Sorry, it’s been so long since I’ve posted. Actually, its been a couple of months. A lot has happened and I’ve had some issues, but I’m back at it. So here we go.
It’s now early November. Our weather has been okay for central Texas weather. We’ve had hot weather, expected, and gardening is always a challenge during the heat of summer.
It’s now early November and we’ve still had some hot weather. By hot we’ve had some record temperatures this late in the year. But true to Texas weather we are hitting 90 degrees today, tomorrow just barely cooler at about 85. Yet Monday we will drop to 61. Yes, we will have a good 25 degree drop in one day. This time when they say a cold front, they mean it. I put it that way since we had a cold front but the temperature didn’t have much more than about 10 degree drop. That’s still nice, but not that much of a drop.
One thing that is a learning experience is the way the sun has moved throughout the year. Since this is a new house for me, I purchased it earlier this year so I haven’t yet made one year here yet, I am still learning the movement of the sun here. Now has that been a learning experience?? YES! For instance I had put up some solar lights in the back yard for taking my “monster” (dog) out at night. Yet some areas where I put those solar light earlier this year, now don’t get enough sunlight during the day for the lights to work at night. That was surprising. I’ve found those changes both in the front yard and the back yard.
Now I didn’t set up a full actual garden or beds. I used just pots this year. As I said, this is my first year at this house. I found that some pots, same size, same soil, same seeds, did better in some areas of the garden that in others. Even though I used the same soil throughout my garden, I noticed some pots dried out faster than others. Now I don’t tend to use clay pots, its just a personal preference. I don’t use clay pots because I find in the Texas summer heat the pots dried them out too quickly. That is why I use a commercial potting soil, so I know that it includes a consistent amount of soil additives, especially for water retention. But even with that attempt at consistency, I noticed significant differences in areas of my garden.
In particular I had two bean pots. I used the same seeds, from the same package. One pot was close to the fence in the back. The other pot was closer to the house. Both got the same amount of sun, basically. Both also got pretty much the same amount of watering, by hand. Surprising the pot closer to the house dried out faster than the pot by the back fence. It’s now November and the pot that was out by the fence is still green, and alive. That surprised me as it didn’t always get the attention the pot by the house got.
Now I didn’t take as good care of the pots as one might think. I was gone on a trip, gone a good two weeks. I didn’t get everything watered as well as hoped. And of course, when you’re gone you can’t always foresee how the weather might changed from what was forecast. Such is life and gardening.
Solar lights I had out front, lighting the front door went from working well to not working. This is all part of learning a new house. I haven’t changed the watering system to include drip watering. Here where I live we go onto water restrictions. Those restrictions tell us what days, and what times of the day we can water. Watering outside those time can result in a notice, or even a fine. Part of the time, we had been restricted to two days a week watering, and some areas were restricted to one day a week watering.
DELAY:
It’s now Sunday morning. And yes, the temperature has dropped. Our high of 93 on Friday is now a high of 66 today. I do believe we may have our first cold snap tonight.