THURSDAY, Aug 24: Texas "Coffee" and Gardening in the AM

THURSDAY, Aug 24: Texas "Coffee" and Gardening in the AM

Is it morning already? =)

HAHA...No, but seems I've been forgetting lately...so I decided to "jump the gun" so to speak!! :)

Y'all should see the set of dishes I got at TJ Maxx a few days ago..made in Japan...kinda free-form bowls...for noodles and smaller ones....egg-shaped plates..."glasses" made of pottery....and a teapot...but NO CUPS have shown up yet...That store is like an "Easter-Egg" hunt!!! The dishes are a sort of soft metallic brick red...I love them...and SOOO cheap!!

I want to throw out a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ms_Merae this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

Connie, I love TJMaxx too. Lots of good stuff among the junk!

Can you post a picture of your new dish set?

Michelle

Good morning everyone!

Thank you Michelle! Guess what I got for my b-day? 5 EB's and the Texas Gardener Magazine!!!! The EB's arrived yesterday - hence why I know already. My dad, mom, Scott and Scott's mom all went in and got me the EB's and my SIL sent me an email this morning and said to be on the look out for the Texas Gardener magazine. I am the happiest b-day girl ever....well except for the fact I had to get up so darn early and come to work to meet an early morning deadline.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Birthday Ms_Merae!! Wow! You lucked out with your birthday gifts. Have fun!

Happy Birthday Ms_Merae ~ you have a special SIL. The Tx Gardener is a favorite and one you will enjoy time and again.

5 EBs? I'm GREEN with envy!!!!!! How exciting. My step mom gets TX Gardener magazine and so she gives them to my sister when she is done and then my sister gives them to me. I very much enjoy them.

O.K., I'm not playing with a full deck this morning, so what's an EB? Maybe my brain cells will come out of my med fog by noon, at least I'm hoping. If not, I'm going back to bed and start over! LOL. Quiet morning around here so far. Pot plants have been watered, tea is brewing and laundry is started, so it's my DG play time.

dancey and podster, thank you for the birthday wishes. I am very excited about the magazine pod. I love reading through magazines when I want to get a quick read. I get Southern Living and sometimes I clip articles and put them in a "gardening" binder that I have. I know I will enjoy it, such a nice gift.

crowelli - an EB is short for an Earthbox. I am sorry for abbreviating it. I am so used to posting on the Tomato or Container forum and just saying EB that it did not occur to me that I should have spelled it out. oops. An earthbox is a self watering planter for growing vegetables. Tomatoholic aka Michelle introduced me to them. The tomato plants that she grew in hers were absolutely beautiful. I just started 2 of my own with 4 tomato plants and am so excited to have more. I think they will be perfect for the fall garden because if we know that frost is coming I can move them into my garage for protection and hopefully not lose the plants. Also, I have a terrible time trying to make beds in my rock ridden back yard, so this is a lazy way for me to get to have a vegetable garden. They are a bit expensive in my opinion, but they are well worth it and explains why I asked for them for my birthday. You can order just a box or you can order a box with the soil, fertilizer, etc. We just get the boxes and they are about $40 each or less if you get them in quantity. That is probably more than you want to know, but I am so excited and kinda chatty today.

Michelle - About the EB's...see what you started? It's all your fault. lol. I can't wait to get them set up. I am trying to come up with more veggies to plant for fall since I do not have any seedlings. I would not think that nurseries have any small tomato plants for fall, but you can bet I will be calling around. :-)


Everyone - Just an idea....what do yall think about having one coffee mug for like a whole week or for Sunday-Wed and one for Thurs-Sat? I hope yall don't take this the wrong way, because I certainly enjoy chatting with yall. When you go to the Texas Gardening forum, you see about 4 coffee cups on the first page. I was thinking that it might be considerate to others who don't like to chat and also it would be easier to find other posts in between the coffee cups. What do yall think?

