Texas Spring/Summer Thread

Western · Mar 30, 2012

Bird said:
Dennis, you saying no mosquitos in the parking lots probably means not much to eat out there.:laughing: It reminds me of my experience in Alaska. We could go out in the boat and never be bothered by a mosquito as long as we stayed away from the shore. But get within 10' of the bank and you'd better have your Deep Woods Off.

Jim, the parking lots are where all the shoppers are, so no shortage of food!! I'm thinking they must spend allot of time waiting in the grass, dunno though?

jinman · Mar 31, 2012

Today, we finished our garden with setting out peppers and tomatoes. We put out 4-ea Better Boy, Celebrity, BHN640 and 8-ea Early Girls (20 total plants). We planted 8 banana peppers, 4 sweet bell peppers, and 4 pimentos. We still have room left for blackeyed peas if we decide to put them in. We're not growing okra this year because we have 24 bags of okra still in the freezer.

This year's real treat has been our asparagus. We've let a lot of grow to ferns and still have had plenty for steaming and raw for salads or just munching the spears.

Bird · Mar 31, 2012

Jim, you can never have too much asparagus or too many sweet bell pepper.

Of course all that other stuff is good, too.

jinman · Apr 1, 2012

Bird said:
Jim, you can never have too much asparagus or too many sweet bell pepper. Of course all that other stuff is good, too.

Bird, last year we had lots of pimento peppers after I covered the plants with a lattice fence section for partial shade. The red pimentos were the sweetest peppers I've ever grown. We had all we could eat right up to frost.

pacerron · Apr 1, 2012

jinman said:
Today, we finished our garden with setting out peppers and tomatoes. We put out 4-ea Better Boy, Celebrity, BHN640 and 8-ea Early Girls (20 total plants). We planted 8 banana peppers, 4 sweet bell peppers, and 4 pimentos. We still have room left for blackeyed peas if we decide to put them in. We're not growing okra this year because we have 24 bags of okra still in the freezer.

This year's real treat has been our asparagus. We've let a lot of grow to ferns and still have had plenty for steaming and raw for salads or just munching the spears.

Jim,
I recall you having some lower leaf wilt problems last year.
Are these tomatoes the same brands you planted last year?
Ron

jinman · Apr 1, 2012

pacerron said:
Jim,
I recall you having some lower leaf wilt problems last year.
Are these tomatoes the same brands you planted last year?
Ron

No Ron, I didn't plant any celebrity or better boys last year. The BHN640 is a wilt resistant strain. However, with as many 100+ degree days as we had without rain made everything go into stress and be susceptible to a wide variety of things.

Western · Apr 2, 2012

jinman said:
No Ron, I didn't plant any celebrity or better boys last year. The BHN640 is a wilt resistant strain. However, with as many 100+ degree days as we had without rain made everything go into stress and be susceptible to a wide variety of things.

Jim nailed that!! We had our own case of "Heat wilt"

last summer. Texas Forest Service estimates we lost between 5.3- 5.6 million trees state wide.
Even well taken care of gardens seemed to do poor (comparing to the average year)

Although the area Jim, Bird and I live in is no longer listed in the "drought" category, much of West and South Texas still has some severe issues.

Western · Apr 3, 2012

Jim, Bird, Large hail headed your way! Wife working in Weatherford had hail up to 2"

Just rain for me so far, but I'm also "in the track" of this one.

Bird · Apr 3, 2012

Western said:
Jim, Bird, Large hail headed your way! Wife working in Weatherford had hail up to 2"

Just rain for me so far, but I'm also "in the track" of this one.

I sure hope we don't get the hail, but I've been watching the radar and went ahead and moved the vehicles inside. So far, not even any rain here.

jinman · Apr 3, 2012

Dennis, I've been watching that storm all morning and hoping for something other than a few drops. Like the strong cell that went through Weatherford, it all goes north or south of me. Bowie has had several nice showers. I just get sick watching the radar and seeing the red/yellow blobs split and go around Sunset. I'm still waiting and hoping, but I sure don't want any tomato-killer hail.