Hot. Humid. Houston. - Summer Garden 2019

Jeremy THE CAT has his rainy day routine nailed!
Step 1:  Nap on the chair.
Step 2: Nap on the chair.
Step 3: Maybe wake up for a minute,
then nap on the chair.

A rainy summer day is always appreciated!
The garden needs it, and then we get to skip
the sprinkler or watering can...

FIRST  YEAR  FOR:  Butternut Squash

Growing vertically can be a little tricky -
We've learned to tie up cantaloup and heavier
growing produce with a little help from the ladies
pantyhose selection at the Dollar Tree.  

Cucumbers do not need supportive leg-wear...
They do need to be eaten daily however as
there are usually 5-8 ready each morning this year!

Rain we needed...

And then a little more than what we needed...

The handsome Bret Sr. has often said that the
hardest thing to grow in HOT. HUMID. Houston are tomatoes
They get fungus from the wet and heat;
then the birds start pecking as soon as they turn red...

TOMATO LESSONS LEARNED:
#1 - trim your leaves away from your garden bed.
#2 let them turn yellow/orange outside on the vine,
then bring them inside to turn red.

The bliss of eating a tomato that actually 

TASTES LIKE A TOMATO 

is best enjoyed on a BLT or BLTA.

Basic Bread Loaf - Baking with Natural Yeast

Life’s A Peach... Spring To SUMMER Garden 2019

Napping in the 7 inches of space between
the BBQ grill and strawberry bed!

...Thanks for "helping" Jeremy!

It's always a race to get these off the tree before
the birds start to peck at them...

A gathering apron is something I am grateful for now,
and now wish I'd had one as a kid!

YOU HAVE BOTH HANDS AVAILABLE(!!!)
for picking: blackberries, tomatoes, peaches,
apples, or whatever was in season and my
mom needed extra hands to pick!

Tropic Snow Peach Tree - "free-stone"

"free-stone" means the pit pulls away 
from the fruit when fully ripe.

ESTIMATED  POUNDS  OF PEACHES
OFF  ONE  TREE  for 2019:
75-80  lbs.

We had hoped to can these lovely peaches this year...
However - our outdoor fridge runs a bit too cold
this time of year, and they froze in the fridge!

In the end they were peeled like an apple
and frozen for green smoothies
(or maybe a pie???).

Gluten-Free Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler...
baked by the handsome Bret Sr.

This garden bed is my FAVORITE...
and this year a bit of a come-back story
and compost/mulching miracle in one!

Bret Sr.   ...  THANK YOU
for being the Compost KING.  :O)

The first round of kale that was attempted was
from old seed.  It was no bueno...
It could not keep up with our daily (or twice daily!)
GREEN  SMOOTHIE  MAKING  MACHINE

Re-planting midseason, composting, and miracle-mulching
have kept this "green smoothie" dubbed garden bed going
through an extra few months of production.
I'm excited to see how long it will last before burning up!

...I honestly hope we've found a year-round garden bed!
(Houston, PLEASE!!, make it last year round!
It's the least you could do after all the enormous bugs,
fire-ants and humidity...) 

Green  Smoothies

Layer in this order:
2 cups water
4-5 cups washed kale leaves and stems 
1/4 cup ground golden flax seed  OR  old fashioned oats
2 frozen bananas
2 fresh bananas
3-4 cups frozen fruit
Strawberries or peaches or mixed fruit or pineapple
OR - combine a few of the mentioned frozen fruit

No blueberries with kale
no pineapple with spinach... It's nasty

For spinach, switch kale amount for
4-5 cups spinach and use blueberries
or strawberries or mixed fruit  

Makes 3-4 large smoothies 

Optional: 
Add 1 Tablespoon chia seed PER smoothie
Stir into a finished and ready to eat smoothie