidic soil and lots of water. They have a shallow root system. You can … Continue reading Growing Blueberries in South Texas
Plant these things now! This is a summer tutorial, but you need to start these plants as soon as possible to harvest them this summer! The things I grow in summer are things that I don't have to baby. Today our "feel like" temperature was 103 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not interested in doing manual labor … Continue reading Low Maintenance, Highly Productive, Summer Vegetables.
Yes, the word "drain" and "tile" put together means black, corrugated, maybe perforated, underground drainage tubing. You know! Because... it does! I mean when someone says: "tile" I immediately think of ribbed plastic tubing. Duhh. And every project I dream up, has stages. (Like my kids lego builds.) There's pictures in my head of what … Continue reading Lots Of Drain Tile And Lunacy
Instructions on use. We're coming up on the last few weeks to get beneficial nematodes in before the summer heat. I buy nematodes every year. Sometimes I add them in fall, sometimes in spring. But no matter which season you choose, heat is your enemy. Full list of target insects and the variety of nematodes … Continue reading Don’t Wait To Get Rid Of Soil Borne Insects.
While we were in Colorado there was a trend to rip out anything that was growing and replace it with a gravel landscape. Every time I saw someone ripping out their grass to do this: I wanted to throttle them. Here is why: rock is not low maintenance. I understand those who don't garden are … Continue reading Please Don’t Rock Your Yard!
Planted pawpaw. Everyone has some sort of limitations in gardening. It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too wet, it's too dry. All kinds of things can be problematic. My issue is my soil. And yes, maybe, it could be worse. I don't know how. Maybe if I lived in the Sahara desert... I could … Continue reading Planting Fruit Trees, In Garbage Soil: Pawpaw Edition
Had to net the mulberry tree. The new green growth will harden like this before I get the net back off, so it will have a sort of weeping form. That's fine by me because I don't like climbing ladders to mess with fruit trees. These mulberries are way ahead of anything else in the … Continue reading Crazy Garden Updates
Like most things: Texas does grubs on a giant scale. I think these are Hercules beetle grubs, but it's an: "if you build it they will come" thing. Anytime you bury uncomposted material, like straw or cardboard, you will get these down here. They mostly eat dead, rotting things, but I have had them show … Continue reading Grody Grubs
I'm in San Antonio. I grow Asian persimmons and have done so for about twelve years. The first tree was a dud. It was an astringent persimmon, a Saijo. It was fantastically sweet, but had the texture of a water balloon filled with snot. Varying degrees of ripeness from the Saijo. Persimmons can be cooked. … Continue reading Non Astringent, Asian Persimmon In South Texas
If you are my age (in my 50's), you might remember the music at the bottom of this post. It's music we don't hear anymore. But in the past: I always heard it at grandma's. I remember eating cereal in the morning at grandma's house. The radio would be on, first came the farm report: … Continue reading In The Garden
Sitting out in a protected area strengthening the plants. You put your seed out. You watered them in. You waited. Where are they? If you live in Texas, or the south in general, I'll give you some ideas about what could have gone wrong. If you know what these are... You know what this is. … Continue reading Where are my seeds?
Tons of Dwarf ever bearing mulberries. Morus nigra are supposed to be the best tasting of the mulberries. If you look online, experts on mulberries say the dwarf ever bearing variety is not a nigra. So, even nurseries mislabel this tree. If you want the nitty gritty try this link. These were sold to me … Continue reading Munch Mulberries Much?
So, this year I am starting really late. I'm out beyond where I should be, to be planting corn and potatoes. But, hey, you work with what you got. Because I was so sick a few weeks ago the weeds in the yard are tall and happy and laughing at me! Oh yes, they think … Continue reading Oh, The Weeds…
Fig pushing out leaves. Random fig I took a cutting from, when I was pushing a stroller through the neighborhood, about 12 years ago. I got a lot of plant starts back when my kids were in diapers. I had a stroller sling to carry (and disguise) my pirated plant pieces! This is a Celeste … Continue reading Fig, Breba Crop. Spring in San Antonio
Well, I repotted the tree that had fireants in it. This tree is two years old and I just haven't had time to put it in the ground yet. It's also in a pot because it came damaged with the box opened and the roots smashed by UPS. It really struggled last year, it still … Continue reading The Fire Ant Saga
Well, it depends on what is growing in the pot. If it's flowers you can use bait or poison. No big deal. But this is a fruit tree. I could try drenching with a bucket of neem oil, but I just don't think that's going to do it. How do you know you have ants … Continue reading What Do You Do With A Pot Full Of Fireants?
The birds plant these for me. They look like a holly, but they aren't. This is a wild edible berry that grows down here on the edge of dry forests. What is it? It's a Mahonia trifoliolata (aka agarita berry). It's a type of barberry and is our South Texas version of a currant. Harvesting … Continue reading Plant, Plant, What Is This Plant?
