Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[bigbull338]

well to me maters are cheaper to grow than they are to buy from the stores.i think i spent less than $30 putting in the garden.an prolly got over $300 in produce out of it so far.

 

[jinman]

well to me maters are cheaper to grow than they are to buy from the stores.i think i spent less than $30 putting in the garden.an prolly got over $300 in produce out of it so far.

Congratulations! I mean that sincerely. If you have a place where you can drop in a garden and not spend hours and dollars tending it, then you are a lucky man. I'm not poking fun here. The place where I grew up had soil that just about grew anything we planted. All it needed was the attention of a couple of teenage boys with hoes to keep the weed population down. My current place is just not like that. I've got the $25k tractor with the $2k tiller just to prep the ground. I had to haul in about 300 yds of material just to build my garden on top of clay. We have a deer fence around the garden that was about $250 and 12 soaker hoses at about $15 each. Add to that the mulch, fertilizer, compost, and insecticide and you are pushing another $100 in cost. That doesn't count the time my wife and I spend watering, hoeing, and picking. Considering time is money, I think we are producing some very expensive veggies. Last year's production was a little over 1,000 lb for our garden, so we are definitely getting some payback, but we gave 2/3 of the stuff away, so those on the receiving end were the real benefactors.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love to garden and I'm happy with the results. It's just that in my own personal experience, we could do better by just buying local grown at the local produce market. At some point over the years, I'll reach the break-even and go-ahead points on garden expenditures, but I'm a long way from that at this point even though I'm not even close to giving it up.

 

[pacerron]

Maybe it's just psychological but to my wife and I, it just tastes better when picked ripe a few minutes or the same day it is eaten.
Her canned veggies tomatoes, pickles, pears etc, and frozen blueberries are much better than store stuff.
And we know what kind of pooh and chemicals are used on them.

 

[Alien]

I am not a gardener. I found that out. My potatoes sort of grew and I managed a feed off them. My beans did grow, but no pods. My peas grew but not enough to bother picking. Just ate what was left off the vines. (about 6 of them) Silver beet got eaten by bugs. My corn got eaten by the horse who leaned over the fence. Pumpkins, what pumpkins? Nup, never again, all I did was harvest weeds every week.

 

[NativeSon]

100* yesterday at 2 pm, finally dropped below 100* about 5pm. They've put out heat alerts for today from 11am till 9pm. Forcasted high today is 103* and highs will be 100 or above through Fri.

I'm going to try to get some mowing done and the garden watered this morning and quitting time today will be about noon. It'll be too hot to sit out on the deck even if you have a lot of the appropriate beverage.

Ya'll try to stay cool. When it gets this hot you have to be very careful.

Charlie

 

[bindian]

Going to work thru downtown Houston at 8:15 last night. Outside air temperature gage read 102. 101 after getting thru downtown........ and 99 at Hobby Airport at 8:30.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Western]

105* here today. Got up early and started "dragging hoses". No wind and high heat made for a nasty day. Cool down coming Friday, high supposed to be 99*. Nice to be home, but the wife and daughter are flying out in the morning to visit her dad near Ft Bragg. So I'll sit here and "simmer" for 10 days:laughing:

 

[Bird]

Dennis, it was 104 for a long time this afternoon, supposed to be about the same tomorrow and I need to mow, edge, and trim the yards. I plan to start early and hope to survive the heat.

 

[Western]

Dennis, it was 104 for a long time this afternoon, supposed to be about the same tomorrow and I need to mow, edge, and trim the yards. I plan to start early and hope to survive the heat.

Early is the only way to do it, still a bit warm in the evening. I thought the humidity was high, at least thats what it felt like, but the weatherman said it was under 50%. It was just plain hot ..

 

[blueriver]

Have y'all got grasshoppers bad? Between the heat, grasshoppers and no rain the grass is going quick.

 

[Bird]

The NWS had forecast a low of 74 for us this morning. It got down to 83. I saw a Dallas weatherman on TV mentioning 106 yesterday being the first time it's gotten that hot this early in the year since 1980. Dallas folks who were around back then may recall 1980 as the hottest summer ever in Dallas.

And my wife asked me last night if I'd noticed all the grasshoppers in our yard. I saw my first one 5 days ago, so I guess they've now arrived in force.

