It was 106 today with heat index of 121. My plastic containers I recycled from buying spinich and for starting seeds are melting on the front porch. Trying another homemade bait to try to get control or at least knock down some of the numbers of grasshoppers. I have lost at least half of the plants I put in this year.

little baby watermelons coming on too!!

Ok.. so I was laughing at how big my other zuccs were getting. I have no idea where the hell this one was hiding. Sucker was as long as my calf! From my knee to the ground. Ridiculous. Sunflowers are starting to open up. Very excited about those. The plants dont look so great because of the grasshoppers but at least they are leaving me some of the flower to enjoy.

Check out this hognose. Wasnt in the garden but was in the back walkway. It hooded and hissed at Steven. It is a bumper crop year for snakes this year. Have already seen alot in the last couple months.

got a few pics today

rows of tomatoes, squash, and sunflowers. everything seems to be doing well. funny how the sunflowers open. corn is ridiculous.. making little bitty ears.

Im so excited!

Got three Crape Myrtle trees today. They were on sale at Home Depot for 10 bucks a piece for the 5 gallon size. I got the ones called Tuscarora. I will take pics when they bloom. Also got a beautiful blue plumbago. I have never had one of those and actually dont have any blue flowers in the garden so will have to be careful where I put it. Most of my stuff is in the shades of reds and pinks with some yellows.

Zuccs grow so fast! Couple of them got way too big but we are going to be eating alot of them. I am open for your favorite recipes if you want to share!!

Harvested all the onions

All the tops layed down and I read that means they are done growing. I left them in the ground for a couple weeks that way and then we picked them all yesterday. I dont have a very good place to dry them. Im just hoping for the best and hope they can cure in the window sil. I think I might end up moving them to another place because they are supposed to be cool and the morning sun comes in there. Sigh. I read too late that you can braid the greens and hang them to dry that way. I already cut the greens and was going to freeze them for potato topping. I will just have to see how it turns out.

Basket full of goodies. Couple of our onions, tomato, banana pepper and some peas. So far it has been a nice slow harvest but I have a feeling its about to be larger amounts at a time. At least at this rate we can eat what we are getting so it doesnt go bad or get too old before we get to it.

Got some beautiful zucchini out of the garden today. Got a little big but we were gone for couple days. man they can grow fast! Also got another early girl tomato and banana pepper and first cucumber. I think maybe I too early for the cucumber as it didnt have any flavor at all. I might let the others get a little bigger before I harvest them. I have tiny little bell peppers on one plant. Everything is so cute when its little. Today I put in more seeds. Steven tilled up some rows that weren't producing anything and I put in some yellow neck squash(since they didnt survive the freeze), more bell peppers, several herbs and maybe will go back out after lunch and put some more in.

Here is a couple of onions we have grown this year. I think they turned out a nice size and they are very sweet and easy to eat raw. They almost turn to butter when you steam or cook with them. Very pleased with how they turned out. Now to see if I can be successful at drying them.

Decided to harvest all the radishes today. We dont care for them as much as we thought so I am going to try my hand at pickling them. Found a few recipes online and going to try the simplest one. Funny thing.. I tossed a bunch of the ones that were split or otherwise not worthy over the fence to the goat pasture. They were all interested and grabbed a bite or two and then they all hauled ass to the water trough. I know it sounds cruel but I thought it was hilarious. Alot of these are too big to be any good so hopeful the pickling will tame them down a bit. Isnt it fun learning new things. Thank goodness seeds are cheap!

Potting bench !! Whoo hoo

Hubby made me a cool potting bench today. It is made from reclaimed lumber from my cousins old deck. I am very pleased how it turned out. Its taller than I expected but its great. I plan to get 3 of those little aluminum trash cans with lids to put underneath instead of the tote. I think it will look better. I will lable one for birdseed, one for soil and one for trash. Cant wait to start potting babies and making more plants.

zucchini

First little zucchini. The plant is loaded with blossums. Only had my cell phone out there this morning so pics are limited but will try to remember to take my camara down with me next time. Lettuce is perty much gone.. well its still there but about chest high and blooming. The onions are finished as well so will be harvesting them soon. Problem is they dont store well so I will have to be sharing with friends who want some. We have harvested peas twice now with I think one more harvest in them but its getting too hot for them and they are fadeing fast. It has been 92 here for days with no rain. Its cloudy but very hot and mostly windy. The plants have to get watered every day now or you can really see them suffering. The corn has put on tassells. I have to do some research on that but I dont think its good. They are not even 2ft tall yet. May not have corn this year. I have another variety I planted a little later so I will hold out hope they will do better. The plum tree dropped its plums. I dont know why but kinda sad about it. Maybe because their first year in the ground but I just dont know. I went out to water the plants on the deck this morning and found a Carolina Wren nesting in my petunia. I leaned the pot over to look and she flew out scaring the crap out of both of us..haha. I guess I will let the plant go because I love the little birds more. Guess thats it for this update.

mater turning red!

