Now This is a Fashion Statement

 

This says, "I don't care what the neighbors think."
This says, "Knobby knees are in"
This says, "Gardening is more important that appearances"
This says, "I either need bigger feet or smaller thighs"
This says, "I buy my footwear at Tractor Supply."

Happy rainy day y'all.

Blessed Rain

We are finally getting good and wet. It has been a hot, dry summer here in Texas. I know those south of us are in much worse shape than we are here. Two days ago it started to rain. This is the kind of rain that farms, ranchers and gardeners love. The rain is falling slow and constant. There is not much runoff,just a lot of soaking in. I have not had a chance to check the rain gaiges, but I know we are above two inches because the rain barrels and overflow buckets are full.

I put my fall veggies in at the perfect time. The cabbage, collards and brocolli transplants are happy and perky. Yesterday I noticed that the beans, squash and corn are all coming up. This rain and cloud cover will help them get off to a great start.

While the rain is a blessing to me. The critters I live with are less pleased. The bunnies are mad about getting wet, staying inside all the time hurts Abby's doggy feelings and the manx are running around the house like their butts are on fire. (I would say tails, but they don't have any). So far the monkeys have not gotten cabin fever, but I bet it won't be long.

I hope you are getting wet if you need it.

Step by Step Fall Vegetable Garden Preparation and Planting

I have received a request to do a newspaper interview. I figured I better get my information together before the reporter calls me. I don't want to appear to be a fool, at least not to the readership of the newspaper. Y'all know I'm silly, but the rest of the world doesn't need to know, do they?

Here are the steps to creating a fall vegetable garden in north Texas.

1). If you have not gotten a soil test, have one done. Kits can be picked up at your County Extension agent’s office.
2). Amend the soil with organic matter = compost. Work in 2 to 4 inches.
3). Fertilize according to the recommendations from your soil test. Phosphorus is frequently over used. I use blood meal, bone meal and alfalfa.
4). Select plants. My short list is: Cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, garlic, onions, dill and collards. I also squeeze in one last planting of squash, beans and corn (three sisters) on Labor Day weekend and say a prayer they get to live long enough to make me some food.
5). Water transplants and seeds with liquid fertilizer. I use a fish product or rabbit manure tea.
6). Mulch heavily. I have been using the neighbor’s grass clippings with great results. Shredded leaves make nice mulch as well. I use bark mulch as a last result, because they tend to rob nitrogen while breaking down.
7). Water deeply and infrequently, but do keep the plants evenly moist.
8). Crucifer vegetables are heavy feeders. I foliar feed once a week with a liquid fertilizer.

Housekeeping

My monkeys pushed the envelope this weekend and we had to take drastic measures. They left me with a pile of laundry and a stack of dirty dishes that took four hours to clean up. Then they got into a fight. What we had on our hands was privileged boy syndrome because mama has always done the lions share of the work. Manly is not a mess maker. I am sometimes. With my less than stellar housekeeping skills (I once used a rake to clean up their bedroom floor), having me do it all is not going to work.

I restructured the work load and now I don't do the daily dishes or their laundry. Baby Monkey now has to sweep the floors, natural sweep the two rugs and take out the trash. Tonight my house is clean and tidy and I didn't do any of it.

They are not little anymore. They need to learn how to take care of their own space. I don't want my future daughters-in-law to have to wait on them and I am not going to do it anymore.

Housekeeping wasn't really a problem until I went back to work. Even part-time work cuts into housekeeping and gardening time. I am willing to give up the housework, but not the gardening.

They each have a job to do and they better do it or they won't get dinner until it is done, period.

Mama is finished.

That Time of Year Again.

The time has come. I will use this long weekend to plant my fall/winter garden. I bought 18 broccoli plants, 18 cabbage plants and 9 collards. I also started half a flat of squash, half a flat of cucumber and one last flat of black eyed peas (really, this is the end of the black eyed peas) As soon as they are available, I will get two bunches of onion sets. There will also be butternut squash, lettuce, sugar snap peas, garlic, parley and cilantro. Later there will be potatoes. If there is enough rain, there will be a lot of food.

I love to garden in the fall and winter. The weather is usually mild and there is more rain.

This summers garden was pretty pitiful after about the first of July. I always have such high hopes and I am usually disappointed because of the brutal Texas heat. Let all hope for a fruitful, pleasant fall and winter.

Have a great holiday everyone.

Meme... it's been a while.

Here’s a fun Meme that I was invited to by Racquel of Perennial Garden Lover. I don't know what I haven't shared on this blog. I don't seem to have boundries anymore. It has been a long time since I've done a meme.

I copied this from Racquel who copied it from Cameron who copied it from Helen.

There were conditions with this Meme award. In order to participate I needed to:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Reveal seven things about yourself.
3. Choose seven other blogs to nominate, and post a link to them. There are so many good ones, this is difficult.
4. Let each of your choices know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.
5. And finally, let the tagger know, when your post is up.

Here it goes:

1. I can do the splits.
2. I used to travel all the time and I want to again.
3. I have 16 nieces and nephews.
4. They don't call me Aunt Debbi, my best friend's children do.
5. I can keep a secret forever.
6. I used to have a horse named Twinkles.
7. I wear a size five and a half shoe. This bit of unimportant information was suggested by Cinj.

Now, I know this meme is going through the garden blogs like wildfire. Therefore, I pick you all and you choose to play or not. Keep in mind though, I really want to know your shoe size.

Ellis County Court House

I love old court houses. We have some real beauties here in Texas. There are also some really ugly ones. These pictures are of the Ellis County Court House in Waxahachie, Texas. This building is beautiful. It is pink granite and red sandstone. It is covered in carvings. Yes, some of those windows are curved. The court house was built in the 1890's and it has been restored.

The legend behind the faces is that the stone carver was in love with his land ladies daughter, but she didn't love him back. Like it will, love turned ugly, and the faces became more and more hideous.

We spent the morning in Waxahachie. I had to take my mom to get her fingerprints taken so she could renew her real estate license. We had breakfast at the Court House Cafe, a greasy spoon with horrible service and great food. Then walked around the court house. We shopped at a great resale shop and ended the day at a quilt store.

I spent sometime this afternoon browsing through a book on Texas court houses and I plan on visiting more of them. I am already familiar with the court buildings in Denton, Dallas and Brady. Wonder how I am going to get Manly in the truck when he figures out what I'm up to?