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Ever wonder what they mean when they talk about a cold front moving in. Well hopefully this will help explain it.

This happened last night. Yes we had temperatures in the 70’s most of the day, actually pretty much all day, then the temperature just dropped. Yes as the temperature dropped we got rain. About two inches of rain. What is interesting it we had a few cold days a couple of weeks ago, but mostly the weather has been nice. So far its been overall a fairly nice autumn. And that’s not always good.
 We did have a previous cold front come thru a couple of weeks ago, but the cold didn’t last. The concern is the almanac said it would be a cold winter. So far it looks like we might have nice weather for Christmas.

After the rain last night the skies have cleared up.

The garden took a beating from our previous cold front. The watermelon and other squash plants are pretty much died and gone. They got pulled out of the ground. Some of the tomato plants have been pulled too. But the broccoli and leaf greens (collards) seem to be doing okay. The pak choy looks great. Its gotten big and green with the weather change. We even took the time and planted more seeds – more collards, swiss chard, and lettuce.

We’ll see how everything goes. And we’ll see how the weather shapes up this winter.

We left Mid October for a trip, gone 3 weeks. We left, and the rain began. The house got rain, enough to fill our almost empty water tanks. It almost kept the temperatures in the mid 60-70’s. The plants loved it. We came back to happy and healthy plants. I don’t think we lost anything.

Then last night, we got our first freeze. Last night we hit a low of 31.8 degrees. We are due for the same tonight. It looks like the weather is changing. We’ll warm up for a few days, then nights will cool down. They aren’t expecting more freezing nights, at least not in the 10 day forecast. Most nights will be in the 50-40’s.

We were lucky enough to have our friend come help cover plants before the freeze. He also picked the produce we had ready or ready-ish to pick. He picked a lot of green tomatoes. I’m thinking of trying to make pickled green tomatoes. I found a recipe online that looks easy enough – greens tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, and then a brine. I might try it with a small amount of tomatoes and see  how we like it.

While we were gone, my other half got sick during the trip. Actually a lot of people got sick on the trip – not norovirus. I think the weather was cooler and wetter than most people expected. I know some people complained about one excursion in particular. A “boat cruise” turned out to be more a speed boat ride with just thin plastic covers, in wet and cold weather. Apparently many of the guests got sick after this excursion. They developed a lot of coughs, cold type of symptoms. Hubby has had this for over 3 weeks now – he caught it on the cruise. I came down with it the evening after we got home. I’ve seen the doctor, and am on antibiotics and steroids. What does this have to do with anything, you ask? We have Thanksgiving coming up in a few days. I’m supposed to cook turkey dinner.

Our turkey day menu includes turkey, gravy, twice baked potatoes, carrots, broccoli, rolls, Mexican pecan pie. I figure onion dip with veggies and potato chips to start. I’ve already made the onion dip from scratch. I’m planning to working on the potatoes and pie tomorrow. The turkey is a breast only, no legs or wings. I’m not sure about making dressing. I’ve found a lot of the recipes online. I’m trying to figure out if there is anything I can made that will use any of the garden veggies.

So what came out of the yard? The garden haul includes – lemons, tomatoes ripe and unripe, jalapenos, bell peppers, other peppers, zucchini. We’ve covered the lemons plants, basil, berry plants, melon plants, and some plants didn’t need to be covered. Hey, at least the plants I needed covered got covered.

It is still hot over here. But this week we are due for some cooling weather – down to the 80’s. And possible rain. But the real way you know the weather is changing – the tomato plants are coming back to life. I pull out the dead corn, cleared out the cucumbers, and cut back the marigolds. I need to cut back of the the melons, but it was just too hot. But this weekend I did some weeding and feeding in the garden. Which is good because it looks like its growing season again. It seems too hot, but I’m found a lot of new growth on lots of the plants.

Since I cleaned out dead stuff I went ahead and planted more seeds. I put in bok choy, beets, beans, acorn squash, fennel, carrots, and some broccoli. According to Mother Earth News app this is the time to start planting these guys. I also got some seed for cabbage, swiss chard, and onions. I’ll put those in the ground tomorrow. I may put in some other things that should grow this time of year too. Some spinach would be nice. I’m also doing some additional hand watering that is probably helping things grow.

The zucchini plant has lots of small zucchinis, the tomato plants are covered in green tomatoes just starting to ripen, and the jalapeno pepper plant is still producing peppers. So the garden is not done yet. Don’t give up hope on your garden. Here there really are two growing seasons. And the second season is starting now.

Yes, I know. Its been a while. We made it home from our trip. The trip was great – wonderful cool weather, good food, good company, and fabulous new places.

What we came home to wasn’t quite so fabulous. Apparently it was hot while we were gone. Triple digit hot. So since we were not around to give plants the extra water they needed, we lost stuff. The cucumbers are toast (yup that’s what they looked like) as were some of the squash plants. Apparently one of the connectors came undone, so out of about 8 squash plants only 2-3 sort of survived. One is doing okay, but I’m not sure the other two will survive. And the corn is entirely dead. Oh well.  Did not lose a single tomato plant, but they were a bit worse for the wear. And some of the strawberry plants didn’t make it – not enough water.