Merae --- who is hoping that yall don't get offended by my idea.

crow, an EB is an earthbox. It is the latest and greatest in container gardening. If you would like details: www.earthbox.com

Since we have so much limestone and coliche (sp) just under the top layer of soil here in Austin, it is difficult to plant gardens unless you do a raised bed or containers. For tomatoes in particular, they do very well in an EB b/c it has a water resevoire underneath and are watered thru a tube. The roots get lots of air and the plant pulls up the water that it needs so you can't over water or under water it. And maters are so sensitive to over/under watering! You can use really great soil with additives like dolomite lime for tomato plant health as well as a band of fertilizer across the top away from the side where the maters are planted so they can use the fertilizer as the plant needs it.

I am fortunate that I live in an area that was all farmland...Scofield family owned it and farmed and ranched here. Matter of fact, when I moved to Austin from San Jose back in 1992, this area where my house sits was still all farmland. So I don't have the annoying huge limestone veins and coliche that most people have here in Austin. The Scofield folks already did the hard work of digging it all up. But where Merae lives, it is next to impossible to till up a nice garden area without a sledgehammer, so she is investing in EBs for her tomatoes, etc.

Ahhhh...Merae answered you the same time I did.

Adding my "Happy Birthday" to you also Merae....Sandi

Thank you Sandi!

Happy birthday, Merae!!

Thank you Marylyn!

My b-day present to myself.....Left work as soon as I finished my project deadline, went to Red Barn and bought several tomato and jalepeno plants. I have mealy bugs on my coleus that I have been fighting for more than a month now, so I am gonna yank em out and replace them with some new Graffiti Penta's I picked up today. The graffiti penta is a really deep red, that I haven't seen before....really pretty. Also, picked up a couple more ixora's. Now I just need it to call off about 30 degrees so I can get out there and work.

Merae...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the idea!!! Duh...why didn't I think of that??? ha...
I was just copying an idea from the ...is it the jokes forum? I actually think one a week would do...I post on the word association thread and sometimes it goes a 1000 posts!!

So....how about Sunday...since that's the real first day of the week???

One post to add to all week is an excellent idea, and I won't feel guilty when I don't do a good job backing Connie up.

Happy Friday everyone! Today I am watering outside and cleaning inside. Both are absolutely essential at this time. I'm not sure that the house is not too far gone, but we are too tired to move. lol

My sister is moving though, and I am so excited. She has a new job in Austin and has leased a home in Round Round. She'll be just an hour and a half away instead of the four hours to Lubbock. She'll be able to visit our mother more too, and perhaps Mother will feel up to a short trip now and then to see her. Now I'll have a home base when I want to nursery shop in Austin! (She thinks I'm excited just because I want to see her!) I'm going to help her unpack and organize a bit around the middle of September. Maybe it will cool off just a little by then.

Enjoy the day and keep dancing for rain.

Merae,
Red Barn had tomato plants? no way!! What did you get...come on, details!! I want to see what your grafiti penta looks like too.

I think I'm going to pull up my Stupice today. She is looking pretty bad...and I will have room then to set the EB in that spot if I pull her up. I was hoping it would cool down soon so the few mater plants I have left over from spring would start producing again. my Delicious did that last year. There were only 3 that looked good enough not to pull up: Cherokee Purple, Stupice and Black Krim. However, in the last week, both the CP and Stupice have taken a turn for the worst.

Hey Patrob, happy friday to you too. that is great news about your sister moving to the Austin area. RR has become a big city all in its own now!

