April 2011 in Lower South

Hey everyone, is anyone getting any April showers to bring on those May flowers? We have gotten a few "spits" here and there, not quite a mist, just a few random drips, we call 'em spits. You know like when you were a kid on the second floor of the mall and-oops better quit telling on myself I mean my friends.

I may be a bit "short winded" for the next day or two, I had a collison with a wasp yesterday, I was just walking, darn thing flew into the back of my arm. Now, that's usually not a bad thing, 'cept I'm allergic to them. My left arm is swollen, hot, and sore. GREAT news is it did not creep up into my shoulder, bad news my elbow is stiff. I'll just be stiff and sore in that arm for a few days, which may (notice I said may) limit my typing, it's getting pretty sore right now. I also strained my right index finger at the first (upper) joint, too much posting maybe???

Okay, so what's going on in your neck of the woods?

Boy Howdy did we get our April Showers this AM!!! Those right below us got hit pretty bad, and the storms a heading east, so those of you in the Eastern part of the Lower South Region check the weather, tie down what needs tieing down, and stake what ever needs staking. Please check in and let us know you all are okay.

For those of us in the upper half of this region, some of what dizzygardener has to say in her April update is relevent. Check it out.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t6122-april-in-the-middle-south-garden#53431

How cold did it get at your house, we hit 37.

It was 43 here this morning, but just for a short time. We are back up in the high 70's. We have not had one drop of rain in all this. I am so frustrated. Every time I decide I need to water it looks like rain so I put it off and then no rain. Speaking of I probably need to go water again. I am having the hardest time keeping parts of my Mix moist. Some places are staying very wet and others drying out quick.

FarmerValerie wrote:How cold did it get at your house, we hit 37.

About the same here.. cool front - the spring garden survives for a little while longer....

clfraser-you may have put too much peat in your MM, just a thought. When we have had several times of "looks like rain" but no rain, I water anyway, and I also wash the car for good measure. If those don't work go buy a rain gauge. We were having a serious drought aboug 13 years ago and no rain in sight for months. My husband sent me to the store to buy a rain gauge, they wanted to know what for when I got there, I told them it was so he could measure how much rain we were not getting, it raine the next day, and rained and rained.

Yeah I worry about too much peat moss. Is there a way to balance with everything planted? It is just the top though that is getting dried out. When I dig down maybe an inch or less everything is moist. Not sopping but moist. Is this normal?

That's about right.

I am north of Houston, The Woodlands. We haven't had any rain and the ponds are the lowest I have seen since I've lived here, (1993).

We are new to gardening and just planted our first 4 X 4s last weekend. I am learning a lot by reading the forums and I am most certain I've made a ton of mistakes that I will be embarrassed about later...LOL

We've planted 2 3X3s and 2 4X4s. Each kiddo has his/her own.

I noticed today that our basil leaves are being munched on. This happened overnight because they didn't look that way yesterday. I went to a local farmer's market, Neal's Berry Farm, and they told me that they use special sea salts, Sea 90. I bought some and am going to give it a try. They say they have been using it for a year and love it!
http://www.seaagri.com/

I am loving the time we are spending watching the plants change each day and find that I am "attached" to them, much like I am my dogs! LOL

Karen
www.runningtohim.blogspot.com

Karen, I've been down to the Woodlands once. It's been a few years, but I remember it was a beautiful trip. I was down there with a group of home schoolers for a retreat.

Way to go on a good start. Did you use MM in your boxes? I'll be posting a link to a blog again that is featruing a summer theme of Gardening with Kids, they have so many good ideas. Our kids are 24, 22, 14 (boys) and 12, our girl. They are out there in our garden quite a bit, well the youner two, my most enthusiastic helper is my 5yo grandson.

I've only had problems with my basil one time, and that was a general problem with snails. I took a tuna can, burried it level withe the soil, and filled it 3/4 of the way full with beer, worked like a charm. Let me know how that sea salt works, I used salt on my plants once, and it burned them up, but then I just sprinkled table salt on them to keep the slugs away.

Karen, I sent you a welcome on the HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU SPEND <<
Welcome again!

It was normal April weather, then we went into mid and upper 80s (which we shouldn't get till June! ) , then the weather broke and we got a cold front weather highs in the 60s and now we're back to mid 70s. In 13 days. Someday I'm moving, I swear I am.

marsinger4 wrote:It was normal April weather, then we went into mid and upper 80s (which we shouldn't get till June! ) , then the weather broke and we got a cold front weather highs in the 60s and now we're back to mid 70s. In 13 days. Someday I'm moving, I swear I am.

Its not just Hot-lanta TX and OK are like that as well. So is PA so my friends up there tell me...

Welcome Karen - I used to live and work in the Humble area in 98-01... I did love the trees down there! Hope ya'll get some rain soon - heck I hope all of TX gets some rain... BTW are you one of those crazy ultra-marathoners as well?

Thank you all so much for the welcome. I have been trying to figure out how to follow my posts and replies. I am lost! LOL I thought I was pretty computer savvy, but alas, I guess there is a bit of a learning curve on this one.

Any hints as to how to keep up with things around here?

You should be getting emails from the threads you post a reply to. If not and for any others that you just want to watch, but have nothing to comment on at the time, just go to the last post, click on watch this topic at the bottom right after last post and you will get an email when there is a new reply. Other than that just watch the top left of the forum screen and you will see when new topics or comments pop up, or click on today's active topics right after all the forums list on the main page.

ftroopmom wrote:Thank you all so much for the welcome. I have been trying to figure out how to follow my posts and replies. I am lost! LOL I thought I was pretty computer savvy, but alas, I guess there is a bit of a learning curve on this one.

Any hints as to how to keep up with things around here?

