By Jannie Vaught Our gardens are beginning to shape up! Our potatoes have been hilled for the first time, Compost and Phosphorus and Tomato Tone along with some Calcium Nitrate granules all measured and mixed into the compost, wheelbarrow going down the rows and placed at each plant and a handful between for the growing roots to find. All this done or still in process. … Continue reading The Whole Picture Of The Garden
By Jannie Vaught, Planting in mid -season or shoulder season, generally there are 2 garden seasons, but if your are a gardener in a warmer climate with less frost or deep freezing the shoulder or mid-season are very productive. We have annual and perennial plants in our gardens. And many of the annuals are actually perennial, meaning they will grow year round for m zone … Continue reading The Mid-Shoulder Season
By; Jannie Vaught Well here we are almost at the end of a hot July! What to do in the garden? Sow seeds: Amaranth, Black eye peas, Corn, Cucumbers, New Zealand spinach, Okra, Pumpkin, Squash (winter and summer). Fruit: Cantaloupe and Watermelon. Herbs: Anise, Basil, Bay Laurel, Catnip, Cumin, Horehound, Lavender, Oregano, Perilla, Rosemary, Sage, Santolina, Savory, Sorrel, Tansy, Tarragon, Thyme, Transplant: Eggplant, Peppers, … Continue reading July In The Garden
By Jannie Vaught Marion-Webster definition, a garden in which plants (such as vegetables or herbs) for use in the kitchen are cultivated. Location is an important subject. It is close to the kitchen door. Some who like to figure measurements say 25 steps away. Or you walk past if from the car to the door. Or off the patio where you can gather and enjoy … Continue reading The Topic For Today Is Kitchen Gardens
By Jannie Vaught Let’s dive a little deeper on this subject. Habitat, his can be a wooded country site or an urban car park. This is determined by the food plant of the caterpillar and the nectar source of the butterfly. Some butterflies are happy with several food sources habitat and breeding areas while some are fussier and require very specific places and plants. … Continue reading Butterflies Need More Than Flowers And Nectar
By Jannie Vaught Just when your garden is struggling and your enthusiasm is at an all-time low, something or someone steps into your path and shares with you something that sets that spark a light. This happened this Saturday at our LLano farmers market. Elizabeth Mcmahon “Beth” horticulture county extension agent for Gilespie county, regularly comes to Llano farmers market and has her lovely produce … Continue reading The Uninspired Garden
By Jannie Vaught This time of the gardening season always presents some very special and unusual problems and things that make me go huum? Here is a few. Tassel-ear corn, vine borers, no cucumbers and fire ants in the tomatoes. Let’s tackle these with a fine clear mind of interest. The weirdest on this list is tassel-ear corn. This seems to be very popular this … Continue reading The Weird List Of Summer Special And Unusual Problems
By: Jannie Vaught For this Gardner, it is a big Thank You! The heat did cause some heat issues and with consistent and deep watering most of the garden is still in production, although slowed down or gone off the rails with ripening. I got plums galore and my later ripening peaches have slowed a bit. The blackberries for me are recovering from a full-on … Continue reading Rain! A Respite From The Searing Heat
By: Jannie Vaught As the spring season lengthens and we press on into Summer, this is my intention. Learn more about Texas Native Plants and the big one for this gardener is grasses. The What are they, where are they and are they a help or a problem. As with all big topics, let’s shorten the list and study just a few. On the … Continue reading Its All About The Natives
By Jannie Vaught The flowers turning into fruit and vegetables, we will also notice the potential for improvement to next years garden! First, we need to know and understand what we have under our feet. Here is a super easy way to do a home soil texture test for clay, sand, and silt. In a quart jar place a core sample of your soil. … Continue reading As We See Our Garden Growing
By Jannie Vaugh Wonder and beauty for all the flowers and garden plants breaking into the sun and the next wonder. I wonder what the wacky weather is going to do now! First, let’s take a look at the Native flowers and grasses that are blooming. For a good reference online go to uswildflowers.com Texas. And Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. Although we are Bluebonnet focused … Continue reading The Days Of Spring Are filled With Work and Wonder
By Jannie Vaugh We have been waiting for this day. Also arriving are the sneaky garden bugs. Have a look at the underside of your cabbage and mustard leaves for aphids or the dreaded stinkbug! Get the soap and water in the sprayer ready. It could be another buggy year. I have been told that Rescue stinkbug traps are worth trying and are just … Continue reading Spring Has Sprung With the Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, and Yellow Asters
weather By: Jannie Vaught Can you say Burrr? I can and it has taken a large toll on the garden and the creatures that inhabit it. Even my artichokes are looking like they are surrendering to the frozen effect of winters domain. I have done chop and drop, a simple cut down and leave in place and have let the hens in to scratch and … Continue reading The Winter Chill
By: Jannie Vaught How many ways are there to plant potatoes? Well about as many as you can imagine? Today we will cover planting in barrels, pot’s and bags. For someone with limited space growing potato’s for a few summer meals is possible. First decide the variety you want to grow. Then the way you want to grow. You will need a sunny place with a … Continue reading An Easy Way to Grow Potatoes
By:Jannie Vaught Late June and we are in full Garden production. We have had some challenges and issues due to the heavy storms and with all that said. What a Beautiful Garden Year! Just a reminder to stay on task with feeding protocols. If your plants are looking tired, they probably are. It takes a lot for them to grow, flower and produce. I … Continue reading Knowing When to Feed
By: Jannie Vaught June has come in with a lot of growth and heat! The tempature and sun are giving us a really interesting end of spring. With the record breaking amount of storms and flooding rain the result for many gardners are leggy plants. Small or muchy onions and endless pests. This is definitely challenging and takes lots of learning. This evening I noticed … Continue reading Gardening In A Humid Wet Spring
By: Jannie Vaught After all the rain storms, flooding loss and grief, the clean up continues. Now the beautiful abundance has turned into a problem. After moving, weed whacking, pulling weeds, and hauling into a large pile of limbs there is still too much! So today I decided to focus on the raised beds. The grass was as high as an elephants eye and the grass … Continue reading After The Storms
By: Jannie Vaught A few Saturdays ago in the afternoon I had the opportunity to sit in on the Highland Lakes Native Plant Society of Texas at the Marble Falls Library. The speaker was Hans Landel, Ph.D . Current Interim Invasive Species coordinator at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. First of all the group is fun and enthusiastic and really, “Into” invasive species. … Continue reading Learning New Ways to Help Natives Plants To Thrive
By: Jannie Vaught Last fall I wrote about how to plant and grow garlic. One of the easiest crops to grow. Now this week end I harvested my first 2 beds of Chinese pink and by following the organic growing recommendation this is by far the best ever! Big Garlic with long roots and lovely pink color. I used the keeneorganics.com site and am growing … Continue reading Garlic, The Easiest Plant To Grow
By: Jannie Vaught This weekend was spent inside planning and plotting next seasons garden plans and as my rain water barrels overflowed, I was quietly happy. This means more water on the garden a little hail damage but the moisture was worth the concern. Now with this big storm and all the great available nitrogen everything is ultra green. This is the gardeners constant state … Continue reading Next Season’s Planting
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