by Texas Homesteader
May is typically a great month for veggie gardening in NE Texas. In May the temps usually haven’t heated up too drastically. And in a normal year there’s still spring rains swinging through each week so you don’t typically have to struggle quite as much with your garden maintenance workload.
C’mon and walk with me through the garden & let’s see what’s “growing” on these days.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Y’all know I have to have my hands in the dirt. I don’t have any control over it – that’s just something buried into my DNA. But do you wanna know a secret? I don’t really enjoy gardening (I know, REALLY??! gasp!)
But it’s true. I don’t enjoy the planting, weeding, watering, maintenance, etc. But I really love the harvesting and that makes it all worth the toil.
Harvesting fresh veggies from my own garden minutes before supper is healthier than veggies traveling all those miles to get to my supper table. Plus food this fresh just tastes better! And I’ve often said that growing your own food is like printing your own money. Pounds & pounds of fresh, organic produce for just the price of a small packet of heirloom seeds? Yes please!
Wanna see how my garden is doing? C’mon in, I’ll share my April garden update!
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.
by Texas Homesteader ~
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RancherMan & I spend a lot of time on our back porch. A LOT! Oftentimes we sit on the porch in the mornings and enjoy our coffee together as we watch the sun rise.
And when we’ve been bustin’ it in pastures in the hot summer sun we take a break & cool down with an icy-cold beverage in the shade of the back porch before hitting our chores again.
Plus almost every night after supper we once again return to the back porch to end our day.
Come see how we turned this porch extension into our own outdoor oasis!
by Texas Homesteader ~
It seems vegetable-gardening planting is finally going on all over the US now. Aaaaaahhhhh the veggie garden – how I love it.
Here in NE Texas (zone 8) I typically plant heirloom seeds in my ‘Indoor Greenhouse’ in February and transplant those heirloom seedlings into my garden after the danger of frost is done.
But this year I had a naughty bull jump our garden fence & decimate all of the tender seedlings. I had to start over.
I did replant many of my heirloom seeds but I ended up buying a jalapeno plant. It was so small that the winds were pretty rough on it.
So I needed to find a way to protect it from the wind. (and free-range chickens)
Use Whatcha Got, y’all!
by Texas Homesteader ~
Y’all remember last month the bull hopped the garden fence & tromped around the wet soil decimating my newly-planted garden? Well I smoothed down the soil best I could and basically had to start over. Because of this damage my garden was now waaaaaay behind schedule! But I’m hopeful I’ll be still be able to harvest lots from my garden this year. Come see the damage recovery report for May.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Around the end of March RancherMan & I start thinking about splitting our beehives. Splitting a hive accomplishes 2 things – it expands the number of hives in your apiary. (yea!) But it also gives the bees a little elbow room by putting empty frames in each hive allowing for expansion.
You see, if the bees get to thinking things are too cramped, they’ll swarm looking for more space. And that’s something no beekeeper wants since there’s been lots of time & effort into managing their apiary. We did our splits by swapping empty frames for full ones. It was easy!
by Texas Homesteader ~
It’s true I have to grow a garden every year. I mean *HAVE* to! It’s something that’s in my blood and not having a veggie garden is just not an option for me.
But recently I got to thinking, there are several reasons I love to garden – it’s not just a hobby. It’s good for me in so many ways. I mean, flower gardens are beautiful and manicured lawns are lovely too. But I’d rather put my outdoor effort into something that will benefit me in 4 important life-changing ways. And here’s the good news – it can be life-changing for you too. Come see!
