Hands in the Dirt

It’s finally starting to feel like summer now that it’s July.  How is your garden growing? Now is the last chance to get in short season (50 days or less)…

Did you see that we only had five hours above 70 degrees this year before June? My garden believes it. What a wet, cool spring we had in 2022. I…

It’s planting season and vegetable and flower starts are showing up everywhere for purchase, from nurseries and hardware stores, to grocery stores and farm stands, and the increasingly popular pop-up…

Frost one day and almost 70 degrees the next! These spring days are exciting either way. Out in the vegetable patch, lettuce, spinach and radishes can all be direct sown….

It kind of feels like March is arriving on a wave with all of the rain we have had the last few days. It’s a bit soggy out there! But…

Welcome to another wonderful year of gardening. February may not have a lot for you to do in the dirt, but there is still plenty to be done inside and…

Fall came out of nowhere and now seems to be here to stay, with lots of rain and cooler days. Get outside during one of the breaks in the rain…

I’m not ready for summer to end, but the garden has already begun the season change. Many plants can benefit from a pruning now. Tomatoes and squash plants may continue…

The orange light from wildfire smoke in the atmosphere seems like it is becoming the new normal, but the garden is still producing. This week I harvested zucchini, chard and…

How did your garden fare through the heat wave? The Ballinger Organic Garden (BOG) did pretty well, with only the tips of some rhubarb leaves a bit crispy and a…

In a rare turn, June actually feels like summer this week. Most garden veggies can be planted now without extra protection. Basil, cucumbers, and both summer and winter squash can…

  We’re in for a rollercoaster of May weather this week, with rain, heat and maybe even lightning! I plan to nip outside between storms to tend my young plants….

It truly feels like spring outside. My forsythia is blooming (time to prune the roses!), and so are most of the cherries and plums. My apologies to those with allergies,…

March and the sun are here!  Not much gets a gardener’s blood pumping like the first days with 50-degree highs! What should you do this first week of March? Weed….

Most of the gardeners I know are getting antsy to start their 2021 garden. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to finalize your planting plan so you can purchase seeds…

This month is looking awfully wet. The water level in Lake Ballinger is very high and walking through the park is often like walking on a sponge. Is your lawn…

For most gardeners, December will be spent looking at seed and tool catalogs and dreaming about spring. Given the recent increase in interest in gardening due to the pandemic and…

Not much new to be done in the garden this month.  Clean up and prep for winter is still the name of the game. The only annuals to plant in…

After the mad dash this week to soak up those last few rays of sun and 70-degree days, soon the garden will transition to mostly clean up. A few annuals…

The rain on Monday and the cooler nights are starting to make it feel like fall. Have you noticed signs that your plants feel it, too? Luckily our gardening days…

It feels like summer just started, but the days are starting to get shorter and the plants will soon be showing signs of the coming of fall. Hopefully you are…

Ah, July. Time for summer to officially begin — but not until after the holiday, of course! July is a bit of a limbo month for a lot of gardeners….

Welcome to June, even though it kind of still feels like May with the rain and cool nights we’ve been having. Nighttime temperatures are still hovering around the 50-degree mark,…

Can you believe it’s May? If you weren’t busy in the garden yet, you’re about to be! Nighttime temperatures are still hopping around in the mid-40s, so hold off on…

While the world is in a very interesting place, at least gardening has not been canceled. We can trust that if we plant seeds in soil, and provide water and…