I've been mowing every 4 to 5 days, but after today I expect once a week will be plenty.

 

[Western]

Bird, I remember 1980!! That was awe-full. My 1st car, a 1973 t-bird, had no A/C. By the time I flipped enough burgers and stacked enough grocerys to pay for a new compressor it was winter and I didn't need A/C:laughing:

BR, I have just recently have seen the large Grass hoppers in any numbers, I have been seening quite a few of the small "green" ones for a month now, but mostly in the damp areas of my lawn. I have seen the obliterate a good coastal field in 2-3 days, almost before you knew you had a problem and could react.

 

[jinman]

We have seen some grasshoppers in our garden, but nothing like AlanL has northeast of McKinney, Tx. I'd rate our population as normal. However, our temperatures sure aren't normal. I worked outside on my tractor with canopy until about noon yesterday. We had a slight breeze from the north and I thought that would keep us cool, but this high pressure ridge extends all the way up to Montana, so the north breeze is no cooler than the normal southern breeze. Yesterday afternoon, we had all our lawn watering done and decided to treat ourselves to a movie in our basement home theater. It sure was nice to kick back and watch that movie in cool comfort while seeing our outside thermometer going up to 108.4 F. That thermometer transmitter is in the shade on the north side of our house, so I'm sure it is very accurate. Hang in there, Mr. Air Conditioner. Don't fail me now!

 

[Bird]

In spite of heavy watering day before yesterday and finishing yesterday morning, I was sure stirring up the dust this morning. You'd have thought there hadn't been any water on the yard in a month. But the grass isn't as thick and tall as it's been the other times I've mowed this year, so just an hour and a quarter with the string trimmer, then about 45 minutes with the ZTR and done in 2 hours. Of course I started about 10 minutes before 7 a.m., so it wasn't bad at all.

 

[Western]

In spite of heavy watering day before yesterday and finishing yesterday morning, I was sure stirring up the dust this morning. You'd have thought there hadn't been any water on the yard in a month. But the grass isn't as thick and tall as it's been the other times I've mowed this year, so just an hour and a quarter with the string trimmer, then about 45 minutes with the ZTR and done in 2 hours. Of course I started about 10 minutes before 7 a.m., so it wasn't bad at all.

I kept watching for you to pull up with your equipment to do my lawn:laughing: You never showed so I had to go get some mulch for a couple trees. I think I'll wait for the "cool front" Friday or Saturday to mow mine. Supposed to only get to 99*

 

[jinman]

think I'll wait for the "cool front" Friday or Saturday to mow mine. Supposed to only get to 99*

99 F. . . Woohoo! Put up the Ice On Bridge signs.

 

[Western]

99 F. . . Woohoo! Put up the Ice On Bridge signs.

No kidding!!Ironically when I was in West Texas, I did notice that DOT or whomeve,r had not closed the "Icy bridge" warning signs. Oh Well, I have to go out today and put out around 3000# of asphalt patch, so it will probably feel 199*

 

[Bird]

No kidding!!Ironically when I was in West Texas, I did notice that DOT or whomeve,r had not closed the "Icy bridge" warning signs. Oh Well, I have to go out today and put out around 3000# of asphalt patch, so it will probably feel 199*

I don't think they close those signs anywhere in the state anymore; don't know about other states. If I remember right, someone years ago tried to sue the state for not having the sign opened when they hit ice on a bridge, and of course, DOT can't always get out soon enough and with enough people to open all the signs when there might be ice, so they just leave them open all the time.

I guess that's kind of like a sign I saw at the end of a bridge in Arizona that said "No Fishing From Bridge" and I didn't see any sign that there'd ever been any water under that bridge.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

Yeah, Bird. The "Bridges may ice in cold weather" signs have always amused me since they replaced the folding "Ice on bridge" signs with them. How long before we have to have signs that say, "Ice patches may be slick," or something similar? How about "The fool in front of you may slam on his brakes when he gets to the far side of the icy bridge." Now, that would be helpful.:laughing::laughing:

 

[pacerron]

We just hit 101 degrees. Everything is turning brown.
We had to call out the "Jinman Water Head" just to keep the garden alive.
The black sunflower seeds from the bird seed bag are starting to form blooms.