Who is dealing with a false spring right now? Everything seems to be popping up but the fruit trees.
false spring
nothings ahead of schedule here--but we've had more frosty nights than usual for a winter.
We havent havent been too bad here for frosts in San Marcos but the highs have been above normal and we have hit stretches of spring like temps. I think you got it bad in Houston on that one dipping artic front that hit the East U.S.
We always have warm days here and there in winter--esp. in February. The only thing I've seen that made me turn my head this weekend was one of the beauty berry bushes on the east side of the house looks like it wants to bud out.
Debbie
Our Drumond Maple is putting out leaves here in New Braunfels, roses are blooming, too. That's about it so far.
Tonya
I'm a little further North and so far I've seen a blossom on my red maple and have had several milk jugs of milkweed that I had wintersowed go ahead and sprout. Occasional wildflowers popping up on the prairie. Glad I'm not a wildflower or I probably would have committed suicide already. :-
False spring? I think Feb. is the start of spring around here.
I was just cleaning out some weeds and frozen stuff and saw my first wild strawberry! Also, I bought some spent mini daffodils for $.50 at Lowes last year. I didn't think the winter would be cold enough for them, but I was willing to risk 50 cents. They're up! They don't have buds yet, but I'm so pleased that they lived. The azaleas are starting to bloom too. It's spring!
Last year it seemed like ages before some thing started popping up. By the way, my daffodils are coming up now too. They are about six inches tall but no flowers. I am getting last years and this years too.
I just had a low of 28° a couple of nights ago up here in the hills. But it's been fairly warm during the sunny part of the day. Bees are buzzing on an Arizona Ash that is blooming...but that's normally a very earlier bloomer, I think. But winter isn't through with us yet. Waiting for the next front...don't know when it'll be, but I know it'll come!
Jujube--how's that lemon drop doing?....I am so tempted to pick one of those up.
Froze here night before last too Linda (31) and high 74 yesterday afternoon, cooler today 57 now.
Debbie
The lemon drop is still chugging along. I checked and meyers lemon is at 22 degrees hardy and kumquat is 14. I am going to bet this guy can go 20 degrees but that is just a guess. I hope the future of citrus will go with edible peels. It seems such as waste that we throw away the most dense part of the fruit. It is really sweet on this guy.
Oh yeah,
I purchased a bunch of the black surinam cherries for an experiment in 8b Texas. They should be as hardy as my Meyers lemon that has been in the ground for three years. They say they are invasive 9b and up so I dont think they will escape my yard. If they did, they would surely die every 4-5 years when we get the big chill.
thanks jujube--you just convinced me to pick one up!
Debbie
I put citrus peels into my compost pile, so they aren't completely wasted. I recycle what I can. It's too bad they don't have any garbage pickup out here that collects some recyclables separately. Only in the city they get that done, apparently. We take newspapers and aluminum cans in...or sometimes we give the cans to anyone who wants to take them in.
Debbie,
You could also consider a Meiwa Kumquat as they have a sweeter peel and are more cold hardy. Their fruit is smaller but it can have multiple crops per year.
Hey Linda,
I compost all of my left over fruit parts too. Year before last I ended up with 20-30 papayas that way. Those things are like weeds they grow so fast. All the ones I didnt protect froze in winter.
Linda--there's no recycling program here either. Most of the suburbs don't have any kind of recycling program because the garbage collection is tied in with the water districts--and that is contracted out at probably the cheapest rate possible. Houston city limits proper has a fairly decent recycling program. I take cans, plastic, and glass about 10 miles to the nearest recycling center. Paper, the local schools have a box for, luckily that's only 2 blocks away and the money they make contributes to their library program. I've become pretty good at guessing what a full Toyota load consists of with just enough room left for me to safely drive. ;)
Don't forget folks, citrus rinds make excellent zest if you don't dig too deep into the rind. Not only good for baking but great on salads, in soups and lots of other things too.
Jujube--the next door neighbor has kumquats, persimmons, and satsumas so I just grow what they don't. They give me loads of them when the are ripe. So I try to grow anything they don't.
Debbie
Hey Debbie,
You should try a strawberry guava as well. Small compact tree hardy to 22 or less. Vigorous grower that you should protect from the scorching sun after 4pm in summer. The white sapote is another tree. It gives about 500-1000 pounds per year when adult. It is hardy to 24. You might even try certain Cherimoyas hardy to 25. Cherimoya is supposedly the worlds best fruit. I havent tried it yet.
mmm Strawberry guava sounds good, I'm making myself hungry here.
I want to get a Chilean Guava. It's more cold-hardy. 22° hardiness doesn't sound good for my area.
It has been a mild winter. I had tomato's up untill about Dec 10 on the same vertical grow pole with the Calundula's. The calundula's on that one pole has never missed a beat all winter. I really need to take that pole down and clean it up and get ready for replanting but the bee's are still working those flowers so I am leaving it up. To the right of the calundula pole is another pole I planted in radish, chard, and mesclun mix and they are all doing fine. You cant see them too well but there are 3 poles of sweet pea flowers and two of the poles have blooms.
