We usually try to plan our blog schedule a few months in advance though we’re often adjusting the content in response to the environment around us, like a bumper crop of tomatoes, for example. Despite (or perhaps, because of!) the pandemic, our farm hosted one of our most successful online transplant sales, ever! Hundreds of you ordered transplants from our greenhouse and have grown inspiring gardens this spring. This week on the blog, we planned to show off your beautiful gardens at home. This week we are also extending the garden spotlight to highlight one of the only Black-owned urban farms operating in the Austin city limits - Tiffany Washington’s Dobbin-Kauv Garden Farm. This farmer spotlight will be the first of many. As we are learning more about the Black-owned farms and agricultural leaders in our country, we look forward to sharing these stories and resources with you.

Which brings us to an important statement: As a business, and as individual farmers, we support the Black Lives Matter movement. If you follow us on social media, you may have noticed that we have taken the past week+ to post less, listen, and learn. We acknowledge the systems of racism that are present in just about every corner of our society, including agriculture. We try our best to be good partners to local organizations dedicated to addressing food access and food injustice (which disproportionately affect People of Color in our community), but we also know that we can do so much more. We know that access to healthy, fresh food is a pillar of a just community, and as producers of such food, we are learning and thinking about how we can do more. Stay tuned.

Without further ado, take a look at some of the amazing backyard gardens around our community. We love seeing the final destination of our transplants - what started as seed in our greenhouses has turned into so much more in your homes. It’s often said that a farmer’s best fertilizer is her shadow, and this year’s community gardens certainly demonstrates some serious time in the dirt. Keep on farming!

Suzette Schutz early spring bounty. Looks amazing!

Tiffany Washington- Dobbin-Kauv Garden Farm There is no better woman to begin our Farmer Spotlight series than with Austin's own, Tiffany Washington. Tiffany runs one of the only Black-owned farms in Austin,  growing on a plot of land in the middle of East Austin - the neighborhood she was born and raised in. After serving in the US Navy, Tiffany found solace in the dirt to help treat her PTSD. She was already a foodie and suddenly realized that farming was her future. The problem? She didn’t know where to exactly to start. Enter Farmshare Austin - JBG's next-door farm neighbors. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Farmshare Austin, but we have a beloved spot in our hearts for this organization. In fact, Brenton was a part of the leadership who founded this organization in response to his vision as to how to grow and train future organic farmers. He had an idea, and together with his friend Carrie, as well as a wonderful board of directors, Farmshare Austin was born. But we digress! Tiffany found her way to Farmshare Austin about 4 years ago and completed their Farmer Starter program. She followed this program with another training opportunity offered specifically to veterans called from BattleGround to Breaking Ground.



For the past 3 years, Tiffany has transformed a vacant East Austin plot of land into a garden that helps feed those directly in her community. She sells her produce through a small 8 or so person CSA that is distributed through a local church, through an on-farm market stand, and also sometimes sells her products through Vinder. Like any good farmer, Tiffany donates a lot of the food she produces, as well, helping those in her neighborhood that show interest in the garden. When COVID-19 began, Tiffany harvested the entirety of her Spring crops, got some summer veggies in the ground, and then shifted her focus to the care of her four kiddos. From farmer, she turned teacher. Some of her summer crops include a few JBG tomato transplants, and she is gearing up for a more intensive fall season, hoping to expand her garden to the neighboring plot. Tiffany is currently running a Go-Fund me to help her finance some capital expenses for the farm including the construction of a better wash/pack area as well as simple things, like picnic tables, so her kiddos can have a place to do homework when she’s farming. If you’d like to learn more about Doubbin-Kauv Garden Farm and help Tiffany sustain the (only!) Black-owned farm opening in Austin city limits, checkout this page! And thanks, Tiffany, for letting us share your story. May you have a summer full of homegrown tomatoes and community support.



Suzette Schutze - Windy Hill Gardens

About 2 years ago I turned part of an old cow pen into a small garden space. Each year it gets a little bigger and it seems the transformation of the space is always a work in progress. The next project for the space is to add a sitting area because this is where I spend the early part of the mornings while the winds blow through. It’s so lovely for me and it’s turning into quite the little garden.

Suzette's country garden.

I am obsessed with reading about JBG and what they have going on at the farm. They inspire me more than they know. Early this year before there was any talk about quarantine, I vowed I would use as many JBG transplants for the plants in my garden as I could. In mid February, I attended a session with Ada and friends for tips and guidelines on how to make your garden a success. After our session we were blessed with being able to shop the transplant sale. I left the transplant sale with about 30 or so plants! I’m pretty sure the girls at the register checking me out thought I was nuts.

Suzette's transplant purchases are paying off in dividends! Check out this haul!

