Gardener's Watch

Mushrooms

2012-01-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

When I think of mushrooms I usually think of a pizza topping. For the longest time I didn't realize I had been eating them in my chinese food for years, they just didn't look like pizza toppings.

My yard doesn't usually get mushrooms popping up but my yard is usually really dry and mushrooms like a good bit of moisture to grow. By the time it rains here it's also gotten colder. If it gets too cold mushrooms don't like that either. In southeast Texas in the piney woods area the moisture is much better mushroom growing. the rains are more frequent and the temperatures usually milder. Of course there are those people who water their yards so much that it seems like a nice long rain has occurred. In that case you can spot the occasional mushroom sprouting up here and there right in the middle of an otherwise well kept yard.

Springing Plants

2012-01-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know who told them to but I have several plants, most notably the lamb's ear and echinacea, sprouting and shooting up like there's no winter left but little do they know it's going to freeze again tonight.
One of the plants I don't think will mind too much is the snow pea plant. I believe I misidentified it as a edamame. Well I couldn't remember what I planted in that pot I just knew that I gave up on it when all of the pots baked in what felt like a 400 degree oven that is the metroplex...
The agave plants likewise should have no problem with the cold. There are lots of them in the area and none of them so far have had any really bad effects from the cold.
The fennel likewise is making a comeback and the wild onion is actually a little late it feels like. There are a few up front but the back seems a little lacking in that field...

Alum Root?

2012-01-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

As far as I can tell the little plants we have growing outside the house are Alum. If anyone knows different please let me know. I'm pretty sure they aren't zucchini but I only did a quick mug shot search of other plants and can't be positive of it's identification.

Potager's Other Stuff

2012-01-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

Potager has always been a place you could go in and sit down to a good meal. The owner Cynthia has decided to go further and open a store just down the way where there used to be a coffee shop, and then another. Don't worry too much if you've happened in there for a cup though. She'll still have coffee but she'll have a lot of other stuff too, all relating to living naturally, and yes coffee is natural as far as I'm concerned.

I thought it was interesting that even near the shops there are rosemary bushes along the street. No need to run to the store for any of that. She also has a garden outside the restaurant.

At the new store though she'll have a lot of the ingredients she uses for sale from different local suppliers. These will range from fresh fruit and veggies to meat, cheese and eggs. There will also be a wide range of local artisan crafts featuring herbs and gardening.

Located in downtown Arlington it's a great place to look around and when you're done just hop across the street for lunch.

Crochet Class at UTA

2012-01-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

So this isn't necessarily... ok, anything like a garden post but I can't help myself.
I will be teaching a class on basic crochet at UTA this spring. It will be from April 14 to the 28 for three Saturdays. Even if you have no idea how to crochet, as long as you keep at it you will be able to do a simple project by the end of the last class. Most of you are probably out of the area and won't be able to make it but if you live in the metroplex just go to UTA's continuing education site here.

Agave Babies

2012-01-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

It's so cute when a plant decides to have a family. Agave seems to want to keep it's kids close. I'm probably going to have to get these babies new homes though. Fortunately I don't think it will get any separation anxiety.

Potager Cafe Open House Today

2012-01-13T23:10:00.000-08:00

The wonderful folks out at Potager Cafe are having their third anniversary open house and my wife and I will be out there supporting them and the other local craft people.

You can find more info at Potager's site following this link. http://www.potagercafe.com/2012/01/11/open-house-for-potagers-other-stuff-this-saturday/

My wife will have her book for sale, A Walk Through Dandylyon's Garden. We hope to see a lot of people out there to support their wonderful cafe.

Edamame Flowers

2012-01-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

So far the edamame vine has kept growing even in below freezing temperatures. The flowers are even still blooming. Not sure how cold it will take but so far all resources suggest it doesn't grow so well in such temps. I guess we'll see how much longer it keeps growing.

Edit: I haven't fertilized them. In fact I forgot I planted them until they came up and started blooming. I had given up the pots on the side of the house since the heat over the summer killed most everything. There's also a radish or some sort of root type veggie growing in one of the pots too.

Blotanical v2

2012-01-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

One of the best sites out there for gardeners is getting a facelift and more functionality. Scheduled to go online in February this year we are sure to be able to expect some neat things and continued posts from gardeners around the world. Blotanical

Here is a link to their screen shot they've posted as a preview.

Winter Postponed

2012-01-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

So far winter has decided not to make too much of an impression. It's cool enough to keep grass from growing much but for the most part it's been a nice mild winter. January and February are still ahead but so far I really can't complain about the weather.
We had some nice rain, which was desperately needed even in Austin where my brother was having his wedding but was not rained out. The heat this winter is enough that many of my not so cold hardy plants are still producing and the wild onion in the back doesn't think it's time to come up yet.
The down side is that the ants don't think it's winter yet either and are still mounding and preparing for spreading. I've killed many ants already.

