Author: admincatsg

Its been a wild few weeks. Covid 19, the coronavirus has taken over the world. Its affected social media, news, business, the economy, pretty much everything. Businesses have closed, the economy is down, we are now into social distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from each other), schools are closed, and we don’t know how long this will last. Restaurants are not allowed to serve people in the place, they are allowed to either delivery or have pick up service. Hotels have closed, though a few are open. Schools have closed from elementary to colleges. School is out for summer, just a couple of months early. Many of them closed late last month, hoping to have students to do lessons online, but were not prepared for what it would take.

So what does this have to do with my garden? Well, gardening has kind of become quarantine gardens. Think victory gardens for times of quarantine. Here in Austin we have been in quarantine for a while, as in weeks and its due to last a few weeks more. Getting some items in the grocery store is getting hard. Toilet paper, paper towels, some fresh veggies, and cleaning supplies are hard to find. Some of the fresh fruits and veggies get sold out as soon as they get into the grocery store – its called hoarding.

Its strange to go to the grocery store and find no onions or potatoes. But that’s how it is right now. So my poor little garden is becoming important for me.

I have begun raised garden beds, two of them. I ordered side brackets, like braces for the wood. The braces allow 2×8 pieces of wood to be held together. This gives you a good 15″ tall bed. You can easily raise carrots in these beds. Unfortunately due to other problems, I haven’t been able to get them filled. I’m working on that. I hope to fill them most of the way, then put what I have in my pots into the beds. I will need to add one more bed for permanent items, such as the asparagus. Since asparagus come back year after year, and last 12-15 years I understand, I want a more permanent place for them.

But the beds are coming along. As for the weather, its been all over the place. Last week we actually had a freeze warning for our area. It lasted two nights. And yet now we’ve been in the high 80’s, low 90’s. And yet tomorrow we are due for 90’s and thunderstorms. At least we need the rain, its always helpful. The lakes are full so the rain is appreciated.

Austin is in rain and thunderstorms right now. This image above is a shot of rain out my back patio. The good news is though this is quite a downpour, it comes and goes. But due to how dry we can be, this kind of rain can cause flash flooding. We are actually under flash flood watch for the next three hours. But we have rain in the forecast over the next 3 days.

Hopefully the next three days won’t all be like this. We may need the rain, but over a few more days, and a little lighter would be nice. But the yard will like it.

Today I was hoping to get work done in the yard, and we got a little bit done. My yard man came over and was able to get the front and back yard cut. Since he had put fertilizer on the yard a couple of weeks ago, the grass has grown. Its truly been a sea of waving green blades. Unfortunately, its been a sea, with a little too much height to it. If you were as short as our dogs, you could get your belly tickled the grass was that high. Bear in mind they are short dogs, only 11 and 9 lbs, not big dogs. So it doesn’t have to be too high to tickle their belly.

But nonetheless, it was that high. So it was in dire need of a cutting. But now that its cut, it looks like a lovely green yard.

Within about 5 minutes of cutting the yard, it began to rain. And its been raining most of the day since. But that was the most important project we needed done, and we accomplished it. And that’s what matters.

So, no getting the raised bed worked on. That will have to happen next week. To make it all the more interesting, we are due for rain over the next few days. And the fun thing is yesterday and the day before were in the mid to upper 70’s. We even had some 80 degree days. So now we’ve dropped a bit, down to the mid to upper 60’s and we have rain and thunderstorms. Earlier today I listened to thunder outside. So we do have storms here right now.

I say right now as we expect the rain to last off and on for about a week. It will be good for the yard and for the garden.

Speaking of the garden, with the warm weather, and now this rain, some of those seeds I was worried about are sprouting. Even my basil has these tiny little sprouts just beginning. I’ve been picking peas, both snow peas and shelling peas.

