It's HOT in Texas

It's officially hot in Texas. I'm growing sun dried tomatoes. I pulled a grape tomato off the vine that was already sun dried!

I'm on my second harvest of tomatoes on my grape tomatoes. I think it was a bumper crop. Enough to keep my family of 4 in salad tomatoes from one plant. I also planted one Pink Lady in one of those Topsy Turvies. I wasn't impressed, but it did far better than my mom's. I read the full directions, and was surprised to get anything. It didn't sound like it would do well in Texas at all. It said not to let it get above 90 degrees. Yea, right. Where in Texas do you not let it get above 90 degrees? Inside? I hung it in a tree where it would get morning and evening sun and not noon. I watered it every day and put the best soil I could find. After a while the soil settled so I put in more compost. It has settled again and I need to put in more compost.

My cucumbers are going to be a bumper crop. I've pulled off 2 small ones already. I only had 3 plants come up out of the several I planted, but they are going wild. If I get cucumbers from all the flowers, I'll be making pickles. I picked them when they were 6 inches long, but only about an inch and a half around. There were very few seeds and I didn't even need to peel it. They were absolutely amazing in flavor. I have one more close to being able to be picked and a few more that I can see. The rest are still blooms.

I have one jalapeno that is about 2 inches long. Getting close. I may be able to make a batch of guacamole with my own jalapeno soon. I have a tiny green pepper and another volunteer pepper of some kind. I have some sort of plant that came up. I thought it was an avocado plant, but then I thought it was a pecan tree, but it's getting ready to bloom. I don't think a pecan tree would bloom at only 2 foot tall. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

The avocado tree I planted in the yard didn't take the heat and died. I planted the English walnut tree in the yard and it's doing well. We'll see how it winters. I've had 2 cherry trees take root and they're doing well in pots. My husband is upset with me, because he doesn't want them in the ground. He doesn't want to mow around them. I may have to put them in place of the Oleander bushes in the front yard. I'm allergic to Oleander anyway. One is already gone. It died out over the harsh winter we had. I want to replace decorative trees with trees that produce something. They will still bloom and be pretty. And you can eat the fruit. It would be so nice to have 2 cherry trees in the front yard. I still don't know if avocado trees winter, so I guess I need to get a bigger pot and leave it outside.

We still plan on tearing out the pompus grass along the fence as well as the Japanese Holly to make room for a bigger garden next year. I'm making more compost to go in a raised bed. We also have a flowering tree that I don't know what it is. It flowers in early spring. We have another one in the driveway. We have 2 Rose of Sharon bush/trees that I planned on replacing with avocados if they winter well.

Love that long term planning. I know it takes a long time for trees to grow. I guess it all depends on if our government doesn't destroy this nation. I may run out of money to do anything.

Lori Ann Smith