September 2013 – Cat's Garden

Cat C L Uncategorized September 29, 2013

The weather has gone nuts. In the past two weeks we’ve had rain. Not light drizzle rain, think deluge. For instance, last night we had well over 4″ of rain in about 45 minutes at about 1AM this morning. And about 10 days ago we had something similar, but over 5″ of rain then. This is Texas hill country type of land. We have a little bit of soil, over rock. The water doesn’t just flow, it runs off this land.

We just came back from Home Depot. On one of the road you could see where flowing water had deposited grass about a foot up a wire fence. Some areas of roads are still covered in mud from water trying to drain away. Yes, we need the rain. And yes, it means the trees are getting a good watering as are the rest of the plants outside. The deer now have lots to eat from all the new growth. But that’s a lot of rain in a very short period of time.

The other interesting thing about this weather, is our high temperature was at midnight – 74 degrees. Right now at 4pm its only 69 degrees. Tomorrow should hit the mid to high 80’s. Most people have said we should be warmer, and we shouldn’t have this kind of rain now. We should be just barely getting some rain, and the temperatures shouldn’t be dropping so.

This is weird nutty weather. I’m not sure if this is due to cold fronts or what. But it is weird nutty weather.

Cat C L Uncategorized September 12, 2013

Summer in Texas seems to be winding down – for Texas. The temperatures are out of the high 90’s. We’ve had some rain, cooler nights (low 70’s), and my plants are growing. The deer are going into rut, its what passes for early fall here at the house.

This is a bean plant.

The roses are blooming again

a baby squash – acorn squash I think

A different squash plant. Not sure what kind it is.

My baby watermelon.

Now I don’t know if these should be growing the way they are at this time of year. But I think that because of the change in temperature, these plants seem to think its summer and time to grow. The squash plants have been growing so much I’ve had to set up trellises for them. Some of these, the acorn squash and the big bean plant, were started from seeds a little while ago. I guess they like when I planted them. In the square growing box is another bean seed that was started before summer. Its alive, but that’s the best I can say for it. Go figure. And the big bean plant is in a pot that has no drainage holes. It does have about one inch of bubble wrap in the bottom, but no drainage.

Remember those lovely Italian cypress trees we recently planted? Well the deer are eating it. I don’t know what book those deer are reading, because everything I read says they are not supposed to eat this plant. Silly deer.

We have since time put up netting around these two plants.

The plant next to the Italian Cypress is called Jimson weed. The good news, the deer don’t eat that plant. But its also poisonous. My neighbor had given me some baby Jimson’s from her garden. We didn’t know if they would grow. Well, they did. Those I may actually have to trim back because they have gotten so large. Now if I can just get some of the other plants to grow that well. hmmmmm

Cat C L Uncategorized September 2, 2013

Still finding the tomato hornworms on my tomato plants. Now I’m killing them by dropping the worms in soapy water. It seems to kill them – I can watch them die. With the days changing, and the weather cooling (for Texas that is) my plants are growing gang busters. The tomato plants have lots of tomatoes ripening. At least I should say the tomato plants in the square planter have tomatoes ripening. The tomato plants in the RW planter (retaining wall planter) never got a single tomato. They also didn’t get any hornworms either. But this weekend I hacked the RW tomatoes down. If they are not going to do anything, I’m not going to keep them. I’ve started getting ruthless with my plants. If they aren’t doing anything, I’m pulling them out or just dumping the soil in one big pile. They earn their keep or they are out of here.

The weather has been changing. We get some occasional hot days but the days/nights are starting to cool. Not much mind you, but just enough. The days are still in the 80-90’s, but the nights are low 70’s. Any seeds I’m putting out are sprouting, the bean seeds and the squash seeds have grown into some nice looking plants. The squash plant has large flowers and with any luck we might get some squash. I’m hoping the bean plants continue growing too. Even the watermelon plant is growing. I’ve had to put up trellis’ near some of the plants since they are growing.

I’ve been weeding the RW planter. Its hard work. I’ve been trying to do it in the morning. Actually I get up, put yesterdays dirty clothes back on, go weed or work in the garden for a hour or two, then come back in and shower. Makes much more sense then showering then getting hot and sweaty working in the yard.

I’ve even started using a Miracle Grow watering system. The jar you attach to the hose, add Miracle Grow packet to the jar and water. That’s what I’m using. I started using it in August and I intend to continue using it about every 10 days. I’m using it mainly on the plants that should become a hedge along the fence, some Texas sage, and the trees in the RW planter. I figure all these plants could use the food.

I’m also trying to get a better grip on what to grow and when to plant it. We just got back from Home Depot and they have tomato plants out. Considering how my tomato plants are due, now I understand why they are still selling them. I think of tomatoes as a summer plant. But here the summers get just too hot, and they will grow then, but in the heat of the summer, my tomato plants seemed to just do nothing. They didn’t die, but they didn’t grow either. So maybe I need to plant them earlier then I think, or later then I think. We’ll figure this out. It may just take some time.

And for reference, check out the link below – Texas A & M Agriculture pages.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/