One of my family's favorite summer foods are often called either "quick" or "refrigerator" pickles. These make the crunchiest pickles because they aren't cooked. I grow Armenian cucumbers, which are actually melons. They taste like cucumbers and they don't get bitter in our high heat like actual cucumbers do. So, I always have fresh additions … Continue reading Quick/Refrigerator Pickles
This is why this fruiting plant loves the desert. Rain gives it "heart rot". I will eventually cut these open and half of what I have will be black with mold from the rain. It's ruined the skin of the fruit. Although, I can usually cut a lot of the rot out and still use … Continue reading Wet Pomegranates
Here's a babaco papaya. I'm keeping it on my covered porch. It doesn't like my sun and usual super hot summers. It's a mountain growing plant where it's from. All the rain and cooler temperatures have kept it happy on the porch. I brought the strawberry bags under the porch as well. I soak them … Continue reading What Is In My July Garden
Lots of fun at the bird sanctuary today. I found things I've never seen before. I thought someone had put Christmas lights on a bush! It's actually in the cucurbit family and is a wild vine down here. In all my years in Texas I've never seen this vine before! It's a Ibervillea lindheimeri. A … Continue reading Pretty Cool Grasshopper!
My glads are still pumping out flowers. This has definitely been a weird year. Lots of rain and no 100+°F weeks of misery. I'll take it! Meet you out in the garden to be astonished by the blooms! Crazy Green Thumbs
Today is my twelve year anniversary for my blog: Crazy Green Thumbs. This has been so fun! Thank you to all of you who read, comment and shape this blog! I'm also having a great day for views. If you'd like to see my advice for blogging, click here: Writing A Successful Blog Meet you … Continue reading Yayyyy!
Both my kids are in scouts. There's a lot of scout bashing going on these days and I'm here to say: scouting has not changed much since my brother got eagle in the 90's. You will never regret the self reliance, the abilities your scout gains and the confidence your young man acquires as a … Continue reading Eagle Project
I have some buddies taking refuge in my pear tree while it's raining. Texas skies open up and just dump rivers of water when we get storms. These doves are happy I haven't cut this tree down yet. Meet you out in the garden to see who is visiting today. Crazy Green Thumbs
I have a huge city water bill. The problem is often that I've watered too much. So, I bought this little do-dad. It's a moisture meter. It was about six dollars. I went around my yard testing the soil. I was honestly really surprised about where there was a lack of water, and also where … Continue reading Best Garden Product This Year
Crepe myrtles have been a symbol of the south for a very long time. Some people love them, some people hate them. I'm both. I really do not like the ones meant to mimic lilacs. But, crepe myrtles are a poor substitute for lilacs. Yes they flower with big fluffy blooms, but there's no scent … Continue reading Crepe Myrtles, Texas Style
I had a poor potato harvest this year, however it was entirely my fault. I was sick when I needed to plant these and so they went in the ground about two months late. Same with my onions. Same with the corn. Luckily (for my health), the kid who brings home the most colds is … Continue reading Potatoes And Flowers
I live in the South. Where I am: summer ends up getting really hot (above 100° Fahrenheit) with little to no rain for months at a time. In summer we get moisture that blows in from the Gulf of Mexico and that humidity (without rain) is a real problem. There are weeks where we don't … Continue reading Show Stopping, Southern Shrubs
Summer is officially bearing down on us down here in South Texas. Boy, is it hot! If you garden: you sure don't want to do it in the middle of the day when it's over 100°F! However, all the things down here that I choose to plant will usually sail through the heat as long … Continue reading Summer Sun And The Fruits Of My Labor
Pawpaws are a difficult plant to place. In their young life pawpaws are an understory tree in the eastern US. They need shade when young. As they grow: they break through that shady forest canopy, where they grow, and want full sun. This is a replacement pawpaw. Unfortunately, I had a failed attempt last year … Continue reading Putting Some Shade Cloth On The Pawpaws
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
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
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
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.
We've had rain the last week and cloudy skies so our temperatures have been cooler than usual. I don't know what is wrong with my bed of corn. The seed is from burpee's and I usually have better quality seed. It could be that. However, I have not rotated beds in the last three years … Continue reading Easing Into Summer
Shade cloth structure is in for the year. The plants under this are low chill cherries (a Minnie Royal and a Royal Lee) and a low chill dwarf peach (Bonanza). All are from Raintree Nursery. My dwarf peach. Roma tomatoes. Some cukes forming. Potatoes, doing potato-y things. The ginormous pomegranate bush next to my hugelkulter … Continue reading Summer Heat San Antonio
Chronicling a delusional gardening experience.
Crazy Green Thumbs 