Texas style photography and words
The crossvine on the top of the fence runs across the potting bench.
It looked so pretty that I had to grab a picture.
There is something about the junk hanging on the fence boards with the vine as an accent that I really like about this picture.
We call this architectural junk photography.
This plant is known as the spider plant, ribbon plant an airplane plant.
They grow fast and usually have 4- 6 strands of babies hanging off with 10 – 12 babies total.
Mine have gone nuts this year to the point I have 3 hanging baskets and these 2 large containers plus I have given away many.
The big plant probably has a100 baby spiders on it. You can take these off and plant them in the dirt to get a new plant it’s really a unique plant.
These are in the morning sun but afternoon shade and I think that is why they like it so much.
I have 3 hanging baskets on the back porch in full shade.
I love my spider plants they are a good bang for your buck.
I loved the color of yellow on this brightly colored planter.
I wished it was bigger but bought it for the color.
It was big enough to hold two moss rose plants.
Let me tell you these plants love the location and have been showing off.
Moss rose is one of my favorite plants I have it in about 5 different locations in the yard.
I love the fushia pink moss rose next to the yellow planter.
Accenting with pops of color in your yard keeps it from being too boring and makes it fun.
I love flower pots anything unique is right up my alley.
Normally I love bright colors, patterns, etc. but I knew I needed one of these head planters.
This one is called David and I got one for my sister Sheri and one for me.
I love the way the hair turned out it looks like dreadlocks.
Our daughter Jeanelle thinks the head planters are creepy.
Being creative with the design or grouping of the planters and the plants can be a challenge but I love it.
For lunch today I made us Caprese Salad it’s very light and something good for a hot summer day.
Recipe
3-4 good-sized tomatoes these are homegrown that is why the colors are so good.
1 – 8oz ball of soft mozzarella
Fresh Basil Leaves
Sea Salt, Pepper, Parsley, and Olive Oil.
Cut up the tomatoes, cheese and basil leaves mix with olive oil, and add salt, pepper, and parsley drizzle with olive oil.
We have officially canned 68 quarts of pickles.
There are 56 jars of dill slices, spears, and whole dills.
Then there are 12 jars of bread and butter pickles.
Our daughter Jeanelle’s kids love our pickles and will have plenty to eat.
The tomatoes and cucumbers are top producers right now in the garden.
Right about the time the tomatoes really start producing here come the stink bugs.
We battle this every year and it’s so annoying. They do not bother with the yellow or the orange tomatoes but they sure do love the red and purple.
I had read to add 1 – 2 tablespoons of Dawn to a gallon of water in a sprayer. We did this 5 days ago and now the tomatoes are perfect so we will be doing this every week to get back our tomatoes crop.
Here are a few tomatoes from today one of our favorite ways to eat them is tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and Italian dressing covered with foil and placed in the fridge for a few hours this will last a few days. This is yellow, red, and purple tomatoes in this mix.
On an average day, we pick about 30 tomatoes
Fresh vegetables are one of my favorite times of the year.
This is a new variety of Petunia and I was able to snag 3 hanging baskets at Houston Garden Center.
I have no idea how much I paid for them I just wanted them lol.
This flower truly looks like a sunset.
These are supposed to be a bigger bloom and a rounder larger shape for the plant.
I love flowers, especially petunias. These will be planted in the ground for their visual impact.
Jack has been busy getting the fall garden planted.
He has planted some seeds and some plants. The Cabbage, Onions, and Lettuce have all been planted and they love the weather we have been having 80 degrees in December lol. Our area is breaking its own record for record warm temperatures.
He has already bought $60.00 in seed for the springtime they get hard to find the specific kind of cucumbers and tomatoes you want. He actually listened to me last year and kept up in a notebook what brands he liked the best. We will of course go buy some plants in February. We had some tomatoes that tasted the best and some that were the biggest we had ever grown. I will share a picture with some of our harvest from the springtime this year.
In the back bathroom we never use I have all my coleus rooting for the springtime there are 3 of the bigger pot flats with two kinds of coleus. They are all doing great. I might do one more flat in there I have not decided just yet.
My aloe vera that survived the freeze in February came back really good and produced a lot of pups. I was able to give away 12 containers to my mother n laws friends from church. These are the quilting and rosary-making ladies. Some of the ladies get together 1 x a month for games day.
Planting a garden or growing plants in your yard is always lots of fun. Watching it grow is a thrill but sharing what you grow is a great feeling.
After the digging was done we weighed the potatoes there was a total of 262.20 #s of sweet potatoes.
I have enclosed a picture of a few buckets of potatoes. These are 7 gallons and 20-gallon containers.
Andrew and Adrian helped dig one day and Karina and Sophia help dig another day. For kids, it’s like a treasure hunt digging for potatoes.
We had some potatoes that were almost 7#s each and others that were 15″ long. None of these have been stringy I think the stringy potatoes must be old because it has nothing to do with the size we have cooked some big ones.
My husband over plants everything so we end up with plenty of vegetables to give to family and friends. Our freezer is full of squash, peppers, leeks, and onions. Some have been grilled some baked.
He gave one of his friends 50#s of potatoes to share with his family. We gave our daughter Jeanelle about 25#s but she will be back for more.
I have made 3 sweet potatoes pies using my grandmother’s recipe, 2 to give away one to share. I also made a cream cheese sweet potato cake that was the best cake I have had in a long time we shared that with Jeanelle and their family. I made some sweet potato pecan bread that turned out really good. We are trying to be creative around here.
We have been eating sweet potatoes at least 2 x a week. I want to try and cook some Hasselback ones.
I did read you can bake, cool, peel, and freeze so I might do some of that but I need that second freezer.
Fall tilling and planting has started so before you know it we will be overrun with cabbage lol.
Sonya Lira Photography 