Texas Hill Country Garden

Sorry, these are kind of like “Where’s Waldo”: two dogs, tree frog, frog, and anole. Love this part of gardening without pesticides. Wildlife is everywhere.

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Pork Calabacita with homegrown onion, squash and zucchini

Assorted tomatoes and long beans

Shrimp with drunk noodles: homegrown onion, Thai basil and cherry tomatoes

Tomatoes, Armenian cucumber, okra and more beans

Simple garlic green beans

Thai basil

First time trying out this type of trellis and it works great. Growing cherry and pear tomatoes and they are getting tall. So easy to reach.

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Before and after. Now just need to decide what kind of vine(s) to grow on it…

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In mid-may, most of my lettuce and cilantro has gone to seed. I’m pulling all that is left. I put it in a brown paper bag until I plant in November. Heirloom rocks.

When you install a birdhouse and a bird moves in. Feels so good.
Note: Pic is blurry but memory is not. Chuckle.

That is a shame. Two enemies of the squash and other cucurbit veggies. I normally get a few squash harvests, then, I wave the white flag and pull my plants.

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Got some squash, zucchini, trombone squash before the bugs and heat took them.

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Texas Mulberries are great. The tree is adapted to our area. The fruit is prolific and tasty. I took cuttings of our Mulberry tree and it fruited the fist year. Amazing tree. But omg, the Pakistan Mulberry is soooo flavorful. It is 5 times the size and full of flavor. Don’t eat these together because the Pakistan mulberry will make the Texas mulberry taste bland. But on it’s own the Texas Mulberry is great.

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Now the veggie garden is growing fast

It is the mid April and the garden is doing great. So many butterflies, bees, lizards…Still have not seen a toad or frog though.

Lemon grass is coming back! woohoo! First pic is lemongrass from last year. It was like 5 feet tall! Second and third pics is the lemongrass coming back!!! So happy. This is on the north side of the house. wow.

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Anacacho Orchid Tree

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Other things going on in April

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The garden really wakes up in April. We could use much more rain. Last year it rained right when the roses started blooming and I was sad because it ruined many of the flowers. This year, I would be happy to exchange the blooms for some rain.

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Stars of the month: Hummingbird vine really does attract hummers. I think they feel safe because the blooms are so high in the air

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Crossvine is another showstopper. This one is called Tangerine Beauty.

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We have intentionally not pulled out our dandelions because I read that they are very beneficial because they are one of the first blooms. It is also edible.

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Asparagus – our only perennial vegetable. It reliably comes back year after year

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Peaches are starting to form on the La Feliciana. Pic on the right is of the tree flowering in March.

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We planted this in 2015. 7 years ago. If you look closely, you can see the glove in both pictures. I bought it in a one gallon pot in 2014 for $8. Keep growing little fella. You will be a giant one day! and will capture lots of carbon!

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is blooming like crazy

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I258 fig cutting is taking! I cannot wait to taste this one.

First Meyer Lemon is tiny. The next one will be a giant. haha

Mexican Lime tree is still doing great. More flowers. More fruit. It is amazing and so productive. Dream tree for first year tree.

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Cucumber beetle that likely came with a fruit tree we bought this spring. Notice the spider and the bee in this pic as well. That is a crowded flower bud! Spoiler alert: The cucumber beetle did not make it.

Must have something to do with the weather

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The next pictures are of the fruit ripening towards the end of April. So sweet and delicious.

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Here is a before pic. It was lovely. Grew so many veggies here…Thank you God…

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With our re-design, we are keeping all of the tanks and building new raised beds. These beds are just the right height and width. We are also going to keep the drip irrigation and set up some really effective trellising. Dream come true.

Here is the after pic: (I will update this pic with an after pic covered in veggies like the one above, but for now, this is it. Dream come true!

Here it is in-progress. First we built the boxes. This was so much work. It was heavy, dirty, and dangerous and I can’t thank my husband enough. He says he “builds dreams” and I couldn’t agree more.

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After we finished the boxes, it is time to fill them, permaculture style. This went faster than we thought. The first layer was cardboard, then wood logs, then branches, shredded paper and leaves. Finally compost, then dirt. Oh and there is junk mail added here and there in the mix. We used 3 yards of compost. I’m sure we saved a fortune doing this the permaculture way.

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Road base for the main floor. Keeps weeds and mud down.

Finally time to plant!

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Dream come true!!!

And now, here are the plants growing in the new garden beds…They are just babies…and I planted way to many squash and cucumber…Next year I will try not to overplant…lol

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