Plant Propagation the Basics Sept -?

that's awesome!

oh I am so tired. Bookkeeping is worse than building ponds.

Different type of focus for sure. I have a bit of thyme finally surviving, the floods are higher than Harvey's were since flood gates were opened. Beds are ready for oats and onions, and a few more transplant attempts. I need to throw out some cilantro seeds and leaf green seeds.

A few zinnia blooming still ,

Here is a Calendula that seems okay

oats to eat?

I sow oats outside for the animals, had a fawn check on the sweet tater vine this morning. It provides a cover for an area where the sweet tater vine was, and both cats and dogs will chew on it instead of grass...not for me to eat, that would take more than a field...its not really an industrious undertaking and I should have done it back late Sept. I also throw in crimson clover to see if it will sprout since the sandy area should support the legume.

I get beggars ticks , birds love them in winter , sticky little varmints though ,

I have been digging sunchokes , raspberry starts , planted a few flowering onion bulbs
Most of my time has been on the house the garage door , it takes me a long time to do anything ,
Several flowers to save ,
Starts are slow , I still have to trim and look over the Nanking cherry , lots of cutting to do that should be done , but I will be a while getting to ,
Have a rather huge box of drying seeds here and more to collect

No deer in fort worth, I've got to order crimson clover seeds but I usually plant those in spring, need to put in 2 French drains and winter wildflower, broccoli

I got the seeds in, moved a few garlic bulbs that had sprouted, and stuck some kitchen green onion roots in a space for them. We ended up recieving 7/16" rain for yesterdays total, but it took 24 hrs to get it. I just read in Farmers Almanac that sweet taters are dug when the ends of the vines begin to yellow. That won't be an issue with ornamentals tho. Chilly down here but the temps are holding even 60's day and night. Gray again today.

The ends of my vines are growing green and purple and they are still climbing the garden. Nice a pot of orange and a pot of purple sweet potatoes...should be easier to dig too

Broccoli seed isn't in but I tossed some swiss chard in one 20 gallon pot and spinach in the other.

Not as good a photo as possible ,
Agastache from Firebird seeds ,
I have a few of these , from seed ,

Not much still growing here , some though

Foxes were spotted in the yard a morning ago, gray days have turned to sunshine but we didn't get as much rain as DFW did. Everything is still blooming, wedding shower has finished up and the kids have headed to Austin area - my granddaughter is a youth minister down there, and her fiancee is heading for the airport to a new job for 3 wks before he goes AF officer training. I am tired and ready to listen to quiet things.

I saw a coyote yesterday morning. We looked at each other, as I was walking my smallest dog. I turned back to see him still watching, our eyes met and he took off. didn't look skinny and Teddy weighs 37 pounds.. Garden photos when I get my camera emptied.

I had a decent number of monarchs, queens and tons of gulf frittilary butterflies this year. The asclepius tuberosa I started in the fridge last winter and the plant sale failed to sell did a nice job of attracting egglaying queen butterflies, and a couple of monarchs.

I hatched a monarch, a real one. from egg to caterpillar to a cocoon hidden on my porch that I didn't see til the butterfly came out last thursday. That's still in the phone. I think the monarch joined the rest and they were all gone by late Thursday afternoon, from here, but I saw a few in Arlington yesterday.

The smooth blue aster was the biggest nectar hit for butterflies, and now that they have mostly gone, my bees are working it. Canned pears. Volunteer marigolds in the garden.

Hummer finally went south, but a few bees found the feeder and are working it. I know they are wild bees, no one in this area keeps bees for 10 miles around, not sure wherre they are hiving at- at least it isn't the water meter, chuckl. I will remove the feeder tonite, tempted to leave them something to feed on tho...not sure if I want to share my commercial honey or not....

I saw a bee today , most have seasoned on ,

fall with zinnia still blooming most are gone

Hyacinths not shown , others planting hopes for next season

Crimson clover sprouted 3 days, the green onions I chopped the tops off for the freezer took 1 day to grow half an inch, parsley is big enough I have leaves in the kitchen in a vase of lavender. Doodle, garden guardian. Put in carrot seeds, laid out a tape of spinach yesterday, and today I cleaned and soaked the vinca plants under the sweet gums. Add raking enough leaves to torch the dead branch pile and I am frazzled. Power slammed off at 5 pm, and my internet has refused to come back on tonite. Just Grrrrrr.

Hi everyone!

Thanks to juhur I have a tumbling tom growing in a pot as a spiller with kohlrabi as the thriller and got some salad burnet to sprout and it will be the filler. If they make it. only 2 of the salad burnet seeds sprouted.

Walking onions juhur sent me are already growing and looks like the daylilys are too.

I'm seeing lot pollinators and still some hummingbirds.
The teeny tiniest one a week ago that seemed to not know a dying flower from one still on plant. Wish i had my camera then.

The weather has been great for working outside.
I'll add pictures when i can

Talk to you all later

my crimson clover all drowned, will have to order more seed and clear the upper garden, plant there.

