March 2024

by CMG Ron S.

I have procrastinated again in writing this month’s column. Frankly, I do not have anything out of the ordinary happening in the garden. Of course, I once again succumbed to the need for garden speed and bought a pot load of tomatoes, some banana peppers, and planted the free borage and onion chive plants gifted at the February Herb SIG meeting.  My son Kelcey came over to help me do the preparation and planting. For soil, I went to Gardenville for a yard of their “elite” garden mixture. It smelled heavily of manure and was moderately hot. It also had very little permeability as the water pooled on top and drained very, very slowly. Still, it was all that I had to do the job. I currently have about 1/4 yard of it still in the trailer. I am an eternal optimist and hope for the best.

Kelcey posted a picture of newly harvested asparagus to his Facebook page a couple of weeks ago. My wife saw it and really got angry with me. Why, because he was eating asparagus and she was not. I tried explaining that the temperatures differed between our gardens but that our asparagus would soon be sending up stalks. Well, about six stalks came up to harvesting size the end of February. I was so happy that perhaps my stay in the dog house was over until she put them in a glass of water like a bouquet. My explanation that the spears would continue to grow in the water went unheeded and now we have two of them well developed into inedible stalks of green straw. I dare not point this out.

February was a bad month for livestock and wildlife on our mini ranch. One of my year old production red chickens disappeared, likely due to predation. A neighbor gave me three one-month old Ayam Cemani chicks. These are solid black, feathers, legs and feet, bones, and organs. This breed is classed as endangered and I am lucky to have such a generous neighbor. Unfortunately two of the three appear to be roosters and we do not want even one. She has offered to find homes for them, but I may just keep one to see what happens.  Our semi pet boar has not visited us for months. He most likely reached breeding age and found something better to do. Our surrounding land is beginning to show the results of fostering a large pig population. I asked if any of my neighbors had a trap for them and got a response. Now I am pondering what to do with around 20 or so live pigs, some over 200 pounds. Marcia does not eat meat and gives me the stink-eye when I do. Soooooo, what to do.

 

February 2024

By Ron S

I hope that the January 2024 freeze did not do too much damage to your plants and landscape. Mine came through okay mainly because my wife gave me daily, and mostly hourly, updates on the temperatures. This time I did not procrastinate until an hour before the predicted freeze hit. I actually started putting up the plants a couple of days early. I used my motorcycle (that I no longer have) parking space in the garage for my driveway plants and moved all the rest of the potted plants into the greenhouse. As you know, my greenhouse is really crappy, but it gets the job done with the plastic sheeting on the inside and a small oscillating heater. I am quite happy with the results. My plumeria did not do so well as I did not heed my son’s advice quickly enough. While 40 degrees F. is the bottom floor, I thought the four of them could handle a little cold weather. Not so. Most have lost all of their leaves, but that happens most years. The trunks are unharmed. I plan on repotting all of them around March.

We received +/- six inches of rain during the January rain event. Our Comal Dry Creek actually had roaring and running water for a while. The last time for this occurrence was several years ago. I ran around to all of the wheelbarrows (4) to collect this liquid gold for later. It does not take too much to make me happy any more.

On the animal front, we still have wild pigs although I have not seen “boar” for over a month. I have seen his momma and she is enormous. I did not know that Sounders are a matriarchal group that drives out the boars a few months after birth. My sounder has two large sows and about 12 family members of various sizes.  By early Spring I expect this group to be totally overpopulated. Luckily, when I discussed this with Marcia she just asked if they are edible. We have not seen any skunks for a while and no porcupines. The occasional opossum makes an appearance and we provide a little extra cat food. The raccoons are ever-present. Even Marcia has stopped complaining about my frequent threats of extreme prejudice. I do have three new two-month-old Ayam Cemani chicks that a neighbor friend gifted me. These Indonesian chickens are solid black with black feet, meat, and bones. While edible, they are endangered livestock and quite expensive. I doubt they will grace my table anytime soon.

