Aside from making jewelry, I love to make things grow. When we lived in Houston, my husband and I built the most lovely potager garden...and then were relocated a couple of months later. Sadly, I never was able to enjoy or take care of it once it was planted. Now two years in Austin, I've been working on my new garden this year. We live in the side of a hill, which provides some challenges, but it's not that bad. I have a raised bed bordered in native limestone running down the left fenceline of my back yard. It makes me happy.
Since we have mild winters in Texas, we can pretty much grow year-round. I've begun planning and planting my fall garden. I'm probably a bit over organized (read "neurotic") about it. There's a massive spreadsheet...a map of my garden plan, coded for each variety I have (and this is only a section shown). Don't tease...I
did admit to being a bit neurotic about it!
I do grow organically and have a wonderful nursery/garden center here in Austin called
The Natural Gardener that emphasizes organic methods. The owner even has his own line of organic products "
Lady Bug" brand and is a contributor for
Organic Gardening magazine. A great resource to have locally since I'm still fairly new to this!
My dad plants by the
Farmer's Almanac gardening calendar, and it works for him, so I follow it too. Whether or not there's anything to it or all old wive's tails...who knows. The Natural Gardener plants by the moon as well and their gardens are beautiful! I figure if the method has been in practice this long, there must be something to it! Last week was good for planting root crops, so I'm starting to get little sprouts of French Breakfast Radishes, Parmex Ball, Adelaide Baby and Nantes carrots and beets (I grow a mix of gourmet heirloom varieties - Bull's Blood, Chiogga - which are beautiful, and Golden). You can see my tiny radish and beet sprouts in the photo.
Today is supposed to be good for planting leafy vegetables. However, it's raining. Not that I'm complaining! I love the rain and we desperately need it. My sweet husband came home to spend an hour and a half with me before leaving on a business trip. I was itching to get outside. The rain had stopped. He feigned hurt feelings with a laugh and I told him, "Just watch. It will start raining the second you leave for the airport!" Well...guess what?! Woudn't you know it! The very second he backed out of the garage...and it still hasn't stopped!
Oh, well. I still have tomorrow too!
(The last of my Listada de Gandia eggplant from my summer garden)
