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.