Yes, we hit cold – the low last night was 20.8 here at the house. THAT’S JUST PLAIN COLD!!
And it looks like we will be cold the next couple of days. Like just above freezing cold. And they say possible rain. I hope we don’t get the rain even if we are cold.
Weird weather the past few days. How weird, you ask. Sunday night hit a low of 27. Today, Tuesday we had a high of 75, and tomorrow night, Wednesday night we are due for a low of 22. Definite swings in temperatures.
Pat came over last weekend and help with some yard work. He worked on the trees some more and turned over a couple of the veggie beds. Since all the tomatoes are finally dead and pulled out of the ground, I figured we should turn the soil over. That take a good back, strong arms, and a pitch fork. I don’t have that strong of a back, nor that strong of arms, we do have the pitch fork. I worked the small corner where the basil was (should be for salad lettuce), and worked the beds around what is still growing (some lettuce, onions, asparagus). Today I did a little more work in those beds and put some lettuce seeds in the area around the other lettuce. I figured now is as good as any, especially since the lettuce is growing still. I also transplanted a few lettuce plants I found growing in the yard – lost, washed away seed I’m sure.
I’m starting to think about what to plant this year. I want to do corn again, and Bill has said I should have a cage by the time I need to plant. But since two beds won’t be in the caged area, I figure I can put peppers and things the squirrels stayed away from.
Things I want to plant:
I will need to order seeds for a few of these and plants for the blueberries. But that’s my goal for this year.
Merry Xmas, Happy New Year and all that jazz. Yes, I know its been a while. But we were gone on a trip and got back just before Christmas. And we got back to strange weather. It was warm – low 70’s warm. But this week, between Christmas and New Year, its cooling down. Our highs are in the low to mid 40’s. We haven’t had much rain, just little dribs and drabs. For example today we’ve gotten 0.25 inches of rain, mainly in the form of a heavy mist, and at 2pm its 41 degrees. So cool, and damp, but not wet enough to call it rain. The weather said we should have gotten rain the other day, but that didn’t happen. They also said this would be a colder than usual winter. That hasn’t really happened either. We had a cold snap before Thanksgiving, but that was really it. Its so warm some of the plants are trying to set out new buds. Not the best timing. This is Texas. We could still get cold in January and February. We’ll see what happens.
I was gone the past few day. Spent some time in San Antonio visiting. While I was gone we had our first freeze. Mid November but we’ve got a good cold front sitting here. And here is what my plants look like:
The basil is dying.
The watermelon died.
Even the beans froze.Its the end of October, 2014. How does your garden grow? Well, this is how mine is growing.
Anaheim peppers 
Ancho peppers 
Basil and kale that won’t die
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Tomatoes
It was a rainy night last night. We got 3″ by the automatic meter system, except the manual rain gauge says we got 4.25″. And we just got about another inch in the last hour. And more rain is on its way. The Weather Channel says we have between 80% and 40% rain over the next 5 days. So it looks like we’ve hit a wet patch. Its been lightning and thunder, hard to sleep at night. So far all the rain has been either late in the day or at night. Its the night rain that makes it so hard to sleep. But the plants are getting a good watering. That’s the good news. And the temperatures are below 90, so its humid during the day, but at least its not as bad as it could be.
Now this is a cold front. We just dropped a good 20 degrees, both day and night. We hit a low of 57 last night, and it’s 11:30 AM and only 58 outside. We headed for a high of 75, but if we make that it will be later tonight probably. And we’ve had 2 inches of rain. Some came down hard, but then its been a nice gentle mist. A good soaking wet, and I’m sure the plants are loving it.
The garden is okay. The tomatoes are growing, and we still have a few watermelons on the vine. Those squash seeds I planted are growing and so are the bean plants. Since this is the first rain in a while we’ll see how it affects the plants. Who knows, maybe they’ll begin growing again. We’ll find out soon.
I don’t think the cold front will last long. But the 10 day forecast shows cooler temperatures, days in the low 90’s and high 80’s, with nights in the high to mid 60’s. We can hope. If that’s what we get, I expect lots of the plants will begin growing again. Maybe I’ll plant some carrots and lettuce, if its cool enough.
