Gardens and birds

A garden update: Things are bigger in Texas, at least they are in our vegetable gardens. The tomato plants are nearly taller than me and we've picked a few ripe cherry tomatoes. There are a whole bunch that will be ready tomorrow and then we hsould be getting some each day for awhile. I feel like we are missing some, but it must be the birds since the squirrels seem unable to get the ones I'm missing.

Another garden update: remember in that last blog post where I said that the plants that came up from the compost were eight ball squash? That's how it looked, right? Not anymore. Look at them now:


One more garden note: In the front yard, the raised beds are pretty much abandoned in the summer. We had one potato plant that grew in the spring from a randomly planted red potato. It had an infestation of flat legged leaf cutters last month, and I had kind of written that plant off. Didn't water it, just ignored it. Well, today I thought we'd do a little excavation to see. The plant was completely dead (as of yesterday) and look at what we found! Jackpot!


Two weeks ago we hung two bird feeders in our back yard. My sister has feeders and has said how much she likes it. So, I bought two - a standard tube feeder and a nyger seed feeder. I also started changing the water in the bird bath every day (as well as in a large plant saucer on the ground.) The nyger seed feeder is completely ignored, but the regular feeder? Hoo boy. I have to fill it twice a day. If you open our back door, at least 15 birds take flight. Regular visitors include black capped chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, house finches, sparrows, white winged doves (did you know those doves all over Austin that everyone (well, most) seem to think are mourning doves are actually white winged doves? I've been calling them by the wrong name for seven years.), a pair of long tailed grackles and as of yesterday, some rock doves, usually affectionately known as pigeons. We can see the feeder from the dining room table and it has been so much fun for me and the kids to watch the birds.

And amazingly, the squirrels can't get it. They eat the dropped seeds off the ground.

Our gardens

I have had two raised beds in the front yard for four years now. One is herbs and the other is the winter garden. That is because it's under a huge pecan tree and doesn't get enough sun when the leaves are on the tree to produce anything. But in the winter, we get lettuces, chard, spinach, kale. After watching Kate eat chard right out of the garden back in March, I went the next day to the store to get more lumber to build more gardens.

Most of our lot is shaded, but we do get direct sun in the side yard.


We built a 4'x4' bed there and planted beans and peas from seeds (beans doing well, peas not much. We planted them too late. I may just eat the tendrils soon.) I also transplated to that bed two tomato plants and two unidentified members of the squash family. They were all volunteers that came up from the compost. I had no idea how they would do. The tomatoes are both grape tomatoes, it turns out, and they are doing great. Covered in green tomatoes. The unidentified squash (could have been melon, for all I knew) have turned out to be eight ball squash - a variety of zucchini. And they are going gangbusters.



We also built a small bed for the back yard (2'x2') and planted a grape and cherry tomato (purchased), a canteloupe (also purchased) and some basil. The tomatoes are doing great. The canteloupe has had a lot of blossoms but so far not much happening in the fruit department. I'm wondering if it's not getting enough sun. The basil is gorgeous and we are eating it all the time. And Kate loves it. Tonight she went out and picked some leaves for me for dinner.


I'm already planning next year. Cherry/grape tomatoes again, for sure (assuming they ripen. I may be counting my tomatoes before they hatch.) and cucumbers. Maybe we'll try melon again but on the side yard. I'm thinking of digging up some of the soil along the house and planting some squash there, since the beds are pretty full and we want more. MORE!

Veggie time

I'm so excited about my garden this year. I have herbs in the front yard in the raised beds, plus when Dad and Donna were here we planted a bunch of native perennials. Every thing is doing really well, so I've added a few more perennials plus I've just planted some in an unused area of the back yard.

I also have tomatoes, eggplant and peppers in pots. I'm very excited to grow veggies (successfully) this year.



Speaking of veggies, Kate's new favourite food is Veggie Booty:

Spring

Spring is here in Austin. There are some early season bloomers that have burst out this week, and they are my favourites. Texas mountain laurel and red bud. We have a red bud tree, but I didn't get a good picture. There is one down the street that is astounding - I'll get a picture of it when the rain lets up. But we do have a small Mountain Laurel. The blooms smell like grape bubblegum. It can be trained into a tree shape, rather than the bush we have, but it is a slow grower and takes a loooong time to get big.

Spring also means it's time to enact my plans/hopes to grow vegetables. Last weekend I built raised beds. The big one has broccoli, cabbage and onions so far. I also want to add potatoes and maybe beets. The smaller one (which needs leveling) will have tomatoes, but it's still a bit early for those.

I'm going to try some vines too, probably zucchini and melons. They will go in the border garden so they can use the fence to grow, and also won't eat up my limited raised bed space. I hope it goes well, I'm excited about homegrown veggies.