By Jannie Vaught This is a practice my Farming Gardening Grandparents did. My Grandfather was also a water dowser using a fresh willow branch that had a Y. He had me walking all over the garden with that branch until it finally went down on its own. And that was a big moment for me. Planting with the Signs……… This is very familiar with mainly … Continue reading Planting By The Signs
By Jannie Vaught Even the growing regions with warmer weather are Waiting. The ease we use to have and the regular dates and schedules are now ineffective due to the usually cold and ice storms we have had and now another volley of cold and wet. This makes it that Wait till the sun shines. Our usual time to plant potatoes is Valentine’s Day Feb … Continue reading This Is The Season Of Wait
By Jannie Vaught Don’t let the name scare you this is not table salt which will render soil unusable for years unknown. This is magnesium-sulfate, a micronutrient that plants need to grow stay green and thrive. For pennies on the dollar. There are 2 types. The one you buy at the drug store or an Agriculture grade. The drug store one is the one you … Continue reading Using Epson Salt In The Garden-Myth or Miracle
Jannie Vaught This is always the time of year when many gardeners have a serious case of “Garden Itch”. The waiting for official Spring is a waiting game. We are having high and low temps. One day is t-shirts and the next minute its layers and gloves. Still, the “Itch” to get planting is hard to ignore. It is almost Feb 14 potato planting time … Continue reading The Garden Itch
By Jannie Vaught What Are the essentials needed for starting seeds indoors? They need a good starting mix, heat, light, and Moisture!!! So you have your table up and ready. Your lights are hung above the table and you have your starting cell trays with bottoms trays that are new or clean and a bottom heating pad for seed starting. Lets start with the Starting … Continue reading Seed Starting Time
By Jannie Vaught The early young grasses are showing and the first Bee feeding blossoms the Dandelion are beginning to show. We in central Texas are in Grow Zone 8a with the last frost around mid-march. But my itch to get outside is seriously getting more bothersome by the day. I have learned the lesson of starting too early and starting over, we have a … Continue reading Spring Is On The Way
By Jannie Vaught This week I carefully went through my seed collection and did a plan for what I want to grow this year along with the much-worn garden journal. We are focusing on the variety we know to grow well for us, Celebrity is one we really like, Italian paste and a cherry for salad and garden snacking. It is pea time and we … Continue reading Yes, It Is The Seed Starting Time for This Gardener
By Jannie Vaught A few of this and that, soil carbon indicators, minerals, and planting dates for zone 8A. We have had snow! Now that is a date to remember! With this comes questions about soil, planting times, and when to keep a weather eye out. Let’s look at soil organic matter in the soil. This is focusing on Garden location, not lawn or wild … Continue reading Snow And This And That
By Jannie Vaught Yesterday afternoon I was enjoying a stroll through our back garden and now leafless fruit trees and I noticed that there were wild or feral bees going after some outdated fruit jam I had placed in a dish for the 4 chickens who live in my back garden area. They were eating like they were starving! Maybe they were as this early … Continue reading How To Help Pollinators This The Winter
By Jannie Vaught The leaves are falling. Just the other day there was a warm breeze and with it, the leaves began to tumble to the earth. There is a scent to Autumn and for this gardener, it is the drying of the leaves and the sound of them as I walk across the yard under the trees. That’s the scent of Autumn. With that, … Continue reading The Scent Of Autumn
By Jannie Vaught As gardeners, we understand the “Need to know” weather and temperature fluctuation. And it has been a bumpy ride. For the last week, I have been preparing for a Cold Front to be heading this way. It has arrived with a sudden drop and wind. Watching the weather news I thought I was ahead of it by half a day. I moved … Continue reading A Gardener’s Need To Know
By Jannie Vaught With cooler weather, my personal time outside has greatly increased. That means plants, feed the soil turn the compost, and plant the seeds. I am having some insect pressure and that just tells me that all of the living creatures are preparing for the winter. Pecans are falling and some leaves are turning. With that, the thought of turning on the oven … Continue reading This Autumn Is Looking To Be A Very Good Growing Season
Oxalis By Jannie Vaught I’m always eager for spring and the flush of much awaited Blue Bonnets and all the fantastic fields of flowers along with flowering trees like Red Bud and Mexican Plum, but I have to say this fall is bringing exceptional flowers. What I’m seeing now is Golden crownbeard or Cowpen daisy, Scarlet sage, and Turks cap. Along with Baby blue eyes. … Continue reading Fall Native Flowers Are Showing Their Beautiful Colors
Jannie Vaught, Along with rain and schoolhouse Lily, it has been a long hot dry summer. But as I remember Autumn is good here in the Hill Country. What I’m planting, it is “Roots and Shoots”. Beets, carrots, turnips, and rutabaga. garlic, bulbing onions, and Artichoke are coming back after their end of summer trim back. Greens are; Collards, mustard, kale, and lots of lettuce … Continue reading Autumn Has Arrived!!
By Jannie Vaught For many gardeners, the simple fact is we are watering to keep out vital fruit and shade trees alive. The perennials like grapes and berries are looking tired and the many fall producing plants like sweet potatoes and the pepper plants are needing irrigation to get them through to some rain. Yesterday I opened the saved rainwater hoping they will make it … Continue reading Reminding Gardeners To Water In Hard Times
Jannie Vaught In the northern hemisphere begins autumm on September 22. If you have noticed the ash and elm trees, even some of the mulberry trees are dropping leaves and are beginning to change from green to yellow. The light is shifting and our length of the day is shortening and with cooler temperatures, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll starts breaking down … Continue reading Autumn 2020
By Jannie Vaught The heavy drought and extreme heat have all but finished the tomatoes! But, with daily watering and when I see them in this extremely stressed condition. It appears that they are showing me they are in need of this sooner. If you grow Heritage tomatoes Indeterminant variety they will continue to produce long after the determinant plants have given up. Start by … Continue reading The Drought and Heat
By Jannie Vaught Yes, how about a happy, healing, or relaxing garden design? Take some time to look at all 3 levels. Ground level, mid-level and upper story. Are you trudging to the back to plant, water and compost or can you enjoy possibly a curved walk under fruiting or flowering tree a row of native grasses, flowers, and grains along the walk to the … Continue reading Designing Your Garden, Landscape, And Applying A Design That Has “Feelings”
By Jannie Vaught, With a warmer winter, the natural elimination of pests through freeze has had an effect on this seasons growth. Bugs! How do we make Pest and Disease controllable? Build your habitat with Natures Preditors! Yes, the bugs that eat the bugs. This includes Ladybugs, mantis, birds, toads, garter snakes, and even wasps. Some bees will even predate other insects. Hummingbirds don’t just … Continue reading This Is A Year Of Pests In The Garden
By Jannie Vaught The (Cucurbitaceae) along with cantaloupe, honeydew, and cucumber originally domesticated in West Africa. This is a vining flowering plant with over 1000 varieties. The health benefits are Beta carotene and phenolic antioxidant found in the red to orange colors and it gets better as the melon ripens Low in calories and full of hydration, vitamins, and rich in iron. Planting and … Continue reading The Wonderful Watermelon
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