Another Season of Gardening

And so the cycle of gardening begins again. We pretty much garden year-round in Central Texas! Well, actually, it is year-round here. 

The boys and I just pulled up the fall/winter garden. We harvested a bunch of cabbage. It was fun to watch broccoli completely flower (it attracts so many bees!). We pulled out all the lettuce, as well. We left our artichoke plants (they seem to grow all year long!) and our Brussels sprouts. 

Henry pulled a lot of snails out of our garden and moved them to a better spot. During the process, he noticed, "Mama! The snails are mating!" Sure enough, they were. It's so fun to watch things for the first time in person in my 38 years of life alongside my five year-old. He added, "They must love each other." Hooray for sexuality education with a preschooler. 

We then trekked to our favorite plant store (well, favorite plant store on our side of town; we actually love Natural Gardener more). We purchased mint, basil, okra, and tomatoes. 

I continue to swear by:

1. Front-yard gardening: It keeps everything away from pets and puts it in your line of site. We pass by it every single time we walk from our house to the car and the car to the house. We can't help but weed and harvest when we need to. It also puts us in better touch with our neighbors. 
2. Drip-irrigation: Not having to water a garden every day is a lifesaver. It makes gardening possible in our otherwise impossibly busy lives. 

I recommend this book if anyone wants an easy way to start gardening. We don't follow-it anymore, but it was helpful the first time we were thinking about setting up beds. 

Once your beds are in place, the best thing to do is to go to the garden store and see what transplants are available and recommended for planting! 

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