I am not even CLOSE to being a Master Gardener. Hey, if I even get a few tomatoes or zucchini each year, I’m pretty pleased. With all the talk about the shortage of bees and such around here as of late, I did discover something helpful. It was purely by luck, because most of the time, I have no idea what I’m doing until something succeeds or fails. Then I chalk it up to, “We’ll, that worked!”, or ” That really didn’t work!”. Last year I planted Thai basil in my garden. This stuff brings bees. Loads of bees. They love those lavender plumes of flowers! If you’re having trouble with pollination in your garden, plant this stuff!! This year I learned from last year,…
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Continue ReadingMy garden has done exceedingly well this summer thanks to some unusually cool mid and late summer temperatures. After great success with my early spring and summer gardening and a wonderful and continuous harvest of lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes and spinach, I was feeling pretty doggone good about my green thumb. So, trying to forget the fact that the last two years, my summer garden STUNK big time, I moved recklessly ahead and planted tomatoes, squash and cucumbers along with jalapeños and red peppers. Would you just all stop and feel this sacred moment with me? My cucumbers are over 6 feet tall and blooming up a storm. I have jalapeños for gosh sakes!! And tomatoes, although they’ve taken their own sweet time. And my…
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Continue ReadingAfter the last two disatrous years in summer gardening, I decided to try my hand at spring and cool weather gardening with things like beets, lettuce, swiss chard and spinach. Here in Oklahoma, 105º days in multiple quantities are not the best for summer gardening. I’m sure the pros know how to make it all work. But apparently I’m not a pro. I have been pretty excited to see all these little beauties pop up from seed over the past few weeks. Things like lettuce. And ….teeny tiny spinach. Beets. How cute are these? REALLY! Beets and Swiss Chard look an awful lot alike at this stage of the game. I have Swiss Chard as well. We are going to be set for leafy greens…
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Continue ReadingMy daughter Kayla bought me three packages of this wonderful stuff for Mother’s Day from Target. I think it was a buck a package. It’s flexible Garden Tie – kind of a rubberized wire to use for staking your plants. I’ve used twine and other staking material in the past, but I have to tell you. I absolutely love this stuff!
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Continue ReadingHere are a few of my flowers I’ve enjoyed at the beginning of this summer…. I will always love a simple red geranium in a terra cotta pot. Here is my Dad, enjoying the scenery a few weeks back.. Hollyhocks…oh my goodness have I enjoyed these! I want to plant more! My newly planted coneflower. More lilies. Lobella. Daisies. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of these! My friend Dee would know…her garden site Red Dirt Ramblings is amazing! Patio Tomatoes. And now for some non garden items.. Maybe even some items that tend to irritate the garden. Happy gardening!
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Continue ReadingWell, let me just say, after my first year of planting heirlooms, I fell in love with their rich fruity flavors. I have no idea HOW I got them to grow that year, but I did. I planted those little buggers from seed and nursed them indoors until the frost scare passed then babied them outside until they produced. Over the next two years, I tried to replicate this savory delight, put money and effort into planting them again, but to no avail. Things happened…like floods, hail, high winds and months of 100+ degree heat. Alas, it was not meant to be. So this year, in rebellion I planted some other things in their nice cushy bed. Things like onions, garlic, and shallots. Three types of each to be exact.…
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Continue ReadingSince my garden got baked to death this summer during our drought, I thought I’d play it safe and plant something portable…you know in pots, that could be moved in or out according to our crazy weather here. After reading Jamie Oliver’s cookbook and his motivating me to patio garden, it seems, you can just plant it in pots, coffee cans, or even a burlap bag and cut it and it will just keep growing back!
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