Now that we’re back I am watering some of the plants to see how well they’ll survive. Also we’ve cooled down to the low 90’s (that’s Texas for you, low 90’s is cool) and with the extra water some plants are coming back. For instance, with the extra water some of the squash plants are putting out new squashes. Some of the tomatoes are starting to ripen. Even the strawberry plants are perking up with extra water.

But since its been a while and we’re coming into our second growing season, I think it may be time to feed. I’ll try to do that this week or next weekend. Oh, and didn’t lose a single pepper plant. But the red on the vine peppers are edible, hot but not as hot as they were green.

Yes, the comfortable temperatures we had are gone. Austin area has hit the mid to high 90’s already. Yesterday’s high hit 93, with a heat index of 100. Our low – 74. Its warm out there. Plants are not growing well. Though some tomatoes are getting red, many are just sitting there green on the plant. Last year we left them on the plants, and when the weather began to cool they all started ripening. We do have some yellow tomatoes that are ripe, but again, most of the plants are just trying to hold their own.

On the other hand we are having a wasp problem. We have found many more wasp nests than we normally do. And some have been big nests. They are high up under the eaves and difficult to spray. But hopefully the spraying will work and they won’t come back. It does help that Bill knocked some of the nests down. I’m just hoping the wasps don’t come back and build new nests.

I’ve also noticed a lot more young fawns still. And quite a few twins this year. Some of the bucks are already beginning to get velvet on their antlers. I feel for the does. They still have fawns nursing and its not that long until the rut will start all over for them. At least there is still a lot of greenery around for them to feed on. And I don’t mind if they eat, as long as they stay out of my back yard. 

I actually gave these away to a friend. Though we did keep a few of the carrots for dinner.  They were good. The carrots had been growing in a big barrel. So after harvesting I planted more seeds.

The squirrels made it into the corn. Anything close to ripe has been eaten. There are corn cobs strewn across the ground.

Consequently, the boys are now building a metal structure around the corn. Something that will hopefully keep the squirrels out. I sure hope so.  We lost last years’ crop of corn to squirrels, I would like to get some this year. And the corn is growing, and it is starting to ripen. So I’m sure the squirrels are hiding out holding their stuffed bellies. I hope they get belly aches.

In response to these little nasty critters, the boys are building a metal cage around the corn. The cage is about 8 feet tall and covers the entire bed. They said they’ll put in a door so we can get in and pick the corn.  I sure hope so. But we still still have something of a problem – can those nasties get under the cage? Can they dig their way under the bottom? That remains to be seen.

One other problem. The watermelons and cantaloupes are getting real cozy with the tomatoes. Yes, there is a walkway between them, but both sides are growing and reaching out towards the other bed. Right now you cannot walk between the tomato bed and the melons. I think they have already intertwined. Oh well. Pictures of these will have to be taken later – its raining again.

It is 80 degrees outside and pouring. Its one of those short downpours. You know the kind – quarter inch of rain in about 10 minutes.   That kind.  Its only Wednesday and we’ve had 2.47 inches this week so far. Gotta love Texas weather.

Yes, we had sunshine yesterday and today. And with luck we should have it for this week. Though of course that means its a bit warmer, 84 by mid afternoon, but the humidity is not too bad. It could mean summer is around the corner too. Not my favorite, but it will come one way or the other.

Last month, May we had over 6 inches of rain here at the house. And we had about 3-1/2 inches just last week alone. And other areas around here got more rain that we did.  We had many times where we got just the edge of the storm. We could watch lightning all around us, and just feel light rain here. But it’s nice to have a break.

Now for what has happened with the plants. Some of the irises are trying to bloom. So are some of the bluebonnets. Most of them did their thing before the rain, but some were truly late bloomers. Though we got some wind, not enough to cause damage here at the house. We were lucky there.  But everything is growing now. The “lawn” is tall and needs a hair cut. Its really weeds, not much grass.  I had thrown wild flower seed and buffalo grass seed out there over a year ago, so that is what our “lawn” is.

But the apple tree is doing fine, still has apples. Though the animals have been pecking and chewing at some of the fruit. The strawberries are bearing again. The peas are shot, they need to be pulled. The lettuce, well I’ve been pulling most of it up. We had enough heat that most of it bolted. Tore the onions out finally. But the corn is growing gang busters, some of the tomatoes are even ripening. And the squash plants have blossoms. We have peppers already – both bell and jalapenos. Its amazing what this much rain will do for a yard. I’ll try and get out and take pictures.

Oh, one problem. The bunnies and the squirrels seem be making friends with each other. That’s not good. The squirrels are showing the bunnies where to get into the yard. At least we have so much greenery around that the bunnies have not ravaged my plants too badly.