Despite the summer heat, our garden has been magical. It has continued to produce more peppers than we can process and more basil than I could ever want.

We’ve been jarring, roasting, drying, and cooking as much as we can!

Is it dumb luck? Is it years of careful attention to the things that have gone wrong and adjusting our approach? Probably a lot of both.

But the garden has also been a buzz with flowers and pollinators.

And so much greenery despite the sweltering heat. The herbs are happy!

Green…

What do we do with all of the bounty?

Here’s hoping fall brings similar abundance. What are planting or thinking about planting now?

Bok choy, carrots, dill, collards, kale, fennel, and potatoes!

The garden is alive with blossoms as we head into spring. While tomatoes and peppers are just beginning to produce, flowers are setting the stage and attracting much needed pollinators to our “backyard garden.”

Winter 2025 brought abundance. Southeast Texas has been unseasonably (or seasonably) warm after a brief stint of cold weather. The garden is enjoying the mild temperatures and sunshine.

Our only failure has been a fall crop of potatoes that was hit pretty hard by pests. So…a new planting will (hopefully) yield a spring crop. Potatoes are life.

Broccoli has responded very well to the season and we harvested our first head. The carrots are large and sweet by this time of year. They do very well in the raised beds. This season we paired them with bok choy, and both crops seems to thrive as a result.

Southerners love their greens, and we grow all the greens. BB enjoys mixing the varieties to find a great combination for just the right flavor. Add some bacon and stock and it’s magic.

And don’t forget the turnips…these were grown in a grow bag and have not suffered the space.

Tis the season for peas

And herbs…

For the very first time ever, we are growing spinach. A great addition to salad, pastas, and many other dishes!

Super proud of the winter garden. We keep working to maximize our growth of our favorite veggies, and enjoy the fruits of our garden.

Happy 2026!

We had a productive winter here with lots of potatoes, carrots, leeks, onions and greens to show for it.

Speaking of greens, our collard plants are impressive (and nearly bigger than me).

Winter gave us the largest potatoes so far using seed potatoes from our local feed store.

And spring has brought growth. Mild climate, lots of rain, and sunshine. The herbs are going wild.

Peppers and tomatoes have been planted at their appropriate times for zone 9. The peppers have wasted no time starting to produce. Companion planting with petunias and alyssum have abated early pests.

Spring planting would not be complete without squash and cucumbers. Yellow straight neck squash is peeking through!

Looking forward to a productive spring garden!

After harvesting our fall potatoes, we had a nice snow week here in southeast Texas. Our leeks survived beautifully and were asking to be included in a delicious soup. So…I broke out Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and researched some online recipes. I settled on an amalgamation of Julia Child and Once Upon A Time’s recipes (link below).

First, I harvested three leeks and some bunching onions.

Next, I chopped up the onions, leeks and some garlic. I diced up four beautiful red potatoes.

I melted some butter and added the leeks, onion, and garlic to the pot.

After adding in the potatoes, bay leaves, thyme, and simmering for 15 minutes, I pureed the ingredients.

Then I added in a cup of heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste. I simmered until the soup was thickened.

We cooked up some pork and green onion and topped off the soup.

And…it was delicious. A perfect soup for cold winter days, and well suited to modifying for personal tastes.

Here’s is the link to Once Upon a Time’s recipes: https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/potato-leek-soup.html

Enjoy!

Winter here in southeast Texas has been super mild. The garden is thriving. Tomatoes, peppers, collard greens, turnips, fennel, bok choy, and carrots have all produced for us. Today, we harvested the first of our potato crops…our largest potatoes yet.

We even harvested a couple of small spaghetti squash!

This weekend we begin planning for spring. What are you growing?

The fall garden sprang alive as soon as the temperatures cooled off.

There are some plant varieties I have experienced nothing but difficulty in growing. Two of those are pumpkins and spaghetti squash.

For some reason, the right combination of variety, temperature, fertilizer and timing have allowed for some surprising results with these two finicky plants.

Loving the extra life in the garden!

Casperita Pumpkin

Spaghetti Squash

I know…it’s not “exactly” garden related. But, I hopped on the sourdough bandwagon after some inspiration from my sister in law (who happens to be a great bread baker).

After two false starts, I purchased the Goldie (link below), and here is my starter on Day 8 of the initial 14 day process.

It is doubling as it should. *Fingers crossed* it continues to grow well.

For those wanting to begin their own sourdough journey, highly recommend The Pantry Mama’s group. See link below.

https://www.pantrymama.com/

Goldie by Sourhouse link

https://sourhouse.co/pages/goldie

I just harvested my first milkweed pods…an ending to a wonderful adventure involving the lifecycle of a Monarch butterfly.

Late spring, I planted milkweed (among other flowers) to aid in attracting pollinators.

Indeed, all sorts of beneficial garden friends made use of the flower. Among them, was the Monarch. We got to see most of the stages. From caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly.

And now, the milkweed has given its pods/seeds for next season.

I used the link below, but wait until the pod begins to dry out and starts to split. You can then gently pry the pod open and harvest the seeds (ripe seeds are brown).

Don’t place them in a plastic bag right away, but rather, put them in a brown bag or otherwise dry place.

https://savvygardening.com/milkweed-pods/

Happy fall!

As we near summer, I thought it high time for a quick garden update. Spring has brought the gift of abundance. Squash, zucchini, and peppers have been plentiful. Tomatoes are taking their time ripening, but they’re beautiful and big!

We took the time to companion plant many of our vegetables this year with herbs and flowers, and it has truly paid off. We interspersed fish emulsion fertilizer and compost tea at varying intervals for specific plants, and we have larger and more bountiful harvests.