This is the song that goes through my head when we get heat like this! The Cure: hot hot hot. https://youtu.be/rtmdFX4cXec?si=PD4eOnmwak7MQCIk Ahhhh. 80s memories! Yep. I'm dancing, even in the miserable south Texas sun! Meet you out in the garden where we'll get down to the kings of 80's new wave! Crazy Green Thumbs Crazy … Continue reading No Fun In The Sun
Because these were cut and fitted last year, I was able to get a ladder out and use pvc pipe glue (even in this horrible heat) and get this frame together in a permanent way. It took me very little time, but I'm sweating in sheets right now. Miserable heat and humidity. This is the … Continue reading Crazy Daily Gardening
Blackberries. The mulberry ended its amazing run a couple of weeks ago. A tiny, unripe marionberry. These have a very distinct flavor. You get a blackberry/raspberry flavor with more sweetness than a blackberry and more tart flavor than a raspberry. Since I can't grow regular raspberries down here: I put in a couple of Mysore … Continue reading Today In The Garden
I have a few types of flowers that I grew up seeing in my granny's flower gardens. Bearded iris were her favorites, my mother's favorites and mine. But there's more. Daylillies were always in my other grandmother's garden. She would plant them in huge drifts. I have always grown gladiolus (as annuals), paperwhites, daffodils and … Continue reading Bulb Flowers For Texas
Marionberries and tomatoes Tomatoes Potatoes and tomatoes Onions Corn is tassling! Bananas Muscadine grape High density, hugelkulter tree bed. Block of corn Iris. One of my very favorite flowers! Double bloomed daylillies Blueberries (I already ate half of them!) Tons of daylilly blossoms ready to open. Come outside to visit. I'll save a seat for … Continue reading Today in the Garden
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
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!
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
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
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
I run a mostly organic garden, because: I mostly grow food crops. The only thing I deviate on, is herbicide, and that only goes in select areas. (Like the gravel play area that I did not create.) Well I also use amdro bait. I cannot abide fire ants in my beds. So, as I'm gardening … Continue reading Local Lizards
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
Crazy Green Thumbs 