Tag Archives: Gardening

Edible Landscape: Planting A Large Galvanized Trough

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by Texas Homesteader ~

I love the concept of edible landscaping. Just because a plant grows something you can eat doesn’t mean it can’t be beautifully incorporated into your landscape plan. I’m fond of adding carrots along the perimeter of my plantings for it’s lacy greenery border. And I love using the bold crinkly leaves of a spinach plant for interest, or to anchor a planting area with a vibrant zucchini plant. I’ve used blueberry bushes in place of typical landscaping bushes. The possibilities are endless!

Recently we had an Outdoor Living room built to extend our back porch. I sat out to Landscape It On The Cheap. As always I strove to plant edibles in two huge galvanized trough planters.

Planting large galvanized water troughs for edible beauty around your home. It's easy and can be done inexpensively too. #TexasHomesteader

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How To Trick The Birds AWAY From Your Strawberries

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by Texas Homesteader ~

This is my first year to plant strawberries, y’all! I’ve included them in my Edible Landscape this year. But I’ve been reading lamentations from other gardeners about the birds stealing those strawberries riiiiiight before harvest time! Now I don’t remember where I saw this hint (so sorry to whomever opened my eyes) but this is brilliant.

Someone suggested painting rocks to look like strawberries to fool the birds. You simply place the fake strawberries around your strawberry plant soon after you plant them. A few pecks on the hard faux strawberries and the birds decide that I’m such a lousy gardener that they don’t want ’em! LOL

I planted strawberries this year but I need to trick the birds away from eating them before I can harvest. I painted small rocks red to fool the birds. #TexasHomesteader

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3-Sisters Garden – A Symbiotic Planting Strategy

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by Texas Homesteader ~

A popular garden planting strategy often attributed to the native American Indians is the 3-Sisters Garden. This is a garden in which corn, beans and squash were planted. But they were planted for very specific reasons. Each vegetable helped the other. And by helping each other, each vegetable also benefited by growing strong and producing a crop.

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Garden Update: March

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by Texas Homesteader ~

Spring is almost here, y’all! I’ve been planning on and working in my garden already. There are a few things I’m revamping this year. For instance, I recently told you about my excitement over ‘biodegradable weed block‘.

I’ve had a system in place for years for keeping weeds and grass out of my garden’s walkways, but now I actually have something to keep grass & weeds out of the planting rows too. Less weeding? Yes please! Plus it will still help to conserve moisture & also attract earthworms. SCORE! All garden goodness right there!

See what’s going on in our garden this month…

I'm trying some new things in our vegetable garden this year. It promises to save me lots of back-breaking work in the garden. SCORE! #TexasHomesteader

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Stop Garden Weeds With Biodegradable Weed Block

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by Texas Homesteader ~

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At the Mother Earth News Fair this year I attended several gardening seminars. One presenter spoke about ‘biodegradable weed block‘. It’s supposed to suppress weeds during garden season. Then it naturally degrades by the end of garden season to just be turned back into the soil. Now I hate plastic weed block because weeds grow right through the blasted stuff, it’s messy, it’s expensive and it’s PLASTIC. But I’ve never even thought about biodegradable weed block.

I wondered how it worked, what it was made of, how expensive it might be, etc. So I went online to research. I found it’s made of ‘wood pulp’. Hey, could that be PAPER??

So I’m thinking of using those heavy paper feed sacks RancherMan’s been saving for me. I’ve always used those paper feed sacks in the walkways of my garden covered by mulch. But I’d never given thought to using it in the actual planting areas. Hummmm…

Biodegradable weed block for the garden? As it turns out, it's really a thing! And it degrades by the end of the season to just mix back into your soil. I hate the plastic weed block, this more natural material appeals to me! #TexasHomesteader

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It’s Only February But Garden Prep Is Underway

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by Texas Homesteader ~

It’s early in the season and most of us aren’t even thinking about dropping seeds or plants in the garden. Here in Texas planting zone 8 we typically don’t risk planting until Easter when in all probability the danger of the last frost is past. I’m not gonna lie, I jump the gun sometimes. There are times I get away with it, and other times I have to start all over…

But there are still garden tasks to tend to even though actual planting time is still weeks away. Come see…

Even though it's only February & cold outside, there are still garden chores to be done. Come see how I'm preparing the veggie garden. #TexasHomesteader

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All-Natural Lavender Scented Gardener’s Hand Scrub

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by Texas Homesteader ~

RancherMan & I like to make our Christmas gifts ourselves to give to loved ones. This year we’d been working HARD for several months making different flavors of homemade cheese for our gifts. But my aunt is on a special diet, so cheese wouldn’t be a thoughtful gift for her at all. Hummm…

I know – she loves to garden and she’s always planting and tending to the flowers in her amazing garden. (Let me tell ya, her landscape is breath-taking!) I’ll make a hand scrub for her!

All-Natural Lavender Scented Gardener's Hand Scrub. The perfect gift for the gardeners in your life. Includes crushed lavender blooms. #TexasHomesteader

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Stopping That Blasted Bermuda Grass At Last!!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

RancherMan & I had a porch extension built last year. But wait.  WHAT’S THIS???  Even though we took precautions to keep the Bermuda grass out, it tried to march into our beautiful raised beds anyway!

As anyone who’s battled (and LOST) the war with Bermuda grass in their flower beds knows, it’s almost impossible to eliminate.  The underground rhizosomes break easily, leaving the next generation of Bermuda-grass-misery ready to thwart your best efforts.

Bermuda Grass is notoriously hard to control. When it creeps into your raised beds, heck you've lost the war! Come see how we're protecting our raised beds with grass barrier. #TexasHomesteader

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Too Much Okra? Make Fried Okra Fritters!

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by Texas Homesteader ~

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There are a few veggies that are really a powerhouse in the garden.  Squash & okra come to mind.  They’ll grow & produce in the most challenging weather, usually producing well enough for you to eat as much as you want & still have plenty to share with friends & family.  I like okra either pickled or fried, but I’ve never gotten onboard with the mucilage texture inside of okra. So we didn’t plant okra this year. Luckily I was gifted with a bag of okra from a friend’s garden.  So I got to enjoy okra without having a boatload to figure out what to do with it all!

But along with this bag of okra was a recipe for okra fritters.  Okra fritters?  I’d never heard of such.  So RancherMan & I gave them a try – they were amazing!  I asked my dear friend if I could share the recipe with you, and she agreed!

A friend shared a bag of fresh okra from her garden. She also shared a recipe for Okra Fritters. They were delicious! Check it out. #TexasHomesteader

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Landscaping An Outdoor Oasis On The Cheap

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by Texas Homesteader ~
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RancherMan & I spend lots of time outside.  Not only for our work here on the homestead, but for pleasure too.  And we love the view from our back porch.  Recently I wrote about expanding that back porch to include an Outdoor Living room – be sure to check that out.

But now that the porch addition has been installed I need to landscape it into the peaceful oasis I’ve got my heart set on.  But I need to landscape it on the cheap, y’all.  It was surprisingly easy to do.  Come see!

Terracotta plant watering spike. We needed to landscape our porch area. But soil and plants are expensive! Come see how I landscaped it beautifully on the cheap. #TexasHomesteader

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