Start watching the demonstration vegetable rose garden’s planting schedule HERE for Spring planting. One of my greatest shortcomings is that I have not and am perpetually late in planting. Timing is always critical, especially in Comal County.

January 2024

By Ron S

I trust that your Christmas’ were pleasant and not too stressful. Heaven knows mine was not. I get to see my oldest son and family about once, maybe twice, a year. This works out well for all concerned. This year he, his wife, and his two adult daughters visited us for a few hours on the 21st. We have been working for about three weeks to prepare with the final cooking done the day before. It is a time for great stress on my spouse as she needs the house, grounds, and food to be immaculate. One of the girls is a vegan so a totally new menu was needed. Well, needless to say, the grounds are not in the pristine shape that she expects, all due to my negligence and lack of giving a crap. I did move a lot of stuff around to make it look ok but you could tell that we do not live in Rockwall or similar gated enclaves.

I once again failed to read my newsletter input and continue to hope for gardening success. I delayed a winter planting because I was being realistic and have years of experience evidencing my total lack of gardening ability. Still when I stopped by Plant Haus to drop off cardboard packaging for their plant sales, I took a tour of their vegetable offerings. I ended up purchasing 24 stocks, one bunch of onion transplants, four weird Japanese lettuce plants, and everal Brussel sprout and cauliflower plants. They all were so beautiful that I succumbed. This time I did not repeat my habit of ignoring the plants in their original little pots, sometimes for a week or more. I got busy and put all of them in the ground with a pinch of slow release fertilizer and have been keeping up a water regimen. Most of the onions have survived and the other plants look good. One of the stocks is sending up a stalk of yellow flowers.

Our unseasonable weather has fooled my asparagus. The mature canes usually begin browning in November, but the warm temperatures have delayed this well into December. I have continued to water the three beds once a week hoping to save those that survived the summer. I am being much more careful as Marcia has threatened to go on an extended trip to Michigan if she does not get a fair harvest in April. I like her so I am doing my best.

Last month I told you about my lawn tractor purchase. Well, I have not even started it except for the obligatory purging of the transmission required for all new machines. I got it for towing a small trailer to pick up sawn fireplace wood. I have a really nice trailer that doubled as a wheelbarrow. I took off the towing tongue but now I cannot remember where I put it or if I pitched it into a recycling bin. Gosh, I hope not the latter. I looked at Amazon and Lowes for replacement trailers, but the cost has really gone up.

We wish you and yours a very happy New Year. Be safe and begin planning your planting schedule. I take the easy way and just copy what Richard does at the demo garden. If I actually follow his schedule, I might get a tomato or two.

December 2023

By Ron S.

Well, I have been sleeping alone for around three weeks now, not because I am in the dog house but because once again we had a skunk under our wardrobe. The “wardrobe” skunk left the standard poop and pee rental deposit resulting in a most foul smell. According to my spouse, that was bad enough but I compounded it by plugging in those little scent bottles into every outlet that I could find and spraying half a bottle of Fabreze. Marcia hates Fabreze. She finally got the skunk out by prodding it with a yard stick, but not before it displayed its displeasure with a rather strong poof. We had to wait several days for the #2 to dry so she could scrape it out from under the wardrobe. We got most of it out.

Mr. Boar has visited us only sporadically with long absences in-between. I was becoming attached to him as his playful demeanor was endearing, but then he is a wild creature and not prone to any sort of domestication. Pity. I would have enjoyed scratching his ears.

An unusual thing was happening with my citrus trees. Again, I have an improved lime, a Meyer lemon and a key lime. All three are in pots on the edge of the driveway near the house and for a while the deer left these alone. About six weeks ago, the deer started nibbling the leaves from the lime, but left the other two alone. The deer would then wait for the new baby leaves to emerge, and hit it again. This happened several times even though I sprayed all three with deer repellant and a natural insect repellant containing some really harsh pepper juice. Finally, I had to put a fence around the lime tree to protect it. Now you might offer that I should have done this after the first browsing, but I kept thinking the natural repellents would do the trick. Again, the definition of insanity.

