Lady Bug Love

 

Apparently, a little bit ago, there was a lot of Lady Bug Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow going on around here because my garden is covered up in lady bug larva. This is a very very good thing. Those little suckers and eat tons of aphids. The aphids appear to be primarily on my radishes.

And there are a lot of radishes. Middle Monkey planted three large Renee's Garden seed packets of radishes while I was day dreaming as he did all the work busy working on another plot. The other plant that is taking over my garden is mustard greens. Someone gave me seeds that were labeled collards. Well they are certainly not collards, they are mustard. If you have ever grown mustard, you know that a little bit of seed goes a loooong way. Well I threw mustard seeds all over the place and now I think I need someone to come over and help me bale it. There is also a mess of self-seeded parsley.

I am currently on the look out for vegetable victims. Those would be persons who unwittingly agree to take some of this produce off of my hands. So far the other library ladies have been good sports and really love mustard. Today they are getting mustard and radishes. Tomorrow - mustard, radishes and parsley. When they start shunning me I will know my vegetables and I have worn out our welcome.

Seriously though, when the produce overruns us, I will find a local food bank and donate the extra. I would just love to hear that you will be doing the same thing.

Double Danger is Giving Stuff Away

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE go register to win something over at James and Shala's blog Double Danger. They really really want to share the gardening love and give y'all some stuff.

It started out nice enough with excited invitations. Then it turned a little more serious with gentle reminders. This morning I received slightly pleading message on Facebook. Then, about an hour ago, it started to turn ugly. Pear pressure has set in people. James wrote, "You haven't signed up for the freakin' giveaway yet? Not cool - people are making fun of you. Don't let them make fun of you." If that isn't some in your face come get this free stuff or you're gonna get a noogie, then I don't know what is.

Really though - James and Shala are about the nicest people on the interweb. They blog about gardening and grillin. They really want to give you some free stuff, so you better get over there before I win all the free stuff. Seriously go over to Double Danger and comment to win. Did I mention that they really really want to give stuff away? No?

And No, I don't know exactly who Pete is, but he needs some love. At this point, I think you know what you need to do.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday was snowy and cold. This morning the sun is out, it is cool, but not to cold to work outside. The ground is saturated. We have had way more rain and snow than this clay soil can hold.

I have been working on getting my garden weeded and ready for the later spring plantings. I spent about ten hours on it last week. It looks a lot better, but the compost piles are overflowing. All that is left to weed out are two long areas where I have flowers and perennials. Love that feeling of accomplishment. I am not going to think about what is going on in the other flower beds. That can wait until the vegetable garden is ready. Or a miracle happens and they weed themselves. (I can always dream).

It was really too wet to weed today, but I did tackle one bed anyway. It is an herb/perennial vegetable bed and was pretty soggy. The weeds came up easy, but a lot of soil cane up with the roots. I did find four Mexican Mint Marigolds (aka Texas Tarragon) ready to divide and pot up. These will go in our KCMGA plant sale at our Spring Seminar in April.

Mexican Mint Marigold is a perennial shrubby herb with small, marigold-like flowers in the fall. This herb can be grown in partial shade. It has the smell and flavor of tarragon. I gave a bit of it to my neighbor and it made her cry because it triggered a scent memory of her grandmother. It is a great substitute for tarragon, which is difficult to grown in our Texas heat.

Happy Spring Y'all.

You know you are in Texas when you can experience four seasons in one week - stolen from FB.

My Deck This Morning

 
 

This was our deck just before dawn this morning. I brought in the tomatoes, but left everything else out. I was really worried about the lemon trees, but after everything thawed out, they seem to be fine. Hopefully, this was winter's last hurray.

Noon Day Onions

A couple of days ago I mentioned Noon Day onions. They are a local product, grown no more than 10 miles outside of the town of Noon Day, Texas. They are smallish onions with super sweet flavor. The claim is that they are sweeter than Walla Walla or Vidala onions. I was able to get Noon Day onions last summer. We bought them at Mrs. Sides Pea Farm. Recently, I bought some Vidalia onions at the Dallas Farmers Market. They were great, but those Noon Day onions were better. Saying that, the onions I bought last summer were fresher and local. That probably makes all the difference in the taste. So this is really not about promoting my local onions, but encouraging you to go out and find locally grown produce. If you find a great onion, bonus!

Plant Shuffle One More Time.

There have been many days of beautiful weather here in North Texas. I have spent a lot of time in the garden. The local garden centers are bursting with flowers and veggies. I couldn't resist and bought a lot of peppers and tomatoes. For some reason, I resisted the urge to put them in the ground on St. Patrick's Day. Boy am I glad I did. Today it is beautiful and warm, but tonight a cold front is going to move in and they are forecasting snow tomorrow night. It looks like the plant shuffle will happen one more time this year. I'm going to keep quiet about it until the last minute. I don't want to tip off the Monkeys and have them make a run for it. I need them to move these plants for me. Shhhh...OK?

Manly is Home

We are home and Manly is doing well. I have to say that the VA hospital staff did a fantastic job. They let me know every time they moved him from one step to the next and the surgeon explained the procedure to me without insulting my intelligence. This may be my first hospital experience where I actually want to write them a thank you note for awesome communication skills. We are very grateful that our country is taking care of our veterans - particularly the veteran I love and live with. Thank you all for your well wishes. Gotta go now, he is demanding my mom's soup.