Posted on 09/10/2010 5:09:56 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. This is the first year that I will have a fall garden. I have decided to try few broccoli and cabbage plants. I decided to visit our local County Co-Op a couple of days ago and they had starts of both and I bought a nine-pack cell of each. I hope they do well because we are still having 90 degree days with overnights in the mid to high 60’s. They also had starts for various types of tomato plants which kind of surprised me.
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http://caninoproduce.com/
in Houston, quite a sizable place, and with good prices. It turns out that it was part of Produce Row, a group of small markets located behind Canino's. The photos were of the small marketers, not of Canino's. We will be going back there next week for further exploration. Next time I will take pictures of veggies that I have never seen and post them for input from FReepers.
I did not know that there were alligators were around Houston! We moved to Conroe, a few miles north of Houston on I-45. We just were not going to be happy in the tightly congested neighborhoods of the big city. There were no yards big enough to garden or have a garage/shop for my classic car. And we are not actually in the city of Conroe, but about 6 miles outside of town. Very country like atmosphere here, 220,000 plus acres of the Sam Houston national forrest across the street from us, can only see three other neighbors from our property.
OMG are there alligators! We lived in a "golf course subdivision" in Missouri City, southwest of Houston. Natives around there, who were my age, had put themselves through college selling alligator hides. By the time we moved there, of course, the 'gators were protected. They got into our golf course ponds and made fishing for golf balls hazardous to your health! People would shoot them in the middle of the night, and everyone kept their mouths shut about it.
One of my neighbors found one in her garage one morning. The neighborhood was still under construction when we moved there in 1973. I guess the 'gators were offended that some of their habitat was being turned into golf courses and suburban back yards. Cats and dogs disappeared, as well as any ducks people introduced to the ponds.
The nation celebrated the Bi-Centennial in 1976, and TX celebrated their Sesquicentennial a few years later. Both occasions prompted the publication of many memoirs of the early days. Somewhere I have an account of "The Runaway Scape" when the Anglo settlers fled the approach of Santa Anna's troops fresh from the massacre at The Alamo and on the way to San Jacinto where he was ultimately defeated in the TX War for Independence. Everyone just threw everything they could into their wagons when they were notified of his approach, gathered their animals and children and headed for the Brazos River to try to get back to US Territory where they would be safe from the Mexican troops.
Missouri City was on the road to the Brazos. In this personal account of the Runaway Scape that I read, the author told how they saw their neighbor's ox team attacked and pulled beneath the waters of the Brazos by a large 'gator and drowned.
Just about 6 years ago there was an account and a picture posted here on FR about a TWENTY THREE FOOT Gator that was found sunning himself near a huge culvert that was waiting to be installed under a new road extension in the Highway 5 (I think) extension near where we used to live. My boys used to fish in the bayou near there and try to trap nutria, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw that 'gator.
The answer is YES. There are alligators around Houston. They take up residence in any body of water. My personal opinion is that it is time to lift the restrictions against hunting them, if the Fish and Game Dept hasn't already. They are no longer endangered.
The ‘gators were there first.
I dumped 3 of the 4 buckets when the plants were 2/3 dead as well, but only because I couldn’t wait. ;-)
I have one big bucket left which is about 2/3 dead, but I am going to wait until 2 weeks after all the foliage dies to harvest them.....I’ve read that you might get bigger potatoes if you wait for 2 or 3 weeks.
Good job Diana!
That looks like one happy dog. :-)
How’s the Son?
Our rules are: no “noxious animals, pets must be confined or on leash, only 1 exterior unattached building is permitted. House must be at least 1400 sq feet. and set back at least 30 feet from the road, and single family dwelling only.
We don't have a homeowners association, and everyone pretty much ignores the rules and no one enforces anything. Lots of dogs running around. Several neighbors have 2 or more storage sheds in the back yard. Non-family occupants have come and gone through the years.
When I asked what they meant by noxious animals, they didn't have an answer exactly, but finally said pigs would be an example. So I was thinking I might get by with 3 or four chickens for fresh eggs, as long as I had a fence around them, and they were hidden behind the raspberry bushes. LOL.
Very beautiful landscape! I notice stained glass windows, also. Do you have any pics of the windows? My wife does stained glass, so they always catch our eyes.
I’m Zone 5 with heavy clay soil. We bought 2 little blueberry bushes and am thinking we’ll need a raised bed that has some pine bark mulch mixed in.
Should I buy garden soil for these? Any blueberry suggestions are appreciated!
Mr. Bender see post 230.
I do have some photos but I have difficulty capturing the true beauty and meaning of them from indoors...
What kind of plant are the tall ones in picture #4? And the support sticks are for?
I do have 9 Blueberry bushes and they require a acid soil and fertilizer. I prepared my bed years ago by spading in peat moss and some ammonium sulfate fertilizer and this year I started using Mir-Acid once a month and the plants are doing much much better. I add a layer of Peat Moss every couple of years or so. I think you are on the right track with the pine bark if it hasn’t been sweetened with ground limestone...
Those are Siberian Iris (I think) and the stakes are for the Gladiolus bulbs that are now blooming. The Cinerra(sp) self seed in that bed
Beautiful! Folks doing as God commanded, tending the ground He gave to our parents, way back in the Garden ...
ahem
OOOOPPPPPPPSSSSS... uh uh uh she’s not my dog!!!
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