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.