Not Much New…

sb158 | August 14, 2009

not-much-new

It’s still too hot; Hubby’s weather gizmo says 111 today. Much as I hated to, I had to go out there and spray the aphids off my peppers again; gotta keep up with it, as the little buggers multiple faster than tribbles(Trekkie reference, y’all). I got myself soaked in the process, which was a good thing. Cooled me off in that awful heat; probably kept me from dying of heatstroke.

Got all my SWC’s cleaned out and mixed some new dirt, getting ready for Round 2, which should commence shortly. Got tomatoes, peppers, and some broccoli, among other things, big enough to harden off. I put them on Hubby’s picnic table, in the shade, but am slowly exposing them to a bit more sun every day. Really gotta watch ‘em, though; this wind and heat will fry the poor little babies faster than I can blink.

Got some seeds sprouting to fill a couple off my new containers, and just got an idea for another one last nite while I should have been sleeping. I’ll start the seeds in a bit.

A couple weird things, though. I was about to pull my cukes, as they just aren’t fruiting, and are infested with whiteflies, among other things. All of a sudden they have just started growing like gangbusters, so now I’m debating. The watermelons in the SWC’s are doing the same thing. For a while it’s looked like they were barely hanging on, so I was babying them along hoping the melons would ripen before they expired. Now they’ve started growing new vines and blossoms, too. We’ll see what happens.

Later…

Been A While, so…

sb158 | July 24, 2009

been-a-while-so

Not really much going on in my garden, other than the fact that it’s being slowly baked to death by 111 degree temperatures. Not every day, but it has hit at least 109 for the past several days. Yesterday it was 110. I had a few minor things to do out there, and by the time I came in, I had sweat pouring off me. Didn’t stop for the next hour. Felt all woozy, too. Had to come in and sit in front of the AC for a while just to keep from dying. Would have taken a shower, but had a load of laundry going. Can’t do both at the same time around here…LOL.

By the time Garden Blog Death Day rolls around, I’ll have plenty to share. All the Roma tomatoes have ripened, not that there were all that many. The plants are just hanging around until I pull them out. Got some replacement stuff growing now, but it’ll be a few weeks until it’s ready to plant. I let the sickly zucchini expire, too, so that’ll be in the Death Day post.

The Heatwave tomato plants look awful, too, but they at least have a bunch of tomatoes ripening, if I can get them before the mockingbirds decide they’re ready to eat. The only thing that doesn’t seem bothered at all by the heat is the Lablab bean I planted. It just keeps growing taller, and has finally reached the top of the arbor thingy. Getting some side shoots now too, so maybe the arbor will finally start serving it’s intended purpose by the time I plant Round Two in early September.

The biggest thing I’ve accomplished is finishing the Excel seed-starting chart I got at I Wet My Plants.com. It was fine for Canada, but, boy, did it need a lot of work for South TX. Took me quite some time, and lots of tedium, to enter all my seeds, correlate the planting dates to the Texas Gardener magazine Planning Calender, and get it all set up for my area. Now, however, it is tailored to my garden, and it is really cool. Just print and plant…eliminates alot of the mind-breaking co-ordination two (well, really, 3) garden seasons requires.

That’s about it for now. Got dinner cooking and gotta get back to it…

I REALLY hate those little

sb158 | July 12, 2009

i-really-hate-those-little

(insert vile epithet of choice)______________. Fire ants, I mean. Bungled into two separate nests of the little _______ yesterday, with very unpleasant consequences. I’ve mentioned before that the french filet pole beans weren’t doing well, but I don’t think I mentioned the sick zucchini. It’s in one of the containers by the arbor thingy, and it’s only grown a few leaves and two male blossoms since I planted it before I went to Colorado. Whoever heard of a zucchini NOT growing, at least before the squash vine borers get it? So I decided to pull out the french failures and try some scarlet runner beans. I started to move the mulch away to plant the seeds, and was viciously attacked. Got away with only two bites that time; not so bad. I read somewhere that ants don’t like molasses, so I poured about a cup of molasses into a gallon of water and drenched the container with it. I also dumped a bit of Amdro in there. The ants might explain the sickly zucchini and failing beans, at least in part.
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-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 81°F;
  • Humidity: 76%;
  • Heat Index: 86°F;
  • Wind Chill: 81°F;
  • Pressure: 30.06 in.;

Picnic Tables and Garden Progress

sb158 | July 9, 2009

picnic-tables-and-garden-progress

I told my daughter I’d take a pic of Hubby’s (almost) finished picnic table, so here it is, Jen:

Mouseover to see bigger pic; click the thumb to see the really big pic.


Just needs to be stained and it’ll be done. Already had a couple offers to buy it, too!

 

As for the garden, just been keeping up with the routine chores. It’s been hot, so watering is critical, and been cleaning aphids off my peppers every other day. Been cleaning them off everything, actually, but they seem to really like the peppers.

Got a few more cukes coming along, one will probably be ready tomorrow, the other the next day, and more shortly thereafter. I did harvest an actual ripe Heatwave tomato, too, and more are starting to ripen. The Silvery Fir Tree tomatoes are a major disappointment. The tomatoes are tiny, and split every time we get a little rain shower. Admittedly, that’s all too rare, but still…

As soon as the few tomatoes left on the plants ripen, I’m pulling them out and replacing them with another variety of bush tomato I started a few days ago. They haven’t even sprouted yet, and won’t be ready for a while, but I’m hoping they’ll do better than the others.

