Gardening 2022: Lettuce Begin

[SimonBolivar 10958]

Planted some more Navaho Blackberry (my other two are growing like crazy), a Dewberry, and a plum tree today. Should be a nice spring in 2025.

[brakeman 28371]

Edited October 1, 2022 by brakeman
Two more trays from today and last week.

[miguelito 11266]

I just gave up with all the grasses and weeds in my beds, so I laid down some clear plastic yesterday to solarize the soil.  After a few weeks/couple months I'll uncover them and mix in some compost to start over.

I saw a couple of Texas Spiny Lizards hanging out in the weeds.  It must have been a pretty healthy ecosystem, just not what I wanted. 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I have been lax about photos and gardening in general this year (thanks drought and record heat), and then I had just started seeds for fall when we all came down with Omicron so I'm still catching up a little. Finally had enough energy to get some of the seedlings out in the garden--thus far have the lettuce, spinach, and beets done. The fall tomato (just one this year) is going very slowly and may not make it with production in time, but I neglected some TLC with it, so it's just going to have to do its best. I still have mustard in small pods and did sow some carrots since they don't transplant well. The flowers are still to be planted: snapdragons and alyssum in pods, and I need to get the poppy and delphinium seeds thrown in the dirt. Will probably do some sweet peas again this year, I love their scent.

In the meantime, here are some photos from the last few months:

Early summer potatoes. They made a lovely potato salad.

Lillies blooming in front of the aloysia

Scabiosa (pincushion plant) I grew from seed. I also grew some that are white and some pink ones.

The oxblood lillies like to put on a show, but not for very long. My spider lillies are the same way, but I do like bulbs--less care and so pretty.

[brakeman 28371]

Tonight is as early of a freeze in my twenty years in Washington, DC.  I picked everything that was going to freeze tonight. 

7 1/2 #

[NorthLoop 14210]

I had one tomato that was budding against all odds on my last plant in the garden. It got taken out with a swift strike from a dollar store boomerang thrown by my 3 year old. I wasn't even mad. 

[NorthLoop 14210]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:09 PM, NorthLoop said:

I had one tomato that was budding against all odds on my last plant in the garden. It got taken out with a swift strike from a dollar store boomerang thrown by my 3 year old. I wasn't even mad. 

Somehow this same plant has decided it's Spring again. There's now more green bulbs on it currently than all the total tomatoes it's given me all year. 

[Horn_Spanker 524]

I've nursed a single tomato plant from the spring through the horrible summer.  Just noticed it's got two little tomatoes on it!

[miguelito 11266]

This year, man.  Who the hell knows anymore.

[NorthLoop 14210]

Lol... 16. On one plant. It gave me 5 total in the spring/summer

[texasdago 7573]

I have a bunch of fall transplants covered in tomatoes and one plant from the summer that I hacked back and is now producing again.  One thing I learned this past awful summer... small tomatoes like Juliet, Grape and Matt's Wild Cherry will produce during these brutal years.  Bigger tomatoes take a beating... BUT... this fall transpant has a few growing right now... 

https://www.tomatofest.com/Costoluto_Genovese_Tomato_Seeds_p/tf-0125.htm

[Wally Pryor 5261]

Looking a place that sells garden statues (specifically looking for a St. Francis statue).

TIA.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

On 10/31/2022 at 1:48 PM, Wally Pryor said:

Looking a place that sells garden statues (specifically looking for a St. Francis statue).

TIA.

Are you looking local to where you are or is online acceptable?

I've gotten emails from this company (likely due to seed companies selling my info:

https://www.designtoscano.com/search?utf8=✓&q=st+francis&button=search&authenticity_token=EI56qqffqyKFaOJ7%2BGWUoWGSJAtuVWuM2fYnXKwg1FsonVM4zwT39grlzWv84XoizGpiWNn8D8OP%2BKCI6Qd%2Bhg%3D%3D

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

We've been harvesting lettuce and spinach lately and this weekend I sowed some more seeds for succession plantings. The beets have been growing nicely as well as the carrots and I finally got some radish seeds in the ground. The tomato that I mentioned previously I ended up trimming down to just enough branches to leave some leaves for photosynthesis and lo and behold it produced some fruit that has been going along quite nicely in a race against the cooler weather. Sometimes you just have to put the fear of death into a plant before it finally gets down to business I guess.

I am in a battle with several squirrels right now and they absolutely love that the nice lady that turns over the earth until it is soft and easy to dig. Just perfect for taking all the pecans off the neighbor's tree and burying. NOT. I rigged up bird netting over all the seedlings because those little critters can ruin a planting in the blink of an eye.

I have a few more flowers grown from seed that will go out soon as it's getting close to frost time, but so far so good considering summer was a bit of a disaster.

[Wally Pryor 5261]

18 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Are you looking local to where you are or is online acceptable?