Whoever bought the 2 lots behind my downhill neighbor had many dumptruck loads of dirt brought in and a bobcat shape a place to put a big house. That 10.5 inches of rain came down the big wide hill from the west, hit that foundation and turned my yard into a lake. I have spent this week putting in french drain. Haven't even got my broccoli in yet.

still have butterflies in the flowers, mainly queens and admirals now, and a few emperors, hackberry and tawny

Seems like the floods change everytime a new structure goes in. Is that gonna happen every rainstorm Gypsi? I would be havin a talk...I have more crimson clover coming up, but need to pick up some more of the catgrass they call it, chuckl, as it is mighty thin where it came in.

It isn't going to flood my yard anymore. I could sue the property owner for the cost of putting in a french drain, if it hadn't been dark I could have gone out with a camera on the other side of my fence and photographed water pouring through. 3/4 of an inch of rain caused a lake on Wednesday. Before I got the back drain edges lowered so the water got there properly

I am not sure I could win a lawsuit. Fort Worth has a lot of new construction that is flooding older homes and neighborhoods and Code Enforcement and Building inspectors, no one will do anything about it. In spite of state law that says you can't reroute water onto someone else's property.

The drain works really really well, I brought in some more gravel for the intake pipe, (cloth covered perforated with a collection box as well) in the back yard, and covered most of the pipe with 1 inch limestone chips. Forgot to put truck windows up and it was parked by the output at the street, so I got to see it gush while I put up windows tonight. No standing water. I am pleased.

I've got to get more seed but it is hard with the flooding, my last crimson clover all died.

This message was edited Nov 3, 2018 10:52 PM

Good to know about the French drain, my friend had such an issue with all the rain here flooding her yard and it was suggested she put one in.

I have new hummers in my garden and the older ones not happy, chase them off. I try and try to capture a photo of them, they're so fast.

I went to the back of my lot and found that the downhill corner on it is also flooded. going to have to hit the back of the yard, east to west, with a trencher and drop a collection line of perforated tubing there, and run it around the corner of the yard to near where my current collection box is, and probably turn that into a dual connect box, in and out.

New construction was held off for years by drainage problems in my area, they're desperate enough to build but raising the ground under the new houses. Not a problem that is going away

Another reason I am becoming more thankful for where I live, hearing other people's woes. It would be impossible for anyone nearby to flood me out. I live way up on a hilltop. Feel for you Gypsi. What a pain!

River floods near here , but it is a pain with drainage and construction all over the place ,

Zinnia not realizing it has frosted several times
Hoping for a big white echinacea
Catnip to cover , otherwise cats will eat it this winter
Agastache.
Malva

on top of the hill you get all the wind Keith. Do you have a basement?

Ju you sure have some nice seedlings there

Catching up on my reading. I put pansies down under the red salvia that the hard rains are breaking off. It was so wet the 5" earthworms are dying out on top. Added a few more seeds to the oat patch, but I don't think mints survive our deep winters- tho they will come back. I still have one french thyme and one lemon thyme to tuck into their places tomorro. I could have used this rain earlier in Aug...the morning glories are trying to come up by the thousands, and I saved a bunch of seeds. Next chore is to sift thru old seeds so I am not packing a tub of them around!

I need to clean out my seed box and scatter the envelopes of wildflower seeds before it rains again

Still looking good there Ju, plants are tough.

I might do seeds this year, things have settled a bit, they say a warmer than average winter this year here.

We are up high enough to be out of flood zone here, made sure of that when we bought our house since flood insurance is expensive. Creek is five houses away, but has never flooded beyond the pool of house that backs up to it in over 26 years since we've lived here. So we are good.

Well they are are saying a warm ,mild winter for us here also , Sun
Wednesday though , day after tomorrow , 28 degrees is forecast ,
I will be covering plants anyway and will be doing some winter sowing ,

My season is over this week cold temperatures

It will be nearly 80 here today, but lows at the end of this week in the 30s. I need to get broccoli sown in the raised bed. The lower garden keeps flooding.

I don't plant enough to feed us, but do like the herbs, occasional radish and all.

I eat from my garden, probably 1/4 to 1/3 of my veggies, fruits (why I canned them and I have a freezer full of blackberries), all my eggs, all my greens, most of my herbs, sweet potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes peppers, onions in a good year. I live alone and I can literally go out and pick dinner for much of the year. Veggie scrambled eggs, that's a meal.

I get better food at a better price. I start my own seedlings so potting mix and seed are most of my costs. Except water. That gets a bit high but I do have rain barrels.

I freeze a years supply of Nanking cherry , and I thin slice freeze some Sunchoke roots , Both for medical purposes ,
I use my garden (pharmacopia )

About the only room I have to store food here is the peppers. We do grow onions, and a few other herbs from the garden, but I was never home and that garden is tiny, raised beds. The water cost during growing season is prohibitive in sandy areas, and the choices down here are extremely abundant. Shrug. Is all good

well I am stretching on food storage space but I have a box of honey sitting in the dining room waiting on labels. I'd better hurry if I want to sell any before christmas

the blooms in the garden today were so brilliant under cloudy skies.

Gypsi nice blooms ,
indoors later I might have a few
I am collecting morning glory seeds ,, still ,,

I am still pulling sprouting morning glories. Field peas , oats, wheat, and crimson clover up
Made the molecricket happy. No pics, can't stay connected long enough to load them, grrrr

darn I forgot to order seeds. And schedule wulfie for neutering. He is not as big as Bravo yet but over 50 lbs