Water Under the Bridge

Last year about this time I was marveling about the lack of rain. This winter has been totally different. It has snowed four times at our home, five in the metroplex since the beginning of November. One of those snowfalls was up to 12 inches, appearing to be about eight inches here, and set records. The last snowfall of it's kind in Dallas was 1976. So much for global warming. Ha.

My thoughts of plants currently are limited. Since we now are a family of three my priorities have changed a bit. And my gardening went rather poorly last season. Nothing was pollinated, though it bloomed numerous times. I was not allowed to dig in the dirt either. So this year I have ideas for helping the pollination process, but I am also thinking about more foods I like to cook. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin. Hum. In the past I have generally stuck with squashes and tomatoes. Texas is hot. I'm not sure where I want to go from here!

It Never Rains in Texas

It never rains in Texas. Or so it seems. I moved to Texas 10 months ago, from NW Arkansas, and you would think by now I'd have figured the weather out. It was dry and hot all summer and I expected that. But come cooler temps and fall I thought the seasonal rain would begin. Nope. Winter? Nope. On a few occasions a storm has brewed and produced some rain. But it's over fast, we don't seem to get much of the variety that is a slow rains, soaking the ground.

Most recently, in the past week to week and a half it has been 80 or so degrees everyday, which seems really warm to me for early March. I know the frost date for region 8 is March 31 so I figured we could get another cold spell. A few individuals, from Texas rather than transplanted, expressed their interest in it "finally getting warm," leaving me to ponder what 80 degrees is.

The problem is, I miss the rain. I loved it when it would shower and then clear. Or rain all day and seem to fit my mood. Or the rain make me feel like I could relax a little. I love love love to sleep to the sound of a gentle rain.

So finally, a break from the drought has arrived. Yesterday evening, Tuesday, it began to sprinkle off and on. During the night it stormed and now the slow rain is expected to continue through the end of Friday. The creek outside the back door is full and the accumulated trash has moved downstream. The pair of ducks that often feed in our area are nowhere to be seen. I want to go walk in the rain, frolic and spin. It's been too long.

Plants of the Metroplex

Well, it's spring in Texas and I'm excited. I've spend some time on random warm days over the past few weeks, clearing a small garden area out back of our apartment. The area was covered in English Ivy, which is not native and hard to get rid of. I cut as much as I could and got rid of that, then I sprayed what was left. A couple weeks later, I pulled and pulled what was remaining. Ah, finally, I can see the soil! My husband picked up nails and bits of trash while I pulled the ivy. I have thus far unearthed three small snakes in my efforts.

Based on what I read about eradicating English Ivy, I will have to maintain my spot against new growth. I have a few sprigs coming up, and after borrowing a rake (I gave my brother 90% of my gardening supplies when I moved to Texas-but it's in the blood, I will have a small garden anyway!) and further cleaning the area, I still have more roots to pull but not bad at all.

Two of the snakes I ran across are rough earth snakes. Since they feed on things that would eat my plants they can stay!

My plan for my little garden this year is: zucchini, squash, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Because of the temperatures in Texas I'm also exploring winter crops for planting in the fall. I also hope to put in a few spring bulbs in the fall because I so love the new color of spring. My biggest challenge will be getting proper water to my plants as I do not have an spigot outside.

What's in my garden?

I've been getting this question a lot lately, especially from fellow gardeners. What's in my garden? Well, for starters, if you are imagining a traditional garden, a rectangle of tilled soil, that's not what I have. I have two raised beds, about 6' by 2', that my brother helped me build and I filled with old mulch to make some good soil. This year Curt started all my plants in the greenhouse for me. I have tomatoes, LOTS of tomatoes: Better Boys, Early Girls and Romas. I probably will have 40 red tomatoes in the next week or so. I also have peppers, zucchini, squash and cucumbers. For now, since my plants went in late, I just have blossoms. Then I have more peppers in a strawberry pot, which my brother laughed at me for because he says they will be wild. So far so good! And I have six pots of herbs ... kind of a container garden with the Palm Tree and the peppers and the herbs on the back deck. Let's see, I have Basil (sweet and old fashioned), Rosemary, Parsley, Chives, Thyme and Dill. My garlic didn't make it. I'll have to try again on that.

Let's see, what else have I planted in the yard this year? Two Spiral Willows, two Lilacs, some Hollyhocks, a Japanese Maple (Acer) that will be small. Last year I focused on spring bulbs, summer bulbs, roses and moving some of the existing plants to better locations.

Summer Heat Wave

Driving back from Memphis on Sunday it was as much as 103 degrees that afternoon. Finally, sometime after six o'clock it dipped below 99 degrees out. But the country is in this heat wave at the moment. Yesterday, our office building had a power surge, probably due to the heat ... I went out shortly after that ... my car said the temp was 102-103. Warm even by my standards! Yet even so, I remind myself that it's not Iraq or equatorial Africa where 115 is not unusual. Anyway, since it has been so hot even after 8 PM the last couple of days, I haven't made it to the park. I got up yesterday morning and watered my garden, our young trees and bushes we planted and my pots of herbs. At 6:30 in the morning it's low to mid 70s. So this morning I got up to go for a walk while it is cooler.

I walked down a street I've been down many times before and as I was coming back two dogs came tearing out from behind a house with an unfenced yard. "Great," I'm thinking, "I didn't bother to bring my pepper spray." The fat Doberman charging toward me seemed more than happy to attack; now the other dog was the classic follower, "Hey wait for me! What are we doing?". What was it? Um, I'm not great with my dog types, tall skinny dog, not a Weimaraner or Grey Hound. What was Marmaduke? Great Dane. I started clappy my hands and saying, "NO" firmly to the Doberman till he quit charging and backed off.

It reminded me of an incident on Wildflower Street a couple of years ago. One of my neighbors had a Doberman and it was moody, sometimes friendly and other times not and they often let it loose in the front yard. There was a man who would run every afternoon in our neighborhood but one day, the dog was loose when he came jogging by. I happened to be looking out the window when I saw that dog charge and take a huge leap into the air ... I grabbed the nearest pan and ran out the front door pounding on it hoping to distract because that dog was intent on taking the jogger out. Thankfully it worked; I was pretty scared. The jogger was shaking from the near attack and he backed off slowly until the dog retreated.