In Texas, it is now time for planting pumpkins. In fact, a farm down the road from us just put in pumpkin seedlings this past week. They advertised on Facebook for help as they planted thousands of pumpkins.
Of course, you probably won't plant that many but you still need to get your seeds in the ground in time for fall. The best thing to do is count backward from the day you want your pumpkins ready. All of our seed packs say how long it takes to grow our seeds once they germinate.
For instance, if a pumpkin takes 100 days and you decide you want your pumpkins ready by October 1, count backwards 100 days plus another seven days for germination and circle and mark that day on your calendar to plant your pumpkins. In this case, you want to plant your pumpkins the final week of June in order to get your pumpkins in time.
Most pumpkins take between 100 and 120 days until harvest after they have germinated. So in South Central Texas, it is time to for planting pumpkins now. Here is the link to all of David's Garden Seeds® pumpkin seeds.
It is currently 4pm and is 102° here on the farm. I have been crazy busy all day long. Happy Monday. So what have I been doing all day long?
Matt picked up my Walmart grocery order on the way to work this morning.
I put more algae killer in the pond. The fish seem to be doing fine. I emptied out the washer and the dishwasher and started more of those.
I got out the drones and had Matt put them together for tomorrow morning as David wants drone shots of the orchard and raised beds. Matt figured it all out.
I accepted packages and the mail. The mailman was trying to explain about a returned package so I had to call David and get him over here since I knew nothing about it.
My assistant had about three hours of sleep last night so I sent her home at noon and I have been mailing out seed orders all afternoon.
The sky is hazy with the Saharan sand that arrived here over the weekend. It looks terrible.
Matt put the big air conditioner unit that the chickens used last year back down at the chicken coop. This year, they were using a much smaller one and it has not been very effective. The chickens are much happier now.
Squash was put up in the kitchen today.
Hello and welcome to Tuesday. It is 12:40pm and the temperature is 96°. There is a good breeze that started this morning the moment Matthew got the drone up in the air. David wanted drone footage of our very large raised bed out in the back forty. Of course, the drone went from side to side because of the wind so the footage is no good. For the record, we had no wind yesterday until late evening, around 8pm.
Tonight is the full moon so David wants photos of the full moon coming up over the large raised bed. Unfortunately, the wind won't be dying down until sometime tomorrow so it looks like there won't be drone footage of the bed with the full moon. We can take good photos with our cameras.
There has been a lot of weeding and harvesting going on all over the property. Some of my Tom Thumb lettuce has bolted so it looks like mini Christmas trees now. It is already growing flowers and going to seed. I told the guy who is helping with weeding to pull it up and give it to the chickens. He went to David to verify that he can pull it up...These are my beds out by the store and I planted it. Why would David need to grant his permission?
Linda trimmed up the grow tower we have in the farm store today. She harvested a lot of spilanthe aka toothache plant for drying in the dehydrator. She also trimmed the lemon balm plants to put in the dehydrator. The anise plants were growing at the top of the tower and they were covered with tiny spiders so she pulled those up and tried transplanting them in pots outside.
This evening, there was supposed to be a full moon so David wanted some drone shots of the moon over the orchard. Of course, cloud cover obstructed the moon so we never got any shots at all. Maybe tomorrow night...
We are already out of a lot of pumpkin seed varieties. Don't get me wrong. We carry a lot of them in all sizes, textures, and colors but this time of the year, we still have a lot but many of the favorite ones are already gone...We had three rows of pumpkin seeds. Now we have a half row left.
Planting pumpkins to use as fall decorations is very popular in the USA.
Good morning and Happy Wednesday to all. Today is our birthday celebration here at the farm and we are supposed to have a catered meal. It is now 11:23am and the caterer has not yet arrived. I am already starving...
I have spent the morning cleaning and dusting the den. Man, it is in sad shape. So all of those maids who came in the house for the past few years were pretty much not any good. Not one of them ever bothered to dust the entertainment center shelves or our end table shelves. They are covered in layers of dust, as well as everything on them. I had to get on a stepladder and clean up so much thick dust. I just don't have time for it which is why we have hired maids in the first place. I guess they didn't have time for it either. We tried using companies and hiring maids on their own. People just touch up what is in front of them with no deep cleaning, even when we paid for deep cleaning. So from now on, I will tackle one room at a time in my spare time (ha ha).
I got most of the dusting done in the den when I received a text from Linda that our pest control guy was here. We did not know he was coming today because we did not get notification. His company always sends us the bill the day before but not this time. Today was the double whammy. He sprayed the business (which he does every month) and the house, which is done once a quarter.
