The Big Freeze

It was quite a cold winter here this year; thankfully I had grown wise from last year's cold snaps, and left most of my plants in pots so that they could be carried in and out of the garage as need dictated... and in and out they went! The coldest snap was in February, and lasted for a few days - my newly-installed bird bath froze solid every night for three nights running. Of course, a week later the temperatures were in the mid-20s (Celsius) - that's Houston for you!

Fierce energy

I planted much earlier this year, and that, perhaps along with a colder winter and a milder springtime, has led to much greater success (so far!) than my last attempt at a garden.

The vegetable garden contains:
- roma tomatoes
- squash
- cucumber
- borage
- beets
- carrots
- two different sorts of pepper (capsicum for Aussies)
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- arugula (rocket for Aussies and Brits)



The patio herb garden contains:
- rosemary
- Thai basil
- Italian basil
- cilantro
- lemon thyme
- regular thyme
- parsley
- chives
- sage
- tarragon
- curry plant
- oregano
- dill
- mint


There are strawberries in one hanging basket, and we have blueberries and raspberries waiting to go into the side garden (when the Ike-damaged fence is finally fixed!). Netting supports peas, sweet peas, morning glory, moonflower and nasturtiums; the lemon which we bought late last year and which weathered all the frosts against all odds is blooming beautifully, and the Virginia Creeper is already up and over the eaves.


I keep the squirrels (who are fixated on the coconut fibre linings of the planters) at bay with pepper, tabasco sauce, flapping items hung on the clothesline, and prayer!



The title of this post is from a quote by George Bernard Shaw:

Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn!
You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak!
Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay.

Happy Easter!

It's hot, damn' hot

With heat records set in 1980 being broken day after day, and 'heat advisories' in effect, and no rain for weeks, and crackly-dry grass underfoot, and the glare off the pavement feeling like a blast from a newly-opened oven, really the only thing to do is find somewhere cool, and damp, and comfortable, and move in for the duration.

A visit from Edgar

Edgar has been paying us a few visits lately... it hasn't rained for quite a while, so everywhere is quite dry, and I suppose the regularly-watered sweet peas seem like quite a lovely damp haven to him! I've managed to save the borage - his first haunt - by putting it up on the table, but the sweet peas can't be moved because of the netting behind them. I don't mind him except when he digs the plants up - a few of them are a bit battered from his treatment, and I've saved others only by good fortune, when he's left them all scattered about with their roots exposed.

Now, all of the above could be true, or perhaps Texas has magic earth from which toads randomly sprout... you decide.

Update #2 - The Day of the Triffids

You can't really tell from the pictures, but there's actually a second crop in many of the seedling compartments, taking the space left empty when some of the fast-growers from the first round were planted out into the greenhouse - some of which are growing faster than some of the originals!

Greenhouse: cucumbers, squash, cilantro, rocket, dill, romas (France), romas (USA), grape tomatoes, borage.

Sprouted seedlings about to go into the greenhouse: Italian basil, Thai basil, sunflowers, morning glory

Other sprouted seedlings: carrots, lettuce, mint, thyme, chervil, anise, wormwood, parsley, chili, sweet pea, Chinese lanterns, black-eyed Susan, flax (but has all died so will try again with this one)

Still waiting for an appearance - Provence lavender, chives, sage, wisteria, chamomile, lovage, nasturtium (but don't think this one is going to grow because the seeds were quite old)

Plant in hope

Sunday, 6.23pm


Tuesday, 5.59pm