We live in an area of
metro Dallas that still has some wide open spaces, though we see new housing
developments spreading around us everyday. I-90 will be going right next
door to us. OUr neighbor will half his property taken for the road to
come through.
The picture at the left is the view south south from the house to the field in back as it slopes down to a creek just beyond a fence . It was taken in the Spring and the wildflowers dress the fields in yellow and blue-purple. Unfortunately, because we live within the city limits and they like to see fields kept under 12" high, all the wildflowers don't always live through their full cycle though we do leave areas to fully develop.
We also have a variety of native Texas trees. The natives are mostly hackberrys, which make a great looking shade tree when pruned and cared for; and bois d'arcs (locally, "bo-darks"), which when pruned will look nice but still are very thorny and produce heavy and useless fruit (hedge apples or horse apples).
Other trees on the property include: peach, apple, apricot, plum, mulberry, fig, live oak, red maple, red oak, burr oak, magnolia, chinaberry, locust, golden raintree and, of course, willows near a small pond.
We also grow vegetables in a garden, about 16' by 20'. We also have several varieties of grape vines.
With high temperatures and a low rainfall in the summer, our Texas gumbo soil cracks easily. After last year's the long dry summer and fall, we saw cracks in the yard and fields that were wide and deep. You have to be careful when walking around outside - imagine stepping into a crack like the one in the picture at right (Jeff's foot is for scale). We've heard stories of baby ducks or chicks falling in, and they are never seen again!
We always try new or different fruits and vegetables. One year, as part of our fall crop we harvested one of the largest turnips either of us had ever seen. To the left, you can see Jeff holding this enormous turnip harvested in December. It's about 20 inches in circumferance. Enough for several meals. It tasted wonderful, which is surprising as normally a vegetable this large would be less flavorful or pulpy.
Tried the sweet potato slips one year and only had a few sweet potatoes. Don't think we will use garden space again for sweet potatoes. We currently have onions, salad greens, turnips, tomatoes and radishes, and broccolli.
We also grow sprouts in sprouting jars and use them on our salads, and in soups or stir fry. In addition to the usual seeds, we like broccolli sprouts. When I first looked to purchase the seeds, they were expensive. We went on the Web and found Johnies Seeds, which had a very good price. We bought a full pound and they arrived within a few days.
They keep well in the refrigerator.
