Onions Are Here!

By Jannie Vaught At LLano Feed and Supply, onion starts have arrived, The varieties are 1015Y, Yellow Granex, Texas Legend, Sweet Red, White Granex, and White Bermuda. Josh Rhode called to let us know and Hopefully, Leeks will arrive with the next shipment. I have covered the 1015Y in previous columns, Let’s look at the others. The Yellow Granex was developed in Carrizo Texas by … Continue reading Onions Are Here!

In Preparation Of The Freeze

By Jannie Vaught We received a freeze and knowing it was headed our way many of us began the preparation. Even though water pipes were wrapped some had broken pipes inside and outside. And it happened on Christmas there were no stores open. When we are preparing for freezing temperatures it would do us well to have in our preparations items for repair. Needing a … Continue reading In Preparation Of The Freeze

In times Of Changing Weather Patterns

By Jannie Vaught For this gardener, the word is Resilience, the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Indeed that is a quality everyone could bring. This includes our homes, livestock, pets, home power, and automobiles. This list is ever-changing. One thing is for sure. Our parents and grandparents had the ability to dig deep, recover from unknown problems and be better. … Continue reading In times Of Changing Weather Patterns

Growing The Three Sisters Garden

Jannie Vaught Who are the three sisters? For many Native American communities, three seeds-corn, beans, and squash represent the most important crops. They complement each other in the garden as well as nutritionally. How the three work together. Corn provides the tall stalks for the beans to climb, beans provide nitrogen to fertilize the spoil while stabilizing the tall corn during heavy winds, and large … Continue reading Growing The Three Sisters Garden

The Best Berries I Have Ever Grown

By Jannie Vaught Last year I purchased 4, 2-year-old Arkansas Thornless blackberry plants. I prepared the bed and placed them in a fence line to use as a trellis. They arrived within 4 days and were fresh and undamaged. I planted them and placed a low fence around them to keep the chickens out when they free range. They are possibly the best berries I … Continue reading The Best Berries I Have Ever Grown

We Are Into Some Frosty Weather

By Jannie Vaught We had been unseasonably warm through November and December. We entered winter, but it felt like T-shirt weather. For this gardener, this puts me in a constant weather alert position. As I watched what was happening to the north of us it became very concerning that we may have another “Killer” freeze. We have been preparing all summer and repairing the old … Continue reading We Are Into Some Frosty Weather

Yes, It Is The Seed Starting Time for This Gardener

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

The Faith of The Humble Mustard Seed

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

Butterfly The Canary In The Coal Mine

By Jannie Vaught The National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas is a 100-acre wildlife center and native species botanical garden dedicated to the conservation and study of butterflies. Since many butterfly plants support bees also. Take a moment and go to their web site. www. nationalbutterflycenter.org. for all the latest and up to date information you can wish to find. They say the butterfly is … Continue reading Butterfly The Canary In The Coal Mine

What To Do In The Garden In January?

By Jannie Vaught Plan first, sort seeds and decide what you need to purchase. You can still plant some cold crop plants, Asian greens, lettuce, radish, and spinach. It is also bare root fruit tree season and cane berry time. Most nurseries will begin to have fruit trees and blackberry plants in or will have them in soon. If you purchase small blackberry plants it … Continue reading What To Do In The Garden In January?

Happy 2020, Time For Garden Resolutions

By Jannie Vaught Here are a few of mine: 1. More compost and carbon in the soil. 2. Learn more about starting trees and plants from cuttings. 3. Plant thornless blackberries along fences lines for support. 4. Grow more peppers and okra! What’s on your garden list? Incorporating these as the new design unfolds. It is clear to see that my cover crop seeding has … Continue reading Happy 2020, Time For Garden Resolutions

Garden Tools And Approaching Winter

By Jannie Vaught Solstice is December 22. This is the final descent into darker shorter days with deeper cold at night. Then the light begins to return on the 22nd. and slowly we climb into lighter mornings and longer days. In some Old Northern customs, they consider this as Spring. Here in central Texas, we wait till the temperature warms and the first shoots begin … Continue reading Garden Tools And Approaching Winter

When You Think Of This Time Of The Year Are There Plants You Strongly Remember?

By Jannie Vaught Here are a few. Pointsettia, the many varieties from white to red Amaryllis bulb that is forced and blooms its spectacular trumpet, heralding in the celebration. Paper Whites, narcissus with its erect stems with Sweet fragrant white star flowers. Rosemary that blooms the tiny blue flower, as a sweet nectar for the pollinators and Christmas cactus. These are just a few examples. … Continue reading When You Think Of This Time Of The Year Are There Plants You Strongly Remember?