Its a jungle in my garden

I am way too busy in the garden with all the rain we have had this year and neglect writing about what is going on. We are blessed daily with enough food for the day and some to put by. This is good and bad as it give us green beans in January but the shelves and freezer are so full of the bounty it is hard to eat it down. Also the beauty of having so many perennial flowers in the garden makes it hard to come in the house. 

The mild-warm spring has had the tomatoes on hyperdrive! Just as the ones out back are taking a breather, getting pruned of all their suckers and putting on new blooms the plants out front are into full production. Good idea to plant them a month later. The Queens and Juliets take the heat pretty well and I have a couple of green strip there too. Our favorite so far is the black krim. I will plant several of those next year--large and sweet. Cucumbers are being weird--lots of growth and blooms but slow on the fruit. The lemon cukes are nice for slice and eat though and doing better than the straight 8s.
I am having great results from my eggplants in pots. The ones I did in the soil last year were barely productive. the oriental one I over-wintered in the greenhouse is full of eggplant and we are having a meal weekly, the black beauty has provided a couple of meal already and some for the freezer with the plant full of blooms. The Rosa is slow but keeps putting on one at a time. All the peppers but one are in pots and have peppers on them so good there too, including the jalepeno I thought I killed due to drowning not only came back but has peppers on it.  I just harvested a few more late beets to roast  3 1/2" in diameter with lots of greens. Have even managed to get a few decent zucchini from the plants and keep them going.

Only planted 1 seed potato and have had about 5# from it so good on that. I'll put more in about August. Onion storage is full--all 4 shelves and a quart to the freezer plus a pint to ferment. There are a few stragglers and we have used plenty already to cook with. Not as big as the ones my friend Yvette grows but good.Carrots didn't want to come up well but have gotten about 8# from what has and a few still in the ground, nice 4-5" long 1" diameter ones and a fair smatter of purple. I think the soil is not sandy enough. 
The sugar baby watermelons are really doing well. I have 2 huge ones ripening and several more thumb size ones setting. Happy happy face.

Herbs too are really showing their stuff. I planted large leaf basil and it is!!! Great pesto and lots put by already. Made mozzarella bites with it too. Purple basil is pumping it out too and I have shared so much lemon thyme I thought I wouldn't have any--wrong!! It just pops right back! The dill planted itself and I have cut and cut, given a lot away and still there are many heads to harvest. If only I had planted garlic last fall...sigh...but this fall for sure.

Surviving the freezing weather one blanket at a time

 This has been a really hard cold winter here in central Texas. For the second time in a month our temperatures will fall into the low 20s. I have been out covering up the plants that are supposed to tolerate a little bit of frost. Cauliflower unfortunately does not like to be frozen and apparently neither does arugula. As you can see from one of the pictures the plants did live through the phrase but they sure look battered. It also slowed down the production of the broccoli that was just starting to make nice heads. The cauliflower has been really stunted and I lost two of the cheddar hollow flower

WB Garden Tour 2012 gives peek behind the fences

What an absolutely fabulous time we had looking at other people's gardens. We started at the community gardens that has around 80 plots and they have creatively used every inch of space there to grow a great variety of vegetables and flowers. We toured about a dozen sites in all ranging from full sun to deep shade and our gardeners found ways to create a restful oa sis and beauty in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Wish I had taken more pictures but I was too busy looking.
Many people added fences, birdbaths, critters, and all kinds of items to the gardens to create more interesting areas. Every kind of path was in use from crushed stone to mulch to pavers and grass paths. Most had punches of color and all shades of green. One of our gardeners has an intensive square foot garden that is amazingly full. Benches and chairs were everywhere so the gardeners could stop and relax to enjoy the areas they created.  I want to go back for a 2nd look as I am sure I missed as much as I saw.

Spring bringing change to the gardens

 The winter garden this year was amazingly productive but as I pull out the cauliflower and broccoli plants I have all kinds of spring summer plants ready to slip into the ground. Using the window grow box and the greenhouse to grow my transplants has helped me to provide plants for the garden that I know were grown the way I want them grown. I kind of jumped the season a bit by planting tomatoes on Christmas day but when they were transplanted in the  last couple of weeks they

were ready. Some had buds on them and many now are blooming. A few even have tomatoes on them already. We refinished a bench glider and put it on a platform against the house looking out on the gardens. We can sit morning and late afternoon and have a drink and rest looking out at our bounty. More than that, people who are walking by stop and ask questions about the garden and the plants and are amazed that the plants are largely vegetables with a smattering of flowers here and there.

