On the homefront
We’re fully into summer here in Hill Country and my garden is bursting with food. I’m harvesting every day and giving veggies to all our neighbors and friends. It’s more satisfying than I ever imagined!
My cattle panel trellis is looking amazing. I actually have several cantaloupe fruit set. What a difference a month makes.
This year I’m growing a new tomato variety called Shimmer. It’s bigger than a cherry tomato but still small. It’s super sweet with a lovely texture and I think it will be a permanent variety in my garden. I really like growing varieties that you can't buy in the store.
I’ve harvested my shallots, elephant garlic, music garlic and softneck garlic. These are really easy to grow and they can be preserved for use over several months. We have more than we need and they are super fun to give away.
We’ve had fresh carrots and beets since early June and today I’m planting another block of them so that we’ll have them in September and October.
We put in two little blocks of corn. The sweet corn was a total failure. We waited too long to harvest it and it was awful. However, the squirrels love it, so it didn’t go to waste. We’re also growing neon pink popcorn. The ears are developing now and we’ll see.
My husband has taken up canning. He’s pickled beets and carrots from the garden and is also playing around with fermentation pickling. We learned a neat trick for tomatoes. You just cut an “X” in the bottom and freeze them as they are available and when you get enough, you make sauce and can it. The word is that the skins come off easily when they are thawed. We’ll see.
Our bird feeders are always busy with cardinals and finches and we have so many painted buntings this year.
We’re clearing another area to expand the garden. And when I say “we”, I really mean my sweet husband. This new area is be a bit over ½ acre and I’m so excited. Next year's garden will be 3 times the size! I’m already researching tomato and pepper varieties. I’m planning on having 100 of each.
I plant the ends of all my beds with flowers to attract pollinators and the Zinnia’s are my favorite. The flowers seem to last forever. I plan on saving seeds, but I haven’t had a flower die yet!
This months Design
I’m actually getting a few things done inside too. I’ve been working on some new designs that use new digitizing techniques. I never get tired of learning new things in digitizing.
I’ve been playing around with ornate heraldry frames. I have one for you this month. It fits in a 5x7 hoop and will accommodate a 1.5 inch monogram letter.
Get ready to see several of these on my website and my Etsy shop. They are really fun to digitize 😊
Well, I guess about wraps up June. What a fun garden month. Thank you so much for coming along on this journey with me.
I hope you enjoy this month’s design and make something special for someone special!
Hoping your July is the BEST!
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