I do not have any gardening stories this month but I do have a gardening equipment one. I live on six acres of Texas wooded land between FM 3009 and FM 1863 on Schoenthal Road. As I not so gracefully age, I have noticed a distinct slowing down of my movement, balance, and endurance. When we first bought this land in 1983 it was raw, heavily wooded property. The cedar was so thick that we had to bend and genuflect just to move through it. The lower limbs of each cedar intertwined with its neighbors making it almost impenetrable. We started out on one corner abutting the road and power easement and worked our way inland with a new Homelite chainsaw my father gifted me. We would cut the limbs and felled Cedars into firewood and drag the smaller limbs to a burn pile. There were very large piles of deadfall that a Caterpillar built up from clearing lot lines that took week to clear. We would work almost every weekend out here to get it to a point that we could walk upright. Well, we still have some large Cedar logs at various places around the property that I no longer can place on my shoulder and walk them to a stack. I started researching UTVs and found that the internet recommended Kawasaki Mules as the best selection for our needs so I started looking for one. I came a ball point signature away from buying one but just could not pull the trigger. If our land was bare or mostly clear of timber, I probably would have bought one, but it is not and I just could not justify the sales’ price and having it sit in a shed most of the time. Instead, I just bought a large Husqvarna lawn tractor. It has a very big cutting deck that I do not need. Luckily I got it at Randolph Joint Base San Antonio still in a crate with the deck not attached. I hope that I do not have to attach it because it weighs about as much me. I bought it because of the size and I could use my little trailer that has doubled as a big two-wheel barrow. The tractor sits on the trailer because I have to figure out how to attach the front bumper and a few other bells and whistles. I now have a mini tractor for our mini ranch. If anyone wants a ride let me know and we will have a mini hay ride.

November 2023

By Ron S.

I have a couple of things to relay on gardening, but most of this month’s offer is on animals.

The small array of pepper-plants made it through the hellish summer and my neglect to actually produce a few Fall serranos and a couple of banana peppers. Now, for most of you, that would constitute a failure, but for me it is a win. Of course, I have very little tolerance for hot-peppers, but these serranos are not too bad, maybe three or four in a large bowl of pico. Lucky for me and a gym friend’s spouse, the spare peppers will find a new home.

I lost a native pecan tree that I grew from a seed. The seed came from my Great Aunt and Uncle’s tree in New Braunfels and was very sentimental to me. The tree was about 25 feet tall with a six-inch trunk and I thought it was making it. Between the freezes and drought this summer, it finally succumbed. This is the one I have written about before that provided considerable shade for part of my raised bed garden and DIY greenhouse. I’m sad.

We seem to have a persistent skunk issue in our house. As you know, my lovely spouse totally ignores my pleading to stop feeding the raccoons. The skunks have learned that the dry cat food she puts out is a tasty and is an easy meal. Because of the copious amounts that she puts out every night, we have an artificially large raccoon and skunk presence. As we also have nine cats, all adopted strays, she leaves three of the four exterior doors open most of the early evening. We frequently have these animals inside the house helping themselves to the cats’ wet food. This was cute for some time, but no longer. While the raccoons are large, loud and easy to find, the skunks are not. Skunks are very much like cats in that they have the uncanny ability to shrink themselves to squeeze through the smallest of spaces. In the middle of October, I started smelling the familiar odor of skunk poop coming from the downstairs half bath. I could not locate the origin and was fearful that another Pepe Le Pew had found its way behind the washing machine. The last time that happened it was a nightmare enticing it to come out and vacate the premises. The number one and two it left behind was considerable and the smell lingered for weeks. Well, I found the origin of the current smell, under the vanity in the bathroom. There was a gap of about 1 1/2 inches from the floor to the bottom of the vanity that was more than enough space for the magical Mr. Le Pew. At least the residue was easier to remove.

