Work, Work, Work

The hardest work of the year is cutting down plants, shrubs after the first freeze.  To keep from getting discouraged, I chip away about an hour a day slowly working my way through the yard.  The goal is be be complete by mid-February.  Actually you should try to leave the shrubs out as long as you can stand it because they provide cover, concealment and food for the wildlife.  I just can't stand how messy it looks so I'm probably way to neat for a "real" organic gardener.  I do try to leave as many leaves as possible on the beds to as as mulch and compost.  Also, by waiting to cut back the plant you provide a bit more protection against a hard freeze.

Bexar County Master Gardeners Poinsettias

It's Christmas and the BCMG have their poinsettia fundraiser for horticulture scholarships.  The poinsettias are grown by Peterson's nursery, a local grower.  Here is a good trip for watering.  Use 4-5 ice cubes per day.  This gives a slow, steady watering that doesn't drown or over water the plant.  Be careful that you keep the plant away from high temperatures so it doesn't dry out.

More Drip Installation

Just before we left for California, we had another section converted to drip.  Section 5 drip is along the side of the house and includes the north fern garden, the south/west corner and the perennial beds on the southwest side of the house.  We also re-centered the lawn sprinklers in section 4 to be more efficient on the grass.  It cost about $1800.  With the $2200 we did early winter, the total is now around $4000 for the year to have the most efficient lawn drip system.  Hopefully this will last for years and let us vacation for months at a time without worrying about watering.

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeze

For the past two weeks we have had on and off freezing weather but never much below 30 degrees.  This is the coldest temperatures we have had in two years.  The most tender annuals and perennials are gone:  fire bush, sweet potato vine, coleus, beans, tomatoes, peppers, basil.  As you can see from the raised bed the fall and winter veggies are thriving.  This week we had beets, carrots, lettuce greens, spinach, chinese cabbage and the last of the green beans, peppers and tomatoes.  The best way to cook most of these veggies is by roasting in a 425 degree oven in grandma's dutch oven.  I add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at maximum 30 minutes.  Yum.

Color in Late November

 Hibiscus 

Cross Vine

View from the Kitchen Window

Although the sun light is fading, the veggie garden is still thriving.  I'm picking all my cool weather veggies and enjoying something fresh for dinner every day.  Last week we had another section of drip added along the southwestern side of the yard, along the side of the house and along the back of the house where there is deep, deep shade (my fern garden).  I will appreciate this next year.  I'm trying to follow SAWS recommendations to only water every three weeks or so if there is no rain.  The veggies are getting irrigated twice a week.  Rain is predicted over the weekend......

View From My Kitchen Window--Early November

The vegetable garden is thriving with the cooler/moist weather.  I've made my third cutting of Swiss chard with more greens to come.

Green Peppers--Finally!

Finally the bell pepper plants are setting fruit.  We had 3.5 inches of rain last night and one large branch broke of from the pepper plant.  It was loaded with baby fruit.  I will add to my garden salad for tonight.  There still are plenty on the other plants to last for weeks, including the freezer.

What a blessing to receive 3.5 inches of rain last night.  We did have some erosion issues but not bad for the heavy rainfall.  The rain barrels are full.  I'm thinking we will not need to use the sprinklers for weeks.  This bodes well for spring flowers and blue bonnets.

Cool Weather Greens

Tonight I fixed a beautiful salad all from greens from the vegetable garden.  The temperatures will be warmer this week with night time lows around 70 and day time highs in the mid 80s (lots of humidity).  I hope this leads to some rain later in the week as predicted.

Also the pepper plant is fruiting and has tiny green peppers.  Maybe we will get a crop yet this year.

The morning glory, cross vine, yellow bells, duranta and lantana are blooming profusely.  The monarch butterflies are migrating through and seem to really like the duranta.  We fertilized the grass last week.  With the shorter days, the grass is not growing as quickly.  The Turk's cap are beginning to fade to to lack of sunlight.   Until it freezes, we should have lots of color in the yard.

Sunny Faces

Sunny faces from Mexico.  Yve and Raphie Ramos gave us these faces in exchange for three  room nights.  They really brighten up the exterior of Joe's rock shop.