Michelle

Good morning everyone. I have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to check DG this morning. I think I was starting to get the shakes from withdrawals. HAHA. Whew, Connie, I am relieved that you liked the idea. Seriously, I was a bit worried that I had offended you. I am silly like that sometimes. Ha ha Patrob, about the house... As I was about to leave this morning I was disgusted. As my mom used to tell me when I wouldn't clean my room....it looks like a pig sty. (sp?) I promised myself I would do a deep cleaning tonight. Pretty exciting Friday night, huh? I watered everything pretty good last night....I hope. I know it is best to water in the morning but it is so darn hard to get up extra early to go do it all, so sometimes I have to do it in the evening. This morning I went out and sprayed Messenger on the tomato plants I had already in their Earthboxes and the new tomato and pepper plants I got yesterday. Michelle, RB had beautiful tomato plants that are ready to plant. They are about a foot tall. They are the stockiest little tomato plants. You can definitely tell the difference between growing them under lights and outside. They did not have lots of different varieties. I picked up a couple more Celebrity, a couple of Grape Tomato plants, and a six pack of an unnamed variety. I felt sorry for the lady that was helping me because I asked her what they were and she was looking and couldn't find a tag either and then made a sad face and said.."oh..now I won't be able to sell them, who wants to buy a tomato they don't know what it is"....well I am a huge sucker. They were such pretty plants and I could not stand the thought of no one wanting them. So I took a six pack and told her that they will be my "Surprise" tomato. he he. They also had lots of "444" "Sunmaster" and "Large Cherry Tomato" I will be getting out there early in the am and getting all of my new EB's setup. I will post pics for you tomorrow. I FINALLY got my camera back. I will also take a pic of the new graffiti red penta for ya'll too. I love it and can't wait to get em planted.

That is all for now. Will check back in later. Happy Friday to everyone from me too. :-)

Merae, I'm so excited about all your tomato plant finds at RB. Cool!! You are making me want to go and get some more....but Bryan would kill me! I have snipped some cuttings from current plants that look really good up top and see if they will root and I might have to find a place for them. hehe. Not sure where since all spots are taken. All my seedlings are doing well in spite of 102 yesterday and every day. I'll be interested to see what your mystery maters are!!

I finally washed my car this morning...it was terribly disgusting...and I know water is on short supply, but I couldn't take it anymore. But I used as little as possible and did it right by the grass so it got some water. I figure it like this...it NEVER fails that it rains within 24 hours that I wash my vehicle. So I figure I'm doing everyone in N. Austin a favor by washing it. :)

Need to go to WM for various food and bath items today. I read in the Austin paper that a fellow came in and stole a TV in our WM that is on IH35 between Parmer and Howard. On the way out, an 67 yr old WM employee asked to see his receipt and the evil guy picked up the tv and wacked the old man in the head and knocked him down. They are looking for this beast now. I have a bad feeling it is Edmond...the old fellow I chat with when I walk in and out of my WM. He is such a sweet man. I hope they find this jerk for not only robery, but wacking a nice old man down. I'll ask when I'm there if I don't see Edmond today.

Michelle

If you haven't already seen crowellli's posting on maggiemoo's "she's here!", read it. She explains why God gives us grandchildren. Further, she shares a story about her son planting chickens!
I read it this morning after I had watched a Katrina special I'd taped. 'Was a little bummed seeing it. My family lives in Biloxi. Area still looks like a war zone. Anyway, afterward I clicked onto DG, scrolled the TX forum, and read the grandbaby thread. Crowellli's post made me laugh...out loud...!!! Lifted the spirit, so to speak.....

Happy Friday everybody! It's still really hot here and so very dry. I should take a picture of our pasture and post it here........or maybe not. It's pretty depressing, just dirt.

Got everything watered well early this morning and set the sprinklers for the lawn. Walked over and checked on Mother's gardens and visited with her a while. We walked her gardens, looked, and talked plants. Then I came in and cleaned house. I don't think we will mow the lawn this weekend. It's too dry right now.
Lin

Well...went to Governor's Mansion Picnic (benefit for the Mansion's upkeep...sponsored by "Friends of the Governor's Mansion") tonight. Sat at a table with 8 friends. Here's a pic I had a friend take of DH and me with the Gov....he's so photogenic...even tho the lady who took the pic shook the camera!!!

Great photo, Connie! Hobnobbin' with the Guv....And we,... on the other hand, just had fajitas at Maudie's last night....sigh..............