The only thing that hasn’t sprouted yet are the peppers. Oh, and since the broccoli is bolting due to the weather, I have changed that pot over to squash. I put those seeds in just last night, knowing that we were due for rain. Hopefully they will sprout soon. I’ve planted both yellow squash, and zucchini. Hoping for a bountiful crop this summer.

One interesting option while doing shelter in place is the chance to do all those things you just didn’t have time for. Maybe work in the garden, maybe organize your clothes or cupboards, hem those pants, etc. You can even spend the time learning new skills, cooking, yoga, exercises, whatever. All those videos you’ve marked and wanted to watch, well now you have the time.

For me, its been walking the dogs, every day. Since they are two small dogs, one is 11 lbs and one is 9 lbs, I don’t have to do long walks, but a couple of walks a day are good exercise for both me and the dogs.

Since DH is in the hospital (he fell) it falls to me to walk the dogs every day. Its definitely bonding time with the dogs. But I am getting worried about having enough dog treats, strange things we worry about.

But on to the garden, the weather here in Austin has been warm, then cool and light rain. We have a nice light rain here today.

We did get the outside deck finished, so now I can figure out what I want to do for raised beds. Since I’ve been using various types of pots, and they do well, I would like to start considering some raised beds. I didn’t want to put in raised beds until I had actually gotten the deck finished. I wanted to know how much room the deck would actually take. And of course I know where the steps will now lead.

Even though you may have a plan in mind, sometimes its best to wait until you really see what you have. Sometimes measurements don’t do justice to reality. I’m not looking at making the raised beds using some of the corners you buy, than just add wood. The advantage of those is the size of the bed depends on the wood cuts. It makes it easier to get a more custom sized bed instead of buying a precut/premade system.

Once I decide on where the raised beds are going, then I can see about where I need or want to put a watering system. I will need to put in a drip water system once the raised beds get in.

Our weather has been cool for Austin, others would probably cal it warm. Today we’re at 73, with 77 for tomorrow. This is good weather to get seeds in. I’m planning on getting some squash/zucchini seeds in this week. We certainly have enough warmth to plant these seeds.

I have had some problems with a few seeds not sprouting, but since we had a couple of nights of cold weather, I replanted seeds for those plants that have not come up. I’m starting to see some of them sprouting, so I’m hopeful.

Overall the garden looks good, I’ve been able to pick various peas, snow peas and shelling peas. I would prefer more plants, but I’m working with what I have.

I”ll let you know how the raised beds go.

Hopefully this will be a temporary new normal, but coronavirus AKA COVID-19, is upon us. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring for any of us. And tomorrow will be difficult for some, and horrible and horrifying for others.

But we have to remember there are other things still to deal with*. And that includes weather, and what to do. Since I’m a gardener, I will keep up my garden and checking on weather. Here in central Texas we have had another cold front. We’ve had rain and right now cooler weather.

But since many people are probably at home, now is a good time to work on your garden. Its going to help with your stress level, it gives you something to do with your time, you can even use it as a learning process for children, and in a couple of months you will have veggies.

So on to gardening. We’ve been having rain, so I’ve been using this time as work-in-the-garden time. Since we’ve had some strange weather, warm than much cooler, some of my seeds have not sprouted. So I’ve taken this as a chance to put in more seed. Mainly my tomatoes and peppers have not sprouted yet. But since we are well into the nice weather that is coming, ad no freeze at all likely, its really a good time to begin working on your garden here in central Texas. I’m sure other areas of the country are not even close to being able to sow seeds, but this region definitely is.

My parsley is growing well, I even have some strawberries ripe for picking. These are part of my permanent collection of plants. Parsley keeps coming back year after year, as do my strawberries. A while ago I did put some see in. And some of my seed has sprouted. My peas are growing, and there are even some peas ready for picking. My swiss chard, and spinach have just barely started sprouting. But my carrots and beets are looking okay.

