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Weather is changing here in Austin.  Its warming up, nights are in the 40-50’s, with days in the 60’s.  This morning we have fog, but its still 50 outside. And we’ve got sunshine most days. I expect this fog will burn off to a nice day. The weather forecast says next week we might have a couple of cooler nights – down near freezing.  We’ll see if that holds up.

I’ve put some seeds in the yard, and started some in pots. Its been peppers and tomatoes at this point. I’ve started using an iPhone app by Burpee that gives me a list of when to plant what. And according to it its time to start putting in seeds and plants. So I’m going to give it a try this year and see if I do any better.

We have purdy white flakes falling from the sky!!  Just what we needed, snow flurries. Weather.com says we should hit 48 today, that is anybody’s guess. Last night was about 40.

Texas winter weather. What else can you say.

It sounds like an ice machine out there. We have icicles hanging from the bird feeders, from railings, and from all sorts of items. Earlier we got up to 33 (low was 30), had some rain, and it sounded like an ice making machine here on the front porch. You could hear ice melting then cracking, then running down the drain pipes outside. It was almost funny. But with any luck we should hit 55 tomorrow.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

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:

• corn
• peppers
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• beets
• broccoli
• basil (fewer plants this time)
• beans (think green beans)
• blueberries
• bok choy
• carrots
• chives (not garlic chives, regular)
• lettuce, endive, arugula, kale (yes I know I have some growing already)
• melons – watermelon, cantaloupe
• onions (yes I know I have them growing already)
• parsley
• peas
• potatoes
• spinach (just put in some seeds)
• squash
• tomatillos

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.