Hey..I CAN clean up occasionally...come in from diggin' in dirt....spray on a liberal dose of Secret.....and not make a handsome man grimace when he has to take a pic with me!!! :)

Today we're headed for Houston for a wedding....I'm going to post next week's thread when I return...so just go ahead and FILL 'ER UP on this one until I return....give me reading material when I return...

Connie---you are such a pretty woman. That is a great picture of you and the governor. Who else is that in the pic? Is that your DH?

Dancey -- yep no mowing over here this weekend either. Partly because everything is not growing and just barely surviving and partly because I just about passed out being out there earlier and decided that I better be careful and choose what I do out there wisely. It is very depressing. Gardening is something that brings me so much joy, and I just feel deprived of it right now.

My niece just called from Biloxi....they've made reservations in Jackson, and plan to leave the Coast on Wednesday. Not going to chance another hurricane. I don't think I could live like that, watching the Weather Channel every time a storm brewed. I grew up there and until Camille....we never had to worry.
I spent this morning spraying fish emulsion on all my plants. I usually mix up a batch in the wheelbarrow and pour it onto the roots. Thought I'd try this today since it's too hot to be out very long anyway. Messenger seems to have made all my plants happy. The backyard is kind of "jungley.'' Haven't put any tomatoes out yet. Did read in one of my garden pubs that a man was using two Tums for each tomato plant for calcium! May try that.
I have a ''bulls-eye'' in the street in front of my house . 'Couldn't imagine why. Seems the fire dept. has marked the spots where people should gather in case of a fire in the canyon to wait for a school bus to evacuate! Guess this is for kids, or whomever, that may be home alone and not have transportation. Wish it would rain......

Well, slap me nekkid, I've just sprayed the roses and plumerias for fungus an it's raining. Hasn't rained in I don't know when, but let me break down and spray something on plants, and it immediately rains just barely enough to wash it all off! A downpour for all of four minutes and then nothing more, not enough to do any good, just enough to wash all my spray off! So, if you're suffering from drought in your area, you can hire me to come spray a plant and it'll rain immediately! LOL

Crow I sure need you to come to my house! LOL Just a sprinkle or two but be nice. It's been a while since I've seen it this dry. All counties around us including our county is still under a burn ban. A lot of large trees are dieing.

We had about 20 minutes of light rain. Can't say it helped any plants or trees, but it did cool down for the evening. Hopefully they are right in saying we have a better chance at rain tomorrow, but we take what we can get.

I'm really tired of being spit on! There are storms southwest of us, and they should be coming our way. But I have been watching the radar, and they will likely fizz or go around us. Bummer.

Yes...that's Roger in the pic with me and the Governor....hehe

Just returned from Houston and then eating with my son at P.F.Chang's....yum....

I'll start this week's thread now...one a week now...such a great idea, Merae!!!

Connie, great pic of you and DH with Guv Perry. My niece's class took a field trip to the Capitol building and while they were outide reading the 10 Commandments memorial that (praise God ) is still there, a limo drove up and out came Guv Perry. He actually stopped and chatted with Elizabeth's class for 10-15 minutes and even quoted some scripture from the book of Luke when one of Liz's classmates said she wanted to be a doctor. My sister said she was too shocked to think of taking a picture! DUH!!!

Merae, that's right, you weren't with us when we met Connie's DH Roger. He is a handsome fellow!

Not a drop of rain here. Everything is crispy outside. I'm watering constantly. My cousins are bragging that it is only highs of 70's and have had lots of rain in Amarillo.

Michelle...aw...I'll have to quote you to the Rog...he will be flattered! :)

I think we got a bit of rain here in Lakeway today....the plants were damp! (ones in pots that I hand-water)

Here's the link to the new thread....

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/643188/

Try this one..... http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/644683/

Sheila...what WOULD I do without you????? And you are so modest...."Try this one...." I would have said, "Get it right, bimbo!!!" haha

You were in a bit of a loop there, huh. LOL!