As an update to this post: spread mulch where you would have put rock. Read along about how taking permanent action against a short term problem, creates even more problems and stops permanent solutions. While we were in Colorado there was a trend to rip out anything that was growing and replace it with a … Continue reading Please Don’t Rock Your Yard!
I'm going to share my pear journey with the hard to find, but ridiculously tasty Biscamp pear. There's not much information out there and even 6 years, post purchase, the company I bought it from still has very little information and nothing new added to their website. I bought my Biscamp pear from justfruitsandexotics.com I … Continue reading Biscamp Pear
This Easter we went to our family's low country shrimp boil in San Antonio. I love the food every year! This year though, was a bit different. I discovered last year that I can't eat wheat. I've developed an allergy to it, and it's pretty serious. I'm not gluten intolerant, either. I can eat other … Continue reading Best Damn Rainbow Fruit Skewers And Dip Out There!
We had a nice long winter, down here in Texas, that had enough chill hours for my fruit trees. Unfortunately, our bee population this early in the spring is pretty sparse. I had some hardships that made it impossible to get out and pollinate my pear tree. After I watched all of the small fruit … Continue reading Be The Bee! How And When Hand Pollinating Makes Sense.
Hidden uses of your spring garden!
This is a great time of year to plan and build raised beds. This is how I built my raised beds and I have given them no supplemental watering in the last two years of San Antonio heat and I've had bumper crops with almost no input outside of planting and occasional weeding! This has … Continue reading Mother’s Day Raised Hugelkultur Bed!
I love making Halloween decorations, but I think they should be nearly free. Most of the things in our yard are homemade (with the exception of a couple of blow up displays and some skeletons.) I need my display to make a big impact (because we are trying to get people to walk down a … Continue reading Witch Circle/Ghost ring
I saw this and I had to make one! All of my Halloween decorations are cheap, but some require a little planning. If you want to make this you will need to find the pieces and order them so that this is done before Halloween! First order of business is acquiring the parts. I've included … Continue reading Cousin It… Oh Yeah!
We love Halloween at our house and so do most of our neighbors! We see all kinds of great decorations, but most of them are purchased. I'm from a generation that made their costumes every year because there weren't other options. I like to decorate for Halloween but I am not interested in spending a … Continue reading Last Minute Kid Friendly Halloween Decorations
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. I am not affiliated … Continue reading Beginning Gardener: Class 4-Walking You Through What You Need To Know
I love making Halloween decorations! I also love to make CHEAP decorations. I don't think I can find a good reason to buy a lot of what I see in the stores. I am pretty happy with a lot of what I can make, too. I live in South Texas. Halloween celebrations are almost as … Continue reading Milk Jug Spider
All great and wonderful things should have another go! Here's my packing tape ghost from last year. I will definitely be making another this year (along with the spider egg sacks.) Happy Halloween! Oh, I had fun making this! I saw this "packing tape ghost" idea in a pin, but the instructions given seemed nearly … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
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 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
We live a little east of San Antonio. When hurricane Harvey's winds were just a few hours out, I had a choice: bring in severely under ripe, astringent, Asian persimmons (and super green tomatoes) or risk breaking the brittle branches that were loaded with fruit and have the fruit split from the deluge. (Mine happen … Continue reading Will They Ripen?
Winter is on the way! It's time to brush up on your gardening skills and learn new gardening gifts! I am ready to share everything with you! 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 … Continue reading Beginner Gardeners: Walking You Through What You Need To Know
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
I tend to write posts for problems I come across and can’t find an answer out there…anywhere! This year I wanted to make gingerbread cookies for my kid’s teachers. I knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish (a yummy gingerbread cookie dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes.) It sounded simple enough. … Continue reading Drool Worthy Gingerbread Cookies From A Molasses Cookie Mix
Get my new e-book on Amazon! It’s free with Kindle Unlimited or $3.99 to purchase. There are projects in this e-book that you won’t find anywhere else, like: a tutorial for my 20 foot spiderweb; Solid, fast human shaped forms and more; plus all of the tutorials you can find on my website. There’s 14 … Continue reading Easy Packing Tape Ghost
While we had plenty of rain this year for my vegetables it was a poor year for fruit. We got so much rain this year that the peaches all aborted and the limbs oozed sap trying to find a way to compensate for the deluge. My persimmon also dropped most of its fruit in response … Continue reading Shrub-A-Dub-Dub What To Do With Imperfect Fruit
Crazy Green Thumbs 