I thought by now I would be taking the sides off the greenhouse and replacing the plastic with row cover cloth but the extra humidity has the peppers going crazy and setting lots of fruit so I am holding off a few more weeks. I found a variety of cucumbers that do not need pollinators to grow in the greenhouse and have a nice showing already.
Off to do more planting as there are still a few feet of unplanted soil that I can drop seeds into.

Winter is a time of reflection, planning, and preparation for gardeners in our area

Winter is a time of reflection, planning, and preparation for gardeners in our area. We take time to reflect on what worked (or didn’t) in our gardens and yards last year: did plants tolerate the shade/sun of their location; did plants need too much water; did they suffer from yellow leaves; did the grass tolerate water restrictions or get out of control; did you long to plant tomatoes but not get around to it; did your peach tree give you peaches or grief; do you long for apples on your own tree?  

Many yard and garden tasks need to be done in the cold months of January through early March like pruning trees and shrubs and treating lawns. Trees and shrubs can be planted during this time in addition to late in the fall and be well established. Did you know there are special fertilizers for each kind of grass now that actually kill of some of the other grasses? Or do you want to be gentler to the environment and use compost and other organic materials? Wells Branch does have creeks and run-off continues into the aquifer where our drinking water comes from. Just a thought!

The Garden Guild will meet on January 15^th at noon at the Wells Branch Library to discuss fruit trees planting, care, and varieties. Tim Pfluger from Green 'n Growing in Pflugerville http://www.greenngrowing.com will be our guest speaker at 1pm in addition to a video from KLRU. Everyone should bring their questions and suggestions. Many books on gardening are available at the library and attendees are encouraged to browse.

·       A big thanks to Tara Fisher-Muñoz for her excellent web presentation on myfolia.com. Besides being a good source of information, this will help us keep track of our. She also led us in discussion on how to prepare seedlings for transplanting, which will help us with spring planting.

·       Bob Baugh shared the M.U.D. Board’s invitation to join the new Focus Group. Richard Fadal of Texascapes and Shelly Palmer are leading the group and are trying to find ways to cut back on invasive species and encourage native plants. More info is available on the M.U.D. website http://wellsbranchmud.com/cms/

·       Virginia Almon almonfamily@gmail.com explained Homestead Garden and invited volunteers to help with maintenance.

·       Yvette Shelton atyshelton@austin.rr.com got us up to speed on the Community Garden, costs per plot and other info. 

Topics for future meetings include:

Sat. Feb. 5 - Topic: Rain Water Collection (possibly Hari Krishna lives in Scofield Ranch Neighborhood)

Sat. Mar. 5 - Topic:  Backyard Gardening with John Dromgoole (Date may shift, Deborah Thompson will be contacting John, and it will a WBNA event again)

Sat. April 2 - Topic: Shade Gardening (Will try for Green & Growing owner)

Sat. May 7 - Topic: Tour of Neighborhood Gardens (Please sign up to have yours included)

Other topics discussed was beginning a Farmer’s Market in Wells Branch - perhaps a monthly event from April, May, June, July (?), Lara Bennet is checking regulations. Ideas floated - Neighborhood gardeners produce, invite local farmers...hold in front of the Homestead House. Please let us know if you would support this location. 

Nippy weather means it time to plan for garden frost

Great article in the Statesman on preparing the garden for these frosty nights. Nippy weather means it time to plan for garden frost
I put up some ideas for making your own pots and starting seedlings on the reference page with links to videos.

Threat of frost avoided

Wonder what makes a person run out with all their sheets and old towels to the yard? It is the dread term "frost alert" or "freeze warning." Usually there are a couple of false alarms but you just don't know if it will be a miss or a hit so out to the tender plants I go. Of course, this time the weather took a pass but the dry wind was a real thing to deal with last week. I would hate to lose the tomatoes, peppers and  eggplant while the warmer weather drifts in and out over the next few weeks. Some of them will come into the "green house" and some will have a portable hot house dropped over them. I am thinking of keeping 2 of the cherry tomatoes out by the lettuce and just covering them if it gets chilly with the hot box from PVC and plastic. The NZ spinach is going crazy so hope it keeps liking the cooler weather. Rain barrels are still supplying the water but I am ready for a bit of rain to replenish them. I replanted the red leaf lettuce to pots and put it into the green house as the bugs or squirrels just won't let them alone but the bibb lettuce is doing fine in the garden.

