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>Front Yard Update

February 20, 2010 by Laura

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I haven’t posted in a while, but it’s not because I’ve been avoiding the garden,
just too lazy to post. The last two weekends the weather has been beautiful so I’ve been
working on the front yard.

I dug out the bed on the other side of the front walk. (The first half I did over Thanksgiving break w/ my MIL). I filled the bed w/ mulch, society garlic, and “shasta” daisies. I’ve been wanting society garlic since I moved in 2 1/2 years ago and finally found the perfect place.
I took another trip to the cemetery on sunday morning for rocks. I added a border to the front yard to help w/ erosion. I also put a border around the new melon bed that I dug out. I am very sore from swinging that pick-axe!

Here are my new potato bags. I bought these from “Gardener’s Supply Company”.
I planted the potatoes 4 weeks ago.

Here’s the first sign of life in one of the potato bags. Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried. The paperwork I have says it takes at least 4 weeks, but I always worry until I see the first sprout. This is my first time growing potatoes so I’m excited to see how it works out.

Posted in front yard | 2 Comments »

>Pruning the Roses

February 20, 2010 by Laura

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As most Austin gardeners know, Valentine’s Day is the time for pruning the rose bushes. Last sunday I cut back the Knockouts pretty significantly. I found these instructions in a flower gardening book, and I’ve used them for a few years now.

1. Cut back the smaller of any twisted canes
2. Cut out any canes smaller than a pencil
3. Cut back any dead canes
4. Thin out the bushes to give plenty of breathing room for new growth
5. Cut back the all canes by 1/3
I added number 4 myself after discovering how quickly the rose bushes recover. I was scared my first year that I had over-pruned, but they came back to over 6 feet tall by the end of the season.

Posted in How-to, roses | 1 Comment »

>Seedling Progress

January 16, 2010 by Laura

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Romas & Cherokees
I just moved these to the grow light shelf yesterday, so they still look as little sad. The true leaves haven’t shown up yet, but should within the next few days.

Peppers, Romas and Herbs
The peppers are looking really great. They are already growing their third set of leaves. I thinned them out this morning to give them a little more room to grow.
I did some calculations and realized that I will be running out of space once I transfer to 4″ pots, even w/ 18 sq ft! I’ll probably have to use the window a little bit this year as well.

Posted in seedlings | 3 Comments »

>New Seeds

January 10, 2010 by Laura

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Friday the 8th during my lunch break I drove to The Natural Gardener and picked up some seed packets. Since the peppers and herbs are well underway, it’s time for tomatoes. I picked up “yellow pear” cherry, “supersweet 100” cherry, “cherokee purple”, “green zebra”, and “celebrity”. I also bought toma verde tomatillos and some amaranth.
Planting Dates
Romas – Jan 7th
Cherokee, Zebra – Jan 10th
Cherries, Celebrity – Jan 16th
Last fall I spoke to The Natural Gardener about making my own seed mix. They recommended a mix of Worm Castings, Perlite, and Vermiculite. As for amounts, you want it too retain moisture, but not be too soggy. The amounts I have used for my seed mix are 4 parts perlite, 3 parts worm castings and 2 parts vermiculite. So far it’s working great.

Posted in seedlings, Vegetables | 1 Comment »

>Canning

January 5, 2010 by Laura

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The cold weather can be a bit discouraging. I found I had a bit of cabin fever over the break, all of the time off and too cold to go outside. I’m not as brave as some, as under 60 degrees is pretty much off limits for me. The few nice days that we did have were spent outside with the family roaming around.
I did manage to put some of my time to good use, practicing my canning skills. Canning is a necessary step for my goal of eventually eating produce only from my garden. They also make great gifts 🙂
I used Jenny’s recipe from “Rock Rose”. This recipe was so delicious, I’ll be using it again. It was also very easy. My 12 year old daughter made a batch and turned it into shortbread lemon bars, mmm! I’ve frozen several bottles for later.

This corn relish recipe is from the official Ball canning cookbook. It uses frozen corn, which is always in season, and cabbage straight from the garden. It has a great vinegar bite to it, with a nice sweetness as well. Next time I may add a little heat.

Fig Jam. This was my first attempt at jam. It was very easy and turned out well. This one is made with dried figs, so can be made year round. This was also from the Ball cookbook.

Posted in Vegetables | 4 Comments »

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