Cat's Garden in Austin, TX

Yes, I know. Its been a while. We made it home from our trip. The trip was great - wonderful cool weather, good food, good company, and fabulous new places. What we came home to wasn't quite so fabulous. Apparently it was hot while we were gone. Triple digit hot. So since we were not around to give plants the extra water they needed, we lost stuff. The cucumbers are toast (yup that's what they looked like) as were some of the squash plants. Apparently one of the connectors came undone, so out of about 8 squash plants only 2-3 sort of survived. One is doing okay, but I'm not sure the other two will survive. And the corn is entirely dead. Oh well.  Did not lose a single tomato plant, but they were a bit worse for the wear. And some of the strawberry plants didn't make it - not enough water. Now that we're back I am watering some of the plants to see how well they'll survive. Also we've cooled down to the low 90's (that's Texas for you, low 90's...

Yes, the comfortable temperatures we had are gone. Austin area has hit the mid to high 90's already. Yesterday's high hit 93, with a heat index of 100. Our low - 74. Its warm out there. Plants are not growing well. Though some tomatoes are getting red, many are just sitting there green on the plant. Last year we left them on the plants, and when the weather began to cool they all started ripening. We do have some yellow tomatoes that are ripe, but again, most of the plants are just trying to hold their own. On the other hand we are having a wasp problem. We have found many more wasp nests than we normally do. And some have been big nests. They are high up under the eaves and difficult to spray. But hopefully the spraying will work and they won't come back. It does help that Bill knocked some of the nests down. I'm just hoping the wasps don't come back and build new nests. I've also noticed a lot more young fawns still. And quite a few twins this year. Some o...

I actually gave these away to a friend. Though we did keep a few of the carrots for dinner.  They were good. The carrots had been growing in a big barrel. So after harvesting I planted more seeds.

The squirrels made it into the corn. Anything close to ripe has been eaten. There are corn cobs strewn across the ground. Consequently, the boys are now building a metal structure around the corn. Something that will hopefully keep the squirrels out. I sure hope so.  We lost last years' crop of corn to squirrels, I would like to get some this year. And the corn is growing, and it is starting to ripen. So I'm sure the squirrels are hiding out holding their stuffed bellies. I hope they get belly aches. In response to these little nasty critters, the boys are building a metal cage around the corn. The cage is about 8 feet tall and covers the entire bed. They said they'll put in a door so we can get in and pick the corn.  I sure hope so. But we still still have something of a problem - can those nasties get under the cage? Can they dig their way under the bottom? That remains to be seen. One other problem. The watermelons and cantaloupes are getting real cozy with the tom...

It is 80 degrees outside and pouring. Its one of those short downpours. You know the kind - quarter inch of rain in about 10 minutes.   That kind.  Its only Wednesday and we've had 2.47 inches this week so far. Gotta love Texas weather.

  Yes I do think those tomatoes are supposed to be yellow.  And yes I do have jalapenos and bell peppers ripe right now too. Though warning - those jalapenos are hot. I roasted them with dinner on Sunday. All you had to do was rub them next to something else to get the flavor. I took a bite of one, small bite no seeds, and my eyes started watering. It was hot. The long green things. Two are cucumbers, and two are zucchini.

Yes, we had sunshine yesterday and today. And with luck we should have it for this week. Though of course that means its a bit warmer, 84 by mid afternoon, but the humidity is not too bad. It could mean summer is around the corner too. Not my favorite, but it will come one way or the other. Last month, May we had over 6 inches of rain here at the house. And we had about 3-1/2 inches just last week alone. And other areas around here got more rain that we did.  We had many times where we got just the edge of the storm. We could watch lightning all around us, and just feel light rain here. But it's nice to have a break. Now for what has happened with the plants. Some of the irises are trying to bloom. So are some of the bluebonnets. Most of them did their thing before the rain, but some were truly late bloomers. Though we got some wind, not enough to cause damage here at the house. We were lucky there.  But everything is growing now. The "lawn" is tall and needs a hair c...