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
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!
Today was the solar eclpise. We were in the 99% range. My brother had rented an airstream and was coming down with his daughter and our mom to be under the 100% path. They were smart enough to cancel. We had thick cloud cover. We went outside and couldn't even tell what part of the … Continue reading What Did We Do For The Eclipse?
Finally done with the pawpaw planting. I added a moat around each to gather rain water. When we get rain in south Texas it's like the sky opens up and a giant waterfall replaces the clouds. It's never "a little bit" anything, down here. I'm going to cover these with shade cloth this year and … Continue reading Crazy Daily Progress
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
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. The wheat sensitivity, is way back from climbing up … Continue reading Best Damn Rainbow Fruit Skewers And Dip Out There!
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
Three beds finished with weeding. Still need to clear out the banana bed and remove some bananas that I no longer want to focus on. Corn is up. Tree beds are nearing completion. Done with Roundup for the beds that I don't grow food in. Also sprayed the kids old play area. Someone put gravel … Continue reading Crazy Garden Progress
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
Years and years ago: I was with my kids and husband driving around doing chores. My husband pulled up to the cleaners and went inside. From the back, my five year old said, "Where is dad going?" I said, "He's picking up his uniform." Amazement and excitement from the backseat: "Daddy has a unicorn!?!" I … Continue reading Funny Kid Sayings
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?
Crazy Green Thumbs 