I found my old iPod which was dead in the den. I found so many things hidden behind other things, everything moved around, but nothing dusted. So I have been trying to bring it back to life with a million different passwords. I finally got it hooked up and charging. As I remember it has a decent camera which is why I bought it in the first place before I got my first iPhone back in 2016. I love Apple products. They really know how to make great electronics. But so many passwords...
The caterer brought a fantastic chicken and potato salad meal. He also made jalapeno poppers and jalapeno crab poppers. We had strawberry cheesecake from HEB along with a card for Angelica, our birthday girl.
Planting pumpkins for fall while it is so hot in Texas can be tricky. If you have a hoop house with shade cloth, try planting them in there. Allow for the fact that pumpkin plants vine and spread all over the place. You will need to block pumpkin plants from 100° plus temperatures. They do need some sun but normal sun, not the "threshold of hell" sun that we get here in South Texas!
Well, here it is Thursday afternoon at 3pm. It is 100°. Early this morning, around 5:30am, David told me that Matt was coming over to video with David around the farm. He also said the three of us would leave the farm at 10am to go see the new Jurassic Park. Matt found a nice new theater on 1604 in San Antonio with inclining seats and food served in the theaters, Flix Brew House.
So we went. David and Matt went into the theater while I went to the ladies room. I then went into the theater and scanned the place. I found Matthew kind of high up and locked eyes with him. Then I took two stairs up and found myself falling. I did not lift a foot and somehow fell and landed on my left knee and left palm. I could not believe it. There were a lot of people in there. I looked up, saw Matt and started laughing hysterically. Somehow, I made it up the stairs, laughing all the way and got safely in my seat. I could not stop laughing, even when ordering my food.
Jurassic Park was pretty good. It brought back all of the primary people except for Lexie and Tim from the first movie. I enjoyed it and I plan to get the DVD when it comes out.
We got back to the farm a little while ago. I decided to work from my office at home since I have already fallen once today.
I have no idea what work has been done on the farm today. David met with some of our workers this morning before we left but I was not ready so I could not be involved. Once I did get ready, I went over to the store and signed off on some orders. I also put up some new TikToks. If you are not following, please follow us and give us some likes. Thank you.
If you are planting pumpkins for fall, may I suggest you order them quickly and get them in the ground as soon as possible? Here is a link to an article written by David on planting pumpkins. It will give you valuable information.
Here is a pointer: Pumpkins will do well if started as transplant but will do even better when direct sown. The seeds are large enough that they can be direct sown with no problems.
Good morning and Happy Friday! It has now been over two weeks since the 100 plus degree temperature days have started and not many folks are buying seeds right now. David decided in the heat to have a 25% sale off of all seeds on online orders only. This means you can save 25% on your fall and winter garden seeds right now as well as all of our seeds, including seed collections. But hurry because who knows how long the sale will last in this crazy heat. Use Code LOCOHEAT for 25% off now!
Did I mention we are having a seed sale?
SEED SALE: David has gone crazy with heat! Use code LOCOHEAT for 25% off all seed orders online only. Save now for fall & winter planting, veggies, flowers, herbs, fruit seeds! https://davidsgardenseeds.com #gardenseeds #seedsale #moreseeds #nongmoseeds #nongmo #texasseeds
Aaron is out today so Matthew had to do the harvesting by himself today. He harvested nine large watermelons. It looks they are three different varieties. I have not sliced any open yet but that is ridiculous!
I went over to the store. Since there were not that many orders or customers coming due to the heat, I proofed and signed the orders and now I am at the house doing some badly needed cleaning since we can't pay anyone to clean for us.
I swear all of the cleaners we have paid good money to over the past two years did not ever clean anything behind or under anything. Dust is thick behind TVs, beds, couches, DVDs, books, etc. When I am paying anywhere from $150 to $275 for two to four hours of cleaning, I expect everything to be done but some weeks, hardly any dusting at all including what I can see without looking. Some never cleaned up the tub or shower. Others didn't scrub a toilet or dust a headboard. I am done with paying my good money to folks who don't know how to clean.
I am going little by little, getting it done inside. That is all I can do because I just don't have time which is why I hired people. Before I was Mrs. David's Garden Seeds®, I had a lot more time and cleaned everything myself. Now I am constantly busy and I have arthritis so I cannot do a lot of things I could before but people don't care. They just want money and pretend they have done everything. Then when you really need them to show up, they don't and they don't even call or text so you have a filthy house and company is on the way. Better to see that things are done right and I get to keep my money that I work so hard for. Just cutting back a bit on being in the store.