Lots of "putting by" this morning! I am liking the NZ spinach better and better! I haven't steamed any until this am and it does not cook down very much, unlike regular spinach. Was able to put up servings of the rainbow chard, NZ spinach, beans, hungarian hot peppers, habbenero peppers, egg plant and have spinach and lettuce for dinner tonight. I cut some of my cherry tomatoes and brought them into the house to ripen.

Tricking the squirrels out of the seedlings

Not too pretty but it is being effective in keeping the squirrels from eating all the lettuce and spinace before we can. Each seedling is getting transplanted into a plastic collar made from 1/3 of a 2 liter soda bottle or used styrofoam cups with the bottoms cut out. The nicest side effect is they are acting like mini-terrariums so the seedlings are growing well. I have moved any trays of starters inside to keep them growing until I can transplant them (now if the cats will leave them alone!)
I have tried interplanting the lettuce with the carrots in their bins too and so far, so good.
The spinach, chard, broccoli, and caulifower are growing great and not being attacked. None of the peppers or tomatoes are being targeted either so we are slowly picking those.
I need to plant a bed of peas soon, just need to figure out which place to put them. I hope to use them as both a food and cover crop this year. We will see. It is still not very cool and it is mid November.
We will get enough NZ spinach for a quiche today--next year I will plant 2-3 times as much of this as it has been a real producer!

Wells Branch Gardening group discusses soil sampling and planting with native plants

Having 2 guest speakers worked well for the group to get information on how to do their soil samples and where to send them. Janet Church even brought the sampling bags and applications to submit them. She had information about sending samples for organic sampling as well. Apparently A&M not only does the sampling but sends a list of recommendations on what to do to correct deficiencies. 


Shelley Palmer brought a number of booklets to help homeowners plan the kind of landscaping they would like to install and information on a grant from the city that defrays the cost of implementing the change from turf to less thirst landscaping. Catch is that you have to remove 500 or more sq ft to qualify. At $20-30 per 100 sq ft plus the water savings it is something I certainly am considering. I wish we had known about this before we converted the side yard to a wandering walk this spring and put in the 2 walks in the backyard with just borders to water. Tripling the perennial bed out front too would have been to include in this type of project. To check the program out go to: City landscape program
Next month we'll meet to discuss landscape plans and winter plantings. 

Cultivation by squirrel and other oddities

 The other morning I went out to the garden and found about a dozen little holes around the plants but didn't seem to be trying to dig up the plants. Judging from the squirrels I see on the fence and tree branches, I think they are my unwanted helpers. I am sure they are burying things I do not need in my garden. I replanted the broccoli and cauliflower they unearthed and find they do not like wetter soil so are leaving most things alone now--or they have buried all their nuts!

 I spent some time this morning transplanting lettuce and bok choy. Hoping for a bumper harvest of both over the winter. I have quite a few red ruffled leaf coming along and the remaining broccoli and cauliflower are doing well. The spinach that I planted in 2L bottle collars is also thriving--not like the plants this spring. maybe that is the key--get them big enough so the little bugs leave them alone. Carrots are doing well in their tubs so should have some to move around and harvest next spring.


I am also beginning to move some of the peppers and tomatoes into tubs to move into the "greenhouse" and extend their growing season should we have cold snaps at night. A couple are against the shed where they will get more warmth and 3 are already inside. We'll see what works best over the next couple of months. Last year putting all the plants so close together inside created a bug problem that I had trouble solving. 

Gardener's group to meet Nov 6

What a great meeting this is shaping up to be! Come early at 11:30 for a seed and plant exchange then stay for this great program beginning at noon. 


First we'll have not one but two guests from the Native Plants Society of Williamson county who are master gardeners or naturalists (that means that they know quite a lot and have taken special certification classes) then we'll  be having a plant and seed exchange. Our first guest Janet Church, who knows something about soil, is bringing kits with her and will explain how to take samples and submit them to the lab for analysis. She says she is open to questions about the whole topic of soil so we can ask anything we want. I think she may have information on what to do with the results and may be able to elaborate on the soil problems guide I got from my on-line gardening group. 

Then WB resident Shelley Palmer (at left pointing out a tree to residents) will  lead a discussion on  “Sustainable landscaping with Texas native plants." She’ll talk about the reasons to do this, how to do this, resources and a city of Austin program that might be of help. This is so timely as the requests for funds need to be into the program by December. She will be bringing a box of the Green Grower books also.