by Geoff | Jan 31, 2011 | Gardening
While planting my asparagus bed the other day, I uncovered a couple of rough earth snakes. This was the third or fourth time that I have found these insect and worm eating snakes in my garden. These two were smaller, but I have seen them get as long as one foot. I like having the snakes in the garden, but I move them over to the brush pile so that I don’t accidentally stab them with a digging fork.
by Geoff | Jan 29, 2011 | Gardening
I decided to reserve the far bed in my garden for a perennial planting of asparagus and thornless blackberries. I picked up ten asparagus crowns at The Natural Gardener earlier this week and chose UC-72, the variety that they recommend for Central Texas. I have grown asparagus before in Wisconsin, but the planting guide that The Natural Gardener provided had some useful advice. First, I prepped the beds by digging two trenches in one of my raised beds about...
by Noel | Jan 18, 2011 | Gardening
Gardeners are risk takers. They have to be. Nothing is guaranteed with seeds and plants. Even with the best care failures occur. I tried several new things last year and had some successes and some failures, but as usually happens, what works outweighs what doesn’t. Running two businesses keeps me short on time. My garden is most always a weedy mess. It’s gardening on the run. I’m gone many weekends doing trade shows and while I do get...
by Geoff | Dec 15, 2010 | Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Gardening
I took a couple of shots today in my east Austin yard for Bloom Day. If you don’t know about bloom day, check out May Dreams Gardens
by Noel | Dec 7, 2010 | CobraHead, Gardening
Less than three weeks ago I posted about my new grow light setup. I’m happy to report that things are working out well. We picked our first small salad today. The top picture shows thinnings and cuttings of a salad mix that germinated profusely. The mix can be seen in the second flat from the right in the second picture. On the far right I’ve got a flat of lettuce mix which did not have spectacular germination, but is still putting out some nice...
by Geoff | Dec 3, 2010 | Gardening, Recipes
This past spring I planted a small herb and ornamental garden in my front yard. Since I live in Austin with its periodic droughts and water restrictions, I look for plants that thrive without a lot of supplemental watering. Two herbs that did well for me were Mexican Mint Marigold and Mexican Oregano. Two distinct species, Lippia graveolens and Poliomintha longiflora, take the common name Mexican Oregano. I planted the former in my garden. When I planted the...
