By Jannie Vaught With cooler weather, my personal time outside has greatly increased. That means plants, feed the soil turn the compost, and plant the seeds. I am having some insect pressure and that just tells me that all of the living creatures are preparing for the winter. Pecans are falling and some leaves are…
Jannie Vaught In the northern hemisphere begins autumm on September 22. If you have noticed the ash and elm trees, even some of the mulberry trees are dropping leaves and are beginning to change from green to yellow. The light is shifting and our length of the day is shortening and with cooler temperatures, the…
By Jannie Vaught Yes, how about a happy, healing, or relaxing garden design? Take some time to look at all 3 levels. Ground level, mid-level and upper story. Are you trudging to the back to plant, water and compost or can you enjoy possibly a curved walk under fruiting or flowering tree a row of…
By Jannie Vaught Last week a fellow gardener showed up at my door. Her question was “why aren’t my tomatoes setting fruit? We went through the regular questions, are you feeding them on a regular time schedule? Are they in cages or staked? Are you pinching off the lower limbs and removing the succors? And…
Jannie Vaught Last winter was the first time I even considered fava beans or broad beans other than butter beans or Lima beans. These were just not in my library of eating or growing. So I researched the fava. Favas are a specific kind of broad bean which includes, lima, fava, and some runner beans.…
By Jannie Vaught The National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas is a 100-acre wildlife center and native species botanical garden dedicated to the conservation and study of butterflies. Since many butterfly plants support bees also. Take a moment and go to their web site. www. nationalbutterflycenter.org. for all the latest and up to date information…
By Jannie Vaught Have you ever wondered about the USDA growing zones and what does it mean to you as a gardener or a farmer? Let us get a definition. The USDA Hardiness Zone map divides North America into 11 separate planting zones; each growing zone is 10*F warmer (or colder) in an average winter…
By Jannie Vaught “The beauty of seed is rivaled only by their purpose.” Seed Savers Exchange. Definitions that will clear up the usage of these terms. Sustainable: able to maintain at a certain rate or level. Renewable: not depleted when used. These are just two of the many descriptive words now used when someone is…
By Jannie Vaught Which is a good time to brush up on seed saving, I am using the Book The Seed Garden The Art and Practice of Seed Saving from Seed Savers Exchange. If you are interested in going deeper into seed and plant identification this is a good book to have. Definition; Taxonomy and…
By Jannie Vaught Being born and raised in a farming and gardening family, now it is called “homesteading” my grandparents and parents always saved seeds and plant cuttings. This was as normal as cooking dinner. They walked the Trail of Tears, with seeds, and were relocated to central California after the dust bowl. My Uncle…
