Author: admincatsg

Warm with cold on its way

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It’s just a couple of days after Christmas, and we still have warm weather. Today is going to be 75 degrees. Austin itself is forecast for 79, matching its record. By Wednesday we (Driftwood/Dripping Springs area) should be almost 80. To help put it in perspective, we may hit 75 degrees, but we will also be 75% humidity. No rain, just humid. And our normal temperature should be a high of 62 degrees (that’s what the weather forecaster just said).

But just wait, by this weekend, New Year, we are due for a high of 79, but with a low of 33. That is the forecast for Saturday. And on Sunday, we will drop down to a high of 50 with a low of 27. But yet no rain in the forecast.

I’ll do my best to make sure my plants get covered in time for the cold. I don’t want to lose my seedlings in this new cold front.

Happy day after Christmas

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True to Texas weather, it was in the mid 70’s yesterday, and its been warm today. But also in Texas weather fashion its humid. Its now 7pm, 60 degrees and 98% humidity. We’re expecting the same mid to high 70’s for the next week. Even our nights are only in the mid 50-mid 60’s. Maybe we’ll get some cooler weather next weekend, but I think that is a wait and see.

The weather has been so nice, my helper and I fixed the drip water system and put in new seeds. We also put in about 5 bags of soil into the raised beds. Over time as you pull plants up out of the raised beds you lose soil. So over time you may find you need to add soil to the beds. That is what I ran into. But it didn’t take as many bags o soil as I thought it might. But once we got the bags of soil in, it made sense to fix the drip water system. We had a leak at the connection where the hose meets the main piping. It was a pretty big leak. So we cut the leaking part off, took it to Home Depot, and found the necessary replacement. We also picked up some spare parts, and a separate hose, and watering/timer unit. The decision is to add a second line, with hose, watering/timer system, tubing, etc. for the pots. This way the beds have their own watering system/timer and can be watered fewer days, but longer time. I figured that made more sense in the long run.

And that’s also why new seed went in. We added a bit more tubing and sprayers so that the beds have better coverage. With the warm weather I figured putting in seed wasn’t a bad idea. So I put in carrots, lettuce, bak choi, beets, and arugula. More peas were also put into the pea pot. I call it the pea pot since that’s what I actually grow there. It actually seems to be a good spot for peas – that spots produces well when it comes to peas.

Now we just need to see what the weather will bring. Because this is Texas and we never know what we’ll get.

Still cold

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Its been a cool day. We hit a high of about 52, at least that was the highest I saw. I took that time to get my dog out for a walk. I saw three other people out walking their dogs too. Its now about 8:30pm and its down to 45 with a light cold rain falling outside. They are saying a low of 36 tonight, with a low of 37 tomorrow night. Looking at the radar, the rain won’t last for long. But it will be a cold night. And there is no rain in the forecast for tomorrow.

The next chance of rain won’t be until about New Year. Of course, that is always subject to change. Especially since it is a week away.

Another cool down

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The weather forecasts have been warning of another cool down. Yesterday, Friday, we had some lovely warm weather. And that is warm weather we’ve had for a few days. But today, its cool and wet. It now just after 2pm, and its 49 degrees outside. Early this morning, I don’t know what time but it was dark, a storm rolled in. We actually had thunder, I’m not sure about lightning, and only a small amount of rain. As of now, 2pm, we’ve only had 0.38 inches of rain. That’s really not much. And the rain came in a slow drizzle type of rain.

But it will be cool to cold the next few days. The low for tonight is forecast to be 36. Tomorrow, Sunday our high is forecast for 49, with a low of 35. None of that should affect many plants. I say many as basil is notorious for dying in cool to cold weather. I don’t trust basil in anything below 40 personally.

But by Monday our high will be back up to 60, with a low of 37. Then we stay in the 60-70’s for highs, with lows mainly in the 50’s. Next Saturday is Christmas and we’re forecast for 76, with a low of 56. Even New Year’s day (the start of 2022) it looks like a high of 66, with a low of 49.

Welcome to this year’s winter in central Texas. At least the start of winter. The rest of the season remains to be seen what transpires.

Cold

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Okay, we got cold last night. They didn’t lie about that. I didn’t cover any plants, just because I wouldn’t mind if a few of them finally die. As it stands, the tomato plants, the pepper plants, and the basil out in the garden have all taken hits. Now the pepper plant and the basil that have been on the deck fared well. They are all looking very good. Even the tomato plants, in pots, sitting kind of below the the deck but not underneath it, but under the eaves, survived. Not only did they survive but the tomatoes on them look okay.

Some areas, according to the Central Texas Facebook page, got well below freezing. We probably got to freezing, but I’m guessing we didn’t get much below it and didn’t stay there long. But some of the plants look like they took the cold well. The seedlings that were coming up look good. Even the lettuce that was growing is still doing well. And of course the basil and peppers on the covered deck are doing great.

Oh and my lemon tree, still in the pot it was in at the nursery has flowers on it. Go figure.

First freeze

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Today we hit a lovely 77 degrees. Though it was a bit humid, it was overall not a bad day outside. I even took my dog out for a nice walk outside.

