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!

End of the Spring Vegetable Garden

We are drawing near to the end of the spring veggie season.  Night time temperatures are routinely at or above 75 degrees.  Almost all veggies stop blooming and/or stop setting fruit.  The beans were getting very stringy so I'm cutting them down but leaving their leaves as mulch in the beds.  Beans add nutrition to the soil. Once I cut down and clean out the beds I'm adding a inch or so of compost from our very own compost beds.  I'll let the beds sit for a month so they are ready for fall planting in August.  The tomatoes are going out this week and so are the cucumbers mostly because we are going to be traveling the whole month of July.  I'm leaving the eggplant and peppers.  My experience is that they revive in October once the night time temperatures cool down.  Thank goodness for drip on a timer!

Moy Grande Hibiscus

 Our first Moy Grande Hibiscus blooms of the year.  This is a Texas superstar that blooms all through the summer and fall.  It freezes back in the winter but revives even bigger each year.  We have two plants that are now in their third season and are a nice size shrubs.  It took the longest time for my third plant which I planted in March to sprout.  Don't give up if it takes them awhile to revive in the spring.  They are waiting for the soil to warm up.  They do best in full sun.  Mine are doing fine with six hours of sun, mostly from the East.  I wish all my yard had an eastern exposure for full sun.

Moy Grande Hibiscus are the largest flowering hibiscus in the world.  They were developed by our very own Dr. Moy at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.  Dr. Moy died this past year.  He had quite the life and lived under very repressive conditions in China before immigrating to the US.  He had a long career at the botanical gardens and was responsible for developing many plants that do well in our climate.

Perfect Grass

 I don't advocate having a goal for perfect grass--but this year I can brag that we do.  Of course 10 inches of rain in the last month helps.  We also fertilize around May 1 and November 1.  Every year we spread top dressing in February.  That's it except for every other winter using the mantas tiller to cut up the thatch and air the yard.  Joe is careful about mowing at 3 inch height and trimming the edges manually with a clipper.

Wild Life in the Garden

  Lizard

Caterpillar (Parsley is a host plant for butterflies)

More Rain Yesterday

 Foliage can be as beautiful as flowers.  Here we have red & green calidums, green lirope , purple and green sweet potato vine, green cast iron plant and multi-colored coleus.

 Triple beauty!

Yeah for volunteer plants.  They are free!  Mexican buttercups, purple sweet potato vine, cora vinca, mexican petunias and  ..... lots of oak tree roots as ground cover.

My View From the Kitchen Window

Mid-June

 Mid  April

Late January

Bountiful Harvest

My favorite part of vegetable gardening is eating the results and trying new recipes!

Beauty In the Garden

I just love my hibiscus and bougainvillea!  This year I vowed to get my bougainvillea to bloom again.  In the winter, I cut the plant back to almost the dirt.   The pot is very root bound and I'm fertilizing like crazy.  It's working.

I took cuttings from the Angel Wing Begonia and Sweet Potato vine in January.  The cuttings rooted and look what I got for free!

Another iris is blooming-- this is incredible!

We took a 3 week trip through the South in April/May so I didn't post pictures for almost 1.5 months.  Shame on me.  I will do better.

Look what 10 Inches of Rain in a Month Can Do!

Cucumber (and what not to do with squash)

Finally the cucumbers are setting.  I learned my lesson that cucumbers need well prepared soil that is easy for the roots to grow in.  The plants I set out in the landscaping did not do well.  Cucumber roots grow as large as the plants and need lots of crumbly soil for the roots to spread.  It also doesn't pay to plant early.  I'll use seeds next year and grow in the deepest raised beds.  I'll also give them plenty of space.

Eggplant

Great results again with the eggplant.  I keep planting the Asian variety because it just does so well.  I've  had dozens of eggplants this year but the spring production is winding down because the night temperatures have been in the 70's.  I'm going to keep the plants going through the  summer and hope again to have much more fruit in the fall when the temperatures are cooler.  Six plants are just about right.

Tomato

My tomatoes are prolific this year, especially the cherry tomatoes.  Several of the plantings were volunteers from last year.  However, the foliage is taking over and I should have given them more room.  Next planting I should do 3 plants for the entire bed.  As always the celebrity is the old reliable standby.  The rodeo tomato, tygress, is doing well but just isn't as productive as the celebrity and cherry.  I understand the cherry is now a Texas superstar.  It's definitely earned this title.

Hints for the future:
1)  Give more space!
2)  Fertilize at planting and then again when fruit is thumb sized.  Fertilize every 10-14 days thereafter.
3)  Watch for bugs, although this year I have not seen any.  The birds/squirrels have also not plundered the fruit yet this year.
4)  Pray for rain.  Since mid May we have had 10 inches of rain.
5)  Stick with the raised beds.  The drip gives consistent moisture and the beds drain well.  Even with all the rain, the fruit is not cracking.