My biggest hiccup this year has been a varmint. I’m here to tell you that if you get a critter in your garden, you will lose the battle. Each season some sort of varmint shows to my little area to have a party. We have a gentleman that helps us with our ranch and he relayed to my husband, “we had a really bad storm out here and Suzette’s garden is a mess.” That mess wasn’t created by high winds and rain, but by an armadillo storm. That armadillo wreaked complete havoc on my hard work. Everything was upside down! I said to myself, “Defeat is not an option and I will not lose to it again!” So, off to the hardware store, I go to purchase a chicken wire type fence to protect my little area. Alas, it’s been about 3 weeks and we are “varmint free”. My biggest piece of advice to those of us with small areas, no matter where you live, is investing in some sort of fence/barrier to keep small critters out. You’ll be happy you did!

Thank you so much to JBG for the transplants and educational tools. My garden is coming along nicely and as I always say when I leave my garden area, “grow little garden grow!” Everyone stay safe and well!

Kathy Hamilton - 6 Foot Tomatoes, 8 Foot Poles

My Sungold tomatoes transplants are 6 feet tall! I just had to buy 8-foot poles to keep them from covering every other thing in my garden. All of the tomato plants I bought, except one, are producing right now. The tomatoes are still green but there are quite a few. The peppers have produced as well. They are small, like last year, but tasty. Everything I bought from JBG is flourishing.

Katy Catney - First time Gardener

I have a variety of cherry and Roma tomatoes. Some butter lettuce. Rainbow chard. Poblano, shishito, jalapeno, and lunch box peppers from the transplant sale. I also started some herbs from seeds and have 2 baskets of strawberries that are slow producing. I typically check on them first thing in the AM. Pick some items for lunch if available, but really care for them once the sun goes down. I’ve really enjoyed getting into the garden - I think it’s helped me keep a routine and sanity in this crazy time. Do you have a favorite plant in the garden? The Swiss chard is one of the most rewarding, but not a favorite. I like the shishito peppers and have really enjoyed seeing how the tomatoes and tomatillos have really taken over and started to fruit!! Tell me about your space! And what parts about it you love. Raised bed for most. 2 baskets for the strawberries to keep away from the squirrels and the herbs are still indoor sprouting. I think this has really sparked something bigger in our home as we started collecting rainwater for the plants and started to spend more time in the yard landscaping. We’ve also had fun with sourdough starter AND attempted to propagate from our CSA crops and other plants around our home.

Ashley Jones - Garden Turned Homeschool Science Lab

Our garden is going great and our transplants have been very successful. We’re excited about our white cherry tomatoes, which look like they’ll start ripening in the next week or two (at least the first little bunch). We were planning and working on our veggie garden pre-covid but I have to admit, now it’s an even more important activity in our house. Gardening is a big part of our five-year-old daughter’s science lessons. It’s great for her to see how the garden progresses each week. She’s very interested in seeing the actual fruits/ veggies pop up, though significantly less interested in helping with weeding. She likes watering, especially when she can turn the hose on herself and get all wet afterward. We’ve lost a few plants to pests, but not too many. We’re excited about tomatoes, squash, and eggplants in the near future. Of course, our CSA veggies look a lot better than those in our garden, but I’m optimistic for a fruitful summer!

Katie Kuzmikas - The Tough-Luck Garden.

I actually haven't had very good luck. I have big, beautifully green tomato and pepper plants with no flowers or fruit. I have one tiny pepper. I'm a new gardener (in Texas, I had a fair amount of experience in Illinois) and am growing in large containers in my yard. My leeks, sage, and thyme all died. My basil is about the only thing doing well. I used a potting soil mix, supplemented with some compost I purchased from JBG. I'm not sure what really went so wrong. It's nice to look at the healthy tomato plants, but I'm very sad I didn't get any tomatoes.

Update: I did get a second pepper on the same plant that produced the first one, but nothing else. Plants are still green and healthy-looking, so I'm still taking care of them. Hopefully, I will have a better time next year. I'm planning to try different potting soil.

Susan Nenno - Pepper Success, Questionable Tomatoes  The plants I bought from you guys are amazing and there's no question that I'll be buying transplants again next year. My favorites right now are the serrano and jalapeno plants. I had no idea serranos on their own we sooo delicious. As the peppers come in, I'm quick-pickling them together (along with plenty of garlic cloves) and enjoying them on everything. My tomatoes are having a problem with yellowing leaves and I'm not sure why or what do do about that.( pictures attached) I've never been more grateful to be able to just pop into the garden from some herbs or onions as needed, eliminating extra time or trips in the store. The same goes for my CSA box! (JBG Tidbit: Yellowing leaves can be due to a number of problems - over watering, under watering, nitrogen deficiencies, or even disease. Our best advice: Spend some time in the garden and try to rule out any watering issues. If you think the cause may be due to disease, try to top dress with compost or apply an organic fertilizer.)