And now a few pics of garden progress since my last post:

 

The Kentucky Wonder pole beans I planted to grow up the arbor thingy are finally doing so. The french filet pole beans are not doing well at all, and the bush beans are even worse. The Contender beans bit the dust a while ago. They look like they have some sort of disease, and something still keeps eating just the leaves. KY Wonder have some disease resistance, so that may be why they are doing better. I bought some bush beans that have good disease resistance, and have them germinating in paper towels at the moment. I’ll put them out soon as they sprout. The other ones will probably end up being my post for Garden Blogger’s Death Day this month.

As if keeping up with the watering, harvesting, and debugging weren’t enough, it’s already time to be planning my fall garden. I’m supposed to have planted tomato and pepper seeds to put out come late August for my fall garden. I did start the tomato seeds, but am undecided on the peppers. Mine are just now starting to blossom and fruit, and should last until frost, if we ever actually ever get one. Unless, of course, the aphids eat them before then! If I start more, I may have to pull producing plants; if I don’t and the aphids kill them I’m SOL. What would you do?

I have to be thinking about all the cool season crops, like lettuce, parsley, potatoes, etc, and still find room for the fall hot weather crops. Gonna be a tricky juggling act, for sure. Then there are all the perennials I want to start, too…and the herbs…Oy, giving myself a headache thinking about it!

That’s about all the garden news, so here’s a personal note…

Today is my middle daughter’s birthday, so Happy Birthday, Chrissy!

My son and his girlfriend were here from the Thursday before the 4th until yesterday. He’s moving back here, as he’s applying to a local police force. My brother-in-law’s son has a relation on his wife’s side who is already a cop there, and he says they really need people. So I guess Mike will be staying until he actually gets hired, goes to the police academy, and actually starts working. Be nice having him here; he’s my “baby” and I like having him around – most of the time!

Whew! Think that’s just about enough for this post. Didn’t start out to write a novel; hope you didn’t get too bored!

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 82°F;
  • Humidity: 81%;
  • Heat Index: 89°F;
  • Wind Chill: 82°F;
  • Pressure: 29.98 in.;

Hallelujah and Thank You

sb158 | June 23, 2009

hallelujah-and-thank-you

We’re finally getting some rain and (slightly) cooler temperatures! Not nearly as much as we need, but, at this point, I’m thankful for whatever we get. I expect my plants will grow a foot overnight!

Here are some pics I took about a week ago that show how much the garden had grown while I was in Colorado. Compare them to these pics.

Pics within (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 78°F;
  • Humidity: 90%;
  • Heat Index: 80°F;
  • Wind Chill: 78°F;
  • Pressure: 29.86 in.;

Trying to Keep It Alive

sb158 | April 30, 2009

trying-to-keep-it-alive

This Valley is gonna look like the icon here pretty quick if the heat doesn’t break and we don’t get some rain.

With temps in the 90’s and the wind blowing from the south at 20+ mph (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 90°F;
  • Humidity: 40%;
  • Heat Index: 91°F;
  • Wind Chill: 90°F;
  • Pressure: 29.84 in.;

Got An Answer! Thanks, Jim.

sb158 | April 27, 2009

got-an-answer-thanks-jim

A very kind blog visitor identified my Mystery Shrub as Ruttya fruticosa. Found some cultural information here and here.

Apparently it’s easy to propagate by seeds or cuttings, so I may try that down the road some time. Got too much other stuff going on right now to deal with it.

Yesterday we went to brunch with my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and his son and wife. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 91°F;
  • Humidity: 50%;
  • Heat Index: 97°F;
  • Wind Chill: 91°F;
  • Pressure: 29.89 in.;

Baby Beans

sb158 | April 25, 2009

baby-beans

I finally got all the baby basils transplanted into their nice peat pots and outside. The first batch graduated to a couple hours in the sun today, before I had to put them, and the baby peppers, back into the shade. Hope it won’t be too much more than a week or so before the basil I intended to plant in the garden are big enough to move into the garden.

Here’s a couple pics of the baby basils and peppers… (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 76°F;
  • Humidity: 87%;
  • Heat Index: 75°F;
  • Wind Chill: 76°F;
  • Pressure: 29.97 in.;

Trying To Keep Up With It All

sb158 | April 22, 2009

trying-to-keep-up-with-it-all

Whew! This is really the first chance I’ve had since I last posted to post again. I’ve either been busy doing, instead of writing, or too wiped to even type. That heat out there is gonna kill me yet, I swear.

I’ve been planting babies into the garden, like cukes, stevia, and bee balm, or tomatoes into SWCs. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 66°F;
  • Humidity: 87%;
  • Heat Index: 66°F;
  • Wind Chill: 66°F;
  • Pressure: 30.06 in.;

What Would You Do With 36 Basil Plants?

sb158 | April 16, 2009

what-would-you-do-with-36-basil-plants

I love the smell and look of basil. Any kind of basil. I haven’t met one yet I didn’t love. So I ordered a 6-basil seed mix, since it was cheaper than buying all the separate varieties. Planted a bunch of them, and, as far as I can tell, they ALL sprouted. I wanted to be sure I got a good chance of getting at least one of each kind, so now I have 36 baby basils. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

  • Temperature: 80°F;
  • Humidity: 62%;
  • Heat Index: 82°F;
  • Wind Chill: 80°F;
  • Pressure: 29.9 in.;