We also have a semi-pet wild sow that visits us frequently. I know, I know. Wild pigs are not a good thing, but you should see this one. She is a few months old and around 30 pounds. I threatened to dispatch her during the first few visits and especially when Marcia observed it limping from a foreleg injury but did not. It recovered from the limp and endeared itself to both of us. This pig comes out during the day and often spends most of it sleeping under our dwarf hollies bordering our front porch. It also has learned that I refill water in two molasses barrels every morning for the deer and eagerly awaits it for its bath. One of the barrels is about 12 inches deep and the pig jumps in and splashes around playing in it. Miss Sow follows me to the deer feed lot and shares breakfast with the deer. It seems to have little or no fear of us hurting it and allows us to walk back and forth within a few feet of where it is sleeping or playing. Don’t tell anyone about our new pet as the property has covenants prohibit us from keeping pigs and my neighbors would really be upset with me.

P.S.  Whoops!  Rest assured, my ineptitude with plants extends to animals. Ms. Sow referenced this article is in actuality, Mr. Boar. I mistook a certain small hangy-down thing in his belly as one of many hang-down things. On close observation, there was only one hangy-down thing on his belly and two under his tail. Sorry for the misdirection.

October 2023

By Ron S.

As of this writing, September was not the month I had hoped for. It was hot, exceedingly so for the first two weeks, and very dry at my house. True, I did get some wetness a couple of times, but mostly it did not penetrate the cedar canopy. I watched enviously as the clouds pouring rain passed me by in the distance, sometimes not too darned distant. I have had to keep up the once-a-week overall watering of trees and outside plants, and the every-other-day or so routine for the garden. Of course, the garden consists of three beds of now dry asparagus stalks, a quarter of a bed with pepper plants, a bed of dry and burned malabar spinach, and one bed of blackberry and passionflower vines—all brown, burned, and appearing dead. Three of the larger beds are bare dirt, now that the weeds have died. I have no plans for a winter garden. It is just not that much fun and there are only the two of us. I also am having what appears to be carburetor trouble with my small Honda tiller and it is not worth the $100 or so it costs to repair it.

Hoping that October brings much cooler temperatures, I plan on doing some chain sawing. The last few years have wrought havoc on the cedar trees, killing several. This disproves my long- standing theory that cedars are indestructible. Their skeletal spires dot our land and do not lend to a pleasant view so away they must go. I know that many advise not burning cedar in the fireplace, but I have a firebrick chimney, and get it professionally cleaned every other year. I once bought a sweeping kit for DIY, but learned after just one time that there is much more to it than one would think. Nope, nope, nope, no, no, no.

My fourth attempt at landscaping a small strip of raised bed land in front of the porch failed miserably. The porch entry separates two beds of what we hoped would sustain small dwarf yaupon holly. One side thrived; the other side never did. Same dirt, same water, same prayers. This has gotten quite expensive as the mid-size holly plants are not cheap. The only plant that survived on the left side is a Texas sage, Leucophyllum frutescens. I have given up fighting this curse and bought two more sages. My spouse requires me to plant four of them. When in doubt, go native.

As I was writing this chapter in my sad gardening life, I heard my four free-range chickens voicing a loud warning. I have heard this chicken warning before and it did not end well, sometime for the chickens and sometimes for the cause. This time the cause was a coyote. It is rare for coyotes to hunt in the morning around here, but not unheard of. This always presents a dilemma for me. On the one hand, coyotes are a native predator important to the ecological system. On the other hand, they kill my non-native chickens and cats, both being dear to my heart. I do not necessarily want to hurt the coyote, but experience has shown that merely frightening it away results in a more covert and sophisticated attack later. You decide which one was used.

Update on the kitten show. They are no more. Don’t worry, I just mean that the kittens have grown into small cats. They have lost the squishy ears, squinty eyes, and spiky hair and matured into what they will look like for the rest of their lives. Of course, they still act like kittens but now loudly voice their opinions and needs, have learned how to wake me up at 0530 because they are hungry, to open doors and use the cat flap, and how to wiggle even deeper into my heart. I’ll have to change my will.

September 2023

By Ron S.

