vegetable garden Archives | Page 5 of 6

The ugly side of Summer…

Bonnie, at Kiss of Sun, posted about the sad and sagging plants in her hot Central Texas garden, and thus inspired me to post my dying plant pictures, too!

So, here is a lovely garden tour of the hot, dry, or dying plants in my veggie garden. The top photo is half-dead tomato plants with a few dessicated marigolds around the perimeter.
Here are some more dehydrating tomatoes!
The lush, green plant is a malabar spinach, and the white, paper-like leaves are the remnants of the wonderful cucumbers we had earlier in the season.
This is the biggest casualty of our vacation — this tomatillo completely gave up the ghost while we were gone. I spent about an hour out there today cutting all the dead stalks off and then pulling it out of the ground. There’s a tomato growing under it, so it now occupies that cage and maybe it will be happier with some room to grow.

What you can’t really see is the prolific Cypress vines that continue to HAUNT me!

I jokingly told Bonnie that I think when the earth stops spinning, only cockroaches and Cypress vines will remain! The one, measly little vine that I planted last year is trying to come back by the thousands and just won’t give up. But I am bound and determined to win, so I just keep plucking them out of the ground, otherwise they will choke everything in the garden. They are definitely POT only plants (like mint!).

So, what’s dying in your hot, summer garden?!!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:53-06:00August 10th, 2008|Blog, dead, heat, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden|5 Comments

eeeeeeeeeeck……..

Ok — no photos, (and slightly less than the thousand words I oughta have for being photo-less), but here’s a funny critter update!

I was weeding and picking veggies in the garden, butt planted on a plastic stool, when Mr. Rat Snake decided to slither ACROSS MY FOOOOOOOT!

Yes.

Across my foot.

I screamed. He was terrified. Ssssssslithered away into the garden’s rock border.

I sighed, knowing he was harmless, and kept picking green beans.

(Secretly kinda proud of myself, not for screaming, but for sitting tight and dealing. I may have screamed like a girl, but I didn’t run. I figure that’s worth something.)

Then this morning I caught Mr. Squirrel burrowing in the mulch and then he rolled over and wriggled around, scratching his back in it. I suspect he and his band of brothers might be my hole-diggers. (It’s my most appealing guess, at this point!)

And, YIPPEEE SKIPPEEE, we had a 1/2 inch of rain today and it dropped the temp from 98 to 75.

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:12-05:00July 7th, 2008|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, snake, squirrel, vegetable garden|0 Comments

Ahhhh…harvest

In spite of the close to 100-degree heat in which I was hunched over to pick these little lovelies, I’m thrilled to have this beautiful bounty.

And, given the current tomato scare, I’m so pleased to have my own little orbs to eat! I think my dinner tonight will be a lovely spinach salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.

What’s ready to pick in your veggie garden today?

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:13-05:00June 10th, 2008|Blog, cucumbers, Sharing Nature's Garden, spinach, tomatoes, vegetable garden|17 Comments

Beans, beans … you know the rest!

What a delight. I spent yesterday harvesting in the veggie garden. I got a giant bowl of green beans, collard greens, spinach and the last 3 radishes.

The green beans were delicious, as were the collards. Radishes and spinach will go in tonight’s salad.

We have many tomatoes – but they are still very green. It’s already getting hot here, so I’m worried about whether the blooms will continue to set very well. (I admit I bought some bloom set spray. I’m not sure if that works, but I REALLY want tomatoes!)

I found some more blooms on the strawberries, too, so we might have another small helping of those soon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Vanillalotus at New Sprout for solving my mysteries from the last post. She tells me:

The lily is called a Jacobean Lily, or Aztec Lily. It’s latin name is Sprekelia formosissima. Here is a website with more information at Daves Garden.

The cool-looking moth is a giant/great leopard moth.

What a wonderful thing – to have you gardening friends as a resource for tips and troubles and to indentify those mysteries that pop up in our gardens periodically.

Thanks for all your ideas and help!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:54-06:00May 19th, 2008|Blog, green beans, lily, moth, mystery, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden|9 Comments

Oh, baby …

If you look closely, you can see snippets of fluff, rabbit fur and soft downy bird feathers lining this little … bunny nest. Filled with sweet, little cottontails.

Sigh.

And here you see what’s in the direct line of sight of the baby bunnies and their Momma. Sigh.

It’s about a 20 foot hop to my garden.

My garden with the large gap under the gate.

My garden with the huge fencing squares that a raccoon would fit through. (Remember, I built it to keep out DOGS, not bunnies, since at that time, I had no bunnies, just tomato-eating dogs.)

Now I have bunnies.

So, tomorrow’s post will likely be about the misery of working with chicken wire!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:14-05:00April 21st, 2008|baby bunnies, Blog, fence, rabbits, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden|6 Comments

This is no joke!

I cleared my calendar today in anticipation of 84 degrees and a full day of planting. It turned out to be 92 – unbelievable!

So, here’s what happened in my gardens today. I went to the nursery early this morning and bought every thing they had in stock that was deer-resistant and then scurried home like a little ant to begin my planting. I WAS the ant today.

I planted about 35 plants – and got most of the new bed in place, dirt spread, rocks removed and leaves scooped out. I will certainly add more, and some things with different blooming seasons like some wildflowers and some cutting flowers, but for now, this is a good start.

In the new bed, I planted:

3 Blackfoot daisy
1 Flame Acanthus – Anisacanthus wrighti
3 Damianita – Chryactinia Mexicana
3 Delphinium – bellamosum
1 Mexican Oregano – Poliomentha
5 Indian Paint Brush – Castilleja
9 Rosemary Shimmering Stars – rosmarinus prostratus
5 Society garlic
1 Crepe Myrtle tree that I propagated last summer

Elsewhere, I planted:

1 Nicotiana – pink
4 Snapdragons
1 Cherry Laurel

I started to post a picture of the horrible dirt and rock that I had to dig and crack through to plant these things. I added several inches of garden soil, but the natural dirt was nothing but rock, caliche and black clay so hard that it was just like clumps of rock. Ugh! I hope this amendment will be enough to help the plants grow. Many of them are tough by nature, and deer and drought resistant, so maybe they will feel right at home in my rocks!

Other people were working at my house today, too. The fence is finished! YEAH. The gate was built and hung and it’s lovely. Well, maybe not lovely, but functional and it makes me smile. And it WILL be lovely, after I’ve added some doo-dads and thing-a-ma-jiggies.

My back hurts and I’m the “good” tired. I’m off to bed. Tomorrow, it’s supposed to be 63 for the high, after a front blows through tonight. 30 degrees difference in 1 day — crazy Texas weather. I’ll be working inside!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:53-05:00February 25th, 2008|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, statue bed, temperature, vegetable garden, Wildflowers|0 Comments

vegetable garden

The ugly side of Summer…

eeeeeeeeeeck……..

Ahhhh…harvest

Beans, beans … you know the rest!

Oh, baby …

This is no joke!

Escape in the garden