The February Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The February Garden in zone 9 is full of mature cold weather crops and the beginnings of early spring crops. The fruit trees are just beginning to bud and spring is on the horizon.

Our garden is full of life right now. I’m really enjoying it since I know that when the heat gets here the garden will be mostly brown and dead and what isn’t will be struggling to survive. We’ve been harvesting our cold weather crops for quite a while and a few have even bolted. We’ve had … Read more

The January Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The January Garden in zone 9 is full of green and looks like many zones late spring garden. We are harvesting vegetables such as cabbage, kale, cauliflower and swiss chard.

We finally had our first freeze last week, so no more tomato jungle, we dug up the volunteer potato crop and harvested the last of the basil and the seeds. Everything else is the garden is cold hardy so it did fine in the freeze. We are having a wetter winter than we’ve had the … Read more

The December Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The December Garden in zone 9 is full of green. Cooler temperatures and more rain is just what the garden needs.

Our December garden is full of green – vegetables, grass and weeds. I’m not as diligent with weeding as I am in the spring, partly because I don’t have to water as much so I’m not out there as often. I probably shouldn’t admit that (or show some of these photos) but we try to … Read more

The November Garden

The November Garden in a gardening zone 9 is full of winter greens, carrots, onions, the last of the warm weather herbs and even some citrus.

I know most of the country is experiencing snow and freezing temperatures and we *almost* hit freezing temperatures a few weeks ago. Our November garden is thriving in the cooler weather. We’ve also had a good amount of rain, we’re still 10 inches below normal for the year but we’ve had more rain than we’ve … Read more

The October Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The October Garden

  The October Garden is zone 9 is similar to many zones spring garden. We’re planting seeds and transplants for plants that will grow all winter and into the spring. This is such a wonderful time to garden for me, the temperatures are much cooler (today’s high is 86 degrees), there are fewer pests and … Read more

The September Garden

SchneiderPeeps - The September Garden

This September has brought us cooler temperatures and more rain than we normally experience in September. I’m grateful for that. We have begun planting our fall and winter garden but have much fore to do. We have very little left from our summer garden We have random morning glories all over our garden. During the summer I … Read more

The August Garden

The August Garden in zone 9 is not nearly as pretty as as in some other zones. But that’s ok, we’ve had our time of green and now it’s our time of brown for while. It’s actually been a little cooler than the last couple of summers. We’ve just, within the last 2 weeks, hit … Read more

The July Garden

Overgrown tomato plants in a garden with a small fence. Text on the image reads "The July Garden" and "SchneiderPeeps.com.

The July garden is South Texas is usually all burned up. However, this year we had a much cooler spring and summer and quite a bit more rain that we’ve had the last few years. So our garden is still going. We’re getting a handful of beans, a few tomatoes, lots of cherry and yellow … Read more

The June Garden

A small cucumber growing on a vine in a lush green garden. The image has text in the corner that says "The June Garden" and "SchneiderPeeps.com" against a white background.

Our June garden is just amazing this year! I’m trying really hard to enjoy it as I know we only have about another month of harvesting. We’ve been harvesting tomatoes, green beans, squash, zucchini, onions, basil and cilantro. We also harvested the buckwheat and are saving the seeds to replant. I’ll do a full post … Read more

The May Garden

Lush green garden with a variety of plants, including a visible squash. A decorative sign reads "The May Garden" with the website "www.SchneiderPeeps.com" on it. The garden is fenced with metal bars.

Our garden is full and green and lush right now. I’m trying to enjoy it, knowing that sometime in the next 8 weeks it will become dry and brown and ugly. The pests have been relatively few although my crazy kale has aphids and the pill bugs seem to be multiplying like rabbits. Speaking of … Read more

The April Garden

A vibrant vegetable garden with leafy green plants and a yellow flower in bloom. Text overlay reads "The April Garden SchneiderPeeps.com.

Our garden looking pretty good right now. It’s been a little cooler than normal and we got a later start than normal in planting our plants but all in all I feel pretty good about our garden right now. Last year at this time I was disappointed that we had The Great Pill Bug infestation … Read more

Spring has sprung

A bee is pollinating a lemon flower surrounded by lush green leaves. Some early-stage buds are about to bloom. The sun illuminates the vibrant foliage, highlighting the textured leaves.

I know some of you are still dealing with snow and so I thougth I’d give you a little spring inspiration. You can do the same for me this summer when it’s too hot to grow anything and you’re still harvesting wonderful tomatoes and other fruits and veggies. Oh, and there’s a great giveaway at … Read more

The March Garden

March is halfway over and I’m thinking it’s pretty safe to to plant the majority of our garden. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we spent way too much time socializing this spring break and not enough time in the garden. So, yesterday afternoon we all spent a few hours working … Read more

The February Garden

Our average last frost date is Feb. 15th. Now, that doesn’t mean that we’ll be rushing out and planting all our seeds on Feb. 16th. As exciting as that sounds it just isn’t prudent. The soil is still too cool for most seeds to germinate and most of our early spring crops are already planted. … Read more

The January Garden

A garden filled with large, leafy cabbage plants and some broccoli. The plants have broad, green leaves and are densely packed in a cultivated plot, enclosed by a chain-link fence. Dry leaves are scattered on the soil between the plants.

Our January garden is growing well. January is usually our coldest month and we still have about 6 weeks until our average last frost date. We’ve had to cover the garden 4 or 5 times so far when the temperatures have dipped just below freezing for the night. My hoop house was somewhat of a … Read more

The December Garden

Close-up of young green shoots sprouting from the soil in a garden bed, with a textured stone wall on the left and a fence in the background. The area is surrounded by grass and sunlight illuminates the plants.

{The winners from this weekend’s giveaway are announced on this page. Also, don’t forget you can still get the Ultimate Healthy Living ebook bundle until midnight tonight.} How was your weekend, friends? Ours was full but in a good way. We had family and friends come for Thursday. We did have a little minor water … Read more

The beauty of fall

A vibrant flowering tree with lush red blooms stands in a sunny green yard. A paved path runs beside it, leading to a fenced area. Tall pine trees and a clear blue sky are visible in the background.

For all the whining I did this summer about my garden, I don’t want to leave you with the impression that zone 9 gardening is horrible, it’s not. With the cooler weather, plants are green and lush and some that haven’t flowered in a while are flowering. If you live where it snows, enjoy it … Read more

the October garden

A lush green plant with numerous small, bright green chili peppers growing on it. The plant is surrounded by grass and mulch, with a black garden hose partially visible in the background.

While the rest of the blogging world appears to be preparing their gardens for winter and snow, we’re coming into my favorite season for gardening. We have about a dozen Cara Cara oranges – at lease that’s the variety that the older man on the side of the road said they were, we’ll soon find … Read more

In the Garden

A young pineapple plant growing amidst a patch of green grass. The plant has long, pointed leaves that are a mix of green and gray tones, and it is set in a small area of exposed soil.

The end of July finds us tidying up the garden and preparing it for fall. Not much is producing, just okra and peppers. And while in some regards this has been a disappointing gardening year for us, I don’t regret the effort we’ve put in. A local smoothie bar is saving their fruit and vegetable … Read more

In the garden…our new raised beds

A vibrant pink zinnia flower with yellow and red center blooms against a backdrop of green grass.

Last fall,  we (as in I) decided that we really need raised beds. There were a variety of reasons for this, most importantly our big boys are growing up and moving away or getting jobs that keep them from being here when I need them. Also, as I look to the future I see that … Read more