Also, we were lucky enough to get our deck put in. Its not a large deck, only 12′ x 15′, and its made of synthetic material, not wood. It has a black metal railing and a set of stairs down to the grass. Its almost finished, I’m waiting for the gate to be installed. But I now have an easy to access area to put my herbs. I’m getting started with moving things up to the deck. So far I’ve moved my thyme, mint, oregano, and baby basil up to the deck. I call it baby basil since its just barely sprouted. It won’t be ready for picking for a while.

If you get Old Farmer’s Almanac growing guide emails, you’ll know what should be planted either under cover or in the ground in your area. There are other ways to know what needs to be planted when, but they are what I use mainly. I don’t personally like using the back of a seed packet as it tends to give you a long period, months, when something can be planted. I want to know when to plant something to give it the best chance of survival and produce veggies for me

So let’s get back into the garden, whether that means in the ground, in pots, or whatever you use. Happy gardening.

*I don’t say that flippantly. I am a caregiver so I know that those duties don’t stop just because of this virus. But I have to keep my spirits up. I have to keep looking toward tomorrow.

Unfortunately this website was hijacked and someone deleted all the information on it. With help, we have been able to restore information back to the website. There has been some loss of data, there is only so much I can do. But I don’t believe there has been too much loss.

But my apologies to anyone that was looking for specific information and can no longer find it. Such is life.

One bit of data that I know was lost was a posting about a cold front. I have that image and would like to post it here.

This is an image of a weather forecast from Feb 2020 showing a cold front. You can see that on Tuesday Feb 4, 2020 we were scheduled for a high of 81, with a drop down to 34 for that day. The following day we had a high of 40 with a low of 29. That qualifies as a cold front. To give you an additional idea of what a cold front looks like, take a look at the following image.

This is actually taken from another residence we had. At that home we had a weather station that recorded this drop in temperature.

This is how quickly the temperature can drop when a cold front arrives.

This is what we had happen in a previous cold front. I have personally found cold fronts interesting.

Wish me luck as I attempt to repost any lost information I can find.

True to Texas weather, we had a few nice days, then late yesterday the temperature just dropped. Today, at around 3pm we have made a high of 48. How does it manage to go from low 70’s yesterday to not even 50 today? Well, that’s Texas weather for you.

Late yesterday around 4pm the temperature began dropping. It had been warmish, nice, not hot, but then the cool weather came in. And now its just simply overcast and cold outside.

Now I realize if you are living in a snowy area, 48 might seem warm. But here in central Texas this rates as cold. Yes, we can get colder but its still cold for Texas. With luck tomorrow will be 10 degrees warmer, then the day after will be 10 degrees warm that than (or 20 degrees warmer than now). But that is the way it goes in Texas.

The funny thing is I gad received an email from Old Farmers Almanac saying it was time to begin planting seeds inside. Me being the gardener I am just put seeds in the pots outside. With this cool weather we will see what sprouts, or sprouts soon.

One change I have begun this year is since I don’t have formal beds for vegetables, I am planting in pots. I have purchased some of the 10 gallon plastic pots and some 15 gallon grow bags (the heavy felt type of bag). This year these are what I will be using. My thinking is this, I need a way to be able to move plants around as I get to know the sun and shade of my yard. I don’t want to put in any permanent growing beds until I better understand what is available in my yard. Also, I’m planning on getting a deck put in, and that will also change shade and possible heat spots in my yard. Pots for this year while I get to know my yard better.

One funny story- last week I decided to pull the strawberry plants out of a pot that had potatoes growing. I had potatoes and strawberries in the same pot. That’s not a good growing combination (you have to pull the potatoes out of the ground meaning you pull out the strawberry plants to do that, not so good for the strawberries). Well what I didn’t know was there was a fire ant nest in the pot. I put both hands (no gloves) in the pot to pull out the strawberry plants and ended up with about 20 or so ant bites. Unfortunately, I reacted to the ant bites and ended up on oral steroids in order to bring down the swelling. So the moral of the story – check your pots before sticking ungloved hands into them.

