Rain

Its been a cool day. Last night was about 44, and we hit a high of 60 today. But now in the evening, its a cool 50.8 with rain. Its more of a heavy drizzle. I say heavy drizzle because its been raining the past few hours and we’ve only have .35 inches of rain. So its definitely not a hard rain. I’m not sure how much rain we’ll end up with, but it will be slow in coming. But that’s good, at least it should soak in and water everything well.

A slow soaking rain would be nice. I have lots to plant and the rain will help that. I get an email from Old Farmers Almanac that give planting reminders. Right now the following seeds should be going in, but under covers:

  • broccoli *
  • summer cabbage
  • cauliflower
  • eggplant
  • kale *
  • leek
  • leaf lettuce *
  • onion *
  • peas *
  • pepper *
  • spinach *
  • large tomatoes *

All those with an asterisk are seeds I want to get in tomorrow. Even though I may be moving, still working on that, I figure as long as I’m here the garden must go on. Who knows, maybe if I plant seed, they come up, it will help sell the house. Maybe the new owners will be gardeners and will enjoy the crops. You never know.

But either way its time to start getting seed in. So the rain will be welcome in the garden.

Cool nights

I’m not going to say we’ve had the cold the fruit trees need, but we have had some colder nights. Last night we got down to 30 here at the house so the fruit trees are still getting some cold.

During this past week I actually started the annual fruit tree branch pruning. It has to be done and I find it best to do it during the cold season when they are dormant. Considering our crazy weather I haven’t had a lot of chances for that. But if I want any chance of fruit this year, those tree must be pruned.

In case you’re wondering how to prune a fruit tree I strongly suggest checking out Old Farmer’s Almanac, gardening for their information and videos. One thing I have learned the hard way, is you will make mistakes. But most of the time, not all the time, its not fatal to the tree. Its a tree and it does grow. A mistake might set fruiting back a little bit, but it usually won’t kill a tree. That means you must learn from your mistakes and try to do better next year.

If you decide to prune your fruit trees and want more information, check out gardening sites online. Now be aware that checking multiple ones, and seeing how similar they are will be more helpful than just taking one and using them as a reference. It also helps if you look for sites and information that deal with what you are looking for. Pruning a pomegranate is far different from pruning an apple tree.

But this information is true for all gardening. How and when to plant in Michigan will be different from gardening in south Florida. The climates are just too different. So when you go searching for how-to information on gardening, beware. Look for as reputable sites as possible.

Cold!

Yesterday was one cold wet day. It got up to all of 37 degrees, but we got 1.80 inches of rain. That was cold rain. Last night we got down to 34 degrees.

Today we are supposed to get up to 52, stay cloudy, but we are not expecting any rain. On the other hand they say we should get down to 26 tonight. That will be cold.

And you have to love our weather. After a low of 26 tonight we should hit 63 degrees tomorrow. Yup, that’s central Texas weather for you.

Its getting colder

Last night we hit a low of 35, with about 0,21 inches of rain. That’s cold outside. At least the fruit trees will enjoy it. I’m not so sure our dogs will enjoy it, but then they don’t have to be out in it long. Since our dogs are little, one weighs 9 lbs, the other one weighs 11 lbs, the cold does affect them.

One thing I don’t get is how we are supposed to have a high of 42 today, a low of 39, then hit a high of 66 tomorrow. Granted we have cloud cover and its wet outside, but how do we get one day of warm weather then back to cold? Such is the weather in Austin, TX. But at least it seems to be a light rain, no heavy drenching rain. Knowing how we can get downpours, its nice to not have that with this cold. But we do sometimes get those drenching downpours in the summer. I guess that’s something to be said for winter rain in this area.

I’ll keep the weather changes posted for the next few days. We’ll see what the weather does.

Love Texas weather

We’ve had lovely warm weather over the Christmas weekend. But now we’re finally hitting some cooler weather. Tonight we should get down to about 35, and by Tuesday, Jan 1, 2019 we might get down just below freezing. They are forecasting Jan 1 night to get down to 30, with the following night (Wed. Jan 2) getting down to 28.

If this actually happens, maybe my fruit trees will finally go into dormancy. I would really like it to get cold enough for me to begin cutting them back. But I can’t do that until it gets cold enough. And of course, if it doesn’t get cold and stay cold long enough, I won’t get much fruit next year. Let’s hope we get cold.

