Never thought January would be so busy in the garden!

But we've yet to have a freeze and temps are staying quite a bit above normal, so things just keep growing!

Today I saw the first broccoli head forming. Hooray! Our fall was so hot and my indoor seedlings failed, so I didn't get broccoli or cauliflower going until October when I direct seeded. I did a second batch last month and both times have been able to successfully transplant the "extra" seedlings thanks to how fluffy Mel's Mix is. (I planted about 5 seeds in a little circle in the center of the square.)

Peas are going full throttle right now. I have snow peas and snap peas growing together as I had terrible germination problems and replanted and mixed them up. In one box my peas only grew to about 1-2 feet tall, put out a couple of blossoms, formed pods with 1-2 peas, and then quit. Really don't know what in the world happened there! In the other box they are to the top of the 6' trellis and waving in the air.

Finally have one cucumber growing. All of my fall cucumbers and squash kept dying. This plant does have downy mildew which I'm fighting, but it finally managed to produce a cucumber and I see another starting to form.

Brandywine tomato plants just aren't doing anything for me. 1 tomato on each and aren't growing well. My other 2 tomato plants are from big box store plants I bought last spring and rooted suckers over the summer, then planted the suckers in the fall. One, a Juliet roma (I think) has been going gangbusters just like the parent plant last year. But it's about played out now and the fruits keep getting smaller, so I'm going to pull it soon. The other is doing better than the parent plant did (that one was crowded) and seems healthy and thriving, so barring any frosts it should keep going for a while. I have no idea what it is, but it's a larger fruit and none have ripened yet.

Lettuce is growing great and I can't believe how quickly the leaf lettuce is coming back after I cut it.

Putting in a new 2X10 bed and have spots I'm eyeing for container plants between beds. Tearing apart my 2X2s from reclaimed materials that are falling apart and putting in a 4x4. Putting in a 3x3 on an obnoxious spot of grass right by the driveway that doesn't have any purpose....oh, yes, first the front porch (where, I forgot to mention, my 3 pepper plants are doing nicely!) and now creeping into the front yard...SFGs are taking over!

I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.

Rock on!! And, please do give some pics. I am jealous of such a growing season. If you don't mind me asking, where in "south texas" are you? I am curious because my family only extends to Austin and San Antonio.

I'm all the way down in the Rio Grande Valley in McAllen. San Antonio is almost 4 hours to the north. Texas is a crazy big state, isn't it?

Well, I harvested that one cucumber and pulled the plant, along with all my tomato plants but one.

Viruses are the bane of my existance down here. I really should have taken pictures, but keep in mind I'm doing all this with a 15 month old that knows how to get out of the yard.

Here's what I think happened. Back in the fall there was a tomato plant I just couldn't resist at a big box store. It looked so small and compact...um, yeah, now I know that wasn't a good thing. Looking back (hindsight is SO much clearer) I first lost the other tomato plant in that box as it started doing the same thing with new growth coming in very compact and stunted. Stupid me left the first plant in as it was just sitting there looking mostly the same, growing very slowly.

I was starting to get some growth like that on my trusty Juliet plant that had being growing like crazy, but I just kept an eye on it and thought it was ok because it was just the new growth and not all of it. Next to be hit were the Brandywines that I planted from seed. I've been in denial, which is really easy to do when constantly distracted by kids and and million projects as I've been. Today I took a really good look at everything, did some Googling, and decided I need to do some serious ripping out. The Juliet was STILL producing like crazy, but the fruit was getting smaller and smaller, more like small cherry tomatoes.

Anyway, the cucumber plant never did well, had downy mildew, and I'm just trying to clear out all the disease in my garden. I have one tomato plant left. It came from a sucker from a big box plant I bought last spring. I'm going to keep an eye on it, but right now I can't see a single hint of disease, even though it was next to one of the Brandywines. It's got some nice tomatoes on it that are just starting to have a blush of color, so I really hope it stays disease-free. Wish I knew what variety I had bought, as it seems to be quite resistant!

And during all this my 3 year old locked us out of the house (and her in). Good thing she knows how to operate the garage door opener!

Kids and Gardens, quite a combination. You don't know which direction to look sometimes. :lolsignwave:

Glad the 3 year old was able to operate the garage door opener so you could have a happy family reunion.