This month it was hard to come with anything of interest, hence my procrastination—not that procrastination is an alien concept to me. Twice a day, I have had to water the Hoya Santa, Piper auritum, the entire summer except when it rained, and we all know how often that happened. The plants are a water loving herb with many uses, big leaves and white flower spears, but unless one is a specialist in exotic cooking, it just stands there begging for more water. The picture shows what happens when you forget and leave it for a day or two. 

 

I know that Calvin Finch said to pull your pepper plants in August to make way for new transplants, but I did not. The plants required water every other day but survived. It is an experiment based on more procrastination and some curiosity as to whether I could do it and get another crop. The first one was very meager compared to one of our neighbors who had so many peppers of all kinds. I, the Master Gardener, was too embarrassed to get a few, fearing that someone may take a video and post it.

 

My wife’s favorite vegetable is asparagus, and next is spinach. I watered the three beds the same time that I watered the peppers. I kept it alive, but the stems are all browning. As asparagus is a long-term perennial, I have some experience with the browning around this time of the year. Some of you may remember my burning up part of my drip irrigation system when I tired burning off those dry, brown stems. I still have not replaced and repaired that part of the system, but I may get around to it. As for growing spinach, I gave that up years ago. Spinach, like asparagus, requires daily harvesting during the production period. I procrastinated and the bugs got the spinach, and the asparagus grew too fast. After years of buying fresh spinach in bags, I learned that those old-time frozen spinach blocks at H-E-B work just as well in our morning smoothies. Problem solved.

 

For those of you who did not attend the August CMG meeting, the speaker was Weston Pacharzina, owner of the Plant Haus. He touched on several subjects and answered numerous questions, but one part caught my interest, watering trees. Essentially, he said that watering established trees was a waste of water, at least that was how I understood it. I have been watering my planted burr, Spanish oak, redbud, Anacua (Ehretia anacua), and other trees for years. Seems that I have depleted the Edwards Aquifer for no results.  The leaves still fell off most years around this time and not due to the cold weather. I relayed this new knowledge to my spouse who stared at me, rolled her eyes, and promptly went out and watered the trees. So much for acquired wisdom.      

 

Away from gardening to wildlife, I witnessed an astounding feat of gymnastic skill the other day. I have a fortified chicken coop with a steel winter door and an electric chicken door. It has a seven- or eight-foot goat and chicken wire fence surrounding a large enclosure with hawk netting overhead. Still, animals manage to tunnel under, climb over, or squeeze through to explore, have a chicken dinner, or get at the chicken crumble inside. I usually keep the chickens confined to the coop and run, but because of the extreme heat, I opened the gate and allowed them to free range. They love it, but I have poop all over the patio, a couple of times in the house, and on the sidewalks. Back to the feat. The other day I witnessed a full-grown doe (female deer) exiting the coop through the roughly 12” by 8” door. I would have bet my 401k that this was not possible, but I saw it. I was happy for the last several months believing that the four remaining in the flock were well fed on the crumbles. So much for that belief. I should have accepted the evidence of the deer footprints left in the hay on part of the floor or the sudden very large increase in food consumption, but my brain and reasoning could not accept what my eyes were telling me. I sprayed the entrance with deer repellant. More footprints and empty food bowl. I went out today to take some pictures and the doe was in the coop. She did not appreciate my interrupting her lunch.    

August 2023

By Ron S.

It’s hot, and we are in the summer season!  Any Global Warming deniers still out there? If so, get naked and stand in the sun for 20-minutes. Ten- or twenty-years ago, you could get away with it as long as you had like-minded neighbors. Ha! In my 20s, people spent all day at Hippie Hollow on Lake Travis with barely a light sunburn, even on very personal areas. It’s what many of us did during the summer—to see how tan you could get.  Not now. The weatherperson just advised all listeners not to remain in direct sun for more than ten-minutes without heavy sunscreen.   We are now much more educated on how to protect our skin from the sun.

However, I cannot put sunscreen on my garden plants, those that still survive. Watering every other day with a drip and direct sprinkler application does not cut it. As a result, I have asparagus stems and short pepper plants remaining. All tomatoes are gone, mostly from natural causes, along with carrots and squash. My basil plants need water every day but still show severe stress. The fake spinach tops are all fried, even with the watering. The blackberry and passionflower vines are all but dead. So, care for the plants you still have, and stay cool fellow-gardeners!

