Anyone have any swiss chard recipes they’d like to share?

Lest our harvest photos lead you to believe otherwise, our summer veggies are mostly a bust.  All of the yellow squash plants were infested with borers, the cucumbers managed to suffer both from a lack of water and some kind of powdery mildew, and the tomatoes were eaten by rats before they could ripen.  The only plants still surviving are the swiss chard, the basil, and the peppers.  But while the pepper plants look healthy, they aren’t flowering anymore, so not sure how many more of those hot green things we’ll see.

Nathan was kind enough to take the photo for me. I wanted to slice the squash and cook it as soon as I harvested it.

I hope we harvest lots more squash this summer, but borers already got one of the other plants. Bah.

The yellow crookneck squash has burst into bloom over the past week.

It won’t be long now until we can sample some of the fruits (and veggies) of our labor.

It’s been nearly a month since I’ve updated Seeds. My MacBook died, and I needed to take a break from garden blogging after Spring Fling anyway. Although I haven’t been writing, I have been watering, and the garden keeps growing.

Most of the action right now is in the veggie beds. The pear tomato plant has grown to nearly five feet tall and has about a dozen tiny green fruits on it. The Chadwick Cherry tomato plant that I grew from seed is long and leggy, but otherwise doing well. The cucumbers, bell peppers, and crookneck squash are all growing nicely, and the jalapeños are about to flower. (Something’s eating the basil, though.)

I’m happy to announce that veggies aren’t the only thing I’m growing around here at Seeds–Nathan and I are expecting our second child in December. I’m excited (and nervous! about having two under two), and in all likelihood I’ll miss the better part of fall planting because my mind will be on the little life growing inside me, and less on life in the garden. We’ll see–I’m sure I’ll get around to scattering a few wildflower seeds, at least.

In the mean time, I’ll post photos and garden notes here as I have time and energy. If you’re still reading after my month-long hiatus, thank you. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the other mothers who read Seeds! May you have a day filled with joy, peace, and love from the ones you love.

The blue passion vine in our front yard has a handful of blooms on it, with many more buds preparing to open.

Passion flower blooms look almost otherworldy to me. The blooms on this vine smell a little like pineapple. Apparently the bumblebees enjoy them, too.

Rectangular containers cascade down the steps outside the front door.

A staircase behind the house leads to a large goldfish pond. The stairs are divided in half by a small stream.

Goldfish pond

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I plan to journal about the event in three or four separate posts. In this first post, I’d like to share some images from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which we Spring Flingers visited on Saturday morning.

Bluebonnet

Pink evening primrose with bee

Sculpture in the garden

Texas vervain

Havard agaves

Sotol

Next Spring Fling post: Lunch at Nuevo Leon, with a talk by Tom Spencer

I used a hammer to break apart a 10-inch terra cotta azalea pot that already had a crack in it. (But, of course, the pot doesn’t have to be cracked for you to take a hammer to it.) I stacked the fragments into the form of a house, using the largest pieces of the pot as the main walls.

I located the abode in our wettest, shadiest bed. I left the bottom of the abode open, so its tenants can burrow if they like, and I added leaf litter to the floor. The main entrance is just over three inches tall–plenty of room for the tallest of toads–and I provided several other points of entry/exit in case any of the residents need to leave quickly by alternate route (as in case of snake). The final amenity I added was a dipping pool, which I made by sinking an extra terra cotta saucer into the soil outside the abode.

Now that construction on the abode is complete, we’re just waiting for a toad to wake up from hibernation and find it. I can’t wait to see who takes up residence.