"Hot Hot Hot"

Sounds great if you are in Jamacia or Cayman Island and dancing on the beach to the "Hot Hot Hot' Jamacian music, but in South Texas it's a different story.



The yards are burning up from the heat and lack of rain. Most yards are shades of brown with a few little round spots of light green. Under foot is crispy dried grass and cracks to watch out for.



In my little part of the world, where the normal rainfall is 30 inches per year, we have had about 6 inches in the past 12 months.



It rains all around and just taunts us as it goes by.



Needless to say the water hoses are running almost everyday just to keep the flowers and gardens alive. Most outside work is done before 8 AM and after 7 PM, except for the quick trip outside to move the waterhose to the next spot.



One of the best investments I have made are the dog kennels used to make shade houses. I call them my greenhouses, but they don't have plastic, just fabric, so it makes a perfect place for shade loving plants and rooting cuttings. Since it closes securely, you don't need to worry about your pets taking up homestead in them.



If you are interested in making one for yourself: it takes one for the base and 1/2 of another for the roof. I used the thick nylon strapes to hold the roof onto the top. Real technical, right? Whatever works is what I say. Anyway add a shade cloth or use what I used, sheets or fabric. Mine is made where you can fold down the sides to allow air to circulate from the top section while still protecting your tender plants from the wind.



Tomatoes and Bell Peppers do great in this environment. I have several fruit trees that didn't get planted this fall, that are also doing great fruiting.



Pray for rain and enjoy your garden efforts.



Gail

From Lilies to Dillies?

We usually plant those lovely Day Lillies for the beautiful color that they add to our landscape, but pickles?????

I found an old cookbook among my grandmother's things. It has recipes for pickling just about every thing from weeds and flowers to bananas, nuts and just about anything you can imagine. How about some pickled Eel or Caviar?

That's a lot of vinegar! And if you don't have vinegar on hand, don't worry, you can even make your own vinegar.

If you would like to make your own Pickled Day Lilies, here's the recipe:

Day Lily Dillies

2 pounds day lily buds
5 hot red pepper pods
5 cloves garlic
1 quart distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon mustard seed

1. Wash and drain lily buds. Pack neatly in 5 hot, sterilized pint jars.
Put 1 pepper pod and 1 whole garlic clove in each jar.

2. Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil and pour the liquid over the lily buds.
Seal. Process 10 minutes

Makes 5 pints.

,

So if you don't have enough veggies in your garden this year

turn your Lillies into Dillies!!

A Master Gardener Trainee

I am a Master Gardener Trainee....a title I really don't like! Really now, trainee? I guess it's because the word "trainee" holds a sort of less than knowledgeable connotation.

And if I am trainee and "don't know 'nuthin" then is it the same for all the others? I don't think that is the case. I know for me, it's not.

Here is what I DO know:

1. I love my gardens. My body doesn't. In my gardening tool box the most important tool I have is my bottle of Advil.
2. Johnson Grass comes from another planet. It has to. Nothing else on our beautiful planet could grow straight through 8 layers of newspaper, 20 year landscape fabric and 8" of mulch. Either it comes from another planet or it has the same genetic makeup of a 2 year old. Take your pick.
3. Flicking bugs does wonders for stress. Flicking them against a brick wall is even better.
4. Playing music to your plants doesn't work. I've tried. However, it might work if I could figure out how to attach the earphones from my I-pod better. Any tips?
5. The garden center knows my first name. They also know not to ask if the plant I am buying that is identical to the one I bought at a recent visit is one that I just like or if I am using it to replace the one that just died. I heard that their last employee is doing well with her treatment.
6. Brown is a color in my garden. Get over it.
7. I am inherently cheap. I love free mulch, border material, recycled items and plants for the garden. The Master Gardener's class was not cheap. That's ok. I'll make it up with snips and cuttings and seed pods from the natural garden.
8. I do not steal plants. I take advantage of opportunities. That lady's vine was growing over into the right of way. I was just helping to trim it.
9. I also rescue seeds.
10. My husband say's I let plants die. I prefer to think they commit suicide.

------------------
http://papilliongardens.blogspot.com/

New year, new dreams.........

The year 2008 was good for the Jackson County Master Gardeners. We got a lot accomplished. We volunteered more hours in 2008 than we have ever offered before- 2581.75 hours!

We presented a 'check' to the Jackson County Commissioners Court for the amount of $50,369.94. That was what our hours were worth, in terms of dollars. Of course, we didn't actually give them a real check- it was a big 'fake' check, but good for our county anyway.

On January 26, 2009, the Jackson County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to approve a partnership between Jackson County Commissioners Court and Jackson County Master Gardeners to build a demonstration garden at the Old Jail. We have been busy planning and designing the garden to teach about gardening and to share our knowledge of horticulture with the citizens of our county and all who will visit.
This is an ambitious project for our little group, but one we can achieve.

We plan to include a shade garden, ginger garden, butterfly garden, childrens' garden, vegetable garden (to include herbs and fruit as well), a greenhouse, water garden, knot garden, cottage garden/heirloom garden, flowering shrubs and ornamental grass garden. We want to show the many types of pathways, and the many materials that can be well used in a garden. We want our garden to be beautiful and instructive, and we want everyone to know they can have a beautiful garden, regardless of their means.

I can envision school children touring our garden, learning about seeds and seedlings, or planting little acorns to grow into majestic oak trees. Or maybe, because of our vegetable garden, a young mother will learn to grow vegetables to feed her family. We plan to donate the vegetables we grow to the Food Pantry, or to the jail kitchen. Everybody has to eat!

We are so excited about this project, and we just cannot wait to get started with the actual physical building of the garden! We are thankful for our Jackson County Commissioners Court!