Save Some Seeds for the Garden Faerie

 

Here are some of my yard long beans and red noodle beans. These were left on the vines long enough to make seeds. I will be saving the seeds for next years garden and also to share with other garden bloggers this winter. Monica of Garden Faerie's Musing will be kicking off the progressive seed exchange again and I am getting ready.

The yard long bean seeds are offspring of the first package of seeds I bought years and years ago. This is the first year I have grown the red noodles. They are a lot of fun and easy to see to harvest. They are also out producing the yard long beans.

Here is a short list of seeds I will be saving for next year.
1. Lemon basil.
2. Collards
3. Angel's Trumpet
4. Texas Star Hibiscus
5. Dill.
6. Parsley
7. Yard Long and Red Noodle Beans (of course)

What seeds are you planning on saving?

Why You Should Not Ask Me About Plants

Today, I talked to the reporter from the Dallas Morning News. I feel sorry for people that make the mistake of asking me about plants and gardening. I get so excited I can't get myself to shut up. We talked for more than an hour about fall gardening, composting, soil, my favorite plant and on and on and on. Poor thing didn't know what she was getting herself into. I just loose all control and sound like an obsessive crazy person. I did the same thing to a poor patron at the library last week. All she wanted was a good book on gardening, but she ended up getting and earful. Hopefully, the writer can organize my ramblings and get something coherent out of it.

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.