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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.

Rain

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Last night a storm blew through. The rain didn’t start until after nightfall, it began well after 9pm. It was accompanied by quite a lightning show. Here where I live we also had to deal with short power outages. By short, they lasted less than a minute. But they were long enough to turn all the lights off, reset the tv, reset the microwave clock, etc.

The first power outage happened around 10pm. I had checked the weather gauge just before the power went out, logged it, and we had already had 0.55 inches of rain. Within minutes we had another power outage. The outages were pretty close together. But they did cause the rain gauge to reset itself.

By morning the weather station had recorded 3.75 inches of additional rain. We didn’t seem to have any more power outages throughout the night, at least not here where I live.

So last night’s storm left us with about 4.3 inches of rain, give or take a bit (0.55 + 3.75). We might get some more today, but once this passes we should be free of the rain. But we will be getting a definite cool front. As that matter goes, we should make a high of 85 today, yet drop to a high of 79 tomorrow, then by Sunday be a high of 69 and a low of 43.

It shouldn’t be cold enough to harm plants growing, but it might stop a few of them from doing much. But typical Texas weather, by mid next week we will be back up to around 80 degrees.

Weather

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Strange weather here. The other day, actually it was early around 2 am, we had a short but powerful storm blow through. It didn’t drop a lot of rain, all of 0.86 inches, but it was strong winds. Please in the neighborhood even mentioned the booms of thunder were so strong pictures fell from their walls.

Now, just about 2 days later, its 76 degrees, yet 98% humidity, and no rain. How’s is that for strange weather.

UPDATE: Its now almost 9:30 pm, and it once again is 76 degrees with 92% humidity, and no rain. I really hope it rains sometime tonight and relieves this humidity.

Rain

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By my last check of the rain gauge last night, we had 3.35 inches of rain. This morning we had clocked an additional 0.83. So our total for last night is over 4 inches of rain.

Today, we haven’t had any rain. Right now, in the early evening, the sky outside is blue and lovely. Tonight we are not due for rain, though that is always subject to change. But tomorrow we have about a 40% chance of rain. Friday and Saturday we have 84 and 90 percent chance of rain. So we will have wet days ahead. By Sunday the chance of rain will fall to about 25%.

The nice thing of course with this chance of rain, is that our temperatures will fall also. Friday our high will be just below 80, with the lows in the mid 60’s. Hopefully this means we have begun the cooler days and nights of Autumn.

And with that cool down we begin the next growing season. Welcome to the growing reality of Central Texas.

Its raining

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Rain has begun. In just less than an hour we already have just shy of 2 inches and it is pouring. It is lightning and thunder, and rain.

It began with fat big droplets of rain. I went out to check the noise and it was hot, humid and the rain was beginning.

Now, its down to 71 degrees and its still raining. In the time I’ve been writing this we’ve crossed into 2.16 inches of rain, and its still pouring out there. It is quite a storm out there. And we are due for rain for the next few days.

Its a good thing rain, lightning, and thunder doesn’t bother the dogs.

It has been raining now an hour and we’ve just crossed the 2.5 inch mark of rain.

Fall is here

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Autumn has begun. Hallelujah! The weather is changing, at least for central Texas. The sun is still shining, but at least the temperatures are changing. We finally have cooler weather. Bearing in mind this is Texas, it means our daytime temperatures are in the mid to high 80’s. Okay, that may not be cool temperatures if you like in say the north East, or northern part of the USA, but here, that’s a cool down. Autumn also means our night time temperatures are lower, mid 50’s. Again this in central Texas so you have to bear in mind our summer temperatures are much warmer than that.

But in honor of autumn I have begun cool weather crops. Last week I put in peas, carrots, bok choy, beets, and some lettuce. The peas have already sprouted.

We have rain in the forecast this week, and the new seeds will enjoy it I’m sure.

I”m also working on eliminating some of the grass in my back yard.

Because my yard slopes slightly, I need to know how it slopes and where it slopes. I don’t want to eliminate the slope. The entire property drains from the front yard down and out the back yard. Since any water will drain out the back, past the metal fence to the greenbelt, I don’t really want to lose that drainage ability. I need to keep the drainage intact.

