We are weird.  Too weird at times.  Most of you know this though – and that is why a lot of you are here now.  Just see what the hell we are talking about and also to see if we took picture of your garden while you were having dinner or helping your kids w/ their homework.

Maybe.

Actually this is a local edition of Garden Stalkers – so all you internet-ers are safe this time… but we are about to turn this into a weekly post… so you are not safe for long.  Better get your gardens up to par, or you are probably going to be made fun of by yours truly in the coming months.  Like that is something new.

Last night we decided to grab the camera and get a few shots of some gardens & plants that always seem to be catching our eye lately.  Then we got distracted by ice cream and went home.  But before the ice cream… we snapped a few shots.  Check it.

This setup is on my way to work everyday.  It has some roses, which neither one of us has ever been a huge fan of.  I mean, we respect them… just not our style.  However, these look awesome w/ some cool pink flowers in the fore front.  It is a nice switch up from the normal rose-bush-stand-alone-focal-point-idea. The same people had this lil gem hiding in the back hugging the alley…

Yup that is a veggie garden… in the alley.  A growing trend here in Midland, TX – a trend we like to see.  As we passed this one, we quickly saw another just one more house down…

Pretty cool eh?  only 4 plants, but you gardeners know how that turns in to 5… then a second bed… 15 plants, a lawn clearing – bean pole… community garden… acre.  A little bit further down…

This one had a bit more room in the back – but still, basically an alley garden.  They had 10 or so plants (tomatoes we think) and a lot of space to work with.  Way to go garden neighbors.

Check out the Agave w/ it’s junk out.  Yup – for those that don’t know, looks like this guy has hit his game over stage.  That giant aspargus lookin’ thing is the spike the beloved Agave sends up at the end of it’s life cycle.  You can’t tell because the picture is small – but there is another one in there that did so last year and cratered.  Now this one – our guess – the one on the right is up for next year.  Big agaves though – we can’t wait until ours gets to this point.

Are you a garden stalker like we are?  We do this all the time, so expect to see more and more local (and online) garden stalking in the near future.  Just don’t call the cops on us.  Please.

Tags: Container Gardening, Drunk, Garden Stalking, Gardening, Growing Agave, Growing Peppers, Growing Tomatoes, National Gardening Month, ONLY in Texas, Organic Gardening, Springy, West Texas, West Texas Gardening, raised beds by James
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Hope everyone is doing something for Mother Earth today – even if it is something simple like picking up a few pieces of trash… or if it is something like recycling a few plastic bottles… maybe planting a tree.  Nothing is too small – so do your part if you can.

Shala snapped some pics  yesterday to show off our garden and to show that we are doing our part for Mother Earth.  In other words… happy Earth Day – ENJOY!

Our Spartium Junceum (Spanish Broom) has just started to bloom… this was an addition last year that has really taken off and smells FANTASTIC.  Which is awesome, since it is at the end of our raised beds and we get to smell it while we toil in the soil.

We just stuck some Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican Heather/False Heather) in a few gaps along our fence this past month.  They are barely getting started… and are taking a beating by the BIG WHITE DOG (Izzy).  Still hanging in there and blooming too.

This Passiflora Caerulea (Passion Vine) was added last year as a $0.99 plug – and is now crawling down our fence and check the awesome alien-like blooms!  They are so epic.

And it is just starting… look at all the blooms just building up.  This thing is about to explode.  We haven’t seen any Gulf Fritillary Butterflies just yet – but won’t be long.

Lastly – we stuck some tomatoes in the ground last night!  4 different kinds – just 4 plants at the moment.  Better Boy, Rutgers, Large Red Cherry & Beef Steak – we are ahead of the game!  All grown from seed of course… be jealous… be very jealous.

Do something for the Earth today… it is Earth Day for heaven’s sake - we will spend some times planing after work.  Maybe drink a few beers… kick back and relax in the garden.

Tags: Earth Day, Flowers, Food, Gardening, Gardening Tips, Growing Tomatoes, Health, Living Green, National Gardening Month, ONLY in Texas, Organic Gardening, Pictures, Recession Gardening, Springy, West Texas Gardening, raised beds by James
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So we told you about the moo poo teas that we use – even though we wanted to keep it secret.  We told you about our favorite gardening tools, and how we fight off gardening ninjas w/ them.  We are scared we may have given away all our secrets to having a great garden and maintaining it.  Oh well.

Another day, another secret.  Today’s secret – Great Big Plants (GBP if your cool) Organic Liquid Compost.  We came across GBP about 3 years ago or so and have used it ever since.  When we first got into the whole “organic” thing – we were looking around for fertilizer to help us keep it both organic and still give us that BOOM when it comes to growth.  Great Big Plants came across our radar and we have been a dedicated customer ever since.

I’m sure some of you are thinking – wait a second, you said that y’all use Annie’s Authentic Haven Brand Manure Teas!  You are right.  We do.  We actually rotate between both the manure teas & Great Big Plants – giving our plants a silly boost of growth.  It seems to work for us, if you have ever been in our backyard jungle and seen what we are doing – you would agree.  Our tomato plants LOVE Great Big Plants – and by Fall… they are Great Big Plants.

Great Big Plants is a liquid compost concentrate that basically rebuilds your soil (instead of just being a fertilizer), so you can use it when you are transplanting, afterwards and everywhere in between.  It is great for when you first put your transplants in – because it gives the soil a boost to help minimize that length of time when plants seem to stall in terms of growth and it does it naturally!  You can’t beat that.  It also helps with mature plants, continually feeding the soil to build a better soil and a bigger plant.  If you aren’t using it – you need to be.

Wanting to try this yourself?  Well we got you covered w/ a quart size bottle of Great Big Plants Organic Liquid Compost – but also, if you want to purchase some for your garden/plants – hop over to their website and use the discount code they made for us…

DD2010

That will give you 15% off your order and get you on your way to having Great Big Plants (I think that was a pun?!?), sorta. 

So do your think – leave a comment below and you are entered.  Pay attention too… most of you guys are good – but some of you, HAVE YOU EVER USED A COMPUTER BEFORE?!?  If I have to move another comment from another post into this one because you just comment about stuff at random – I am going to personally deliver some compost tea… to the top of your head!  Geeze.  It is fairly simple – just click the lil link below… and comment.  Don’t go 7 pages deep and comment on a post that claims the winner of some gloves we gave away over a week ago.    I laugh about it, but then I get angry and cry myself to sleep.  Get to it!  Sign up, tell your friends – Facebook it – Tweet it – blog it!  Please!  We will leave this one up for the entire weekend, because even I need a day off.  So you have two days, take advantage of it.   Until next time… good luck & good gardening!

Tags: Composting, Container Gardening, Fall Gardening, Free Stuff Contests, Gardening, Gardening Give Aways, Gardening Tips, Growing Tomatoes, Living Green, Make A Difference, National Gardening Month, Organic Fertilizer, Organic Gardening, Personal, Recession Gardening, Reviews, Seeds & Seedlings, Springy, Sprouts, West Texas Gardening, raised beds by James
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