I just had to laugh...

This weekend while cleaning up around the garden bed and compost bin, what did I find? Well it seems that I may have dropped some seeds while putting my bolted basil plants into my overflow compost bin because on the ground, I had sweet basil growing among the weeds. I just burst out laughing. The reason I laughed is that no matter what, if it wants to grow, it will grow. Also, it was not like I was trying to grow it, the rains that we have had made it great for the plant to survive.

Has this ever happened to you?

What's New To My Flower Beds (Fall 2009)

This past weekend, I took some time out to plant these bulbs in my garden. I am really hoping they will do well and I will have these beautiful flowers to come up in the spring.

Daffodil-



Bearded Iris-
I think these purple and baby blue iris plants will look great in my yard.

I received these plants while volunteering at a local botanical garden a few months back:
Coleus-At first I thought it would not survive as it had wilted considerably, however I decided not to give up and this is what it looks like within a few months.




I just planted these in my flower bed this past weekend. Hopefully they will do well in the Texas winter, I will add another layer of mulch to my beds this weekend to hopefully protect against in undue coldness.

Palmetto-I am going to call it a dwarf palmetto for now as it is a toss up between that and a Sabal Mexicana Palm.


Drummond's Wild Petunia-I did not think this plant would make it, but all of a sudden it started producing small purple flowers that looked amazing. I think my dog is brushing up against the pot because when I come home the flowers are laying in the soil of the pot, unless it is a strong wind. Just not sure.



Mexican Blackeye-It has not flowered yet, so we are not sure if this is exactly what it is. Can't wait to see the flowers and to plant it in my flower bed.

I am really enjoying myself with gardening and trying new things. I try to grow anything I get my hands on. I just love it when my yard is alive with activity...plants growing, flowers blooming, and bees and birds enjoying it all.

Ethel Gloves

I was so excited to come across these gloves while reading the blog at chiotsrun, I had been searching for a nice pair of gloves, not just my husbands old gloves and not the ones that you basically use one time and throw away (because of digging in wet soil). Well I sent my husband a *hint hint* e-mail for a possible Christmas give last month with the link to ethel gloves and low and behold I received not just one pair but two beautiful pair this month. I was jumping for joy. They are truly beautiful gloves. However, and I say this with sadness, I discovered well lets just say the roundness of my hands were a little larger than the largest size they had would accommodate. I pondered for a few days on what to do because they were so nice. Well finally earlier this week I e-mailed their customer service and explained my dilemma and asking what I needed to do to return the gloves, well to my surprise I received an e-mail not to soon after I sent it...letting me know they were sorry to hear the gloves did not fit and they would send me a pre-paid return label to send the gloves back. WOW that was just way cool, no hassle returns. Also, the lady told me they were in the process of making XL gloves and she would let me know when they were available so that I could order those. That is what customer service is all about....understanding your customers, offering help on fixing the problems and then offering to keep in touch later. Thanks again Ethel Gloves/Kimberly.

Paper Piecing

I created my first paper piece item. I am so proud of myself (so that I have waited this long to post :). I took a class at Honey Bee Quilt Store in Austin and the teacher Jennifer Ofenstein/blog is truly amazing (you should see her Harry Potter piecing). She broke down the process so that I could understand and she was always checking on us to make sure we were not lost. I learned so much in just the one class, see first project made below:





I created these right after the class and I am really getting the hang of it.











Paper piecing is really not as scary as I thought and I will continue to add elements of it in my sewing/quilting. Thanks Jennifer & Honey Bee.

What's In The Vegetable Garden Now (Fall 2009)

Box 1:
*Onion (seedlings)
*2 Bell pepper (left over from last season, but still have viable fruit)


Box 2:
*3 Bell pepper (left over from last season, start to fruit, I grew these from seed)
*Jalapeno pepper (left over from last season, I thought it was done producing, but as soon as I took the tomato plants out, it started blooming and fruiting again).
*Mixed lettuce (from seed) Noticed that I may have to lay more seed as not all germinated.
*Romaine lettuce (seedling)
*Arugula (from seed) Started this indoors and moved outside recently


Box 3: (this box is from items that I help seed and transplant with a non-profit volunteer program, I was able to bring home some of the left overs, I did have to add more seed to take place of the failed plants as they were used to being in a green house)
*Spinach (seedling and seed)
*Kale (seedling)
*Cabbage (seedling and seed)
*Collard Greens (seedling)
*Mustard Greens (seedling)
*Carrots (from seed)
*Radish (from seed
*Onions (from seed)
*Swiss Chard (seedling)
*Broccoli (seedling and seed)

Stand alone:
*Sweet potato (I grew these from splits from store bought potatoes, they are growing like crazy and I am so ready to pick them, but I will be patient
*Mixed green beans (seed) (Now that these are real good size seedlings, I found out that I may have been over zealous in starting these now as it may not be the season).
*Snow peas (seed) (plated these today)
*2 Cherry Tomato (seedling) I am still trying to get tomatoes, it may be futile, but I am going to keep trying.

Fall Is Here In Texas

YAHOOOOO!!!!!, it is now fall in Texas. I was dying with the over 50 continuous days of triple digit heat. My garden felt it (needless to say this was my first year doing a garden, what was I thinking, glad I did, so that I have that experience under my belt). I am so looking forward to gardening in the fall weather. I heard that in Texas this is the perfect weather to garden. I have many things already planted and they are starting to take hold. I decided to try planting a lot of my plants from seed. However, while at Home Depot one day I saw that they had quite a bit of their fall seedlings available, so I had to take some home. I will have to keep you all updated on the progress. Hope your garden does well this year.

Peper Jelly

This weekend I had some time on my hands and decided to finally make some pepper jelly for my husband and father-in-law. Well I was nervous as this is not something that I will eat and had never tasted before. I got the recipe off the Ball box of liquid pectin and started on my way. It ended up making way more than number of small jars I had could have used 2 more small jars, but had a large jar on hand and decided to use that. My husband said it taste good and taste similar to what he had when he was in Georgia as a kid. I really enjoyed making it once I got over the scare of the liquid boiling over the pot (all I could see was me in the hospital having to explain....I was attempting to make pepper jelly). Funny now that I look back on it.