vegetables Archives | Page 3 of 4 | Diana's Designs Austin

In the line of fire…

I up with Pam of Digging to pass along some of my variegated ginger today, and our meeting place was, of course, a nursery! Barton Springs Nursery — ooohhhh. She was disciplined (and in a hurry) but I was bad and went on a little shopping trip.

I WAS trying to finish projects I have at home before our Labor Day party this weekend, but I was weak and succumbed.

I brought home a lot of vegetable transplants and some compost to amend my soil as it’s time for the fall garden here in Central Texas. Once home, I put them in my wagon and temporarily put them out in the sunny driveway.

It’s a good thing I’m observant and looked around after doing that, because lo and behold — 3 yearling does and a fawn were just down the garden path looking for some water and an afternoon snack!

I filled their water bowl while they watched from a distance. Look carefully beyond the edge of the wagon — see her watching me?

Then I promptly wheeled the portable veggie buffet back into the garage for safe keeping until the deer were gone.

Whew. I would have been steaming if I’d come out to close up this evening and found my wagon devoured!

Lucky me…

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:26-06:00September 2nd, 2010|Blog, deer, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetable garden, vegetables|0 Comments

Too many veggies to eat? Share the love.

Do you love planting vegetables, only to find that you have more than you can possibly eat at one time?

I do. It’s always a harvest of riches, but sometimes, I just have too much at once — and I hate to see it go to waste. And millions of other gardeners are just like us, too.

We know most of the larger food banks can’t handle anything other than non-perishable items. But now someone is working to solve that problem and help feed those who go to bed hungry every night.

Ample Harvest has created a database, so gardeners can easily find local food pantries eager to receive freshly picked crops for their clients.

There are 30,000+ food pantries in the U.S. Smaller than food banks, they often operate in houses of worship for a few hours per week.

So far only about 5% of food pantries are registered in the database. When more register, more gardeners and other folks will be able to donate food, and more hungry people will be fed.

Here’s how you can help:

1. CLICK to find your closest food pantry. Let people know about it so they can donate food in your community, or receive some if they need it.

2. ASK the staff to register their pantry at AmpleHarvest.org.

3. SPREAD the word to backyard gardeners with surplus produce. Click for a flyer to post in garden shops and other places.

I searched for registered food pantries around my area, and while I didn’t come up with many, it really only takes one close enough for a drive once a week or whenever the harvest basket overflows. Our Capital Area Food Bank at 8201 South Congress does take fresh produce and they are open on Saturdays from 9-4. That’s where my daughter and I will be going tomorrow morning to take a delivery of Swiss chard and lettuce!

What a perfect way to celebrate Earth Day this year, don’t you think?

You can also join in the celebration of Earth Day, April 22, by going to Jan’s blog at Thanks For Today and participate in the contest to make a greener earth. Her efforts will raise awareness, and you will be entered for a prize, too!

Celebrate Earth day this year by sharing the love.

Where’s the food pantry closest to you?

By Diana C. Kirby|2019-07-15T19:14:18-05:00April 9th, 2010|Ample Harvest, Blog, food pantry, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetables|0 Comments

Some more of my favorite veggies!

As much as I love the veggies in my garden, I also love going to Central Market to shop their wonderful produce. Kallie likes to sit on the enormous veggies that line the outside of the grocery store.

Too bad it was 101 degrees and she couldn’t actually sit on the veggies, but we had fun anyway!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:13-05:00June 16th, 2008|Blog, Kallie, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetables|4 Comments

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

See my little pretties? I visited some local nurseries to talk about donations for the Garden Bloggers’ Spring Fling and couldn’t help myself! Heck – I was at 3 nurseries today and they were full of eye candy! I bought a beautiful Texas Scarlett Japanese Quince at one, and three roses at another. Annie at the Transplantable Rose inspired me with her pots and talk of roses. I pulled one out when we moved in here – it was in the wrong place and not doing well. And then, last year, some construction required that we pull out a huge, lovely pink climber that I was in love with. It went high into our oak trees. So, I missing some roses and I decided to remedy that!