This morning it was 47 degree.  Yeah!  The nights are so much cooler and the days are shorter.  I can see a real change in our hot weather plants as they begin to fade due to less sun light.  On the other hand, our cool season plantings are thriving especially the coleus.

Veggie update:  Calvin Finch recommends using regular lawn fertilizer on your cool weather veggies every three weeks so I went out and fertilized everything today.  I volunteered at the Herb festival for the BCMG and was the booth's best customer bringing home monster spinach, Swiss chard, thyme, artichokes and greens.  I've been thinning out the radish, beets, carrots, and lettuce greens and adding them to salads.  I make up a big bowl of salad greens which lasts us for a few days.  To help with the process I purchased a salad spinner.  It works so well spinning out the moisture.  I noticed a cabbage looper with the radish greens (and very eaten up leaves) so I have got to start spraying with BT.

Sad news about the green pepper plants.  I was told by another avid gardener that the plants are high because they are not getting enough sun.  She thought the leaves also looked diseased and thought the buds may never come to fruit.  I'm very disappointed and will be glad to tear them out at the end of the season.  I'm still going to give them until the freeze to produce but I'm not expecting much.

We found a great sale at Lowe's and I picked up several split leaf philodendrons.  Joe dug out some Turk's cap to transplant and what a thick mess of roots.  Lesson learned about how invasive they can be and how thick and deep the roots go.  I also picked up an allamanda plant and a hummingbird bush.  It's the perfect time to transplant.

October Rains Bring April Natives

It's rained almost two inches in the the last week.  With night time temperatures now in the 50's and daytime in the 70s, it's perfect!  This is when I love living in South Texas.  I'm transplanting something every day now. ..Mexican petunias, firecracker plants, ginger plant, Turk's Cap, Pride of Barbados, cactus, etc.  Lowe's had many great plants 50% including split leaf philodendron, hummingbird bush, tropical plants.  Some lady friends from church are coming over in the morning to help themselves to all the transplants they want.

Veggie Update:  The cold weather veggies are thriving with the cooler nights.  I've been picking lettuce, chard, radishes for salads.  I pulled out two tomato plants suffering from a virus and planted more beets and radishes.  The other four celebrity plants are fruiting even though they have the disease.  As long as they are producing, I'm keeping them.  Very soon the peppers and eggplants should be loaded with fruit.  I'm trying to fertilize every couple of weeks.

Possible succulent garden?

This may be a good idea for the part shade/sun spot in the back yard.  I'm considering a succulent garden which likes some sun but not necessary late afternoon direct sun.  I could also set up a drip system.

Fall Color

 Purple fall aster in bloom.

 Duranta (a Texas Superstar) in full bloom.

Q-tip walking along the blue plumbago (a Texas Superstar) at peak.

Veggie Update

Over the weekend I planted broccoli, cauliflower and spinach transfers.  I added another row of carrots and filled in the beets with seeds.  I made my first cutting of romaine lettuce.  Radish greens are just as good as the root bulbs.

Joe finished another raised bed.  It looks beautiful.

I'm continuing to water as needed with drip for 30 minutes.  Sometimes I wonder if it is too much.  I need to get a moisture tester to be sure.  I water when dry to my knuckle but I wonder about the depth of the drip.

The tomatoes are sick.  I'm pretty sure it's the virus carried by white flies.  The new growth is stunted, shriveled and yellowish in color.  Today Joe noticed a few white flies.  Some of the plants have fruit but not as much as expected.  David Rodriquez from Extension agrees with me.  My theory is that the virus was carried by white flies that thrive after heavy rains (which we have had in the last month) or carried over on the one cherry tomato plant I kept from spring.  Next fall I should plant either tygress or typhoon which are resistant to the virus.  Another good fall tomato is the Surefire.  Celebrity is still a good choice but maybe not for the fall.

Late September Vegetable Update

The tomatoes are setting fruit.  It must be the pep talk I've been giving them.  No really, it's the cooler nights.  I fertilized today with a extended release granular fertilizer just before a good soaking rain.  The tomatoes should love this.  I noticed the jalapeno peppers and the bell peppers are getting buds.  The seeds I planted last week are all up:  radish, carrots, wax beans and bush beans.  I thinned the radishes to 1" apart.  I saved the sprouts I trimmed out for salad greens.  Yummy.  They taste like radish but with less of a bite.

