Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

More Seeds

3L bottles

#1 - Delphinium, Blue Duet Mix (21-28 days)
#2 - Delphinium Pacific Giant (21-28 days)

24 pack Marked Nasties
12 Fordhook Fave Nastrium, 6 Balsam Kaos Mix, 6 Lipstick Pink Nastrium


72 Cell Flats

Yellow Starburst all   White Alyssum

















In Dahlia Flat First 7 rows planted with Unwin's Dwarf.


Update:
Seedlings Direct Sown Poppies, Shirley, Double Flowered Mixed Colors
Flat Orange Marker containing Hot Pink Petunia and Moss Rose.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Saturday Spray schedule

Nice Sunny Day.  Sprayed Round-up on weeds, Dormant Oil on fruit trees and final dose of Nematodes.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Crape Murder...

Crape Murder is a saying here in the south referring to the butcher like pruning of Crape Myrtles.  It is very common, and occurs in all states, towns and neighborhoods.  Take a look around and you will probably a neighbor, a commercial property or even yourself have committed this offense.  First of all I don't have a problem with pruning ornamental including Crape Myrtles, I selectively prune my own.  I have two Red Dynamite, and an unknown lavender variety that was labeled Naztech White when I bought it.  I prune all three, but very differently.  The Unknown Lavender one Has an amazing natural shape, so I only prune "stray hairs", or odd branches that grow the wrong way.  I also cut off small branches that are growing into the tree. 

Crape Massacre

The Dynamites have a very irregular growth pattern.  Seems like half the tree (and it is the same on both) grows tall and straight up, with no shape what so ever, and the other half grows broader, and shorter.  In order to even it out and hopefully one day have two beautifully shaped trees I prune them a lot more severe than I would want.  Every year I feel like I have butchered the trees, and I guess in a way I have.  They are now 5 years old and FINALLY the short stocky side has gotten about 6ft tall. 
The problem is that last summer the "tall" side shot up over 15 ft.  As you can imagine those were some very funny looking trees.  Both of the Dynamites have been pruned back to an "even" shape. 
Crape murder however was taken to a whole new level by a neighbor down the street.
Last year I noticed there was two stick in their yard, bluntly cut.  I didn't think much off it at first, assuming they were getting rid of it.  In summer however the stick turned into a Crape Myrtle.  Hanging on for dear life.  Again, I thought, maybe they hadn't realized the CM was alive when they had chopped it, or they had thought it was a weed....
Then this fall, I walked past the house and to my horror saw they had chopped it again.  I don't think Crape Murder is a strong enough phrase for this.  It's More like a Crape Massacre...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Seed Starting.

Started seeds for spring 2012.  Somehow the pelleted seeds were damaged, and my totals of pelleted wave petunia seeds comes in at a total of 36, and not the 75 I had planned. 
Next time I purchase pelleted seeds I will try to check if they have been crushed.
The White Shock Wave Petunia seeds came from Park Seed, the Purple and Silver Tidal Wave from Ferry Morse.
The regular Hot Pink Petunias are from seeds collected from the garden. A total of 18 planted. Moss Rose was planted on the rest of the flat.  Mix in color as well as both single and double flowers.


Alyssum, Snaps (First Ladies) and Stock (seeds from Kaos'sGarden.










In addition a full flat was planted of dark red snapdragons, seeds collected from Kaos'sGarden.  Also sprinkled some around the potted pots by the patio, as well as some Alyssum seeds.  Also at that corner two Pink Amaryllis bulbs were planted.  Everything was watered, the clear plastic dome lids were placed on top of the seed starting flats, and secured with bungee cords.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Potted up some Seedlings

Potted up 12 2in pots and 1 quart container of Rock Rose Pavonia lasiopetala.  It's a great shrubby perennial for central TX.  Very drought tolerant and blooms most of the year.  It looks stunning in the morning sun.