When you want to "watch" a thread you are working on you can click on the bottom of the thread where it says "watch this topic" Its right at the bottom under the last reply.

Hope that helps.
Ha-v-v

ashort wrote:Welcome Karen - I used to live and work in the Humble area in 98-01... I did love the trees down there! Hope ya'll get some rain soon - heck I hope all of TX gets some rain... BTW are you one of those crazy ultra-marathoners as well?

Hi ashort!

Yes, I am an ultramarathoner. I ran my first 100 in February! Are you a runner? I can see that gardening and running are similar in there compulsive tendencies...

I am trying to figure out how to follow posts and reply, so forgive my late response!

We had about 10 mins of rain on Monday morning. We are in serious trouble here. When we don't get any rain in our rainy season, things are going to be tough in the heat of summer.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone! Is there a tutorial on how to use this wonderful forum more efficiently?

Karen

ftroopmom wrote:

ashort wrote:Welcome Karen - I used to live and work in the Humble area in 98-01... I did love the trees down there! Hope ya'll get some rain soon - heck I hope all of TX gets some rain... BTW are you one of those crazy ultra-marathoners as well?

Hi ashort!

Yes, I am an ultramarathoner. I ran my first 100 in February! Are you a runner? I can see that gardening and running are similar in there compulsive tendencies...

I am trying to figure out how to follow posts and reply, so forgive my late response!

We had about 10 mins of rain on Monday morning. We are in serious trouble here. When we don't get any rain in our rainy season, things are going to be tough in the heat of summer.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone! Is there a tutorial on how to use this wonderful forum more efficiently?

Karen

I am more of runner and triathlete wannabe... I was up to 10k's last year but have not kept up with it. I am trying to get back at it now - I think I am going to suffer on today's planned run. But my 3 miles suffer-fest is a long ways from 100mi!

Hope it rains or the the IMTX swim in May is going to be tough!

Would love to run here, but alas shin splints are a, well you know, and back pain, oi vey. So I stick to walking and yard work, and workouts inside, love me some yoga.

I did not realize that anywhere in TX had a rainy season, I thought that we just had an occasional spit season, you know where the sky spits on us.

I want to appologize for any ugly words flying around out there in the wind today, they came from my mouth-BAD FV.

I spent 2 hours transplanting, sorting what I wanted to move to the garden, adding a bit of soil to those that needed it, watering, talking to caring for, and all that stuff to my seedlings and plants today. I put 3 trays on the porch on shelves protected from the wind in a makeshift greenhouse (covered in plastic). The winds today are high, but on the porch not so much, and it was up against the house. The wind knocked it over. I have several formerly named plants that are now mystery plants. I can tell the difference between my tomatoes and peppers, but that's where it ends. I am also sure that some of my seedlings are now flying around NE TX somewhere, and some just plain broke. I have one more tray to fix, but after standing for now 3 1/2 hours, my back is in pain. Add to that I now have pepper plants that I have no idea what is hot what is not, same story as last year, no named plants, that drives my OCD traits nuts. I can tell the Black Hungarian from the rest, the leaves have a black tint to them, one good thing. Oh well, I still have the name tags, I'll figure it all out later, it's just a bit frustrating right now. I know they are only seeds, but I just need to whine a bit, wish I had some real wine and some cheese too.

FarmerValerie wrote:I want to appologize for any ugly words flying around out there in the wind today, they came from my mouth-BAD FV.

I spent 2 hours transplanting, sorting what I wanted to move to the garden, adding a bit of soil to those that needed it, watering, talking to caring for, and all that stuff to my seedlings and plants today. I put 3 trays on the porch on shelves protected from the wind in a makeshift greenhouse (covered in plastic). The winds today are high, but on the porch not so much, and it was up against the house. The wind knocked it over. I have several formerly named plants that are now mystery plants. I can tell the difference between my tomatoes and peppers, but that's where it ends.

OOOOOOOOOOOH I feel for you! The same thing happened to my tomatoes last year when I set them out to harden off - a nice calm day according to Mr. WeatherLiar! I rushed home on my lunch hour to gather up all my tomato seedlings from the far reaches of the front yard - not sure if I ever found them all. When I planted them a week later I had NO idea what I had left!

FarmerValerie wrote:I want to appologize for any ugly words flying around out there in the wind today, they came from my mouth-BAD FV.

I spent 2 hours transplanting, sorting what I wanted to move to the garden, adding a bit of soil to those that needed it, watering, talking to caring for, and all that stuff to my seedlings and plants today. I put 3 trays on the porch on shelves protected from the wind in a makeshift greenhouse (covered in plastic). The winds today are high, but on the porch not so much, and it was up against the house. The wind knocked it over. I have several formerly named plants that are now mystery plants. I can tell the difference between my tomatoes and peppers, but that's where it ends. I am also sure that some of my seedlings are now flying around NE TX somewhere, and some just plain broke. I have one more tray to fix, but after standing for now 3 1/2 hours, my back is in pain. Add to that I now have pepper plants that I have no idea what is hot what is not, same story as last year, no named plants, that drives my OCD traits nuts. I can tell the Black Hungarian from the rest, the leaves have a black tint to them, one good thing. Oh well, I still have the name tags, I'll figure it all out later, it's just a bit frustrating right now. I know they are only seeds, but I just need to whine a bit, wish I had some real wine and some cheese too.

I was wondering what I was hearing outside today... windy, windy, windy here today 30-35 gusts to 45-50 Thought I was back in OK...

The wind finally died down here just about dusk, too late to get my carrots in for carrot day. I hope to be outside most of the day, well most of the morning and evening, I don't go out much during the heat of the day, but it's only supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's.

I also got into some poison ivy clearing the fenceline day be for yesterday, I'll be out there with the torch today.