Category Archives: Gardening

2015_Day 62: Tree starting to get a few buds

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The one tree in our front yard that didn’t keep leaves on it all winter now has a few buds. Not a lot, but it’s starting. I have seen other trees in the area that are already blossming, but I’m kind of glad ours isn’t. Continue reading

2015_Day 61: Lettuce is really hanging in there

Lettuce on the left after it was thinned on Feb. 14; on the right is the lettuce after a week of some really cold days and nights.

Lettuce on the left after it was thinned on Feb. 14; on the right is the lettuce after a week of some really cold days and nights.

After numerous days last week where it barely reached freezing during the daytime, let alone the nights, my lettuce is still alive. How, I don’t know, given the ice that coated the tarp that stayed over the containers for 48 hours straight. Continue reading

2015_Day 57: Too late to sow seeds indoors, but outdoors awaits

From dokity.com

From dokity.com

For as much as I’ve been looking forward to Spring and the prospect of an earlier gardening season in central Texas, you’d think I would have paid closer attention to last-freeze dates. Continue reading

2015_Day 56: Spring can start anytime now

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My poor lettuce! How can it be expected to grow when the temperatures have been struggling to reach the mid-30s during the day earlier this week, not to mention hitting the high 20s/low 30s at night? Continue reading

2015_Day 53: I see pink in my future

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I often look through gardening books and make the rounds at garden centers to see what’s available for my yard and garden. Then I come up with a list of what I think I want to plant, many times writing about it. But when it comes down to actually buying the plants, there usually are deviations from the list. So it should come as no surprise that my latest visit to the garden center yielded similar results. Continue reading

2015_Day 52: Not giving up on lettuce yet

On the left is lettuce Feb. 14, after it was thinned. On the right, the lettuce this morning.

On the left is lettuce Feb. 14, after it was thinned. On the right, the lettuce this morning.

I know it’s only been a week since I thinned my lettuce containers, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say some of it is going backwards. Continue reading

2015_Day 48: Will I have Spring lettuce? Jury’s still out

IMG_1060Three days after I thinned my lettuce plants, I think it’s growing. At least it looks like it, if you closely compare left and right sides in photo with this post. Continue reading

2015_Day 46: Ready, set, Spring!

Oodles of tomato plants now can be found at local stores, a sure sign spring gardening is just around the corner.

Oodles of tomato plants now can be found at local stores, a sure sign spring gardening is just around the corner.

I feel bad for my family and friends in Wisconsin who are having to endure another round of brutally cold temperatures. February was always the hardest month for me when I lived there. Even though the shortest month of the year, February seemed to go on forever in Wisconsin, seemingly no end in sight from snowstorm after snowstorm or frigid temperatures. Many times both. And it was always dark. Dark when I went to work. Dark when I came home from work. Just depressing. Continue reading

2015_Day 45: Lettuce thinning complete, finally

The photos on the left shows each container of lettuce before thinning, the right after thinning.

The photos on the left shows each container of lettuce before thinning, the right after thinning.

It was a beautiful Saturday to thin the lettuce, which I have been meaning to do for a couple weeks now. A lot of sun and 75 degrees, it felt glorious to be doing garden work in mid-February. Continue reading

2015_Day 42: Warm weather helping lettuce

Lettuce on Feb. 11.

Lettuce on Feb. 11.

The unseasonably warm temperatures we’ve been blessed with this week are helping the lettuce. Woo-hoo! The leaves are finally starting to look more like lettuce, so I’m hopeful. And maybe one night this week, if I can get home before 9 p.m., or this weekend for sure, I’ll thin it out a bit (as suggested by a few folks).