Thursday, July 2, 2009

Garden Update. . . Sort of

It is almost peach time on the little ranch in Central Texas. Other varieties have ripen, but ours are a late-June to the middle-of-July kind.

Our thin, limestone soil produces the most tasty peach you have ever put in your mouth. The peaches may be small but are packed with a dynamite taste.

The birds love to snack. Although the peaches are not quite ripe, soon, soon, we will be having peaches on cereal, on ice cream, in peach cobbler, a peach slush, some peach jam, maybe peach tea.

This is suppose to be a bird deterrent. The birds are really, really frighten; we need one of those owls with the bobbing head but haven't found one. When inspecting the peaches this morning, I saw this out of the corner of my eye on the ground. For a split second it gave me a start and then realized what it was - the plastic snake, not a real one!


There must be a secret to raising tomatoes, and I don't know it. We have three bushes which are suppose to produce at least medium-sized tomatoes and two bushes that produce cherry tomatoes. At the moment, there are all of three tiny tomatoes on two of the medium-sized bushes, but one cherry tomato bush looks promising. The flowers either drop off or dry up.

At the moment, I seem to be best at growing gourds. The gourds were kind of a fun thing to plant for bird houses after the gourds are dried. This plant is every where with gourds of all sizes hiding behind the leaves!

I refuse to be discouraged. There is this spot off the Backyard Botanical Garden. We had about an half-inch rain Monday which soften the ground enough to dig in preparation for a fall garden. Hubby informed me to plant more tomatoes! Forget the fall garden, get him some tomatoes. Fresh corn is his favorite, but fresh tomatoes run a very close second.

To give myself encouragement, I added veggie picture tubes to visualize success. I do not have a reputation of being one of those people that can stick a leaf in soil only to have it become a tree within a few months. In fact, I don't keep house plants because they all die. However, I just know it is going to change! Wait until you see the all the lush tomatoes on the new plants and then the fall garden. You will be amazed. lol

Until next time, God bless.

10 comments:

Little Dickens Designs said...

Oh those peaches look so good. Can you believe I've never seen a peach tree in my life? I'm up in the north. I was just thinking today about making peach ice cream.

Lynn said...

If you tasted one of our peaches, you would move to Texas. lol They are addictive.

Brenda said...

I love, love, love, fresh peaches! You are so lucky!

Your tomatoes may need boron when they begin blooming to set the blooms to make them fruit. There are garden sprays for blossoms that contain boron or you can probably get some from a farm supply store and they'll also tell you how much to use and how to apply.

Lynn said...

Brenda, thank you. I'll check at the feed store tomorrow. You are a sweetheart. :D

Al said...

So! That proves that peaches are fruit and not color LOL. Hey it looks irresistible and will perfectly go well with my fruit salad. Would send some to me?
I thought it was a real snake it gave goosebumps, but even if that's only a plastic snake it still made my hair raise! Nice post!

AL

kate said...

I envy your fruit trees! Our yard is far far too small for an orchard but I bought some columnar apple trees this year that grow straight up! I hope they do well! My neighbor has a peach tree that sometimes hangs over onto our side of the fence...fair game!

Good luck with your harvest! -kate

DJan said...

Since my family lives in the Fort Worth area, I visit Texas at least once a year. There's something about the sunshine that I recognize in your pictures (or maybe I just made that up). It amazes me that peaches are already ripe! On the eastern side of the Cascades here in Washington, I read that they are having the best year ever for cherries! I also like the look of your blog, didn't you just change it?

Rae said...

Gorgeous photos of those peaches. They look delicious. Happy 4th to you. Hope you have a great weekend

Lynn said...

AL, peaches in a cantaloupe, strawberry, and banana fruit salad is the best.

Kate, this is our only fruit tree. We had some apple trees that finally got too old and had to be cut down.
We should replace them.

DJan, it is not your imagination concerning the Texas sun. We are 200 miles southwest of Ft. Worth.
I changed out the background for a July 4th look. Thanks for noticing.

Rae, same to you. Have a great 4th.

SquirrelQueen said...

Apples and cherries are grown in this part of the country but few peaches. I miss going to an orchard and picking fresh juicy peaches. Those look so good!

Judy