We had hot days with temps up to the mid nineties and night time lows in the mid-seventies.  Yuk.  I tried to keep the cool weather plants well hydrated.  They look healthy despite the heavy wilting in late afternoon with the intense sunlight.  I purchased beet and greens/lettuce seed mixture to plant after this last rain.

Other activities this week included watering of my freshly transplanted Mexican petunias, Pride of Barbados, asparagus fern and vinca vine.  I also cut out the brown, dead leaves out of the cast iron plants.  They get sun burnt when they get too much direct sunlight.  I'm also trying to keep ahead of vines and my rapidly growing perennials by trimming regularly.  The ideal growing conditions are also causing the oak roots to sprout so that will be a ongoing project to keep them trimmed back.

HEB has had fantastic sales on Miracle Grow fertilizers.  I went crazy and stocked up.  I think they are trying to move out gardening products to make room for Christmas trees...  Can you believe it???  I also used this opportunity to fertilize potted plants and flowers with the liquid fertilizer.  They love me for this.

Texas Superstars are Super in Fall

My lantana and Mexican Petunias are blooming profusely thanks to rain and cooler weather.  I've been trying to faithfully fertilize with a water soluble fertilizer every two weeks and spray the lantana with systemic for lace wings the opposite week.  It's been working.  It's raining again today which is wonderful

View from Kitchen Window--Late September

Here is the view from my kitchen window in  late September.  Note the height of the Turk's cap along the back edge.  It's almost like a privacy fence with the added benefit that it attracts hummingbirds!  The front vegetable bed are seeded with fall plantings.  There's not as many hours of sunlight either on the vegetable beds--luck to get 6 hours.  But it's intense afternoon sun so I don't know if that counts as extra!

Seeds are Sprouting

The vegetable seeds are sprouting already!  The radishes were up in two days, the carrots in five days and the beans are starting up in six days.  With the nice warm sun it doesn't take much time.  We had a beautiful one inch rain on Friday (four days ago) which really helped.  The night time temperatures are now in the 60s. There is a hot spell predicted for the next couple days with two-three nights back in the 70s and day time highs near the mid 90s.  Then back to more seasonable 80s in the day and 60s at night.....perfect for veggies.
Still no fruit setting on the tomatoes and the bell peppers have not even blossomed.  I'm getting impatient and lecturing to these guys everyday to get with the program.  The cool weather crops suffer during these 90 degree days but I'm hoping they make it with a little more TLC and supplemental water.

Fall Veggies

It's time to plant fall vegetables.  Yesterday I transplanted flat leaf parsley, cilantro, dill, choi, romaine lettuce, and Swiss chard.  From seed, I planted radish, carrots, bush green beans and wax beans.  And then it rained about .3 inches.  Perfect.  Rain is predicted the next few days with day time temps in the 80s and nightime temps in the 60s.  Again perfect for veggies.  Just hope the seed don't wash away.... but I can't complain about rain!

RAIN

We got 1.25 inches of rain yesterday!  This is the first significant rain since the end of June.  Everything is perking up.  The temperatures are fall too.  The highs have been in the upper 80s with the lows in the mid 70s.  What I'm really waiting for is the temperatures to drop below 70 at night.  When that happens, it's time to transplant perennials.

Look what a $170 dollar water bill gets you in San Antonio

August was a brutal month for heat with no rain.  We have not had a significant rain now for two months.  In August I did a lot of supplemental watering due to the high heat.  The shrubs were suffering so I did some deep water with a slow drip on the hose.  I know the water bill is way to high, but this is my hobby.  With the shorter days in September and the slightly cooler temperatures, I've reduced the amount of time on the drip system to 45 minutes per section.  I'll use the soaker hose every three days rather than every other day.