On those 4x4 ft platforms, I can mount 4 poles with five pots on each pole. That gives me 20 plant sites per pole and 80 total plant sites on all four poles. In the middle of the platform, I can bottom water up to 50 one gallon pots or 16 two gallon pots. I grew 116 plants on one platform earlier this year. Three platforms in a space of 4X14 feet of space can easily grow about 400 plants. Succession planting of such crops as lettuce, radish, toy choi, chinese greens, etc, I can really churn out a lot of stuff in a years time.......especially with good weather like we have been having.
If you are interested in growing vertically, I have lots of good information I can give you. The poles you see here are by www.theexgro.com.
Correction........that should have been www.theezgro.com. And the little small grey vertical system in the foreground is made by a company named "stack and grow", www.stackandgrow.com.
Hey Linda,
Those chilean guavas are much more cold hardy. I believe it to be 10-15 degrees. You should be able to plant them outside. They like a neutral soil or slightly acidic. Make sure you shade them from late afternoon sun. They will still fruit in partial shade. I have two from Bay Flora and they are doing great.
Also, my lace elderberry leafed out today.
My wife and I did four seed trays tonight. Each tray had 72 slots. I purchased a ton of unusual edibles this year and have been dying to get my veggies started. My winter leafies are still doing good. My arugula is about the size of two basketballs.
Speak of the devil. I checked and all my asian pears, pakistan mulberries, green gage plum and apricots are budding out. One apricot is already covered in flowers. I doubt I am going to make it to mid March without another frost. My white iris already have flowers and my daffodils flowers are about to open too. You know, if we would just get rain tonight, I would be okay with losing my apricots this year. Let's all muster our mental powers to get that rain to fall.
Yes! Creative visualization, prayers, rain dance, wash the car, whatever might work! We have a chance for rain...wasn't the best percent tonight? I'm hoping to have a bed put in for those Chilean Guavas soon! Probably just outside the fence, so it'll have to be caged for deer and such.
A lot of the daff's are about to bloom here--but they are pretty much on schedule, others are about half up. Daff's depend on if they are early blooming (recommended varieties for this far down south) or mid-season varieties. No sense even trying late season daff's down here.
Meyer lemons are blooming. I lost my Peach tree in Ike and that was usually what I judged everything else against in spring.
Jaywacker--our winter has had a lot more freezes than normal, at least at my place. But "they" say we always do the winter after a major hurricane blows thru--but, as everyone knows, "they" say lots of things don't they?
I did take a chance and planted a 6' row of pole beans and 2-4' of bush beans yesterday. The ground is dry (we haven't had a drop of rain since before Christmas at my place), its warm, I have the room, and I have plenty of seeds to gamble with. The rest of the time I hacked back my Rangoon Creeper. I will have the joy of erecting a new support for it this spring, as if I did not have enough to do, courtesy of Ike.
Debbie
edited to add--is it actually trying to "drizzle" out there?!?
This message was edited Feb 8, 2009 1:47 PM
I got a hose out to the front of the property to water a tree and a little Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum (RBV) not even a foot tall. And I seemed to see a couple of leaves coming out on the RBV! So I came back to the yard and checked the larger RBV there...yeppers! Leaves are coming out! Yea! The little one in front I put out there a year ago (caged, of course) and it doesn't get watered much, being so far out. Those plants take forever to grow up here even with regular watering! Sometimes I think I'll never live long enough to see any get to anywhere near mature height. Our peach tree never starts blooming this early.
Here is a pic I just took of my backyard thermometer and the dichondra growing on the live oak tree. And it is a cloudy day and 60% chance of rain tonight. It is a good day for transplanting and I just put 18 strawberry plants in these little stackapots vertical systems.
Whoops! here is the thermometer and dichronda. my goof.
Linda, My chilean guava have put about 2 inches on each branch in the last 10 days. They say that deer leave them alone and so far mine have been untouched.
We have an 50 percent chance of rain tonight in San Marcos and there are already sprinkles between here and Houston. The weather guy said the jet stream is starting to dip so we should be more rain in the central Texas area. I hope. We only received 17 inches last year. We had 40+ inches the year before.
Scarlett quince and pineapple quince both have buds. The loquats have small fruit and have started flowering again.
Nice yard Jaywacker. I wont send you pics of mine after seeing yours.
Thanks........I didnt get that fence put up untill July of last summer. Now that I am free of deer........I have gone nuts. Im setting here salivating over all those fruit plants ya'll are talking about. I know absolutely nothing about growing fruit and may have to tap you all for some advise later on. I do know I wont to get a fig tree but am undecided about the other stuff. What grows fast in this area? Has anyone had experience with "wonderberry".
I looked at that but couldnt remember why I didnt go for it. I think you grow it like an annual veggie.
I didn't realize we'd had a "mild" winter here in north Texas until I noticed this weekend that the Coral Nymph Salvia and Bat Face Cupheas are putting up new growth. These are supposed to be "annuals" for this area.
Carla
My salvias started shooting up three weeks ago. Egad. I have had my tropicals out since last week.