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Unbelievable…just unbelievable…

Central Texas weather is schizophrenic — one minute it’s cold and windy and miserable, and the next it’s 80+ degrees.

So, on our 82-degree day last Thursday, I went out to the garden, geared up for a work day. The plan: Rip out the 6-7 foot tall dead tomato towers that the recent freezes destroyed.

Don’t they look ugly?

I thought so, so I started the laborious process of nipping away at the dead stuff. (With my new Felco pruners, that worked like a charm.) I got two plants stuffed into the trash can and started on the third. Got about the top 3-4 feet whittled away, when what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Green.

See it? Yep – those big stalks were green and juicy down close to the ground. Unbelieveable. Even in Texas. We’ve had several freezes, I didn’t cover these guys, yet here they are, with a zest for life.

Then I went on to the next plant, and found — LEAVES! Real, green leaves, way down near the bottom of the mostly-dead plant.

Unbelievable. So, I cut them back and will leave them there. I don’t know if they will produce again – it would be their third season, since they were planted last Spring and they produced best in the Fall. I think they can make it, but the big mystery is — how many tomatoes will they produce and how will they taste?

Any guesses or suggestions? You can bet I’ll go cover ’em up if we have another freeze between now and March!

It’s like the great garden experiment for the season…I’m psyched!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:41-05:00January 25th, 2009|Blog, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Yummmmmmm~

Don’t these look yummy?

They were!

I went out to work in the garden today (it was 80 degrees), and stumbled upon a handful of these ripe, red, shiny, glorious strawberries. I left them there until Kallie came home, so she could come to the garden and be surprised. And then we ate them for our dessert tonight. I can’t even begin to describe how sweet and juicy they were. NOTHING like a grocery store strawberry. Even Kallie said so. Too bad we never have more than one little handful at a time!

But there are more coming, soon!

Sadly, one of my chores today was to cover the new daylilies in the SAFE back yard. It is safe from deer, but not safe from bunnies or dogs. sigh.

This fencing goes around the yard on 3 sides. But the back of the yard is wrought iron with wide posts – wide enough for an entire family of bunnies to come crashing through. Which I am assuming they did as they ate the lilies down to the nubs.

Here’s Mr. Burpee Big Boy tomato – growing like a …. oops, tomato!

See Mr. Radish, who popped his head up yesterday to see the sunshine?

See the lovely HOLE that Dakota dug in the back yard? I think she wanted me to plant something there and thought she’d be helpful.
Helpful, scattering little clods of clay dirt all over my rock and granite path, so that I could sweep and hand pick clods out of the granite.

So helpful!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:41-05:00January 22nd, 2009|Blog, bunnies, holes, lilies, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden, strawberries, tomatoes|0 Comments

Oooooh – little sprouts!

Not just a repository for overwintering the myriad of pots and plants that I gathered last year in the Spring, the greenhouse is also a place to start some new plants early.

Kallie helped me plant some seeds a few weeks ago, and lo and behold, we have some basil sprouts coming up and 1 tomato plant.

I keep them on the ground down close to the heater, so their soil can stay warm, and it seems to have worked. Now I’ll have to go through all my seed packets and see what else I can sow.

I have several Heirloom tomato seed packets from Tomato Bob that I ordered online. Can’t wait to see if I can get some of them to grow and start them in the ground as nice plants by the time I can put them outside.

Wish me luck (I think you know that I am officially seed challenged!).

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:44:42-05:00January 18th, 2009|basil, Blog, seeds, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Phase one – Texas style, or Brrrr!

Carol of May Dreams Gardens told us about all the complicated preparations for winter that they undergo up north before the snow comes and the ground freezes.

She wrote of bringing in bird baths and patio furniture and lots and lots of, well, work.

Here in Austin, the ground doesn’t freeze. But sometimes the air does,and so there are a few things we have to do to protect our plants, pipes and pets (as the weather folks are fond of saying!)

Last night is was 30* at my house. Brrrr.

The plants were already in the greenhouse, so I took some sheets out to cover my lettuce and my leeks, and I picked all the remaining green tomatoes and lemons.

I brought in an overflowing bowl of tomatoes, probably 80-90 of them, and 25 more variegated lemons.

While I was picking the fruit, I talked to the plants — thanking them for their bounty and letting them know how much we enjoyed our harvest. (It seemed the right thing to do, knowing the tomatoes at least were facing imminent death).

While carrying the haul in, I realized with horror that the Brugmansia – German Double Pink, was still blooming and I hadn’t yet dug it up for potting and overwintering in the greenhouse.

GASP.

So, I put on my clogs and got out the shovel and dug ‘er up. (Boy, did she have some roots for a 9-month old.) And she almost didn’t make it into the greenhouse, she cleared the peak of the ceiling by only about 2 inches! I hope she survives so I can find a better home for her next year. Her blooms are a pretty color, aren’t they?

