My herb garden as it looks today…needs lots of work.

Last week, I started the winter clean-up around our property to prepare for our early spring plantings.  Here in central Texas, the weather is fairly mild in the winter  – with a few cold snaps here and there (just enough to kill lots of plants) – and the summers are scorchers – topping over 100 degrees -  so our “spring” planting comes fairly early in the season.

The Italian Oregano which is along the “barn” garage wall has survived fairly well through our winter but everything else isn’t looking so great. The weather wasn’t the only factor…more about that later…

The flowering trees have been pruned back and the beds mulched.

St. Francis greets us along the garden path.

Obi investigates the yucca branches intruding upon her newly mulched “bed”!

As you can see from the pictures above, everything needs to be fenced or walled off if we have any hope of growing things to be harvested.  The reason?…We certainly must have more deer in our town than people!

I’ve also been saving egg shells to fill with dirt and use for seed plantings.  Once we get a sprout of a seedling, we can put the whole thing in the ground, shell and all.

I have hopes of planting some squash this year along with my usual cherry tomatoes and Italian plum tomatoes.  I’d also like to try a few other things, just haven’t decided on what yet – - – plus I need to do some research as to what will do well in our climate.  I’m thinking, too, of planting a peach tree.  They grow beautifully in the Hill Country.  The Fredericksburg area is famous for them.

In addition to my veggies, I’d like to grow lots of my usual herbs…oregano, basil, thyme, chives, sage, and more.  I love growing a wide variety of basils for making pesto, basil mayonnaise…and just using it in all sorts of dishes.  Yum!

Basil picked from our garden last year.

Basil we picked last year at Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls which was later turned into…

Basil Pesto Spread…I added a little less oil to make it thicker to use as a spread on slices of baguette. Out of this world delicious!

Oh… and speaking of my herbs…remember those earlier photos of my herb garden?  Well, as you saw, it needs a bit of an overhaul…*sigh*…

Our sweet Obi got into the beds and had her way with the herbs!   But, I think I’ve thwarted any future efforts of destruction by putting up a fence that is too high for her to jump.  She’s just so darn cute, it’s hard to get upset with her. (OK – now I have to go give her a hug and a treat…good dog!…I love you Obi-Wan…)

Obi-Wan

After a hard days work in our herb garden!

My son, Ben, and I have been working on making some garden stepping stones to add to others we’ve made in previous years.  We’re hoping to make enough to complete and entire path for the herb garden.

The stone in the middle was made when Ben was younger…the one to the left when he was older.  I just love seeing the changes.  So sweet!  (The one on the right was made by his obsessive-compulsive mother…who has an extreme need for symmetry! )

I hope the next time I show you our garden, it will be over run with lots of veggies and herbs.  Keep your green-thumbs crossed!

*** I’d love to hear if you’ll be doing any spring planting this year.***

“Talk” with you again soon, my sweet friends.

Love,
Mary