by Texas Homesteader
It was with high hopes in late winter that I planted my indoor greenhouse with my heirloom seeds. Those seeds sprouted into tiny seedlings and I anxiously planted them in my garden immediately after Easter (as is recommended in our planting zone 8 here in NE Texas.)
But the strange spring weather battled with my tender seedlings.
by Texas Homesteader ~
I’ve always heard in our area of NE Texas (planting zone 8) that you don’t dare plant until after Easter because a rogue frost can still swing through & kill your tender plants. Oh my goodness it was so hard for me to wait! So to pacify my need to garden I planted up my Indoor Greenhouse weeks ago. As I watched those tiny seedlings sprout I just got more excited.
Then I sat back & waited (im)patiently for Easter. Then the big day arrived, FINALLY I was able to plant – woo-hoo! Here is my April veggie garden update:
by Texas Homesteader ~
Spring is almost here, y’all! I’ve been both planning on as well as working in my garden already. 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…
by Texas Homesteader ~
Spring is on the way, y’all! And I’m sure I’m not the only one getting antsy to get in the garden, am I?? LOL.
But as you know, much must still be done before that time comes. There are still lots of preparations to be made first. So this week’s 5 Frugal Things is aaaaaall about saving money with the garden. Come see 5 things I’ve done this week to save some cold, hard cash!
by Texas Homesteader ~
I typically have an ‘indoor greenhouse‘ that I use when I plant heirloom seeds in the late winter months. This means I’ll be able to actually put seedlings in my garden come spring instead of planting the seeds directly into the soil later in the season.
But this year I wondered if I should attempt to set up a cold frame to take my plants from tiny seedling to ready to plant. So to experiment I started looking around for a good southern-exposure location & items I could use to build a temporary cold frame. Why not use hay bales?
by Texas Homesteader ~
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This time of year after RancherMan & I gather documents needed for our income tax return, we always do a quick cleanup of the remaining confidential documents that we no longer need.
We utilize electronic bill-pay for almost all of our bills. And we enroll in paperless billing whenever possible. But there are still some cases where paper receipts are received such as packing slips, receipts, etc. So even though we fight against extraneous paper coming into our home, come it does!
Many people shred these documents for security’s sake. But we don’t have a shredder and I don’t fancy ripping all the paper by hand. So here’s what I do to actually USE that ‘trash’ instead. Check out this Homestead Hack:
by Texas Homesteader~
Several months ago I found a very used 100-gallon galvanized trough at our metal recycling place. It had interior rust, a few small holes & was missing the plug. So it obviously wasn’t being used to water livestock anymore.
But it would be perfect for my vegetable garden. I’d love to fill it with soil and garden plants. I love the look – seems I’m obsessed with galvanized metal, y’all!
And it should also certainly ease harvest in this section of my vegetable garden. I’m not getting any younger, ya know! I’m constantly looking for ways to simplify my garden tasks.
So I asked if they’d sell it to me. For $10 it was mine! But to plant this huge 100-gallon trough, I first needed to put something at the bottom to allow for drainage.
In a potted plant you can add broken pieces of pottery and such. But I needed something much larger & chunkier for this much space. I decided to make up a few ‘ecobricks’.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Okra is a powerhouse in the garden. Heat? Drought? Poor soil? It just seems to laugh at it all! My garden struggled this year due to the prolonged cool, wet spring. When the sun finally did come out & the temps warmed, many of the things I’d planted had already given up the ghost. But not the okra.
Now okra will produce you out of house & home if you let it. So I only planted four (count ’em – f-o-u-r) plants! It’s been about right to supply RancherMan & me with okra. But I’ll need to harvest & accumulate enough okra for frying up for us. Thankfully it’s easy!
