Jolly Gardens

Happy Thanksgiving, garden fam! 💚💚💚

I miss my garden.

It’s no secret that gardening for us is about mental health just as much as it is about physical health. I’ve always been open about that.

In late May I took a new position at work, and I’ve been learning a completely different side of what my organization does. It was exactly the change I needed work-wise, but left me zero mental energy to put into the garden or posting here.

On top of that, this summer’s record breaking oppressive heat really took a toll on both the garden and my mood/energy. The garden right now is a 🔥HOT MESS🔥 but I miss her, and she’s beckoning me back now that work is slowing down and temperatures are cooling.

Life happens, you guys.

If you’re struggling, here’s your reminder that
☘️the garden is always there for you, it’s incredibly forgiving, &
🍁 there’s always next season. 🎉

Next week we’re getting an inch of rain, AND a cold front on a four day weekend! 🎉 I hope to spend all weekend outside with my hands in the soil for some much needed garden therapy.

I hope you get to too. ❤️❤️❤️

If you’re over the summer heat, bugs, and everything that comes with summer gardening… then it might be a good mental break to start (or finish) planning your fall garden.

Most of our garden right now is a hot mess (seriously, it’s embarrassing), but fall is right around the corner, and it’s our favorite time to garden! 🎉

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing all of our fall garden prep, favorite varieties, and garden tips.

Happy Monday, garden fam!

This morning’s fig harvest.

I’ll add some toasted walnuts & feta for a dish for garden club today. 🎉

This will never ever ever get old.

Sungold & Super Sweet 100 are super productive and forgiving.

I never potted them up.
I never tied them up.
I didn’t follow my own rules/best practices.

It’s not ideal, but here’s your reminder that the garden just wants to produce anyway. And that there’s no perfect garden.

Have a great Sunday, garden fam!

Do you think the squirrels will share with us this year?

Grow something lovely

Have you ever seen nitrogen nodules? Normally we cut legume (bean, pea) plants at the base and leave the roots, but I pulled this whole (volunteer) red ripper pea plant yesterday, and just LOOK at those nodules!

If you're looking for an easy and effective way to improve the soil in your garden, legumes can offer a great solution. These plants have the unique ability to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on their roots, which can help to enrich the soil with this essential nutrient.

By planting legumes in your garden, you can also reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizers needed to promote healthy plant growth. Instead, the natural nitrogen fixation process that occurs with legumes can help to enhance the overall health and productivity of your garden.

So why not consider adding legumes like beans and peas to your garden this season?

This week I’ll be direct sowing succession #3 of green beans and some southern peas.

Have a great Monday, garden fam! Monday’s question of the week is in Stories 🎉

SWEET PEA SEEDS

Have you saved sweet pea seeds before? It’s super easy. All you have to do is allow the pods to dry on the plant, then harvest them.

🌱 If you want to save for planting, then it’s best to save seeds from your best plant 🏆

🌱 We saved these seeds for MICROGREENS, which is something I’d love to do more of this year.

It’s easy to forget about secondary food sources our plants can provide, but they will feed us in more ways than one if we’ll let them.

Happy Sunday! We hope y’all have a great week! ❤️

Huge THANKS to for donating seed starting trays we’ll be giving away at tomorrow’s Fall Gardening Class at 🎉🎉

Sungold cherry tomatoes ready to be my lunch. 🎉

This SATURDAY 🎉🎉


Join us for our Texas Fall Gardening Class to learn how to transition from your summer garden to fall planting and harvesting! During this class, you'll learn about the best fall crops to plant in Texas, when and how to plant them, and growing tips for each crop.

We will also discuss growing from seed, and how to maximize harvests with succession planting. Join us to learn why fall is the best season to garden!

Participants will receive our 2023 Fall Garden Guide. 🔥

Can’t wait!

Summer gardens are in full swing 🍆🧅🧄🫑🍅

All of the winter and spring prep is paying off with loads of delicious vegetables. Fall will be here before we know it and if you want to success it’s best to have a plan!

Come join us this Saturday, at 11am as Joy and Holly from Jolly Gardens take us through their best tips for planning and executing a bountiful fall vegetable garden.

🐝 Happy World Bee Day! Did you know that bees are responsible for pollinating around 80% of our flowering crops?