The eggplant is loaded with fruit.  Yeah.  Still no green peppers and the plants are now taller than me.  The tomatoes are growing nicely with some blossoms.  They are waiting for night time temperatures to get down closer to 70 degrees.  I'm holding off on any other veggies until we have the first night time temperature below 70!  Before we left for DC on August 26, I spread a granulated veggie fertilizer on the two last raised beds and turned on the drip to these beds so the soil can get re-hydrated.

Dog Days of Summer

Despite the dog days of August, the hibiscus started a second round of blooms

 The Celebrity tomatoes are growing rapidly.  In two weeks they have grown about a foot.  The drip is great!

 My bell pepper plants are almost as tall as I am.  Last week I heard a presentation by Mr. Fannick from Frannick's Nursery.  He recommended to spread two tablespoons of Epsom salt around each plant and water in well.  The Epsom salts add magnesium which pepper plants love.  I tried that today.

IRIS in August

I didn't know iris bloomed in August.  I picked the bloom and brought it inside to enjoy.  With this 100 degree heat, it wouldn't last a day outside.  This way I can enjoy the yellow bloom for a few days!

Plant Tomatoes In August

This week I planted six Celebrity tomato plants in one raised bed.  Before planting, I spread about a cup of vegetable fertilizer, dug it in and then watered very well.  I have drip set for Mon. Wed, and Sat. for 45 minutes.  Given our 100 degree weather this week, I've used water from my rain barrel for the days when the drip is not scheduled.  The plants have already doubled in size.  Also, I watered in the tomatoes with a water soluble fertilizer the first day.  I don't plan to fertilize again until I have thumbnail size fruit on the plants.  Don't want to encourage foliage yet.  On the second day after planting I noticed several chewed off leaves....a tomato horn worm had already attacked!  I picked off the worm and threw it into the yard for the birds to eat.

The eggplant and bell peppers are still holding on.  When we got back from our month long trip to the NW, there were about a dozen eggplants ready to pick.  They were a little dried out but still good.  I have the drip going just to keep them alive during the heat of the summer.  When it gets cooler in the fall, I expect them to explode with fruit.

My Beautiful Yard After a Week of 100 Degree Weather

Even after a week plus of hundred degree weather and one month on the road in July, our yard looks beautiful.  SAWs even sent me an email that we were under the neighborhood average for water use in July.  That's because of our efficient drip irrigation in the back yard and our once a week deep watering in the front yard.  The backyard drip is set for 45 minutes, Mon., Wed, and Sat.  I'm increasing it to one hour this week just because we are predicted to have another week of 100 degree plus.  The front yard is set to run on Friday's in three, fifteen minutes intervals at 7:00 am, 8:15 am and 7:00 pm.  I have drip set up for 10-15 minutes for our potted plants every other day.

THE END (of the spring vegetable garden)

Today was clean up day for the spring vegetable garden.  I pulled out the last of the tomato and cucumber plants.  The  bean leaves and vines are in the beds turning into compost.  I discarded the tomato leaves and stems but composted the cucumbers leaves/stems.  To prepare for the summer/fall garden, I spread about an  inch of compost on each of the beds either from our compost bin or from purchased cow manure/compost from Lowe's.  The drip has been turned off theses beds so the direct heat and sun should solarize the beds.  I left the egg plant and pepper plants.  The drip is set for three times a week (45 minutes) just to keep these plants alive until the fall.  My experience is that once the nights start cooling down in the fall, I should have lots of fruit set from these plants.

With the temperature to reach 104 degrees today, we are into the depth of summer when nothing grows.  My goal is just to sustain life.....  The drip is set for one hour, three times a week in the back yard.  I have drip set for about 10-15 minutes for my potted plants about three times per week.  The lawn sprinklers in the front are set to run 15 minutes at each station, three times during the day on my scheduled day to water--Friday.  We are leaving for one month up north and west.  I hope things will be alive when we get back.  We do have a rain sensor set on the system so if it rains 1/2 inch, the system will not water.

Spring Blooms in Washington, DC, Early May 2013

Josh Hass & Margie Noonan

 Josh Hass, Margie Noonan, Susan Noonan

Joe & Susan Noonan

Happy Birthday from Joe

Joe surprised me with this special birthday message spelled out in bricks!