A Yard Full

It’s going to be hectic, either way………I sure hope the weather holds, so it won’t be too cold outside. I don’t like cold weather, it makes everyone sick and my spouse is experiencing this as we speak.
I sure hope everyone comes with a big appetite, cause my fridge is full of things and it will be hard to find any space to store leftovers…………I’ll try to send as much home with people as I can………that will help to keep the fridge from being so full……
Hey, all you nice people who visit my site………….please have a great and safe holiday and come back the following week, to read more on this blog…………

The sky is teasing me… If I think it’s going to rain, I’ve got another think coming.. It does this every few days. The surrounding areas here where I live, get the much needed rain, in fact they get too much. I must not be living right, it will rain, everywhere else, and bypass my dry dying lawn.

My poor vegetable garden has burn up and I didn’t get very many nice veggies, because of the drought in our area. The heat has almost killed everything, and I only water when I have to.

The breeze is getting cooler, so someone is getting rain……..just not me!

My poor vegetable garden is really suffering………there’s not enough rain, and watering is too expensive……..plus they have us on “water rationing” here in Texas…..so, you can only water one or two days a week, that is unless you want to stand there with the hose in your hand, and water it that way……..Now that’s a big chore……..so, I just water the plants, that are looking really limp and do it before dark so the water can cool the roots, during the night.

As for the veggies, there’s hardly a thing that’s producing, because of the heat. They’re doing good to survive….and that’s not saying much. Texas heat is scorching and really takes it’s toll on outside plants.

Have you be to UR Resident Chef, lately?  Believe me your in for a nice surprise.  Not only does this blogger, write about food and recipes, they also, show ways to grow herbs, to use for cooking.  I’ve been in contact with this blogger several months, and can truly suggest you reading this blog.

This person has other blogs, that you should check out, but I enjoy this one the most, since we are both enjoying planting and growing, veggies, and herbs.  I advertise on this blog very often and suggest you get to know this blogger, as I have.  You’ll not regret it.

My peas are making and soon, I’ll be able to have fresh peas with snaps to cook and enjoy. A friend sent me this recipe for a good condiment with your food.

TEXAS CAVIAR

2 - 16 oz. cans Black eyed peas drained

1 – 8 oz can of corn

2 – 4oz. jars of diced pimentos

1 green bell pepper chopped

1 small onion chopped

3 or 4 avocados chopped

1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped

Marinade:

¾ cup Vegetable oil

¾ cup Apple cider vinegar

¾ cup Sugar

1 -2 Tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce

½ t of garlic salt

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the marinade in a large bowl and add main ingredients. Allow to marinate for 4- 24 hours.

Drain marinade and serve.

The heat is killing many of my plants, and they can’t get enough of the water, to keep them sustained. My water bill is going to be so high.    For the longest we were getting plenty of rain, and when summer came, the nice rain stopped. Now, we’re lucky if we get a small sprinkle. I’m alternating days to water the front yard and the back. The backyard is where the vegetable garden is, and I’m really having heck with it! I hope it will hang in there, and give me some good veggies…..it’s being sparse right now, and that irritating. I really love good garden veggies, and wish it could have done better. I guess, I’ll have to mulch more and get more peat and loam mixed into it. The ground is like cement.

The cabbage heads are forming and looking great……. It won’t be long until I’ll enjoy the slaw or steamed cabbage.

The yellow squash, is blooming and so are the calabasita’s.

I have nice big green tomatoes and many more small one’s, plus they’re still blooming……….

This is a small peach tree, that we planted last year, but it’s still to young to make anything………it’s really grown this year, so maybe next spring it will have some flowers……..and if I’m lucky……a peach or two………

My Vegetables are Growing

I have tomatoes growing……..lol……I can’t wait for fresh tomatoes……

The cabbages are starting to make heads.

I just love fresh vegetables out of the garden, the taste is so different for the store vegetables.  I’m sure you know what I’m taking about if you’ve ever had a home grown garden.

Remember when I told you about the lettuce not coming up because of the weather, back about 2 months ago?  Well I planted some more last week and the rain we had brought it right up.    I mixed together the “loose leaf” and “romaine”, one will compliment the other.

The potatoes are growing real well, some of them didn’t come up, for whatever reason, but the one’s that did are looking good. 

The spinach/mustard is doing well< I just need to get some seven dust to keep the bugs away.

  The tomatoes are blooming, so it won’t be long till I can get some green tomatoes to fry………lol 

I already have the wire cages on them to contain them and support them in high wind and storms.  Will need to get some new cages, next year, these have just about seen their day.

The Brussels Sprouts are up and growing well.  The cabbage plants are about the same size.     I’m having to fight the cabbage worms, on both.

So, here is a cabbage plant, it’s just one of the one’s that got planted,

and here is one of the tomato plants just planted a week and a half ago, I bought them at a local nursery. Their not getting on good yet, just getting adjusted to the soil, and then the bad rains came and almost drowned them. Here’s a small patch of radishes, that have been up for about 2 weeks now. I plant small plantings of radishes every 2 weeks, in order to keep fresh radishes growing during the spring. The one’s above are white radishes, and these are the one’s planted about a month ago.