Susan's pickles.

Susan's troublesome tomatoes.

Kate Murray - A Close Study of a Backyard Garden with Several A-Ha Moments

I planted my first garden during spring break when I was in 7th grade. I still remember the first salad with homegrown lettuce. And then my older brother was punished with mowing the lawn and took it all down in one go. Whomp whomp. So, this is not my first garden, but my first in our new house with a proper backyard and sun, so it's my biggest and honestly most successful yet! I've already been eating peppers, green beans, chard, and herbs... and I'm about to have boku tomatoes on plants that are taller than I am, with wildly successful marigold companions. Which has been very rewarding, especially in this time. That being said, always learning.

New-to-me plants that I've had questions about are ping tung eggplant and hime kansen watermelon. The eggplant growth seems very slow and/or stunted. I gave it some compost tea, which seemed to help, and one bloom formed, which has turned into what I presume is the beginning of the first eggplant. But it's still only about 10 inches tall altogether. Wondering what the tips are for this plant, and greatest production? As for the watermelon, I've read that it's best for one vine per melon, with really specific instructions like "the seventh bloom between certain numbers of leaves"... which just seems cumbersome. I commend farmers for having that kind of brain space, but I just don't have it. The plant is extending itself well and has blooms, but I'm wondering in plain terms what I should look out for, and how best to support a melon once I see? (JBG Tidbit: If you're worried about pests or rot getting to your one, prize melon, re recommend simply placing a rock or plate piece of plastic or even plywood between the melon and the ground. Creating a barrier with the wet soil will help deter any potential problems.)

Kate's garden, trimmed out with cinder blocks that are artfully adorned with flowers.

An a-ha moment I've had was with a natural pest deterrent. Our property has three pecan trees and one fig tree, so it's a haven for squirrels. I call them friends because that's how my dog Ripley is trained to know who I am talking about, and she loves to go after them. So the friends kept eating my chard, and I did a google search for natural options to prevent. I sprinkled garlic powder and red pepper flakes all around and on them, and it worked like a charm! They haven't touched them since.

Otherwise, I've been lucky pest-wise, except for something occasionally afflicting damage on my basil. It leaves little brown spots and holes. I think I found the culprit and keep an eye out to pick the bug off, but then it comes back in waves even when I don't see a bug. Wondering what it is, and how to prevent it? (JBG Tidbit: It's hard to ID the bug without a photo, but our best advice is simply to do routine checks of your leaves, even when they look undamaged. Pickoff the culprits and kill the culprits, possibly by dropping into a bit of soapy water.)

I think my next adventure is learning to capture seed from my plants. One of my cilantro plants bolted up really early, so I'm curious about that process.

A favorite recipe of mine is something I still make to this day that I mimic from a night at your house!! Fennel and citrus salad, but with mizuna and pea shoots added. Nothing like it.

Ada Broussard - Oh Hail, No.

This spring marked my first garden at my new home, out near Fredericksburg. With JBG transplants + so much time on my hands, I planted and tended to my best garden, ever! But then, one afternoon, the sky suddenly turned from blue to black and golf-ball-sized hailed rained from the sky for 30 minutes, and then about an hour later, for another 15 minutes. In the moment, I was so mesmerized by falling balls of ice that I forgot to be worried about the garden. Needless to say, this photo below was taken a day or so before the hail storm. Everything was damaged, badly, though some of it is now showing some signs of life. I fear my tomatoes might never recover, but that's what the JBG tomato sale is for. There’s a lesson in here, somewhere.

Ada's garden pre-hail.

Lauren Jenson - Gross Worms but Bountiful Peppers in South Austin

Our squash (patty pan, zucchini) have gross worms that are accessing the squash through the stem, ack! Our sugar baby watermelons are doing AMAZING. Green basil and green okra doing great, red okra and red basil not so much. About 9 pepper varieties which are all doing great as expected. Two cherry tomato varieties which are hanging in there so far.

Lauren's amazing watermelon, almost ready for a picnic.

Considering the circumstances, I've been gardening A LOT. Working from home now I take garden breaks. Something that really stuck with me was when someone asked how to prevent pests and your response was just to be in your garden as much as possible. So I've really taken that to heart, just trying to turn over every leaf when I have the chance. You never know what freak bug you'll find!

While I'm not new to the South, I am new to Texas. Growing up in Louisiana all the considerations and issues are different. Too much water, too much mud. The seasonality of vegetables here is something I've loved learning about, and JBG plants have such an established history and they do so well!



Nora Chovanec - Hodgepodge Trellis and a Black Fly Invasion