Well it looks like we have finally hit the triple digits days of this area. Its hot. The low at night is 76. The heat index is over 100 easily. But the garden is alive. I’ve got watermelon and cantaloupes growing. The tomato plants are alive, but not doing anything, and that’s expected with this heat. The gardening guides say its time to plant the second crop of squash and green beans so I planted some seeds of both today. The squash says 45-50 days to harvest so we’ll see if they grow.
Things to remember for next year:
1. When you plant tomatoes, put cages around the baby plants. Don’t wait for them to grow up before putting cages on them.
2. Put trellises up for melon plants. Otherwise they will take over the yard. Also remember that melon plants will try to grab onto things – don’t plant near the asparagus plants.
3. The zinnias and petunias are fairing better then the marigolds in the heat. Actually there is a zinnia plant growing in the middle of the ground, not in a pot, and its not getting watered. Same for the petunia.
4. Plant less basil. It grows really really well. Almost too well. I put a few plants in the salad bowl area and they have taken it over.
5. The tomato plants are doing okay with shade cloth over the back part. They get some daylight sun but not quite all day of sunlight.
6. YOU NEED TO WATER MORE!! If we continue using the small soaker hose, have it water more frequently and longer time. This year in this heat its running daily, but I’m giving additional hand watering 2-3 times a week. The plants are doing well with the additional water. Roses have been blooming, got some squash (had an ant problem), the carrots are growing (need the hand watering), the melons are growing well (mark the plants better and watch for aphids, and trellis the plants EARLY).
7. Watch out for the squirrels. They like the melons and green tomatoes.
Okay, its been a bit of a cool summer. Not cool if we lived elsewhere, but for Austin, its cool. We are almost to August and have not have a triple digit day yet. I’m surprised by that. I would think we would have, but we just have not done so yet. We’ve gotten to the mid 90’s, but not triple digits. The weather forecast says we may get them this week. We’ll see.
But we lost all the corn, we didn’t get a lot of squash, and the melons (watermelon and cantaloupes) are growing but the squirrels are a problem for everything. They eat the melons when they get ripe. The squirrels steal the tomatoes, even the green ones.
The tomatoes – yes well, they ripen on a strange time table. We got a few at the regular time table. But right now the plants are full of green tomatoes that just have not ripened. Last year they ripened late, it was frost and we were still picking them. I’m guessing this year may be the same. We got a few squashes, not many, but now the plants are producing more flowers, and we have new baby squashes growing. Go figure.
The basil is taking over the salad bowl. I’m thinking on planting more lettuce and see what happens. Everything else bolted due to the heat.
YIPEE!! We got rain! We’ve had about 1-1/2 inches of rain yesterday and about an inch of rain today. Though I admit we’ve also had a temperature drop. The other day we were in the mid 70’s, almost 80 degrees, and today we barely made it to 64. And the nights have dropped in temperature too. Last night we hit a low of 53, and at 8:30 PM we are already at 55. I’m not sure how low we will drop tonight, but at least we got rain. Of this I am sure, we’re not likely to drop to freezing.
And come Thursday, we are back into the 80’s. It is weird weather. Flagstaff, AZ has a low of 33 tonight, and parts of Colorado may be getting snow. Kind of strange weather.
But the good news is my corn is getting tall, my squash plants have baby squashes, my salad patch has more salad then I can eat, and my tomato plants are growing up. My fig tree is growing, the grape plants have leaves, and one of my blackberry plants looks great. The other blackberry is still alive and okay, but its not thriving the same way. I’ve even moved one of the strawberry cuttings into a square planter to see if I can grow more strawberries. So all in all, the garden is doing well.
I even managed to take some grapefruit seeds and start them in pots. Cute little things, but they will take years before I could look at getting fruit from them. I’m just tickled they actually sprouted.
If I get the chance, I’ll take pictures and post them. School has kept me busy and I just haven’t gotten my camera out there yet.