The Weather VS a Perfect Garden

God's Warrior · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:00 am Post subject: The Weather VS a Perfect Garden

The Weather VS a Perfect Garden

How are things with your garden this spring?

Some folks are having a terrible time trying to garden this year and some are lucky and things have been great for them.

Spring came very early to our area this year. Things were looking really great and then the cold weather came back and really made a mess of our gardens. Lots of folks lost young trees and shrubs that couldn't stand the freeze after having put on their spring greenery. We were lucky and didn't lose anything but I had my doubts about some of my plants for quite a while.

It is very dry here now as we are very far behind on our rainfall. We only had a short time that things were good and now the drought has hit. It hasn’t been a lot of fun gardening this year because it has been an uphill battle ever since things started budding out. Oh, well, the name of the game is “save what you can” now before drought kills everything. Thank the Lord for my irises and my day lilies. I am more convinced now than ever that they are the perfect plants. My irises put on quite a show this year and my day lilies are starting to bloom now. They won’t be as showy as in other years but at least they aren’t dead!!!!!!!

Elena (hanging in there in TN)
Very Happy

Aloe · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 400 Location: California

We had a freeze in January that our neighbor said was the coldest she had seen in the 42 years she has lived on this street. I don't remember what it got down to, but it was at least 30F. We even had ice on the pond. We had some plant damage, but the only things that died were some geraniums.

It has been a very dry year. According to the newspaper, we are on pace for this to be the driest year in recorded history (since circa 1875). Downtown Los Angeles has had 3.21 inches of rain since July 1 of last year. In the short term, it doesn't really affect the garden since we have to water half of the year anyway since even in a good rain year, it only rains half the year.

So far, it hasn't been super hot, but summer doesn't usually come on with a vengence until July.

texaspampas · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Posts: 38 Location: TX

The northeast of Houston area is a difficult place to grow a lot of plants - some clay, some sand, good drainage and some feet away poor drainage, etc. Add blistering sun and unpredictable deluges (at least this year) our tomatoes are scrappy, even with the extra compost and mulch and raising the beds about 8 inches. The pumpkin seeds which planted themselves when the pumpkin John set out decomposed are spreading everywhere - flowers, but no fruit, yet. My herb garden is doing well on its own with the chives I planted last year doing better than ever, the rosemary that died sprang back to life, and the basil and parsley I bought this spring but never got around to planting Shocked

have taken root as their roots went through the holes in the pots. Isn't nature amazing?

John finally agreed to prune the rose bush and it is beautiful; our crepe myrtles are slow to bloom this year, possibly because of all the rain and unusually cooler weather for this time of year - low 90s and lately low 80s - but that's about to change!

God's Warrior · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 6:30 am Post subject:

Hey there dear Cuz,
Sounds like the Houston weather is about as messed up as it could get. It is probably difficult for the poor plants to know what to do. Do you find that you have to pollinate your own plants there? I know that my sister Bobbie who lives there has to do that sometimes? I never stopped to think about why. Now that I think about it, that is probably necessary because the mosquito spraying probably kills the insects that usually do that. They have been spraying here a lot lately and I haven't seen the first butterfly and I just miss them so!!!!!

I don't have many herbs left. My rosemary died when we had that crazy killer cold spell after everything had greened out this spring and wasn't about to spring back to life even thought I hoped it would do so. I am down to cat mint, some variety of mint that we use in our iced tea and Russian sage. I thought my Russian sage was gone too but it somehow came back.

texaspampas · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Posts: 38 Location: TX

Hi, Elena!

Actually, the Houston area is great for tropical plants, except in freezing temps (yes, we get those) when you have to bring them inside or cover them. I've never thought about pollinating - that's an idea.

John just put fertilizer spikes around the myrtles and the dwarf oleander and fig tree. Oleanders normally grow well here, but ours must be affected by being in an unseen "swamp" and/or lime or something leaching from the foundation? As soon as the dwarf crepe myrtle blooms (it's late this year) I'll take a picture and post it.

God's Warrior · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:58 pm Post subject:

If you haven't ever posted pictures with the new system, you will find directions in the Information forum under Posting Images. It is really easy to do once you do it a few times. Let me know if you have any trouble.

I look forward to seeing your dwarf crepe myrtle pictures as I have never seen one in person. It sounds cute. Is cute the right word for a plant? Probably not! Very Happy