Growing Grass

-

 

The 100 degree plus weather has relegated our gardening time to only an hour or so right around dusk. I think we have one more week of this really hot weather before we can get serious about the fall garden. Meanwhile... 



We have just broken ground on our new barndorminium. The structure is situated smack in the middle of the prairie with two huge old pecan trees framing the front. It will house a garage, a breezeway, and three small rooms. We hope to use it for education about the prairie, gardening, sustainability, spiritual practice, creation care, and whatever else comes up. For a couple of weeks before the Bobcat moved in, we rescued some of the grasses that would be destroyed by the construction. 

 

We filled up all the pots that we had with grasses, and then just planted the grasses in the little greenhouse that we have out back. I've been watering them every day, and they seem to love the respite from the heat that the shade cloth provides. They are flourishing. 


When the heat subsides, we will return them to other less populated spots in the prairie. I think some of them are going to Houston to grace Kat and Alan's pocket prairie there.
 

The star of the show is a Yellow Indiangrass that decided to bloom 

  Isn't it pretty?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Matthew 9:37

-
Image
As I listened to the lectionary reading from Matthew 9 this morning at Dayspring Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, via Facebook Live, I had to say "amen" to verse 37. Robert and I had just returned from the garden with the daily harvest — some okra, green beans, squash, and two huge baskets of tomatoes. Although we had hoped to share this "big garden" experience this summer with family, friends, and students, social distancing has changed the plans a bit. We have been able to share the produce with friends, neighbors, Floresville Food Bank, and the San Antonio Mennonite Market. But the harvesting has been left to Two Little Gardeners . (Our neighbor, Sally Gaertner, gave us this Little Golden book, first published in 1951, the year before we were born.) We have enjoyed the work. It usually takes us about an hour and a half every morning or sometimes every other morning to pick the produce. It's such a thrill to find what's waiting for us. The...
Read more

Shades of Green

-
Image
We did complete the construction of our new garden. We made six raised beds and filled them up with winter greens. We are in the process of adding more gardens around the fence to grow tomatoes. Here are the many shades of green that we are enjoying,   Shallots, onions, sugar snap peas, and mustard greens   Spring onions, sweet peas, and mustard green Turnips, cilantro, spinach, parsley, bib lettuce, and dill Broccoli, Brussell sprouts, Swiss chard, mesculin mix, and carrots Kale, red and green cabbage, beets, and romaine lettuce Poppies, spinach, Crawford lettuce, and radishes Romaine lettuce Cilantro Dill Spinach Bibb lettuce Romaine lettuce Sugar snap peas Mustard greens Second growth of broccoli Red cabbage Beets Green cabbage  
Read more

It's Harvest Time

-
Image
The garden is looking really good. It's a daily job to keep up with the harvest. I've been sharing some with neighbors and with the San Antonio Mennonite Church "Market" on Saturday afternoons. If you are local, I would love to share some of the produce with you. Here's what I harvested this morning.  This is our first sweet corn.  We have a lot of scalloped squash and yellow squash.  There is also a variety of small tomatoes. The big ones are not ready yet.  I pick a basket full of green beans almost every morning.  The zinnias and marigold are beautiful and plentiful. Yesterday we harvested the last of the potatoes. We had a few that had sprouted, so I think I will be planting them to see if I can make potatoes in the summer. The okra is just coming on, and we will soon have melons and cucumbers.
Read more