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How to Bring the Magic to your Garden
Growing up, dad had a vegetable garden out in our front field in the middle of an old riding ring. To get there, we’d have to wade through weeds, keep our eyes open for snakes, and battle the blaring sun. I never had much interest in venturing out there unless it was a picking day and we were instructed to bring in the beans and clip okra. As I’ve started my own gardens over the past few years, one of…
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Vlog: Fall/Winter Garden Tour
This is my first official vlog… I think. Considering the amount of time it took to upload this with DSL, this maybe be one of very few vlogs. I feel like I’m always posting the prettiest of what I see in the garden, with a very isolated view. This tour should show you the bare bones of the garden and the little bit of green we are currently enjoying. Most of the really exciting structures like the bean tunnel and…
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Purple Hyacinth Bean:
The purple hyacinth bean, one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorites I first saw the purple hyacinth bean when I visited Monticello with my best friend in the fall of 2007. This past spring, my brother, with whom I am always swapping seeds and garden talk, sent me home with a handful of beans to plant on the boys’ teepee. I’ve really enjoyed watching this vine grow. It is far more aggressive than the other pole beans, though it took longer to…
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Sights and Sounds of the Morning
For several hours each morning, it feels like fall. Today while the Man-child was sleeping, the Baby and I stepped outside in the cool air and took a brief walk around the garden, where I plucked several green beans and red okra and felt dew under my feet. He old bamboo sticks that once stood next to pepper plants. The birdhouse gourds and cucumbers in the tunnel are continuing to set fruit and the Melondome shows promise of late season…
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Flowers for Friday
If you’ve eaten okra but never seen it grow, you probably have no idea that those sometimes prickly pods have such beautiful origins. This time of year, morning walks always include picking pods and checking out the bumble bees in the okra blossoms. Last year I saved seeds from my burgundy okra using pantyhose and paint bush to prevent cross pollination with the neighbors’ green okra. Several of the plants are producing greenish pods, so my methods weren’t perfect. These…
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Upcyled Tomato Stakes to Folding Shade Trellis
I’m a roll creating vertical growing space in the garden. Here we have 12 55″ tomato stakes converted into a folding shade trellis. The stakes from Logan’s were inexpensive, and I already had wood screws on hand. The two end verticals are spaced 45″ apart. The laterals are spaced 10″ apart. The concept is that vining plants will grow up the ladder side, which faces south, providing shade for lettuces that like cooler temperatures. I’m hoping this will give me…