Since we did have rain the other night, actually we had a storm that dumped 1-1/2 inches here at the house, I spent some time pulling weeds. We’ve had such warm weather that I seemed to be growing dandelions. So I pulled a lot of them up.

Due to DH health issues I am considering moving next year. We’ll see if that happens or not. But in preparation for that possibility, I have begun rethinking my garden. I had a set of square “plastic” raised beds. They are lined in a type of felt fabric to hold in the soil. But since we may leave this house I’m considering dismantling them and putting that soil into the built in raised beds. Originally these plastic raised beds were where I grew strawberries. But I can move strawberries to other beds or put them in pots. And I think removing them might help me clean up the yard.

Merry Christmas 2018

Well I am sorry to say it is a warm Christmas day here. We will hit a lovely 69 today, and 68 tomorrow. Our low last night was all of 55 degrees. That may sound lovely, but it also means we are having a warm winter. Maybe it will cool down later, I sure hope so.

What’s so wrong about a warm winter, you ask. Well it means bugs will be more active, they won’t go dormant nor will some die in the cold, and my fruit trees won’t get enough cold so I will have less of a harvest. So personally I would like some cool or cold weather. But alas we’ve been in the 60’s with occasional 70 degree days thrown in for good measure.

With any sort of luck we might get down to freezing this weekend. I sure hope so for my plant’s health.

But nonetheless, Merry Christmas to all.

Love Texas weather

What’s not to love about this weather. First we had a cold snap, then it warmed up. We got cedar pollen (as far as my eyes can tell you), and now we’ve had rain, about 1-3/4 inches just the past few days, now its back to cold. And who knew, we might just get back down to freezing. After I uncovered all the citrus, it looks like I will be covering them back up.

Who knows what Texas weather wants to do this winter? Not me!

Love Texas weather

You have got to love Texas weather. We had a bout of killing freeze weather, but now we are up to 70 degrees. So the poor plants that didn’t survive the frost, like my squash, green bean, and tomato plants, may be dead or dying, but now we have great weather. How long will this weather last? Well, that’s a good question. The 10 day forecast shows our day time highs everywhere from the low 70’s to the mid-50’s. And it looks like the coldest night is still in the 40’s. Not even close to a killing freeze night. But of course, by then we’ll be going into December and in December we can definitely expect cold weather.

So I have uncovered what I could, kept some plants covered and just hope for the best. My citrus, meyer lemon trees, are uncovered. I’m hoping we have enough good weather for them to continue ripening. They look good, but we’ll see what happens.

Yes, we did get cold

Last night we hit a low of 27 degrees here. No matter how you slice it, here in Austin that qualifies as cold. Especially considering that by the end of the week/beginning of the weekend we’ll be up to 70 degrees during the day, and the low will be in the 50’s. But at least there is not rain with this cold.

Yesterday morning it was cloudy and cold. By 11AM it was clearing skies. By noonish it was brilliant blue skies, no clouds and slightly warming. Yesterday we had a low of 31ish, with a high of 43ish. The ish part means it was actually 30.8 and 42.7, more precise info but the 31 and 43 are pretty accurate. As for how it felt, that’s a different story.

Today they are saying we should hit a high of 53. We’ll see if that happens. But they are also saying tonight will not get down to freezing. We’ll stay just above it. Then we should warm up for the next few days. But we are definitely out of Texas summer.

Welcome to autumn/winter in Central Texas.

Definitely getting cold

We got up to a balmy 48 degrees this morning. It might be better described as we’ve been on a low downward temperature fall since yesterday. Its now down to 39, and its still dropping. We should hit a low of 29 degrees to night. Tomorrow night should be down to 26, and Wednesday low should be 28. The day time temperatures for the next couple of day will be cool too. Tomorrow, Tuesday high temperature should only be 44, and Wednesday high should be all of 51. By Thursday the day will be back up to 63, with a low of 38. By Friday will be back to 67 and 41.

At least the good news is no rain. It will be cold, but no rain, If we get cold but no rain, we don’t have to worry about ice forming on the roads.

But we do have to worry about losing plants with this cold. I’ve covered the peppers, squash, citrus trees, and a few other plants. Since I had promised a few plants to a friend, and I had them outside, I’ve had to move them into the garage. The plants are covered, so hopefully they’ll survive.

I’ve even covered some succulents I had on the front porch. I actually covered them with insulated grocery bags. Hopefully that will be enough for them to survive.

This is the first real cold we’ve had so far this season. We’ll see how it goes. Let’s just hope for the best.