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Sweet Potatoes
Last year I planted sweet potatoes and got one measly little spud. I suppose I planted too late. This year, I got them in the ground early, and they completely took over the garden. They grew up and over the trellises, across the paths and into the okra and pepper patches. They made the most beautiful purple blossoms. Just this week, the leaves have started to turn, and as I pulled out weeds from the ground around the vines, I saw glorious sweet potatoes coming up out of the dirt. I haven’t pulled up all the plants as some of the clusters I pulled looked like they could have taken…
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Prepping for Fall in the Garden
For the past several weeks, my basil plants have been trying to flower, and I have kept pruning them back to extend their flavor and longevity. Now, I’m starting to let several plants have their way knowing that I want to make sure there are seeds to harvest before the first frost comes. My spring lettuce, which was all too bitter for consumption, has now begun dropping seed heads, and I’m hurrying to create some open spaces for the seeds to take root. While the garden really doesn’t need watering with the wet summer we’ve had, lettuce seeds require a moist soil surface to take root and not be choked…
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October Lovelies
This weekend we took a family trip to Lowes where I found some sad plants on clearance – pentas, aster and mums. The pentas is likely an annual where I live, but for now, I’m just thankful for the pop of color. The tarragon from dad is blooming, and the kale is rejoicing that it finally has some access to sunlight. Slowly, I’m clearing out spent vines and plants. I love the transformation that Fall is bringing to the garden! Red Russian Kale Red Graffiti Pentas Texas Tarragon Aster
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Fall Gardening
Sunday, a friend asked if my garden was winding down yet. This time of year, sure the tomatoes squash and other crops are mostly finished, but there is still so much happening out there. In fact, there are many crops that are just getting started. The best part of fall gardening is that many of the pests the drive me away are gone. I haven’t sustained a mosquito bite in days! The nasty little bugs that were sucking the sap out of the okra have moved on as well. The slugs on the cabbages are another story. A quick list of the non-perennial edibles growing: onions garlic bok choy cabbage…
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Bolted, Pulled and Planted again!
Yesterday afternoon, Scooby and I were pulling weeds out of the gravel at the crawl space access, when I noticed there was a bed of baby arugula. I didn’t plant it there, but back in the spring when I relocated a bed to add the gravel, there was an arugula plant that had already gone to seed. It turns out that all those seeds were dropped in the gravel. It’s somewhat of a dream of mine to have a self-planting garden at least when it comes to annual herbs and lettuces. I always leave several heads of lettuce to bolt and flower so that I don’t have to purchase new…
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Snapshots of the fall/winter garden
Looking outside the window, the world is currently frosted. I haven’t tended much to the fall and winter garden. Onions continue to send up green shoots, the garlic is sprouting, and baby kale plants promise to soon take over their own corner of the garden. I’m a lover of fall color, but I really miss the warm summer, being able to walk barefoot on the mulch paths and feeling the hot sun heat up my back as I bend over to pull up weeds… but I don’t miss the sweat and mosquitoes. As I’m growing comfortable in the newly established beds and feeling a sense of permanence, we begin talking…