Early girl starting to turn red. I have alot of little green ones on the other bushes so should be coming into more tomatoes than we can eat soon.

There are these most awsome little yellow wildflowers all over the pasture.. well where we havent mowed anyway. They open in the morning and close about noon. Im still looking to see what they are called but it looks like little yellow polk-dots all over the pasture.

The colors were awsome.

brilliant sunset

Ok. I know this has nothing to do with gardening but it was so beautiful last night.. just had to get a couple of shots in.

The grapevine at the front has tiny little grapes. I sure wish they didnt make me itch so because I would love to make some jelly or wine out of them.

Prickly pears are also starting to bloom. Another to view from a distance although we like to eat the flowers.

The Mexican Hats are just now coming into bloom. I think its a cool looking flower.

I think they call this Cholla. It is very beautiful but only to be viewed at a distance as it will jump out and grab ya!

Didnt even notice this little plum when I took a pic of the tree the other day. What a cool little surprise. I thought I would get out and see what I could take pics of that were blooming today and found some neat things.

Plum tree. Have to get out and cut the suckers off the bottom. Thought about putting them in rooting hormone to see if I could make most trees from them. Anyone ever do that? Any success?

Another of Steven weeding the onions under the watchful eye of Penny.

Necterine tree

New toy. Will make weeding between the rows much easier.

sugar snap peas. just started blooming

lots of potatoes

Steven hard at work weeding the onions

veggie garden

Here is the begining of the veggie garden. The lettuce has bolted and decided to go to seed and some of the onions did as well. When you have days of 90 degree weather and then 40's the plants get really confused.

a few pictures

Beginnings of a small herb garden. Rosemary, Garlic chives, Parsly, Sage, Purple ruffle and regular Basil and a couple different kinds of Thyme and a little Lime tree.

Maiden voyage!

Well I am going to give this blog thing a try and hopefully it will help me keep track of my garden and successes and failures with the plants I put in. I have been at my current Tx location for 2 yrs now and tried to save as many plants from my previous garden to move here but I have had to battle some wicked enemies (GRASSHOPPERS FROM HELL!) and a different kind of soil all together. It is a very sandy loam with clay if you go deeper. I went to an exciting nursery today and picked up some Nolo bait in hopes that it will kill them nasty grasshoppers but there are so many of them I am skeptical how it will work. I bought the large bag for 43 bucks. I really hope it works. I went to a place called the Natural Gardner in Austin and man was I in heaven. I recommend that place to anyone who loves plants. They had everything imaginable. I could have easily bought one of everything but I kept it minimal because I knew if I bought too much I would not get it all in the ground. I have been trying to get things from seeds to grow but having trouble identifying the seeds I put out from the weeds that seem to thrive here. I have tried to start them inside and then transplant outside so I can actually see the plant. It has worked for some but not all. It is just so easy to buy the plant that someone else has grown and then you have instant gratification. Although nothing about this garden has been instant. I have put alot in so far and will try to make a little list of what I can remember so I will know in the future what made it and what didnt.
Most recent additions were herbs. Basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregeno, parsley, and today picked up some more and will post them later when I get them in the ground. Geeze there is so much to post I know I will forget something. Guess will start better with the veggie garden. It took a freeze but some of the bottoms of the plants are still green so will not dig them up and see how they do. Many varieties of tomatoes(of course), jalapenos, banana peppers, bell peppers, red and white potatoes, corn, okra, squash, cucumber, carrots, peas, green beans, cantalope, watermelon, pumpkin and giant sunflowers.. oh and I tried planting some garlic. Just store bought garlic seperated the cloves so dont know how well that will do. I also sprinkled marigold seeds around veggie garden but havent seen any come up yet. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow so I can have something to compair with when it actually starts looking good. Maybe I will have a better list of plants tomorrow as well. Forgive me as I work thru figuring out how to blog and thanks to those who follow along on my journey.