By Jannie Vaught Here we go: Cantaloup, Warm Greens, Okra, Peas Southern, Pumpkin, also if the vine borers got your squash, re-plant at the end of June first of July. Things to transplant Sweet potato slips. Flowers for this month. Mexican heather, Marigold, Flowering balsam, Lantana. Impatience, Nicotina, Periwinkle, Verbina, Hamelia, Begonia, Salvia, Purslane, Zinnias,…
By Jannie Vaught Not being used to such a wet season after the debilitating freeze there are new chapters of observation and working with nature. At this time of year, I begin seed saving from the winter lettuce. These plants stood through the freeze and I did a little trial and covered a portion with…
By Jannie Vaught What Are the essentials needed for starting seeds indoors? They need a good starting mix, heat, light, and Moisture!!! So you have your table up and ready. Your lights are hung above the table and you have your starting cell trays with bottoms trays that are new or clean and a bottom…
By Jannie Vaught This week I carefully went through my seed collection and did a plan for what I want to grow this year along with the much-worn garden journal. We are focusing on the variety we know to grow well for us, Celebrity is one we really like, Italian paste and a cherry for…
Jannie Vaught Seeds for this gardener have very personal meanings. As a seed grower and a seed saver, I am constantly looking close at many varieties of seeds. And I have a great fondness for seeds that are very tiny. It seems that these tiny bundles of potential hold a big productive plant, producing large…
By Jannie Vaught More than a Spice latte, this “Fruit” has been feeding humans for over 5000 years. Cucurbita pepo is originated from Mexico. Yes, it is a fruit and is known for its hard skin dense pulp, and many seeds. From orange to yellow to white this fruit is a nutritional plus. Low in…
By Jannie Vaught, Tomatoes are for this gardener finishing up as the temperatures have soared to above 100! But this is the time for harvesting the final crop and enjoying the fruits of your labor. For me it has been tomato canning time and as I grow Heirloom tomatoes, saving the abundant seeds for next…
By Jannie Vaught For those of us who are outside early and late there is a bit more grainy grime on the leaves and tomatoes. also, the wind seems to remove any soil moisture as soon as it touches the ground even with deep mulch to hold the water. Last week I came across a…
. By Jannie Vaught Potatoes and onions have been in, all the favorite tomatoes and peppers are showing flowers and even some fruiting. Then a strong wind comes and whirls it around. Every year there is something to repair. Amongst social distancing and face masks and hand sanitizer, the majority of my day is spent…
By Jannie Vaught Plan first, sort seeds and decide what you need to purchase. You can still plant some cold crop plants, Asian greens, lettuce, radish, and spinach. It is also bare root fruit tree season and cane berry time. Most nurseries will begin to have fruit trees and blackberry plants in or will have…
By Jannie Vaught I am a seed catalog reader. As I grow more interesting varieties I am often lured away by the siren call of that very pretty plant in the catalog. And boy do I get hooked easily! So after all the reading and examining each page back and front, I get my garden…
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…
Jannie Vaught The month of leaves, is this why it is called Fall? Anyway the bamboo leaf rake is out and the leaf re-distribution has begun. Don’t loose a single leaf! Break down thick layers of leaf accumulation in beds and lawn. Thick heavy matts can encourage mice, voles and pests. Break up the matted…
Jannie Vaught Most of the stone fruit trees are budding and many in flower. The Blue Bonnets are showing with their bright blue sparkles. I didn’t realize how color hungry I had become, then the first flowers and the Bonnets show and I think I’ve been living in black and white. I have 2 subjects…
By Jannie Vaught Stepped out to work in the garden and was driven back into the warmth of a hot tea and time to plan and study. Let’s look at seed preparation. Water soak; many seeds will germinate faster when they are soaked in water before planting directly into the soil. For thick-skinned seeds…