At first I was thinking I would just put mulch in the back yard, but I reconsidered that. If I attempt to put mulch down, when we get a hard rain, something this area gets, the mulch will just wash away. So just mulch is not what I want to do. But I am considering the possibility of rock and mulch, or just using rock. Rock would have the advantage of allowing water to flow though to the greenbelt area behind.

Once I decide what I want to do, and what I want where, etc., then I have to decide how to actually do the work. Rock may need, probably will have to be, ordered and delivered. The mulch is yet to be determined. How much mulch will I need, should it be more like bark chips, etc.? That will depend on the actual design of what I choose to do.

One of the “designs” I am considering is to put mulch on the sides of the yard by the wood fence. But I need to make sure that will not cause the wood fence to rot quickly. I could mulch areas where things like trees are planted. Then put rock in between the mulched areas. But in order to keep the mulch from moving and being washed away, would it make sense to put rock in the area by the metal and wood fence, for drainage?

So why do I want to make changes to what I have, you ask. Well part of the reason is where the raised beds are makes mowing behind them impossible. They are just too close to the metal fence in the back. I have the same problem with some of the areas where plants are by the wooden fence lines.

The back two rectangular areas are the raised beds. The metal fence is behind it. The two shorter sides have wood fencing.

This is not to scale but it gives you an idea of what I mean by the area behind the raised beds is too narrow to mow. I measured it and that strip is all of 23″. That makes mowing behind it difficult. It usually has to be weed whacked. Such is the problem.

Yes, I could pull out all the beds, move out all the dirt, then replace everything. That would be a lot of work. And I’m not sure its really worth it. Of course, who wants to really have to worry about mowing such a narrow strip?

I think leaving the beds where they are and either putting rock or something else that doesn’t need to be mowed, and will allow water to drain out of it will make much more sense. I’ve even considered the fake mulch mats back there. Just something that will keep grass from growing, and allow water to drain. I don’t need to grow anything back there. I only walk back there to work in the beds, pull veggies, weed the beds, etc.

So my search for what to do continues.

Weather?

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Okay, this is a slightly different posting. I’m actually posting from an airport, DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) to be precise. I’m on my way to CA for a few days, not exactly a fun trip, but a necessary trip.

But I’m posting this for a reason. For some reason my flight has been delayed, for 2 hours. This delay has meant I will miss my connecting flight. I’ve had to rebook the various legs to get me to CA. Why the delay? I have no clue. But I do know that when I got to the airport a number of flights were listed as delayed, some as long as 4 hours.

While on the short jaunt to DFW from Austin, I listened to others complaining. One guy mentioned his wife as on a flight due to leave at 8AM. He said it actually left at 1:45pm, over 5 hours late. Another guy mentioned that someone he knew was on a flight that had to be rerouted to Oklahoma City for refueling. It seemed that wherever they were going they couldn’t land and had to circle. They circled so long they had to reroute in order to refuel.

As I sat in a restaurant grabbing a bite to eat, the guy next to me said he had been on a flight. They had canceled the flight from Key West to wherever, possibly DFW. That was on Saturday, due to a storm coming in. They didn’t give him any sort of hotel nor food vouchers. He was able to beg a room from someone. It is now Monday and he still hasn’t finished his flight home. He’s hoping his 8pm flight will still occur and he will get home.

Is this all weather related? I don’t know. I do know that I wanted earlier flights in order to minimize the chance of storms here in the DFW area. And of course with the rain we had in Austin, I can watch storm clouds building over DFW. Summer storms can happen in this area, so it’s something I do think about.

Will I make it out as planned. I hope so. But what I do know is that the weather is affecting flights. Its affecting far more than just gardens.

Even though the other day my garden got 0.67 inches, the news said some areas got up to 2.5 inches of rain. And yes that did include some thunder and thunderstorms. That wasn’t just some little storm leaving sprinkles in its wake. So before you think weather is just about your garden, it can affect a lot more – flights, roads, flooding, landslides, and so much more.

Beware weather changes.