Pruning Trees

2011-12-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

It's cold and sometimes rainy, a perfect time of year to make a nice cup of tea and wrap up in a warm blanket.
It's also the perfect time of year to get some needed pruning done. The trees are dormant and for us in Arlington we have pretty nice weather.
There are three reasons to prune a tree, shaping, fruit production and removing damaged or dead material.
If you want to shape a tree you first need to figure out what shape you want the tree to take on. This will depend on what kind of tree it is and where it was planted. An apple tree for instance usually need plenty of room to spread out and you would thus prune the branches to give plenty of room between the main limbs. If you moved into a house where the apple tree is in a more cramped space you might do something similar but with the branches moving more upward, cutting off branches that might want to be hitting the house or other structures.

For fruit production you will want to remove sucker branches. These grow more or less straight up from the trunk or sometimes large branches. they usually don't produce fruit but are easy to remove since they are new and green. You would remove these in the spring when they form. They can also be removed in the winter but by this time will have become woody. If you bought a bush from the store then the rootstock might not be the same as the rest of the bush. Suckers originating from the base may not even be of the same type and can take over if not removed.
For removing dead or damaged limbs you will need to figure out what limbs need removing and make sure you have removed enough. A rotted limb might go into a larger limb and the entire thing might need removing. This happened with my fig tree. A limb as big around as my arm had to be cut out. The next year it produced better than ever since it didn't have to work on healing as much.
One of the main things to consider with any pruning is making sure the tree as a whole is not damaged in the process. A cut too far back can damage the limb or trunk the pruned limb is being cut off of. Better in that case not to cut too much lest you have to cut the next branch too.

Update:
I would recommend cutting these off as soon as you see them start to grow.

Winter Gardening

2011-12-14T18:03:00.000-08:00

Gardening in the winter isn't something everyone can do. It is one of the few things living in the metroplex allows. Sure our summer this year killed almost everything but this winter has been a great growing time. We've got some beets, cilantro and plenty of herbs thriving everywhere. Sure they're not as glamorous as red tomatoes or majestic sun flowers but carrots, beets, cabbage, peas and many other veggies can be grown and taste so much better in the fall and winter months. Continued planting also keeps the soil up and keeps weeds down.

Pesto Time Again

2011-12-07T08:57:00.001-08:00

I harvested several large basil plants, some forming woody stems, to make pesto before cooler frost hit last night. I got a mix of purple and green but after you blend it all together you can't really tell, it's just a little darker than normal.
The long part of making pesto is picking the leaves off of the plant. You don't want the woody stem in the pesto since it won't cook down quite right when you add it to a dish. i can't imagine eating pasta with chicken or possibly shrimp and finding a hard woody piece of basil in the mix.
The recipe I used calls for pine nuts, but I used walnuts instead, along with garlic and olive oil. As usual it took a while for the leaves to get chopped up enough to blend well but in the end it made 16 cubes of pesto. One cube is plenty to season a pasta dish for my wife and me and should last most of the year the way we use it. Last year we didn't get quite as much and had to get some pesto from the store.
I tossed the flower heads along with the stems back into the garden to finish reseeding for next year's crop. There were also some smaller basil plants up front that I left. The mild freeze seemed to have mostly gotten to them and weren't many good leaves to use.

The End of November

2011-11-30T14:54:00.001-08:00

Winter will be taking hold soon as the last month of the year comes up. Harvesting should be finished soon if it hasn't already unless you live in a very southern part of the country.
Here in the metroplex we've had unusually warm weather. No real frost to speak of. It was a little unusual this morning when I turned my wipers on. At first it wiped off just fine. They were on intermitant and as soon as I had any real speed, over 10 mph) the water froze and the blades scraped against them. Once I got really moving though the water was liquid again. It was just on the edge it seemed.

The Basil has Survived

2011-11-28T09:24:00.001-08:00

I wasn't sure about it but going out in the middle of the night to pick basil wasn't very high on my priorities. The weather guy said it was supposed to reach freezing but just barely. When I got up I went outside to look and they seemed fine. I'll check again when I get home just in case they got colder as the sun was rising.
The coldest time of day is often just after sunrise before the sun has had a chance to really change the temperature any.

Anticipating the First Frost

2011-11-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

The first frost of the year is really hard to pin down here in Arlington since we're smack dab in the middle of the metroplex. the temperature here is usually at leas five degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas due to reflected heat off of pavement and millions of vehicles running constantly, or at least it feels like it.

