growLively

growLively has moved!

To all my growLively blog readers...important news!

In order to consolodate all my horticultural projects into one more maneagable site, I've moved my blog over to my Halleck Horticultural site: That's my main website, lesliehalleck.com 

I've imported the entire growLively blog, back from April 2007 over to the main website, so nothing should be missing. I'll also be leaving this growlively.typepad site up for quite a while, so you'll still be able to find me here, you just won't be able to make new comments...but can do so on any and all of the posts over at the new site. All of my new posts will be populating on the blog at the main website, not here. So if you have my blog bookmarked, you'll want to update it to the new url.

I have a lot of exciting things that will soon be available to you on the new website, such as online gardening classes, an e-newsletter, fun graphic tees and eventually webinars and chats. Keep an eye out on the site/blog as it will evolve quite a bit over the next few months. I hope you'll join me at Halleck Horticultural !

Mulching, Mulching, Mulching!

Ok...we've gotten off easy the last couple of months with all the mild temps and rainfall...but SUMMER IS COMING... so it's time to mulch folks. That's what I'll be doing this weekend. Mulching all the new and old beds. On yard of mulch down...only 7 more to go. I think I'd better go ahead and take the ibuprofen now! yeeesh.

So, what are you folks doing in the garden this weekend?!

Dallas Backyard Chicken Sale, 6/16/12

Ready to pick up some birds for your backyard chicken flock? North Haven Gardens is hosting their monthly chicken sale tomorrow, Saturday 6/16 from 10am-1pm or until sold out. It's first come, first serve. Plus, NHG has some gorgeous plants in stock in the garden center right now and lots of it is on sale. With this mild weather and rainfall, it's a great time to plant!

Harvesting 'Golden Mama' Tomatoes

I've been harvesting some fruit off of my 'Golden Mama' tomato plants over the last few weeks, but the big haul is beginning to come in! I filled this obviously inadequately sized bowl to overflowing today, and there are plenty more fruits to come.

I"m also harvesting some wonderful 'Black Cherry' heirlooms. I've saved the larger fruit for slicing, but what to do with some of the smaller fruit? Well, one of my favorites and super easy thigns to do with cherry or small tomatoes is marinate them overnight, then roast them. So some of these babies will be going into a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary from the garden.

I'll let the tomatoes marinate overnight, then tomorrow, I'll pop them into a 425F oven and roast them for 15-20 min (15 minutes is typically adequate for cherry sized tomatoes, I give it an extra 5 minutes for larger fruit). And there you have it, the most delicious soft warm tomatoes to serve on top of bread, crackers, or anything really. YUM. I wish it was tomorrow already!

Blue Agave as Living Fences in Ecuador

Just came across one of my shots of huge blue agaves in Ecuador...wow. They were truly stunning! (Most of my travel photos end up being plants...I know..it's a problem!)

Interestingly, small farmers use them to create living fence lines around their crops, like corn that you can see growing behind the agave, to keep the cattle out of the fields. It creates quite the fascinating landscape scene! Here, we'd drool over this impressive specimen as a pricey garden feature...But in case you're looking for a creative ideal to keep the deer out of the veggie beds..here ya go!

I pulled this photo because I was thinking about agave in general this morning. As we go into the heat of the summer here in the South, we're all looking for plants that will establish easily, even with heat and watering restrictions. If you have a good local nursery, you should be able to find there a variety of agave species in many colors and sizes to fit your needs. While you may not be building a living fence, you might simply be looking for some showy feature plants for containers on the patio or front stoop. You can plant agaves by themselves in large containers, or you can mix them with other succulents with similar water needs.

If you're intersted in learning to put together stunning succulent containers, and you're in the DFW area, you'll get a rare opportunity to learn how-to from Cody Hoya of Terrain Horticultural Design, on Saturday June 9th at 1pm, at North Haven Gardens in Dallas. You'll learn about the plants, concept, and maintenance for creative succlent containers. You leave the class with a good understanding of how to create a drought tolerant, modern, sculptural and beautiful design. At 2PM Cody will do a short pop-up class out in the garden center to talk about available succulents. Don't miss it!

Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon.

Just thought I'd post this shot of the Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. If you're traveling this Memorial Day weekend and you happen to be in Portland, be sure to stop by this garden. It's lovely and you can also enjoy their tea house. Gorgeous!

Have you harvested your garlic?

Texans..it's about that time to harvest your garlic, if you haven't done so already. Click HERE to read more about garlic!

Time to harvest Blackberries!

If you have blackberry bushes, you've probably already started harvesting...Mmmmmm!

Other fruits that are ripening in my garden now are peaches and plums...what's ripening in your garden?

Urban Backyard Beekeeping

Here's the story on NBC5, with Omar Villafranca, on urban backyard beekeeping! Enjoy.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

One quick note - the frame they do a close up on and say it's capped honey, is actually brood (bee larvae), not capped honey. Just a clarification!

Backyard Bees!

Shot a segment today with NBC 5's Omar Villafranca on backyard bees in the city! Should run this evening on the 10pm news, but if it's rescheduled I'll repost.

if you're interested in keeping bees in the DFW area, check out TBA www.texasbeekeepers.org for links to your local group, where you can take classes and attend regular meetings.

Wordless Wednesday: Farmer's Market in Banos, Ecuador