Texas Veggie Gardeners!! Stories, Tips and ADVICE!

[yinepu]

the Molasses worked on the ants for me. My garden in an area that was covered up with brush and trees...actually everywhere was covered and most still is LOL. So we are literally starting from scratch here. Right after I planted my garden the ants moved in and ate a lot of my plants, tossed the molasses out and they were gone. The plants love the carbs from it and for some reason the ants hate it.

I use plain ol white sugar...

lol.. has the same effect and it's easier to get .. not sure if it's any cheaper or not.. but so long as it works I'm all for it!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Galanie - what flavor of brewski is George fond of? I just might have to pop a top for him this weekend, lol! He did enjoy some hand-fed lettuce yesterday...he's such a sweetie.

Tex - 100 volunteer onions from seed? That's awesome - I don't think I've ever tried onions from seed and you've got them volunteering!

 

[galanie]

Galanie - what flavor of brewski is George fond of?  I just might have to pop a top for him this weekend, lol!  He did enjoy some hand-fed lettuce yesterday...he's such a sweetie.

Tex - 100 volunteer onions from seed?  That's awesome - I don't think I've ever tried onions from seed and you've got them volunteering! 

Awww. Yes, he loves lettuce if hand fed so he can pull off bits easier. Miller Lite is what he's used to. I guess he's not a Bud Man, I don't know

I was at Wabash the other day and got some Arkansas Traveler and some Cherokee Purple tomatoes. We'll see if those do any better than the German Johnsons (great plants before they get every wilt known to humans and start slowly dying) and the others I tried last year. Onions from seed are great, they do well but need to be planted in October. I did that a couple times by having a seed bed for them then transplanting. I don't have the space I did then just now though so the few I have are just from sets thrown in with some other stuff this year.

What I'm in awe about right now is the garlic. I planted it in a bed I just put in that I prepared with chicken-assisted compost. It's looking sooo much better than my garlic did last year, I can't wait to see how big it ends up. I really planted it "too early" but I guess with our weather that was a good thing.

 

[hippiehen]

Planting my tomato and pepper seeds today! Send me good vibes

 

[hippiehen]

I cleaned out my shed this morning and found a whole bag of jiffy pots someone gave me last year! I totally forgot about them. That was a cool surprise! Now I have red cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, hillbilly flame tomatoes and jalepenos started! I put them on a heating pad in my living room so hopefully they'll stay warm.

I also found a birdhouse gourd from who knows when that's in tact and sounds like full of seeds - think they're still good? If so I'm going to plant them on the west side of my garden to give it a little shade from that nasty summer sun.

 

[urban escapee]

Today I got some jiffy pots and some starting trays, in the morning, gonna set up some shelves in front of a window and get my seeds started. Filled my flower beds with soil so its ready for the flowers.Looking forward to this years garden.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Way to go Hippie! You are doing so good to be thinking ahead to the summer sun.... right now I'm having trouble projecting that far ahead!

I also plan on starting seeds this weekend - tomorrow for sure - since today totally got away from me. I've got Faverolle chickies hatching - whoop, whoop!

)I did spend some time cleaning out the little herb garden in front of the house, (the south side of the house), today. I pulled up old basil plants and stripped them of seeds to save, after thowing a bunch of 'em down in the dirt....AND, I found a volunteer basil plant that's already about 6 inches tall. It was hiding under the monstrous rosemary plant. Isn't rosemary just the bomb diggity of herbs? Man, a steak marinated in rosemary and red wine and thrown on the grill.... mmmmmmmmmmm. That reminds me - I need to cut some more brocoli tomorrow. That will make the third cutting of broccoli so far.

Galanie - sounds like your garlic is going whole hog! I've got some planted so I guess I should check on it tomorrow. I mulched everything really heavily a couple weeks ago when we had a freeze - I guess I should pull the hay back and see if everything survived, lol.

I am the ultimate lazy gardener....

 

[yinepu]

Way to go Hippie! You are doing so good to be thinking ahead to the summer sun.... right now I'm having trouble projecting that far ahead!

I also plan on starting seeds this weekend - tomorrow for sure - since today totally got away from me. I've got Faverolle chickies hatching - whoop, whoop!

)I did spend some time cleaning out the little herb garden in front of the house, (the south side of the house), today. I pulled up old basil plants and stripped them of seeds to save, after thowing a bunch of 'em down in the dirt....AND, I found a volunteer basil plant that's already about 6 inches tall. It was hiding under the monstrous rosemary plant. Isn't rosemary just the bomb diggity of herbs? Man, a steak marinated in rosemary and red wine and thrown on the grill.... mmmmmmmmmmm. That reminds me - I need to cut some more brocoli tomorrow. That will make the third cutting of broccoli so far.

Galanie - sounds like your garlic is going whole hog! I've got some planted so I guess I should check on it tomorrow. I mulched everything really heavily a couple weeks ago when we had a freeze - I guess I should pull the hay back and see if everything survived, lol.

I am the ultimate lazy gardener....

I love my rosemary! The plant we have is bigger around than a bushel basket.. looks like it has a tree trunk inside!

 

[chickenpickens]

I also found a birdhouse gourd from who knows when that's in tact and sounds like full of seeds - think they're still good? If so I'm going to plant them on the west side of my garden to give it a little shade from that nasty summer sun.

Never give up on seeds, escpecially if they are "free". I put them in the ground and hope.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Let us know how those gourds grow, Hippie!

Yinepu - Rosemary is awesome - I don't think you could kill it if you tried. MIne started out in a pot, sitting in the dirt. It quickly rooted in the ground and kept growing until the roots burst through the pot. Now, like yours, the trunk looks like a tree and it has simply taken over. My plant actually split down he middle and went off in two directions and the entire plant is about 6 foot wide. It looks like a bonsai tree - except it's BIG! It never freezes, it never burns up - it's like the energizer bunny... it keeps going and going.

Seed starting is on the agenda today. I've got two of the little wal-mart greenhouses - hope that's enough. They each hold 50 plants - I'm thinking I need two more. I do tend to get very optimistic when starting seeds. But hey, better to have too many than not enough. My neighbors will get a little surprise package on their porch if I over-do it, lol. They started their first garden last year and it was almost as exciting for me as it was for them. It's funny that just a100 yds away their garden does totally different things than mine. My cucumbers sucked last year - and theirs went hog wild. Their cantaloupes were delicious and I think mine must have crossed with some squash or something - because they were big and beautiful - but tasted totally bland.

Time to get busy. Ya'll enjoy your Sunday!