We’ve had some strange weather. Where I have written about the fact it has been warm, we have now begun having fog. The past few days we’ve had fog, some of it heavy and dense. Its also lasted long into the day, into late afternoon. Today the fog was heavy until around 4pm. It didn’t so much lighten up as it became a slow drizzle mist, heavier and drippier than fog.

This evening, by 7pm it is heavy enough that roofs are dripping, walkways are wet, not just damp. There are puddles outside on our stairs. But when you stand there it doesn’t seem like rain coming down, just more like heavy mist.

But I’m sure its good for the plants. We haven’t had rain in quite a while and can use the moisture. In that way I’m glad for the weather. One issue is that it isn’t particularly cold. That is nice in a way but not in others. You need something to keep you covered from the wet, but at the same time it can leave you too warm. If you don’t wear a jacket or something the wet and not quite warm gets cold. And with the wet, that cold-wet just saps the warmth from you.

Its strange, cool, not quite warm and wet. But if it were too much warmer weather would feel like a sauna, that would not be better. How much longer will we have this weather, I don’t know. The forecast says rain tomorrow and the day after. We shall see.

Welcome to the new year. Its just begun, and it means we should be in winter, but here in Texas its warm. The weather station here at the house says we’ve hit 76 degrees. This is a warm winter. Really warm. Not good. And not much rain happening either. We haven’t had much, and there’s not much in the forecast. And what little we’ve had has been really more of trace amounts. Drought, yup.

Bad winter here in Texas. Warm and no rain.

On the other hand it has allowed some interesting things. Since its warm, not yet hot, and the nights are not that cold, I’ve spent some time transplanting plants I wouldn’t normally have touched yet. I’ve had an issue with some plants in pots where the pots are disintegrating. Through time, sun, wear, other issues (weed wackers are bad for pots), some of the pots are bad (cracks and holes) even though the plants in them are good and growing. So I’ve taken this nice weather opportunity to get a jump on transplanting. Since the next 2 weeks are all nice weather, I figure it will give the plants a change to grow roots even if we do eventually get some cold.

For example in the next ten days, the coldest night (only 1) is 34, but most are in the mid 40’s. About 3 nights are even going to be in the mid 50’s. This is not winter weather. The almanac (wunderground.com) says our norm daytime temperature should be around 61, with a nighttime low of 40. Not the 76 and 47 we are looking at. It is warm with no relief in sight. It might sound nice, but its just not.

And of course it means how and when should we actually start planting seeds? Will we get some cold weather? Its possible, but nobody seems to know. And with this warm weather it could mean any plants that are growing due to the warm would suffer freeze damage if we do suddenly get a cold snap.

But because it is so warm I might use it as a chance to replant some dead plants. Since the front yard was planted by the builder, some of the plants really were not the best to put in. About 5 plants have died, at least they are crispy at this point. Their twigs snap if bent, I’d said dead. So I’m thinking this might be a good opportunity to pull them and plant something else. Why not do my best to make good use of this weather. But I’ll do it with the possibility of cold still to come.

Such is gardening work in central Texas.

For some that heading may not make sense. How can it be a bad winter when its been so warm? Well, that’s the problem. Where we’ve had a couple of cold days or nights, overall its been a warm winter. Its so warm a lot of my cold weather plants have bolted, gone to seed. We’ve been in the 60’s to low 70’s for the past week. Few nights have gotten down below 40, with most in the mid 50’s.

That may sound like great weather, but for plants its not so good. Not good freezing days and nights to kill off bugs, warm enough to put flowers out, yet its still winter. And since it is still winter, we could still have a good cold. That means any plant that is setting flowers with the possible setting of fruit will take a hit and damage if/when we do get some good cold weather.

Its so warm when I was outside today there were bees out and about in the garden. That sound great, but again, what will happen when/if we get that good cold freeze.

And with this lovely weather we’ve been having, we haven’t had much of any rain.

Bad winter.