Good Saturday morning! In just over an hour, our store will be open for business. Will you be visiting us today for seeds, eggs, home canned and pickled goods, pecans, seed starting kits and tiny pots, some grills, pecan firewood, pecan whole bean flavored coffee, pecan treats, fudge, or potted plants?
If you can't visit, when you order from David's Garden Seeds®, use code LOCOHEAT to get 25% off of your seed order. Our online store is open 24/7 and the code is good only for online orders. Think about your fall garden needs and even your winter garden needs and take advantage of this fantastic sale!
I went out early and unlocked everything and fed all of the animals. I get no help with this on weekends so I made sure to get it done before the blistering heat hits. I have been putting up a lot of TikToks lately so if you have a TikTok account, please give us a follow @DavidsGardenSeeds.
A few hours ago, I was working at home and Shay was handling the store. David texted as there was a big group of customers here. I came over and more and more came. The last of them just left and it is 3pm. It is currently 98° and I am filling up the pond. I did add more algae killer earlier in the day. The pond is starting to look better. Because of the heat, the water evaporates faster so I am having to fill it about three times a week.
I checked on the status of my Chewy package. They sent me an email saying I would receive it today. I did not receive it. The status now shows that a delivery attempt was made but they could not deliver. I have been here all day long with members of my staff and customers. FedEx did not attempt to make a delivery.
Again, it is time to be planting pumpkins in your yard if you want them for fall decorations and Halloween so hurry. Pumpkin seeds are flying off the shelves right now and many people are buying multiples and five or six varieties at a time. If you dawdle, you may not get any. Already, about 75% of our pumpkin varieties are gone. We had rows and rows of them in the store and now we have about one third (1/3) of one row left. Tis the season to be planting pumpkins.
Hello. Happy Father's Day. It is 2:36pm and 98° outside. The skies are bright and clear. We did not go to church today because David wanted to take a break. Matt came over and grilled steaks and we had a nice lunch and watched Canadian Bacon with John Candy.
Matt just left and I looked to check on the status of my Chewy package. The status is that a delivery attempt was made but they could not deliver, just like yesterday.
I called Chewy.com. They told me that a delivery attempt was made yesterday and another one today. I told the lady that we are an hour outside of San Antonio and they would have just left the package on both days if delivery was attempted. I told her we were here both days but they never came. She says they did. She then gave me the FedEx number which, by the way, is 1 800 463 3339.
So I called FedEx and the guy I spoke with there said they tried to deliver yesterday and today but we are a business so we are not open on weekends. I told him we live here and we are a business and I have been here along with employees and customers all day yesterday and that we were here all day long today.
You can see my tracking history below.
He then changed his story and said no attempt was made because we are a business. He then said the package would be delivered tomorrow and that tomorrow will be the first attempt. I asked him why someone at his company is lying telling me and Chewy that two attempts were already made. He could not tell me. So I just won't use Chewy anymore because the only way they send the dog food is through FedEx.
So I will just start getting animal food from Walmart again and if they don't have it, we will do without. My problem is that I don't get to the store often, maybe once or twice a month.
Since we had nine watermelons sitting on the kitchen island, I cut into the biggest one. It was orange, sweet, and tasty. I cut all of the flesh off of the rind and we will pickle the rind. This will be our first time to pickle it. Fun! The watermelon is delicious. I ate a ton of it this afternoon and this evening. I hope the rest on the island are as good or better.
Return from Planting Pumpkins to Business Growth
Since 2009, over 1,500,000 home gardeners, all across the USA, have relied on David's Garden Seeds® to grow beautiful gardens. Trust is at the heart of it. Our customers know David's Garden Seeds® stocks only the highest quality seeds available. Our mission is to become your lifetime supplier of quality seeds. It isn't just to serve you once; we want to earn your trust as your primary supplier.
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Peppers and peas
And lots of yummy greens
You can't go wrong
With Squash This Long
At David's Garden Seeds
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Please like and subscribe on YouTube and come visit us at our Farm Store! The music on our TV ad was written, played, and sung by our son, Matthew Schulze. You can meet him when you come to the farm. He just might give you a tour. Ask him to grab a guitar and sing our jingle that he wrote.
We are David's Garden Seeds®. If you need great seeds, we've got over 1,000 varieties to choose from.
Find out what is going on down on the farm by reading our blog and by subscribing to our free newsletter for all of the information going down at David's Garden Seeds® and on the farm. I love to share helpful information with you. Please let your friends know and y'all come on down for a visit when you get the chance. We would love to meet you!