As you know, Kate really wanted a garden this year. I am not a gardener. I love the idea of a garden but planting, watering and weeding in the Houston heat does not excite me. We are a bit lazy with our garden if I am 100% honest. We do get very excited when we see vegetables though!
As a result, our garden is doing so-so. The garden is not thriving but it is not dying either (which kind of surprises me). Our yeild is quite low. In our region, in the summer, you really need to water every single day. That might not sound hard but with 3 kids running in 3 different directions and me working part time...sometimes we forget.
Anyway, we have had 2 small tomatoes....
I know the brown crack is from the garden getting too dry. We are trying to do better watering (see below).
Kate picked it on her way to gymnastics. As an aside, this is her "lucky leotard." She wears it a lot and claims to have her best sessions when she is wearing it.
It looks like our first green pepper is starting to grow!
And the cucumber plants are looking good too. The beans have done the best for us for sure. Although sometimes, we forget to pick and eat them because they come in very small batches.
Now our basil is another story.... We planted one basil plant years ago. It comes back each year and spreads. Now we have basil plant weeds. They look ridiculous but we don;'t pull them cause we like having the extra basil:) I know I need to clip the flowering parts. Again, Im a bit lazy when it comes to that stuff.
That plant in the back is the original but look at all the little and big basil "weeds!" That is Harry photobombing on his bike.
Hope y'all are having a great summer. Ours has been fantastic.
I think it looks great! And Kate is cute as can be in her lucky leo!!
ReplyDeleteSome tips....
Try planting a few more tomatoes either now/in the next month so that they grow into the fall or next year start much earlier (I'm guessing in your area ppl might start planting in Feb/March but a good garden center can give you those specifics). If you want a summer garden, ask that garden center for tips on native varieties that will be more heat tolerant. I'm really just learning about how important it is to buy the right variety for your area but a good garden shop should totally be able to help you.
And as far as watering every day, mulch can help you. Not the kind you buy in a bag for landscaping from HD. Something organic. My personal favorite method is to take thick layers of newspaper and line the ground around all the plants. Then I add a layer of straw on top. Not only will this keep the weeds out but it will keep the moisture in. You can get away with water a LOT less.
Peppers love heat though so you will probably see a good production from them. They are tricky to grow up here for that reason (it was in the 60's yesterday...in July...grrr the North Pole!).
And while I know kids aren't always lovers of kale and chard, they are nearly fool proof to grow and produce so much! In TX they might grow year round as they are cold tolerant (but North Pole cold tolerant....nor am I). You just cut the leaves and it produces more and more. To the point you will have friends refusing to let you come over if you keep bringing them more kale.
KK
KK Thank you so much for all that great advice. We will surely put some of it to use. Thank you!!!!!
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