Tomorrow should be another similar day, warm with a high of possibly 80 degrees. And the evening will be a cool low 50’s.

But typical Texas Saturday we expect a cold front to come in. The daytime temperature will drop to just below 60, with a low expected to be 32. It will be our first freeze of the season here in this area.

Now part of what makes this one of the joys and challenges of gardening here, is it was just the other week I turned the raised beds outside. Why turn them, because the weather had been warm. After turning the beds I sowed seeds. The bak choi and lettuce are already coming up. The bell peppers I transplanted (moved) and the bean plants I moved have taken well to their new homes and have been flourishing. Since I still have pepper plants, and tomato plants in pots and in the ground outside, I will need to see about covering them somehow. I will also plan to move those potted plants on my deck to a more covered area.

But don’t worry. In typical Central Texas style even though Saturday will be cool, by the following Tuesday we will be back into the high 70, then 80’s on Wednesday.

I expect the quick cool down then lovely warm up will lead to some lovely cedar pollen counts. Gotta love Texas.

Its been a bit

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Well the weather here in Central Texas has been a bit odd. A couple of weeks ago we had a cool down and not quite half an inch of rain. But since then its been odd. Right now for example, its Sunday afternoon, almost 3:30pm, its 75degrees outside with humidity of 78%. I’m not sure whether I should say its too warm, too humid or too what. But I know on some of the garden groups people have talked about to grow in the garden.

The other day the weather was nice enough that I turned most of my beds. I do need to add soil to the beds. But I used the opportunity to turn the soil, pull weeds, and move some plants around. I also put some seeds out too. I turn my raised beds using a big garden pitch fork. I’m lucky enough to have one that fits my height, I’m short so I need a short pitch fork. Turning the bed allows me to aerate the soil, and loosens it so plants like carrots and other root vegetables can grow easier. The other great thing about doing this is that it makes pulling weeds so much easier. When you dig up soil down to 6-8 inches you actually pull up a lot of roots. Turning all that soil makes it really easy to just pick weeds up and throw them out.

Now the other things I need to do is add some soil. Turning the soil let me know how much oil I’ve lost or at least that has moved out of the beds. I also need to fix the drip water system. The joint where the hose meets the water tubing needs to be cut off and reinstalled. That will get done, but it hasn’t happened as of yet. I need to make a significant run to Home Depot (parts and soil purchases). But before I go I need to take a picture of the area of the drip system that needs to be replaced and get some advice on how to best fix it.

At any rate, I sowed carrots, beets, bok choy, spinach, and lettuce. I also moved around some of my that are still growing. My bell pepper is still producing and needed more room, so it got relocated. I went to pull up my bean plants, but I found a few dead ones, and a few live plants. So the dead ones are pulled, and the live ones have been replanted in one area, and with their own

Its cold outside

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Yesterday, after posting that rain was coming, rain began. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay up all night and see how much rain we got before midnight when the weather station resets. But this morning we have almost half an inch of rain. Now, after 10pm we have 2.56 inches of rain. Which means since last night, now about 24 hours of rain off and on, we’ve gotten our share of rain.

In addition to getting this rain, we have dropped temperature. It is now a cozy 48 degrees outside. That’s good soup, stew, sweater, hot cocoa, fireplace weather. Tomorrow we should be dry, but still cold. By this weekend we’ll be around 70 degrees. But the nights will be staying a bit on the cooler side. So for central Texas, we have definitely hit cooler weather. I’m not sure we will hit a front here where I am, but some areas well may. I will begin moving plants around so that some are more protected and closer to the house. What will this winter bring, who knows. But it is doing its best to come.

The cold comes

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We have a cold front coming. It will bring cold weather and rain. Here where I live they are looking for 2-3/4 inches of rain. We’ll see what happens. Today was a nice mid 70, but tomorrow we may make a high in the middle of the day in the low 50’s.The actual high for the day will be around midnight, then the temperatures will just do a slow drop. The nights for the next few days, those will be the mid to low 40’s. That’s how cold we will get.

Since this is Central Texas, we’ll actually have to wait and see what actually happens. But it does look like we have some cold weather on the way. But … by next week it may be back up to the high 70’s-low 80’s.

I don’t expect the garden to like this weather. I actually expect we’ll lose some plants. But that’s the way it goes. And that’s what is supposed to happen. At least it should mean my peas will be happy and start producing. So that is something to look forward to.

One sad note. I lost one of my dogs. My Clifford passed away a couple of days ago. Its now just me and Linus. We’re figuring out how to make our new normal something we can both deal with. And Linus is not entirely taking well to being an only child. He doesn’t know how to sleep alone. I’ve actually had to begin sleeping with him, not something I actually enjoy. But for the love of my dog, I will do what it takes. He’s my child, my fur baby.

Weather change

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They warned of a cool down, and it showed up. Last night we got 1.26 inches of rain. Today we had a high in the 70’s. Right now, almost 10pm, it is all of 56 degrees outside. A far cry from the mid 80’s we had earlier this week. Tomorrow should be a cool day too. We’ll see.