July 2023

By Ron S.

It is with sadness that I inform you of Flower’s passing. A couple weeks ago she came in with a limp.  I thought perhaps she got into a tiff somewhere and we just continued watching her. It got worse, however, and progressed to what appeared to be paralysis of her hind quarters. Then, she dragged herself into the house and just laid under a chair. Her tail was saturated with green skunk spray indicating that she had lost control of her defense organ. It appeared that she had come in to die. My wife became very concerned and directed that I end her suffering. We were able to get her into a large box, I carried her outside, and ended her pain. I have had to do this with some of our wildlife from deer to raccoons, and now to skunks. It causes me great grief every time. We still have another visiting skunk named Daisy.

On the happy side, we are new parents of three tiny kittens, well not so tiny anymore. Some time ago, Pansy, the mother cat began coming to our door for food. She appeared to be only a few months old, very skinny, and desperate. After a few weeks of feeding on Fancy Feast and some dry food, she began to gain weight. What we didn’t know until later was that the weight gain was from more than good food, she was pregnant. As mentioned last month, we trapped her, took her to the vet for spaying, and learned that she was expecting three babies. She gave birth May 18th, the very day that my wife left for a family wedding and baby birthday celebration in California. (A celebration and baby birthday because due to COVID they had to postpone the big, planned wedding and had a small wedding of two and a baby instead.) I heard some strange sounds from the large kennel (3×5’ covered with sheets and blankets for privacy) containing Pansy but in my ignorance about cat birthing, didn’t realize it was Pansy expressing displeasure at having rather large beings emerge from a very small place. All the human mothers out there can understand both my male ignorance and what I mean by “small places”. I could see the mother in the back of the crate and what appeared to be kittens, but I didn’t want to disturb her as she was engaged in her afterbirth duties. A couple of hours later, I heard some small squeaks coming from the annex (2×2’ cage, also covered for privacy, containing a litter box) that’s attached to the kennel we’d set up for Pansy. I investigated and saw a tiny black wet blob with an umbilical cord and placenta still attached. That is when I uttered a few unrepeatable words. Pansy must have mistaken labor pains for diarrhea and a baby came out instead. I picked up the tiny girl and placed her near the mother. Things worked out for three days. That’s when Pansy figured out how to escape to the wild yonder. At that point, my wife and I became foster parents to three three-day-old kittens. We were on a schedule of feeding them every two hours round the clock for the first two weeks, then three hours, and now four or five. The kittens, in four weeks, have grown exponentially but not at the same rate. The male is almost half again as big as the two girls who also differ in size. When I used the term foster, I meant at the beginning. Now, I don’t see how we could release them to a third party or parties. One of our neighbors offered to take two as barn cats. That is totally unacceptable. Looks like we are headed to a nine-cat household.

Oh, right. I forgot the title. I am happy to report that the turnip greens denuded by beetles and caterpillars have rebounded with no current return of vermin. My tomatoes are doing tolerably well considering all are potted in five-gallon vessels. Most of my crop so far are cherry type. Some of the medium size fruit are ripening. The weird Malabar spinach vines that Emily S. gifted to me have all come up from underground roots or rhizomes and taken over a whole raised bed. While a pretty vine and ground cover, the taste is in my opinion not good, at least in smoothies.

June 2023

By Ron S.

I start with the advisement that our household has four new arrivals, all cats. We (my wife) has been feeding a feral cat for the last few weeks. Some of our neighbors believe that they should have barn cats, but they do not believe that these cats must be neutered or spayed. They have taken Mr. Abbott’s view on birth control. As a result, the very pregnant mother had triplets and we are left, as are other Texas’ taxpayers, to pick up the medical tab. So far, we have spent $140 for a vet checkup and shots and as of today, $60 for Royal Canin wet and dry kitten and new mother food.

