Planning Spring Garden

Tending to a garden takes time. Even as a retired couple, we don't plant EVERYTHING we eat. Some produce is just more trouble than it's worth here in Texas. There are lots of bugs and some plants need lots of room like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. Some produce isn't possible where we live and I can live without some of them, others I will buy in season like asparagus and artichokes. Then there is the inexpensive group like cabbage, onions, garlic, potatoes, greens, and mushrooms (we have a local mushroom company called Monterey Mushrooms close and I hope to buy them by the case).

We are pretty simple folks and tend to just make simple satisfying meals with good spices. My goal is to make chili paste, dry onions, and garlic for powder, and grow the spices I need.  Times are going to get tougher so making all my sauces and spices will help out a lot. I remember when I used to go to HEB and buy spices by the ounce. After COVID they no longer have a large selection. Besides those spices are probably pretty old, as are the ones on the shelf.

My list of spring garden seeds:

Tomatoes (red and yellow)
Carrots/radishes
Cucumbers/pickling cucumbers
Poblano/bell/jalapeno/spicy red peppers
Romaine/Spring mix lettuce
Beans
Beets
Peas
Turnips
zucchini/yellow neck/patty pan squash
We sow directly in the ground.

Planting in above-ground containers was a blessing. We have had fire ant issues but white vinegar will relocate them. We eliminate tiny black ants by making a solution of Borax and sugar in a water bottle. Other than that hubby waters and checks the garden daily. We watch a young homesteading couple called "More Than Farmers" and they bought a battery-operated vacuum to suck the squash bug off the plants. How ingenious is that? At the end of this video, he talks about this.

Some of my favorite homestead-type YouTube channels I follow:

Farmhouse On Boone the sourdough queen.
More Than Farmers (young couple cooks simple)
Little Mountain Ranch
Homesteading Family (lots of good advice)
Our Tribe of Many is an amazing LARGE family with such good values.