Also potted up 7 2in pots of  Blue Plumbago seedlings. Just about a perfect plant.

6 2in pots and 5 quarts with Datura wrightii  One of my all time favorites. 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Onions Part Two

Planted yet another bunch of about 80.  This time it was the 1015Y Texas Supersweet.  They were planted around an apple tree and in the raised bed containing one Iceberg rose.
In the spot between the raised bed and the gate, I also planted one bulb of Red Amaryllis, two  Ruellia brittoniana 'Purple Showers' and one Dahlia _________
All were watered in with a seaweed solution.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Onions Part Two

Planted yet another bunch of onions.  This time it was roughly 75sets in the bunch of Yellow Granex.  They were watered in with a seaweed solution. 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

I overextended myself with onions

There are a lot more in a bunch than I first thought and planned for.  I assumed 50 plants/bunch, times 7 bunches, for a total of 350 transplants.
The Bonnie Onions didn't disappoint.  Roughly 50/bunch.  However after planting and counting one bunch of Early White, there were 103 onions in that bunch.  In the White Bermuda bunch there were 73 onion transplants.
Now I am left with 4 bunches and most likely a LOT more than 200 onions, and as shown of the garden schematic, not a whole lot of room.  I might have enough room in the three empty beds to fit lose to 200.  The five big beds can hold an average of 100/section and the smaller ones almost 50.  I guess I'll have to squeeze some here, there and everywhere.  An extension might me necessary to fit in other veggies.  Potatoes late this month, as well as lettuces, radishes and collards.  That is just what needs to be planted in January. 
After planting, the seedlings/transplants got watered with a seaweed solution.  They will receive that approximately every two weeks, and some cottonseed meal (8-2-2) to make sure they have food enough to grow delicious

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Onions

I LOVE onions.  They are great raw, cooked...and makes every meal better.  Not to mention they are the one crop that is practically fool proof.  You plant the transplants/sets in January, and then you harvest in spring/summer.  They don't need much and are easy to place pretty much anywhere.  Walking through my garden, they are everywhere.  Tucked between rosebushes, around citrus, anywhere there's an open spot I plant an onion.
Normally I'll plant two bunches of Bonnie's White onions, one bunch Bonnie's Yellow onion, and on Bonnie's Red onion. There's roughly 50 plants in each bunch. 
This year we went a little kookier than usual.  I did plant one bunch of Bonnie's White onions, though I couldn't justify paying $4/bunch and get multiples.  Well off to a great local nursery we went.  Had to see their selection and pricing before I made up my mind.  Well, they had a much better selection, and an easier to swallow price of $2/bunch. Not only are they cheaper, but this nursery specializes in plant varieties suitable for central TX.

So here's what we got.

2 bunches Texas Early White
1 bunch 1015Y Texas Supersweet
1 bunch White Bermuda
1 bunch Yellow Granex
1 bunch Suothern Belle Red

Needless to say I am very fond of the white onions. Planting will take place this weekend after the freeze is over. 
I also got some lettuce seeds that I will plant along some radishes. 

Saturday, January 7, 2012

New Year, New Hope

That's right... HOPE.  We got some rain in November and December, yard has greened up.  Mostly cool season annual grass and WEEDS.  At least it's green. 
So after replacing the back fence we are ready for a better 2012.  Hopefully thsi will be a good garden year. 
Started off by spraying Dormant Oil on all our fruit trees.  Well almost all.  Didn't spray the citrus and still waiting for the leaves to fall off the apple trees so they can be sprayed.  We are hoping that with some vigilance, THIS will be the year we can get peaches WITHOUT those pesky worms.
The worms are Plum Curculio, and they are a big problem.
Practically all our peaches last year was infested by them.

We are also spraying nematodes.  According to the person we spoke with at the Natural Gardener, Nematodes search the soil for bad bugs and tortures and kill them.  So hopefully these nematodes will search and find the Plum Curlico larvae and kill them.