Because I don’t have a full sun spot for them, I was somewhat limited in what I could purchase, so I am now the proud mother of an Old Blush Climbing Rose, Mrs. B.R. Cant, 1901 and a Martha Gonzales that I’m going to put in a pot like Annie’s! The other two will enjoy a nice morning to early afternoon sunny spot on the east side of the house. They are all supposed to be sun/part shade, so we’ll see if that’s accurate. I will have to take a walk to see them, but I will have them and can cut them and bring them in the house. I’m psyched!

Can you see the numbers on this thermometer here today? I think it’s skewed a little, but suffice it to say, it was warm today.
My mahonia is now in full bloom. But still enjoying the cooler weather – it gets kind of hot here for them if they get any sun and I have one that may have to be moved this year.

WOW! See my garden. All the dead stuff is gone. Including any last dead tomato bits that might have been lingering and calling to the dogs! They scaled the fence again before the garden got cleaned out and ate something — who knows what — there were only leeks and parsley in there other than dead scraps and mulch. Tomorrow I’ll show you the rest of today’s progress (it got too dark and I couldn’t take a picture), but the fence is UP! And, if they can scale this fence, then I’ll quit blogging — they’ll be in the Guiness Book of World Records and I’ll be a rich woman!

These are the leeks I pulled from the garden today. I guess I will make some leek soup and then sautee the rest. I am assuming I can just freeze them sliced up and sauteed for use in soups and stews and sauces later on. There are far too many for me to use right now! But I want all the garden beds tilled and new garden soil brought in and it’s just better if it’s empty when you do that.
Here are a few other things peeking up in my beds these days. Above are some lovely red Daylilies and below are the shoots of a black Elephant Ear.
Below are some beautiful yellow and orange cannas…well, that’s what they WILL be in a few months!
And these are a few of the shoots in my cloche inside. These are tomatoes.
I planted nasturtiums, they got so tall so fast I took them out of the cloche, and they instantly started to dry out and die. Help! They are bumping against the top of the other cloche, and turn black when they do that, but they clearly aren’t ready to be out on their own. Or, maybe I needed to get them sopping wet…Any ideas?

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:57-06:00February 13th, 2008|Blog, cannas, Garden, quince, roses, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetables|0 Comments

It’s a party, come on over!

Well, it seems the stinkbugs invited their friends the butterfly and the beetles over to my tomatoes for a little get together! See them here, all enjoying some juicy tomato puree? I quit. The fight has gone all out of me and I’m content to let them feast for the brief time the plants have left. Shame on me, I know, but I can’t seem to focus on the tomatoes any more. I guess it’s because the last 3 or 4 tomatoes I took off of this plant were hard and white and green inside while they seemed very red and ripe outside, so it’s not like I’m giving up a delicious crop. I actually sliced some last week and threw them away. So sad. But they were good while they lasted. And now I’m just hosting a big bug bash!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:47:56-05:00October 30th, 2007|Blog, pests, Sharing Nature's Garden, vegetables|0 Comments

Here we go again…

This is a familiar scene in my garden. These darn bugs have moved in again and are having a banquet on my tomatoes. Neem oil kept them at bay twice before, but I’ve run out and I may well have run out of will, too! I suppose I will get some more and try to salvage one last crop before it freezes. They are so annoying! They were almost posing for me here!

The bugs seems to have missed my squash for now, knock wood. A few blooms are turning into veggies – I hope they hurry before we have frost! Grow, grow~quickly!

Pruned up my mountain laurels today. The previous homeowner planted a row of them along the driveway — UNDER the crape myrtles. While they aren’t too big yet, they will be, and even now, they lean plaintively to east and the sun — sad and lacking on their west sides. And one must have blown over as a young plant, because its trunk is almost horizontal. But I love mountain laurels, so I’ve cleaned them up a little and tried to help the little one look more like an actual tree and the other 5 plants.