http://seeds.sunriseruby.org An Austin Gardening Journal Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:11:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the garden this morning: Anyone have any swiss chard recipes they'd like to share? http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/07/17/ruby-swiss-chard/ Another summer harvest photo from a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of Nathan: 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 ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/07/16/jalapenos/ Our first yellow crookneck squash of the summer: 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 ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/06/08/yellow-squash/ 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. http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/05/20/yellow-crookneck-squash/ A female cardinal eats loquats from one of the trees in the backyard. 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 ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/05/09/update-and-an-announcement/ 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. http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/04/12/blue-passion-flower/ After lunch at Nuevo León, and after spending the early afternoon shopping at The Natural Gardener, the garden bloggers toured the garden of Austin landscape designer James David. His Rollingwood garden is two acres of pure gorgeous--my words simply won't do it justice. My photos really don't either; the alternating ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/04/09/spring-fling-touring-the-garden-of-james-david/ After touring the Wildflower Center, the garden bloggers drove a short distance to Nuevo León, a Mexican restaurant in Circle C, to have lunch and to listen to a talk by Soul of the Garden's Tom Spencer. Pam arranged for us all to take a group photo, which she ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/04/07/spring-fling-lunch-at-nuevo-leon-with-tom-spencer/ Yesterday more than 30 garden bloggers from around the country converged on Austin for a day of celebrating gardens around town and connecting with other students of nature, gardening, and writing--It was the first ever Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling! Thank you to Pam of Digging, Diana of Sharing Nature's Garden, ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/04/06/spring-fling-lady-bird-johnson-wildflower-center/ Today I built a toad abode to attract toads to the backyard, following instructions I found on the National Wildlife Federation website. 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 ... http://seeds.sunriseruby.org/2008/04/03/toad-abode/