Taking Back The Backyard!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those are little trees. Little evil, thorny land mines that are scattered throughout the backyard making is nearly impossible to cross into the garden without yelling obscenities. On Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, Daniel and I are going to be taking these trees out. We have invited some friends out, luring them with Mexican beer. If you didn't get the message and you live near us, please feel free to come. Bring no chemicals, only your tools.

Just another day at the Nursery

Every time that I go to work at the nursery, there is always something new and exciting that is in bloom. This week, the Coral Bean. I thought that it looked beautiful and wanted to share this picture with you.

Rustic Potato Soup

Let me start out by saying that I love soup. All soups. I have never met a soup that I didn't like. Daniel, my boyfriend, could do without cream soups. I think he is crazy. Either way, back to the point. I love soup.

Tonight I decided that I wanted to be comforted by the warmth of a rustic potato soup. Why rustic? I don't know. I thought that it had a nice ring to it, and it looks rustic. Whatever that means. Anyway, the soup was awesome. Both Daniel and I agreed that the soup was the best potato soup that I had ever made.

Rustic Potato Soup

5 Potatoes, unpeeled medium, diced

1 Sm yellow onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

4 cloves garlic

1 cup Kale, chopped

1 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup corn, I used frozen

3 tbsp Butter

3 cups Water

1 cup Milk

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 vegetarian chicken-like boullion

First, over high heat saute the onion and garlic in the butter. After about 5 min, throw in the diced potatoes and carrots. Cook for about 15 - 20 minutes or until the potatoes have browned slightly. Add the water and boullion, reduce heat to medium and let boil for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, your potatoes and carrots should be tender and the broth should be thickening because the potatoes. Add kale, corn, cilantro and milk. Turn burner to low and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy.

World, Garden. Garden, World.

Here are some pictures of the garden so far. There are lots of baby veggies in the garden. It's very exciting. I have plenty of variety. I know that I have learned a lot from the previous year about what exactly I would like to have in the garden.

The Garden

Prayer Flags hanging at the top of the fence

Cucumber

Zucchini (Black Beauty)

Roma Tomatoes

Tomato (Cherokee Purple)

Bell Pepper (jupiter)

Envy Zinnias

Cilantro

Thai Basil

Romaine Lettuce

Kale

Here's a list of what is growing:

Spinach

Onions

Carrots (carnival blend)

Cilantro

Thai Basil

Serrano Peppers

Jalapeno Peppers

Cucumber

Envy Zinnias

Bell Pepper (jupiter and gypsy)

Tomatoes (cherokee purple, roma, homestead, sweet 100)

Kale (tuscan nero)

Brocolli (waltham)

Lettuce (buttercrunch and romaine)

Swiss Chard (bright lights)

Corn (rainbow inca)

Pole Beans (blue lake)

Squash (patty and yellow crookneck)

Zucchini (black beauty)

Watermelon (verona)

I have some other starts that have yet to go in but frankly, I am running out of space. I have started trying to use a little creativity. I am learning a little bit about companion planting and have begun thinking that I maybe want to thrown some lettuce in under the shade of my tomatoes. My corn, beans, and squash I planted in a the model of a milpa. My corn is growing a little slower than what is necessary for the beans but hey, it's a learning process. 3 of my corn seeds did not come up so I have had to make a teepee support for those 3 beans.

Today is looking like its going to rain. That's nice. :) Texas has been pretty dry so far but we have a chance tomorrow, 90% I believe. This is good news for the hill country.

Well, hope you enjoy the photos!

The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

So here it goes. The beginning. I am going from a not-so-technically savvy person to a blogger. Funny how things like that happen. So, what do I want to write about? The garden of course, and I guess a few other coinciding things thrown in the mix.

We should start with an introduction. I, Christina, am a homebody. I love gardening (suprise), cooking, singing, hugging, crossword puzzles, coffee, bluegrass, friends, old chairs, the west, and several other things that I am sure will get brought up eventually. Hello world. This is me.

Lets move on to the garden, shall we? This year I have already eaten the first harvest of my life from a garden. That's right. I am a newby. Last year my garden was ravaged by deer and I was left with two, lonely jalapenos sitting on a stick. Sad, I know. It was all going so well and then there were two. Immediately I abandoned all efforts in the garden and was very cynical about the whole situation. So much time and effort wasted. This year, with the new year, I was revived. I decided that everyone should have a garden. I started with myself. I put up the most intimidating deer fence that I could imagine. All its missing is electric shock and alarms. Not really, its not that crazy. Next was the planting. I used the existing beds and added a couple as well. With a little love and care, we are rockin'. Yesterday was the first harvest for me. I picked a ton of spinach and also some buttercrunch lettuce. Pretty awesome! It tasted fantastic. It was almost like I could taste the tears of the deer that had been peering at the garden through my fence! Ha. Just joking.

So, this is it. This is me, this is what I am doing, and I am very happy to be sharing this journey with you. Happy Gardening!