My tomatoes are producing bright red and sometimes pinkish green Juliets and Super Red Cherry fruits. There are some mid-size ones growing. Some of the plants do not seem to be doing well as many of the leaves are turning yellow. I keep them watered and feed with 21-0-0. Lee F. did this and his tomatoes always won first prizes, so don’t judge.

I quit mowing the road easement and my puny grass area because Danny Seo said to leave it alone during May as the pollinators use it for nectar and pollen. It is all weeds anyway. I started adding 3” of garden soil for more depth and have a whopping 3’ done. I hope to replace the weed and left-over grass with frog fruit ground cover. Linda V said that it works well and uses it. Also, there is some at the demonstration pollinator garden. I am looking for seed as my requirement is more than just a few feet. Well, after my Google search, I learned that there were many plug sellers, but only one seed business. 300 seeds for $30, free shipping. Ordered some. Now I have something else to write about.

I relearned again that not checking the garden every day has consequences and not good ones. I mentioned the free turnip greens seed that Emily S. brought to a meeting. Well, all of them sprouted and grew like weeds, probably because that was what they really were. One day I had deep green leaves ready for pulling for my chickens and two days later I had lime-green denuded stems having fed a swarm of small caterpillars. I figured I would spray them the next day but didn’t. The result was catastrophic. My chickens are still enjoying what is left, but I have not told them why turnip greens should not look like that.

Oh, I also learned that jumping cactus, anonymously kept in the demonstration cactus garden by an un-named chair, is extremely difficult to poison. NB Feed and Grain recommenced a product that the owner uses at his ranch. Well, I bought it and probably did not mix according to directions because I had about 50% success. The new growth was killed, but the old stems survived. I mixed a second batch of poison with the last of my bottle and sprayed a second time. Again, limited results and part of the old stems were killed, but it appears the base may survive. A few years ago, I purchased a burner unit having always wanted one. It is still in its plastic and cardboard packaging. I also have a partially filled propane gas container given to me over ten years ago and still is unused. (Does propane gas go bad?) Don’t know if that would do it, but I might see, unless I am the one getting burned. That could be a predictable outcome.

May 2023

By Ron S.

I report that my semi-annual greenhouse plant relocation project is now complete. Twice a year I either move my potted perennials in or out of it.  Because I planted mountain laurel seeds in my first flower bed, now located about 18” from the greenhouse door, the now 7’ tall laurels are doing an ever-increasing job of blocking ingress and egress.  Also, I repotted all of my large aloe vera plants as pups were crowding the pots. Now I have about 20 young plants that I do not really want.  A couple of years ago, I did the same thing but found homes for them at the plant-giveaway.  These are not rooted enough for that.

As I advised all of you earlier, my Zoysia died from thirst last summer.  It did not come back.  The winter brought rescue grass and other assorted weeds that gave the appearance of a green lawn.  With the approach of summer, these annuals will die, and I will have a beautiful brown lawn of dirt.  Still, hope blooms eternal.  I want to lay sod in early May and try again.  I am considering some type of ground cover, but Marcia is against it.  We shall see.  No matter what the decision, I must add another three inches of soil.

Flower is back, just not as a house guest.  The other day, Marcia and I were talking in the kitchen, about five feet apart, when in walked Flower through the kitchen door.  She walked directly between us to get to the cat food at the far end of the room.  This was around 6 p.m.  After her meal, she calmly walked out the patio door to another feeding station on the grilling porch. Flower has also learned that she can enter the cat flap during the early morning hours into the mud room.  We close the pocket door, but she also learned how to open that door.  We blocked it with a 20-pound box of kitty litter, but she just shoves it aside and slides open the door.  She is quite the cheeky skunk.