I've gotten emails from this company (likely due to seed companies selling my info:

https://www.designtoscano.com/search?utf8=✓&q=st+francis&button=search&authenticity_token=EI56qqffqyKFaOJ7%2BGWUoWGSJAtuVWuM2fYnXKwg1FsonVM4zwT39grlzWv84XoizGpiWNn8D8OP%2BKCI6Qd%2Bhg%3D%3D

 

Thanks, somewhere local (Austin). 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

11 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Thanks, somewhere local (Austin). 

In that case, maybe Sledd? I don't make it to Austin much, and when I do I'm either looking for food products or garden stuff. I think they have statuary there?

Edited November 2, 2022 by Mrs Whiggins
autocorrect

[Wally Pryor 5261]

5 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

In that case, maybe Sledd? I don't make it to Austin much, and when I do I'm either looking for food products or garden stuff. I think they have statuary there?

Thanks!

[Lazarus Bocanegra 305]

rolling in the luffa over here in Houston

[texasdago 7573]

Soooo many tomatoes on my plants... so much potential... and here comes that front  

 

1) Plants too big to wrap - I guess I can try but seems like wasted effort

2) Too many tomatoes still a long ways from maturing and they're just not the right size yet

 

All I can do is hope we stay above freezing and something kind of survives.   Pissed.

[Lazarus Bocanegra 305]

21 hours ago, texasdago said:

 

1) Plants too big to wrap - I guess I can try but seems like wasted effort

 

modular hoop house?  Hammer a couple lengths of rebar into the ground, then bend a length of 1/2" pvc between them.  Poly sheeting over the hoop, clipped in place and weighted on the ground? Put a lamp in there with the maters

 

[texasdago 7573]

33 minutes ago, Lazarus Bocanegra said:

modular hoop house?  Hammer a couple lengths of rebar into the ground, then bend a length of 1/2" pvc between them.  Poly sheeting over the hoop, clipped in place and weighted on the ground? Put a lamp in there with the maters

 

Positioning of my garden makes that a bit of a challenge and I will be driving back into Austin after the front has arrived.  Crappers.

[NorthLoop 14210]

I don't think it's supposed to freeze on this one 

[NorthLoop 14210]

So i've got about 20-30 little red and green japs.. too small for me to waste time de-seeding and dicing up. I'd like to dry them out and grind them into powder. What do yall suggest? Should I break out the grill and smoke them? Can I Just stick them in the oven for a bit? And don't tell me to google... it's like 90% dogshit suggestions from soccer moms in Maryland who put kidney beans in their white chicken chili. 

[cactusflinthead 27598]

I let mine sun dry or put them on a cookie sheet, tray whatever on top of the fridge. Decently warm and dry spot. Out of the line of fire from kids and critters. I do the same with basil, rosemary, etc.

[miguelito 11266]

I'm curious to hear how that turns out. I guess you could sprinkle the powder on whatever you wanted.  Sounds cool.

[NorthLoop 14210]

It'll probably go into a batch of chili

[texasdago 7573]

Man, so I plucked a bunch of green peppers and made some salsa which was pretty good the first day... doesn't keep very well.  Left a bunch of green peppers, mostly cherry/grape types and they are looking just fine.  Temps probably got down to about 34 but my tomato plants and basil didn't skip a beat which is odd but we'll see what the end results look like.

[NorthLoop 14210]

14 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Man, so I plucked a bunch of green peppers and made some salsa which was pretty good the first day... doesn't keep very well.  Left a bunch of green peppers, mostly cherry/grape types and they are looking just fine.  Temps probably got down to about 34 but my tomato plants and basil didn't skip a beat which is odd but we'll see what the end results look like.

That's odd - salsa usually keeps pretty well. Why type of peppers are they? And what's your salt content? I typically put a tsp of garlic salt per jar of salsa. 

[texasdago 7573]

1 hour ago, NorthLoop said:

That's odd - salsa usually keeps pretty well. Why type of peppers are they? And what's your salt content? I typically put a tsp of garlic salt per jar of salsa. 

Dang it... I'm a dummy... I plucked a bunch of green tomatoes not peppers.  Well, I plucked the peppers, too but those are fine.  So, read my message and everywhere you see peppers, replace with tomato.  

[NorthLoop 14210]

Oh I've never made salsa with green tomatoes. I typically don't even bother trying to make it with fresh red tomatoes either - just doesn't come out right even when I blanche them and do all the stuff you're supposed to do. I usually buy a buttload of cans of diced tomatoes at Sam's and use those. 

[texasdago 7573]

2 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

Oh I've never made salsa with green tomatoes. I typically don't even bother trying to make it with fresh red tomatoes either - just doesn't come out right even when I blanche them and do all the stuff you're supposed to do. I usually buy a buttload of cans of diced tomatoes at Sam's and use those. 

...but I guess what I'm trying to figure out is why do my tomato plants look like nothing has happened... same with basil... when we're hitting the 30s nearly every night.  Maybe I'll get lucky.  Not sure.

[NorthLoop 14210]

Mine are still going strong today as well and it was 37 this morning. I guess they'll be fine as long as it stays above freezing. 

[texasdago 7573]

OK - thanks.  I'm regretting that I picked a bunch but I also left a bunch, too.  We'll see.