Rains are coming regularly now keeping the plants happy but the temperatures like to roll up and down. tonight for instance it's supposed to drop into the 30's but the rest of the week is supposed to be low of 50-60 with highs in the 70's. We've really only had a few weeks of decent growing time since the heat decided to take a break and the rain came back. Now with freezing weather just barely out of the current forecast it's almost nerve wrecking. When will it arrive and will the current crops be ripe enough to pick before it does?

Have to keep a watchful eye out. I reall don't want to loose my basil or tomatoes. Fortunately the wild onion is coming up again. I never can get a grasp on exactly where they are from year to year since they seem to move a little. they're one plant that likes the frost.

Lady in a Boat - Purple setcressea

2011-11-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me what common names are shared by, at times, many plants. When down south this plant was introduced to me by the above name by not a few different people.

When looking up the name in a search it didn't come up at all but was in the same group of plants, groundcovers.

Apple Season

2011-11-14T10:08:00.000-08:00

I know fruit lovers usually know that when winter comes it's citrus time. Unfortunately it seems that these same people seem to forget that apple season is here and now is the time you can get some really good apples.

I was listening to the radio some years ago and they were interviewing a guy who helped develop new apples. By the sounds of it there were supposed to be several new types that sounded very promising. Unfortunately I can't recall ever seeing any of the varieties he mentioned. This could be due to many reasons, the most probable being a renaming of the variety to better suit the apple or because someone with more clout decided to name it after his dog. Don't laugh, I've seen it done with street names.

Even though I don't think I will be tasting some of what they were working on we can still be happy knowing that many varieties are available and can be used for a wide range of foods.

Generally for my tastes I like a sweet and crunchy apple for eating. The more tart apples like Granny Smith I use in making pies. the mealier ones can be either juiced or made into sauce.

Any way you slice it, peel it, cut it up into little chunks, apples make great snacks.

It's 4 O'clock Somewhere

2011-11-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

It's four o'clock somewhere and that's exactly what these flowers believe too. These pictures were taken around 6:30. I have to say they were on their way out at this point but that's a long happy hour if you ask me.

Frost on the Windshield

2011-11-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Extreme weather really is a problem here. We don't get the coldest winters but we get them cold enough, and unfortunately not consistantly cold, that it keeps most produce from growing quite right.
Head south and you have the humidity and the gulf keeping things in check. Go north and you have winters that stay cold and don't jump to the mid eighties all of the sudden convincing your broccoli and lettuce to bolt. Head east even and you start to hit a little more humidity. By the time you reach Louisiana green is a major color in the landscape.
Couple that with the grey blotch you can see in images from space, the grand mass of concrete which keeps this area nearly 5 degrees hotter than surrounding areas and there goes your moisture.
I was watching the weather a few weeks ago when we were supposed to have rain and you could see the clouds and rain part in the middle as it reached the metroplex. There was so little humidity and so much heat that it absorbed the clouds before they could do much of anything.
Yet here I am still. What can I say, I live really close to work.

Agave Growth

2011-10-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

The agave has grown to more than twice its size since last year and has procuced three little ones from the roots. The little guy is about the same size as the big one was when I pulled it out of the ground after it had been mowed down several times by the landscapers at the university.

Unusual Visitor - Orange-Barred Sulphur Butterfly

2011-10-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

It took a little searching to figure out what this little girl was. I say girl because the males are more orange, thus the name.
I don't know why she came up this far north. Usually they stay in the south, only occasionally visiting south Texas. More often you can find them in Brazil or possibly south Florida. I guess she was atracted by the turk's cap she was feeding on.
Unfortunately I didn't have the pleasure of taking this picture but my wife did along with several other pictures of the yard and gardens.

Squash Garden

2011-10-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

The squase plants are really startgin to produce squash. There are several squash forming as well as a ton of flowers. The bees don't seem to mind and are all over it.

I'm planning on haveing a lot of squash soup and other dishes soon.

Etsy Treasury Art Print

2011-10-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

One of the art prints in my etsy shop has been added to a treasury! Lots of green here.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/ODY0NTY0NHw5MTA3NzA5MDc/rainforest-green?show_panel=true
It's one of the ones from the trip to Samana, Dominican Republic. Hope I can go back soon, it was lovely there.

Arlington Community Gardens - Arbor Construction

2011-10-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

The Rotary Club came out to the gardens this last Saturday. It took several hours of measuring, cutting and a couple misplaced boards but the result was fantastic. I had to leave before the table was put back in place but even so it was a great project. You could feel the cool from the shade instantly.
Plenty of water was provided to keep the workers hydrated and working. Fortunately the heat stayed at bay making the work much more pleasant.
From the garden the view of the arbor was great. Hopefully this will attract more visitors to see the nice planter beds.