By Jannie Vaught “Let food be your medicine let medicine be your food” A famous quote that has stood the test of time by the Greek physician Hippocrates. Regenerative agriculture has many layers of the health of the soil, and the learning just keeps going. A book to have in your gardening library is “From Dirt to Soil, One family’s journey into regenerative agriculture “by … Continue reading Growing Food As Medicine
By Jannie Vaught One day we are running the cooler and in a few days a cold front is dipping into our region and we are back with the heater on. What does this mean for the new plants in the garden? Plants at 39 degrees can feel the chill and will need a cover to be safe. Tomatoes which are now beginning to flower … Continue reading April Is Full Of Surprises
By Jannie Vaught It is planting time; we had a little cold snap on Easter, but the night temperatures weren’t to the frost. I planted the biggest Tomato starts last weekend, the smaller cherry variety got a promotion to bigger pots until next week and some went into 5 gallon and larger tubs, buckets with holes or pots. Some went into the raised beds and … Continue reading April In The Garden
By Jannie Vaugh Beans, snap, and lima. Cantaloupe, Swiss Chard, Collards seeds or transplants, cucumber, eggplant, greens cool season, Okra first of April, mustard to end of March, April peas English and snap through July, peas southern now through the end of May. Peppers transplants now through May, Sweet potato slips now through the end of June. Summer squash now to the second week of … Continue reading What To Plant In April
By Jannie Vaught With the past year of empty shelves and higher prices for just about everything. Many are returning to the “Victory Garden”. With this has come shortages of seeds, transplants, and the products needed to start seeds under lights. Seedling trays, Grow lights, and even seed and potting soil. Some are purchasing large amounts of bulk seeds for storage. When you purchase and … Continue reading It’s officially Spring And There Is A Large Interest In Gardening
By Jannie Vaught After many loads of frozen cacti, century plants, and tree damage trimmings it appears to be almost at a finish. I need some time for the garden. But this brings me to a question so many of us have. After the freeze with freeze broken pipes, pumps and wells frozen and for many the loss of electric power, how can we prepare … Continue reading For Many Of Us The Freeze Clean-Up Is Still Underway
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 This latest cold front taught us many important survival needs. As unexpected as this was for our location, and as sudden as it came in was for this gardener a “Pay Attention”. I do take notice of the weather, and on this occasion, it really caught me rushing about to prepare. I had my faucets and pipes outside wrapped but lost a … Continue reading Pay Attention
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 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 As the year 2021 starts I often find myself looking forward to all the possibilities ahead. One has been to become acquainted with the Honey Bee. I have observed them and watched them pollinate my garden and flower beds. And fly away to unknown locations, but always happy to have them visit. What got me wanting to understand the bee was watching … Continue reading The Lessons We Can Learn From The Honey Bees On Family And Community
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
Jannie Vaught Seeds for this gardener have very personal meanings. As a seed grower and a seed saver, I am constantly looking close at many varieties of seeds. And I have a great fondness for seeds that are very tiny. It seems that these tiny bundles of potential hold a big productive plant, producing large tubers or leaves. As a small child, I was given … Continue reading The Faith of The Humble Mustard Seed
By Jannie Vaught Today as I was enjoying my morning walk through the garden and fruit trees I was thinking. “What fruit tree inspires me for being thankful?” It is surprisingly the Persimmon, Diospyros texana. Texas persimmons are native from Northern Mexico to Central Texas. Extremely drought resistant and a graceful slow-growing tree, bearing a black fruit. Often called black persimmon. Another reason to “go … Continue reading A Walk In Gratitude
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 I would like to begin this week’s column by sharing a quote. ” When you have hope in the future you have power in the present.” John C. Maxwell American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books on leadership. This is at the core of Farming, ‘gardening, small or large grower and seed saver is for this gardener the grass … Continue reading The Core Of Gardening
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