I ordered her from ebay (I know, don’t laugh!)

I found her on a google search and fell in love with the picture, so I forked over way too much money for one big ‘ol bulb and clicked, “BUY NOW.”

She’s my first, so I had no idea what to do with her and I just stuck her in a hole where I could see her and where I had some room (and safe from deer).

I put her next to the Datura, as they are similar, but it turns out that was much too sunny a spot for her to be happy. I watered her by hand daily in the 100 degree heat and she looked very sad many days.

Then someone (probably a grasshopper) ate all of her leaves all the way up the stalk. How rude!

There’s Tanner, in his favorite perch, watching over his property as I prepare to dig.

I’d hardly call her blooms pink, though. They are very peachy. And now they are full of beetle bites. These little yellow and black beetles the size of lady bugs have been having their Thanksgiving feast on her.

After being overheated and too hot in the sun all year, she has to suffer the indignities of bug bites just as she’s finally coming into her own. Oh well, maybe it will make her stronger! Ha ha.

But my Christmas Cactus is about to burst into bloom. Just in time for our humongous holiday party. Oh, and I made two pans of ginger bars today. Tomorrow I’m testing out some chicken salad filling in puff pastry shells…I’ll let you know how it goes!

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:51-06:00December 5th, 2008|Blog, brugmansia, Christmas cactus, freeze, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Mmmmmm…’maters!

Yumm-O as Rachel Ray would say! Tomatoes are a’comin’ on the vine. These cooler evening temps helped the blooms set and now they are growing like mad, hoping to beat the first frost. Here that’s normally not until early December, but we’ve had unseasonably cold temps at night this week – into the 40s at my house, so they’d better grow quickly!
They are pretty tasty — not quite as sweet as last year’s but we are enjoying them.

See that little clump of green near the middle of the photo? That is the LAST of the Malabar spinach — my DH and I cut off all the vines threatening to take over our garden and our house. We fed them to the appreciative deer and they will get that last clump tonight for dinner. Then it will be done! Whew!

By Diana C. Kirby|2016-04-14T02:45:06-05:00October 29th, 2008|Blog, deer, malabar spinach, Sharing Nature's Garden, tomatoes|0 Comments

Back-breaking…

Oh – it was a back-breaking day in the garden today.

I brought home 10 bags of mulch and compost yesterday in my DH’s truck, and he was going to haul it to the back in the mower and cart for me.

But a bad mower battery but a monkey-wrench in that plan. So after getting a new battery today and a mower driving lesson, I set about to haul 18 plants and 10 giant bags around to the back of our property.

Thought about taking a picture of the mower and cart, but I was too focused on getting the hauling done before it rained on me.

Which, of course, it did not, because it’s not ever going to rain here again — I’m quite sure of it!

So, I survived big rocks and a lumpy path and even backed the mower and cart on several occasions to get my #$%&*@ stuff where it needed to be.

The first photo is a bloom on my Tangerine Crossvine — I found it by accident while standing next to the corner bed thinking about what a good place it is for Oxblood lilies.

So, this is the bed I ripped the two giant, over-grown Primrose Jasmines out of last week. (Well, if you read my blog, you know that I didn’t really do it, I had it done!) As you can see, the grass is dead where the vines covered it up, so it needs to grow back up.

And, Dakota Blue, Missy Hound dog that she is, thinks this bed of dirt is JUST for her! She’s been digging holes in it, so I’m in a big rush to get it turned into a bed. And I sprinkled Cayenne pepper in it yesterday to try to keep her out. I think she got a snootful yesterday as I saw her rubbingher nose in the grass and pawing at it, so I am hoping that helps.
I got two big plants – a nice Sago palm and some black Elephant ears to be specimen plants on this corner that you see more often.
I am also planting two Maggie roses, since this is a full sun bed with no deer access! They smell just wonderful and I am so psyched about getting to have roses. They have bright pink blooms. I hope I can keep them happy in there. See the hold back there where Dakota was digging? A toad lived there. He’d be wise to move!

Across the yard, I have a nice collection of tomatoes coming. I had to shoot this up inthe air as they are in cages about 6-8 feet tall and trailing down!
And it’s finally cooled off enough for the nasturium to bloom a little. I just like having these little guys in my garden and some of my window boxes. They’re perky — and sometime we eat them!

And this, to my surprise, is a yellow Skullcap. I didn’t know that’s what I’d gotten until it started to bloom this week. I’m very excited, because it grows so well and the deer leave it alone. I’ve been looking for a lavender variety with no luck. I’ll keep my fingers crossed – sure wish I could remember at which nursery I bought this.