What We Are Doing In April

Today is April 19th, 2018. It is the 109th day of 2018. We are 63 days away from Summer and Texas has been unusually cool for the start of Spring, which in itself is not bad unless you plan to start planting and are afraid of a late frost.

Garden chores for this month include checking on my plants that, did not survive the Winter and this may not be a fact but, it sure seemed our Winter was colder than usual and lasted a lot longer with fewer warm days in between. It can't be true though because after almost a month of non-stop rain in March we've had to mow the grass at least four times in the past month alone and while on the subject of lawns remember this is also the time for sowing and fertilizing warm season lawns (sod, plugs, or seed).

 I also thinned out plants in my garden and evaluated my overall garden design. I made a few changes to get the look I'm going for this Summer.

My roses made their usual grand entrance for the season and if I can keep them looking half as good the remainder of Summer I will be elated.

I am planting my vegetable garden in a different space. Beans, peppers, melons, squash, and such are already in the ground and looking good, but cucumbers are a little slow.

Remember to plant veggies in successive planting to keep a harvest through the entire season. 

Roasted Veggies

Here is an idea for all the veggies you harvest (or buy from the store), either way, this is a delicious way to eat vegetables.

This isn’t exactly a recipe but is meant to inspire you for our next veggie dish.  

 Preheat your oven to 350 F. Then chop up some veggies, herbs and toss them in some olive oil. In this photo, we have peppers, onions, and tomatoes. You can add some mushrooms, eggplant, garlic or whatever veggie mix you prefer. Mix well and then add some fresh herbs like basil, parsley, and oregano or whatever you like.

Mix all your ingredients and wrap everything in foil on a baking dish. Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes or so. Drizzle with your favorite balsamic reduction and serve over rice, quinoa or just have it by itself.

If you have a favorite recipe for roasted vegetables feel free to comment below.