Spring Gardening

 

We have been growing a garden in our backyard for about two years. After much trial and error we feel like we have finally begun to understand how to garden in Texas.

Here are a few things about gardening in Texas that we have learned:

• Water every other to every two days when there is no rain.
• Plant in an area where there is partial sun...preferably morning sun -even if your plants need full sun they don't usually need full Texas sun.
• Plant garden in an area where the grass grows really lush and green -even in late summer.
• Mix in garden soil. This will help counteract the clay in the natural soil causing it to absorb water more readily.
• Cedar mulch around the base of the plants seems to keep in moisture and keep bugs away.

A few things still baffle me though, and it is a constant learning and relearning to get what works.
This year also we expanded our garden adding a whole new "plot". It was quite a bit of work getting the sod off and digging up the rocks but the soil was surprisingly good in the area we chose-hardly any clay to be seen.

 

 

6 cherry tomato plants

 

Two sparrows have been happily stuffing this nest of theirs for the past two weeks. They have lined the entire inside of this birdhouse, including the roof, with nesting material, very cute.

 

some of our roses

 

Serrano

 Last year our Serrano produced so many peppers we could not possibly eat them all ourselves(and we love peppers!) We had a plant covered with peppers all the way up to the frost in December.

the new garden

peppers

 

grapes-to-be

...and our poor epazote can't grow as fast as we eat it.