That's why it's important that we try to attract as many bees as possible to our gardens. Here are some of our favorite bee friendly flowers…

Zinnia
Sunflower
Echinacea
Black-eyed Susan
Marigolds
Daisy
Coreopsis
Cosmo

Planting these beauties not only adds color and fragrance to your yard, but also helps keep our buzzing friends happy and healthy.
🌼🌻🐝

Garden club day! ❤️

Fig season is upon us! There are lots of figs, peaches, and pears sizing up right now, and it’s SO EXCITING. 🎉

Are you seeing mushrooms in your garden right now? That’s actually a good thing ⬇️

Here are some fungi fun facts…

1. Natural Fertilizer: Mushrooms are excellent decomposers and break down organic matter into a form that plants can easily absorb. The decomposed organic matter contains valuable nutrients and serves as a natural fertilizer for your plants.

2. Indicator of Healthy Soil: Healthy soil is a fungal-dominant environment, and the appearance of mushrooms in your vegetable garden is a sign that the soil is rich in organic matter and nutrients. A healthy soil structure is essential for the growth of healthy crops.

3. Soil Conditioning: Mushrooms can break down compacted soil, which helps aerate the soil and improves drainage. This promotes root growth and makes it easier for plants to absorb water and nutrients from the soil.

4. Beneficial for Pest Control: Certain types of mushrooms (google hyphomycetes) have a symbiotic relationship with plants, which helps eliminate pests in the soil. The mushrooms release enzymes that break down harmful insects and pathogens, making the soil a healthier environment for plants.

5. Enhances Biodiversity: Mushroom production in a garden environment promotes biodiversity, providing a home for insects, beneficial microorganisms, and helpful mushrooms that serve as food for birds, animals, and beneficial insects. This creates a more robust and stable ecosystem in your vegetable garden, promoting plant health and crop yield quality.

🍄 Aren’t mushrooms cool?

🍁If you’re in East Texas and want to learn about fall gardening, we have a lot more fun facts to share with you at our in-person class on June 3. Check the link in the comments. 😀

Morning flower photo dump, because I can’t help myself. These blooms have brought me so much joy. I love walking around the garden, snapping photos, and seeing what new ranunculus bloomed today. I think the ranunculus are almost done for the season, but there’s lots more other flowers to come.

Have a beautiful Sunday, garden fam! 💐

Succession sowing🌱

Holly sowed our first succession of bush green beans 3 weeks ago, and I just sowed the second succession. We do this so we’ll have a continuous harvest as long as possible.

1️⃣ in the first succession, she sowed two of our favorites, that we know don’t love our hot summers (that’s why they’re first)… Roma II and Dragon Tongue

2️⃣ This round I sowed four new ones (to us) to see how they do… Red Swan, Purple Queen, Ferrari, and Calima

Green beans are SO EASY to grow, straight from a pack of seeds. Check out today’s Stories plus our Beans Highlight for TIPS. 🎉🎉

Unpopular opinion warning…

These are some of the beneficial insects I came across while pulling out mustard and turnip greens this morning.

Each year I see more and more beneficial insects… and I think it’s because each year I spray less and less. Last year, I used an organic insecticide once, and that was it.

Part of being successful with that is not fighting the seasons. Meaning, once it’s hot it’s time to pull the cool season crops. They’re not worth the chemicals or the time.

The garden is my happy place, and I want it to be its own ecosystem. I don’t want it to stress me out, and I don’t want to have to maintain a maintenance schedule (I don’t fertilize regularly either).

I basically want to plant, piddle, and harvest… and let Mother Nature take care of the rest.

The dahlias from seed have really taken off! This is our first bloom. Can’t wait to see what the others look like.

I still have dahlia tubers, but I don’t think I’ll dig them up this year. We’re on the border of zone 8a so we’ll see if they come back next year.

We primarily grow food, and all the flowers are a bonus. I’ve been trying to add more natives and more perennials, so we can have more flowers with less work. And I’ve been trying to learn annuals one at a time. I have so much respect for all the flower growers out there, because it is A LOT. 🤣

Lunchtime harvest.

What a wonderful Earth Day Garden Club garden party! Our hearts are so full. ❤️ I just wish we would have snapped a photo of everyone.

Im weeding garden beds this morning, and can’t help but notice 100 little things that make me happy.

Best 5 Lavender Alternatives for Southern Gardens Stop trying to grow lavender in the hot, humid South. Grow these beautiful plants instead...

It still amazes me that this can come from a tiny seed.

This cabbage will be coleslaw for a garden party Saturday when our garden club comes. We are SO EXCITED to host them.

More ranunculus spam because I CAN’T EVEN.