This is the fourth and final installment of my beginner gardening tutorial. For this class I decided to list some of my favorite books and growing aides. The book list is by no means exhaustive but I have some that have truly helped me form the backbone of my gardening approach. These products have definitely … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 4-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
These bananas are giants. Quite a bit of work to prepare the bed for winter. Just like the fruit, cut stalks quickly turn black from oxidation. What banana stems look like on the inside. I used a pole saw on these. However, it was a lot of work. This year I'm going to buy an … Continue reading Over Wintering Bananas, In San Antonio, Texas
This is the third part of a four part online course. It’s free and if you would like to know more go to the top of this page and click on the Gardening Basics tab. Or you can get the first and second parts of this course here: Beginning Gardener (part 1) and Beginning Gardener … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 3-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
Learning to garden takes time. It's also helpful to have a seasoned gardener show you how to garden in your area. If you don't have someone on hand: you now have me! I may not live where you do (and it makes a huge difference if you are growing in a different area) but I … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 2-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
Who would have thought I'd like a Miley Cyrus song. She's a couple decades younger than I am. As she was spinning up, I was finally shutting that part of my life down. I didn't want anything to do with her. That uncontrollable wild streak wasn't something I wanted to engage with anymore. It took … Continue reading I Used To Be Young.
Spring is on the way! It's time to brush up on your gardening skills and learn about new gardening ideas. This year I thought I'd get back to basics and start publishing pieces of my gardening advice from my page: Gardening Basics. For the novice gardener: read on and stay tuned! This is pretty much … Continue reading Beginner Gardener: Class 1 Walking You Through What You Need To Know
Who knew these make great wine? I started making my own wine last year. I was gifted a link to a gentleman who makes his own wine from store bought juice, granular sugar and bread yeast. I don't like sweet wines and I really didn't like how his recipe turned out. It's good to add … Continue reading Armenian Cucumber Wine
This is actually a fruit wine I made with my own fruit and a wine kit. The instructions below don't require any extra equipment. I've made shrubs for years. Fill a bowl with imperfect fruit, add sugar, spices, macerate the mix, strain it, age a few days and add a little white vinegar and you … Continue reading Homemade Alcohol for a Shrub.
Homemade yogurt. What do you do if you want to get probiotics into your family but everyone is tired of yogurt? I started making homemade probiotic yogurt last year. It's delicious and everyone in the family agreed. Then, slowly, my husband stopped eating it and then both my sons didn't want it in their lunches … Continue reading Probiotic Water
My totals from 2023 back to when I started. The highest viewership year, I was picked up by a large aggregate site and I had an article published in a magazine. Interestingly, the two years before 2023 my husband was working out of state and I had exactly zero time for my blog. That aggregate … Continue reading How to Write A Successful Blog
I love using milk jugs! My kids drink a lot of milk and we always have empty gallon milk containers. These are always useful in my garden! I use them to harden off transplants and in this blog entry: to keep tender plants (like tomatoes) outside, where they're warm and have plenty of light, while … Continue reading Quick Mini Greenhouses From Milk Jugs
My grandmother used to make cinnamon pickles out of watermelon rind. It was a dessert she proudly put on our plates. They were delicious and in memory of her, I now make them yearly for my extended family and my kids. Last year I also tried a vanilla pickle which was pretty gross. I'm not … Continue reading Just In Time For Christmas: Modern Cinnamon Pickles And Lemon Candy Pickles!
Winter is a wonderful time to read up on gardening literature. When your garden is fast asleep, it is the perfect time to make preparations for next year. Whether you are new to gardening or an old hand: this is the yearly time for reflection. What has worked for you? What have you struggled with? … Continue reading Winter: Garden Planning
During the holiday season I reflect on the things I am grateful for. At the top of the list is my family, and more specifically: my two young sons. The following article is my love letter to my boys. From the beginning through the end of every day, they are always in my thoughts. I … Continue reading A love letter to my boys
So. I know better than to try and grow a large scale "defiance garden". That's what I call growing things that your climate and soil won't support. But, I'm a gardener. The whole point of gardening is to place plant matter in places that didn't have them before. Basically anything you purposefully put in the … Continue reading What If It’s Too Hot? Growing Fruit Trees In Texas.
Last Friday my youngest son came home from school and didn't feel well. He tested positive for RSV and he has bronchitis. He got some antibiotics to help with the gunk in his chest but we were having trouble getting him to cough it out. Fire cider to the rescue! This stuff is really good … Continue reading Fire Cider: Immunity Booster
Hmmm. Super long, snake bean. Usually when I am deep diving into large seed catalogs and I see "like ____, but better" I roll my eyes and think OK, I'm game. Prove it. This is what happened when I saw and then purchased seed for the Indian Python Snake Bean at rareseeds.com (AKA Python Snake … Continue reading Like Green Beans… But Better?
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Everyone focuses on the pretty, fruitful parts of a garden. But there is usually a system set up in the background making it possible. This timer has the main hoses out to the four raised hugelkulter vegetable beds. The hoses have painter's tape and labels for which bed they go to. The splitter above the … Continue reading Today’s Crazy Gardening
This is a great time of year to plan and build raised beds. This is how I built my raised beds and I only give them supplemental watering in the worst of San Antonio's 100+ degree heat. I've had bumper crops with almost no input outside of planting and occasional weeding! This has been a … Continue reading Mother’s Day Raised Hugelkultur Bed!
I really am loving this tree. I think this is it's third year. Amazingly productive. Takes a lot of water to clean the berries but they are full of anthocyanins, so in my opinion, worth it! My husband and I were eating them by the handful tonight! Plastic tarp under the tree. Shook a lot … Continue reading Another Load Of Mulberries!
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So, I have a sprinkler that doesn't work on one end of my yard and a giant oak that sucks up all the water on the other. The rest of my sprinkler system is not solving this issue, so: I decided to run drip line. Omg. I forgot how much I hate installing drip line! … Continue reading Short Frustrating Day In The Garden
Mine was my granny's rose garden. Another was the flowerbeds around the farmhouse that my dad's parents lived at. Such beautiful memories!
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