• Gardening

    Cucurbits In The Garden

    Right now we have multiple beds with a variety of cucurbits growing. So far the melon varieties, such as this Charentais cantaloupe have been taking the heat well. I’m looking forward to eating some fresh fruit later this summer! A smaller staged version of the same cantaloupe. We had two plants of zucchini which have both bit the dust, as well as a smaller replacement zucchini we left in our grow-out pots too long. The first zucchini, this one pictured, bit the dust when someone in our community garden chopped the growing tip off. I was not pleased. Another zucchini, a golden variety, bit the dust one day due to…

  • Gardening

    Good Gourd

    Back in late February/early March when I decided to plant all the flowers in the garden I also decided to plant some vines along the back fence. I found luffa seeds at a local garden center and immediately had to have those because they reminded me of Florida. We grew some along one of our fences there. I picked up those seeds and then planted some birdhouse gourds that were in the garden shed—they didn’t come up, mostly likely because they’d been in the shed through the heat of summer and were no longer viable. Instead I picked up more bottle gourds at the store to re-seed in their place.…

  • Thoughts

    Summer—I’m ready for you!

    Summer is officially here in Texas. I know, we have a few more weeks until the solstice but the heat is dialed up, the rain is getting sparse and my tomatoes, I believe, had their peak harvest last week. Summer has arrived! This summer is incredibly full already. We are closing on our first house at the end of the month! It is exciting because we’ve really waited 10 years for this—-oh, and our 10th wedding anniversary is next week! It might have been possible to buy a house if we’d stayed in the Melbourne/Space Coast area of Florida in 2004 and not moved to south Florida when the housing…

  • Food,  Gardening

    Tomato City

    Last week I wrote about cucumbers and the insane amount we harvested throughout May. Oh, they still sent May off with a bang, giving us a reusable grocery bag full in the last two days of May. But, let’s talk tomatoes…. I’m beginning to run out of counter space. This isn’t a new thing, I’ve dealt with this before in Florida and our harvest there, but we had more counter space then. I’ve been picking them when they just turn pink on the bottom (unless I miss one and get one that is ripe), to keep the bugs and birds at bay. I’ve seen many birds flying into the tomatoes…