I'm a big fan of the book Carrots Love Tomatoes and refer to it multiple times throughout the growing season for companion planting ideas. Companion planting is the strategy of placing plants next to each other that tend to grow harmoniously. Some vegetable and flower plants repel bugs, others bring out an improved flavor and … Continue reading A Companion Planting At Play and More on the Way – May 2019
In the last post I shared how my backyard vegetable plants were doing May 1 and now is like to share how they look one week later. I also noticed some chew holes in my Serrano Pepper plants. I wasn't sure which pest was doing the damage but today the mystery was solved. Here's a … Continue reading Our Garden – May 8 2019 Plants Are Growing and So Is…
I thought it would be nice to share progress updates this year so here it goes. Many of these seeds were planted around April 13 and here's how they look on May 1 here in zone 8b. A summer squash has sprouted. So has Zucchini. Plus a sugar baby watermelon One bean plant I see … Continue reading Our Garden – May 1 2019
I had several promising seed packets left in my stash with older dates. Seeds can be good for germination for 4-10 years but over time they weaken. Since I was well into April, I didn't want to put them in the ground and have an empty patch of dirt a month later. So I tried … Continue reading Viable Seeds? Let’s see..
It's April 2019 in Zone B and my seedlings are emerging! I love how spring is full of hope as the beginnings of new plants break through the soil and grow a little more each day. If my seed packets are correct, I may begin harvesting food from these tiny seedlings as early as June! … Continue reading My Spring/Summer Seedlings Are Emerging
Let’s see how my garden looks after being abandoned for two winter months and see what’s next.
"Momma, I'm hungry. I would like banana bread." Knowing my four year old wouldn't enjoy waiting nearly two hours for a slice of homemade banana bread, and seeing my overripe bananas that could old be fit for a bread or the trash, I turned to the muffin recipe! It was actually pretty simple. It comes … Continue reading Overripe Bananas but no time for Banana Bread? Try Muffins
Merry Christmas friends and readers! Today we had our traditional chicken tamales for dinner and our favorite pecan pie for dessert. In the past I shared with you how I made my tamales (see that post here), so this time I'd like to share our favorite cheesecake pecan pie recipe. It's wonderful because we get … Continue reading Merry Christmas with our favorite holiday pie!
Usually by December I've gone on a hiatus from gardening and taken up crafting and seed catalog browsing. This year, I did the crafting (and my hands are ready to take a break from tight toy crocheting) but I've turned my attention to succession planting. Here's a look around our garden in zone 8b on … Continue reading Succession Planting in our Garden in December 2018
Earlier this year, I saw how a gardener had harvested nearly 30 sweet potatoes from 1 sweet potato planted in the garden bed. I was inspired! I planted a sweet potato in a pot in my mother's garden! We started with a potato that was growing slips. We slightly covered it with soil low in … Continue reading We harvested our first ever sweet potatoes!
