Amalia's Garden

I gave all of my roses a pretty harsh pruning just after the first bit of cooler weather around the second week in September. This was followed by a good organic feeding and it sure did pay off! They are starting to look fabulous, like a second spring all over again. EarthKind roses are heavy repeat bloomers that do well even in our 100% humidity summers. The three pictured are, from left to right, Crepescule (a climber), Spice (a China rose), and Duchesse de Brabant (a tea rose). Spice and Duchesse de Brabant are both EarthKind and it certainly shows. 

The latest I would prune and feed roses for fall blooms would be the end of October, hopefully giving us color until the first frost!

This unique tropical thrives in morning sun, dappled shade areas. I took one home whose roots had been torn in half, and it sat that way leaning in a little pot for almost a week before getting a well-deserved re-potting, but you would never know it went through any stress at all. This plant is a trooper, and is cold hardy here in Houston. It forms a 2-3' mound, blooms readily throughout the year, and attracts butterflies!

You planted them in sweltering August heat when truly nothing should be transplanted. You watered them daily and tenderly cared for them through two full months extreme heat and humidity. And now, finally, after a few cool spells and plenty of rain, the flowers are starting to turn to teeny-tiny green fruit. No, they're not ready for harvest, but at least you can feel confident that it wasn't all for naught and you can look forward to a fall tomato bounty.

I'm going to try and re-invigorate this blog by calling out a plant each week who truly deserves a little extra appreciation. 

Today we had an opportunity to donate all of our beautiful heirloom tomato and basil plants that didn’t find homes before our last market in Austin.

As you know, we are moving to Houston in a few short weeks so all the extra summer season plants needed to find a new home or they’d be looking at the compost pile!

One of our regular customers works for NYOS Charter School in North Austin, and they are just starting to replant their school garden! We love having the opportunity to help children have access to gardening and healthy eating education.

Check it out! We've been mentioned on the Austin Chronicle's food blog: "Back to pulling up tomato plants and replanting for fall: there is a new plant vendor at the Barton Creek Farmers Market: Amalia’s Garden. She has sturdy tomato plants for fall planting (as low as $2 for pretty big ones!) as well as purple basil, lime Basil, Delicata squash, Serrano peppers, and marigolds. She also makes and sells her own soap. If you are going to replant tomatoes for fall, definitely check Amalia’s Garden out; she will only have the tomatoes for a few more weeks."

Basil - no question the sweetheart of summer herbs! Click through for tips on storing it.

We have tons of it, and the best way to keep it growing bushy and beautiful is to keep pinching off the tops. If you find yourself flush with basil, you might be in the position we find ourselves in - how to store it so it all gets used!!

If you have more than you can use for this week's pesto or bruschetta, we recommend either making extra pesto and freezing it (this would keep and taste great for up to about six months) or, if you need a quick way to store lots of it, you can blend it with olive oil and freeze it just like that! 

1. Wash your basil and remove any brown or withered leaves.

2. Blend together with just enough olive oil to make it easy to mix.

3. Pour into ice cube trays for easy to use small doses.

Once the cubes are frozen you can transfer them to larger freezer bags!