Garden Goodness!

It's been a long time since the last post! We've been very busy, but so has the garden :) Recently we've had some crazy weather- lots of rain, high winds, and even some hail- but the garden survived and is doing great. We just ate our first fresh poblano from the garden and it was delicious! Here are some photos we took this morning...

An overview of the garden (yes, it needs some weeding and pruning. Because of wet conditions, it's been muddy and hard to get in there!)

Some of the yummy goodness growing:

 Baby cucumber!

Mmmmm squash.


That's all for now!

Happy gardening,
Jessie & Justin

It's A Dirty Job

We woke up to a beautiful morning today and decided it was time to get to work in the garden. We picked up some organic soil/compost blend from our favorite local gardening shop, Redenta's (check it out at redentas.com). We poured that over the existing soil, tilled, then got to planting!

Unfortunately, not many of the seedlings were ready. It seems a combination of insufficient lighting inside and then being exposed to the natural elements was too much for them. Luckily, we had enough seeds left over so we decided to go ahead and just plant the seeds directly into the garden.

It was a good day, but hard work! We did all the tilling the old-fashioned way with a couple shovels...definitely couldn't have done it without Justin.

It'll be a couple weeks before we know if our efforts today were successful, but we're optimistic! Hopefully we'll be posting pictures of a garden full of sprouting veggies soon =) 

Happy gardening,
Jessie & Justin





  

Spring Break Update

Overall, things are going well on the road to the garden! We're glad we had a week off to relax and also give some TLC to our little seedlings =)

We noticed the seedlings were sprouting and growing, but they were growing tall and thin. So we called on our good friend and green thumb, Alden, for some advice. He suggested that putting them in natural sunlight will help "put some meat on their bones" and strengthen them. Since it is quite windy, the seed trays are in boxes to protect them from the wind, but getting some much needed, healthy UV treatment.

In compost news, the worms have arrived! We have one pound of good ol' earthworms working hard in the compost bin. We hope this will help break things down in there more quickly so we can put it to good use sooner in the garden.

With the seedlings getting stronger, we hope to have them planted in the garden pretty soon!

Happy Gardening,
Jessie & Justin

*Thanks again to Alden for his knowledge and advice!*

The Beginning of Our Journey

Welcome to my garden blog! I invite you to come on this journey with me and my husband, from seeds to an organic garden to the dinner table. Weather here in Texas is pretty unpredictable, especially this time of year. The temperature is constantly changing and the wind can be brutal, so I've started all the seeds inside. Using small seed cells, a few pots, some organic soil and a heat lamp I've planted a variety of seeds; so far we're working on:

• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Cucumbers
• Bell Peppers
• Cayenne Peppers
• Habanero Peppers
• Green Onions
• Yellow Onions
• Soy Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Green Beans
• Basil
• Cilantro 
• Various flowers

Here's a picture of the operation (the ones covered in plastic are still germinating):

Outside we're getting the garden space ready. Here it is now:

I know, it looks like a pile of leaves, but soon we'll till the soil and get it ready for when the seedlings are strong enough to make it outside.

We also have a compost that we've been adding to for almost a year now:

                                         (Yummy)

We will soon be getting some earthworms to help in the compost as well as the garden area.

Some future projects include adding potatoes and avocados, and perhaps constructing our own greenhouse!

I'll keep updating so you can follow along to see what happens! Suggestions are welcome

~jessie