Month: May 2018

There is something about Texas weather that is just, oh well, just accept it. We had been getting strange warm weather. Then poof, with no warning we got rain. Like 1.35 inches of rain. That happened last Sunday. Just one day of rain, then it moved on. But now we have fairly warm weather. Since Sunday we’ve been in the high 80’s with the evenings in the 70’s. This is central Texas summer type of weather. Its hot during the day, but the evenings don’t really cool down much.

Gardens don’t really love this weather. Its just too hot. But as luck and the forecast would have it, early next week we should be high 90’s. As in Monday, Memorial day would be 98, and next Wednesday should be 99.

This is why gardening in Texas can be dicey. You may have some periods of nice weather, plants grow well, then wham its hot. And its not just that the days are hot, but the nights don’t cool down that much. Our days may be in the high 90’s but our nights will be in the mid 70’s. And we’re not even in summer yet. Once we get to summer, it may be like this day after day after day. The water needs of a plant to stay alive get horrendous. And of course it can get humid in the process. So I’m not the biggest fan of summer in Texas. But its coming nonetheless.

We’re getting hot weather shortly. Gone are the nice days, coming are the hot ones. It looks like we’re leaving behind the comfortable days of the 80’s and hitting the 90’s.

On Tuesday, two days from now we should begin hitting the 90’s. By Thursday and Friday we will hit the high 90’s – 97 and 98 respectively. The only good news is the evening will still be in the mid 60’s. But it looks like the summer heat may be on its way.

At least we’ve had a good run of snow peas and asparagus. The squash and zucchini are growing nicely, as are the tomato plants. I’ve been busy and not feeling well so I haven’t done much weeding, but the tomato plants don’t seem to mind. That’s good.

One nice thing is the fruit trees have been growing nicely. The apples are just starting to get ripe. Some are getting that red blush that tells me they are ripe and ready to eat. If they don’t have that blush, you could eat them but they are still a bit tart. But the deer eat the tart ones that have fallen. We go into the fruit tree cage and pick the fallen ones then throw them out to the deer. The deer like them. So that’s helpful.

But it looks like the heat is here.

Typical Texas weather, we got thunderstorms late Thursday night then spent yesterday in rain. The good news is we got 1.3 inches of rain. The garden can use it. And today we are pushing for 83 degrees. And we will probably make that.

But we have been eating asparagus. I am still picking asparagus. I’m also picking the peas and snow peas. Even the tomatoes have been happy. We have some on the vine that are getting big, but are still green. I’ve seen squash peeking out of the leaves.

And apples!! The apple trees are full of them. The plum trees have these little plums on them. I’m hoping that the storm didn’t take down too many plums. But overall the garden has been good. Everything has been growing. I can say I’m happy with it.

What’s interesting is that the weather is warm, high 70’s – mid 80’s. And we’ve had sporadic rain ever couple of weeks. Not a lot of rain, but the garden has been happy and growing with it. We did have to recheck the lines to make sure everything is getting watered. As of this point, I think everything is.

One thing we do have to address is the rain tanks. I’ve been busy, this was not something I am used to checking. But the rain tanks collect their water from the gutter system. At the top where the two meet is filled with debris – leaves, twigs, etc. From below it looks like a birds nest but I’m pretty sure its just debris. So that needs to be cleaned so that we collect all the rain water. As is we are not getting as much water as we should from the tanks. And I need that water for the plants. Another job to be done.