Well, I am no longer a beekeeper.  A couple of years ago, one of my four hives turned really nasty.  The bees were coming after me at odd times.  Once, I was trimming with a weed eater about 30 feet from the hives when they let me know, in numbers, that they were not happy with the vibrations.  I dropped the machine and ran as fast as my addled body would allow.  They started buzzing me when I was hanging up the wash on the line.  The final blow was when for no apparent reason a hive attacked my five chickens, killing three.  I called my friend Rick Fink from BanderaBees who drove 90-minutes to help me out.  He purchased three of the hives and requeened my one remaining hive.  I just could not give it all up.  During the last part of April, we began to experience the same pattern.  We provide water to our outside cats and other animals in four large dog feeder bowls.  The bees have easily enjoyed collecting water there for years.  For whatever reason, these bees began attacking Marcia, stinging her on three separate occasions.  This water station is on the front porch under the spigot and about 100 yards from the hive.  That did it. I again called Rick to ask for help.  A week ago, he drove over and collected my final hive. The removal made me quite sad as I had savored being a beekeeper for many years.  The bees, besides the honey, gave me peace and enjoyment when I watched them going about their business.  Also, I realized that Saturday was probably the last time I would get to see my friend Rick unless he is invited back as a vendor to the Spring Seminar.  Rick advised that he was entering semi-retirement from his bee removal business. I believe he will continue as a beekeeper due to his very large apiary at his family’s ranch in Bandera where he lives.  He recommended that I refer calls for bee removal to Charlie Bee Company, quite a good compliment to Charlie.

The vegetable garden is doing as expected for me, barely ok. My cilantro is in full bloom, and I hope going to seed.  Same as the three broccoli plants and the arugula.  My blackberries are doing an amazing job of spreading to totally unwanted areas while producing only a handful of berries.  The thorns are bleeding me out. Marcia is very upset about my three asparagus (her favorite garden offering) beds lack of production and evident die-back.  I will mark the open areas for replanting in hope of improvement.  My carrot effort was a complete bust, but I have several varieties of peppers, from green to jalapeño doing well.  Also, I have four zucchini plants that are sickly.  I planted some cucumber seeds, and these are just coming up.  Also planted in pots were ten winter squash seed taken from a kabocha we had for lunch.  Most have sprouted and are destined for a raised bed or larger pots.

From my garden to yours, I hope they never meet as it may be contagious.

by CMG Ron S.

April 2023

A few years ago I attended a Spring Seminar where the featured speaker was “Mr. Tomato.” I do not remember his name, but he had years of professional and personal experience in propagating, caring for, and eating tomatoes. Well, one thing that I do remember was that he emphasized never handling the transplant’s stem but rather using the leaf to move it or replant it. It was not a timely remembrance. I bought several tomato transplants back in January from the first Plant Haus delivery and these were beauts. All were strong of stem, healthy and dark green. Having experienced the pain of planting tomatoes too early, actually quite often, I repotted them into eight-inch pots and put them in my DIY greenhouse. My make-do greenhouse does not have clear roof panels. One half of it is a translucent polycarbonate construction and the other half is smoky looking color. My thought when purchasing the material was that our Texas summer sun was too strong for young plants. I failed to consider that the weather was also way too hot to grow squat during that part of the year. Having now given you a mental picture of what the inside of my structure looks like, add a solid sheet of professional grade greenhouse plastic attached to the underside of the ceiling and walls to help contain the heat from my small electric heater. The plastic was also not clear, but translucent. I am not the best greenhouse gardener and often do not ask the plants how they are doing for several days. I check on moisture but leave them alone to build their community. Like adolescents transitioning to teens, the tomato plants shot up from around six inches to over eighteen overnight. The rapid growth had a major drawback (hear the drum roll) in that the stems were the thickness of thin chop sticks. In re-planting them from six-inch pots to forever homes, I did not activate my memory cells relating to the leaf versus stem system. Also, I did not take into consideration the movement of the plants from the greenhouse to the outside potting bench. Four of the stems bent and my attempt at remediation was not the best. I tried standing them back up only to fail and have the four fall over again, not always in the same direction. The results were damaged tomato plants trying to survive, but without success. New Plant Haus and HEB plants replaced them. I wish that I could say “live and learn” but I know better.

Also on my failed-but-still-trying-list are my stocks. These are pretty cut-flower plants that do well in cold weather, but not the heat. I tried transplanting several to my raised beds in early January, but the freeze killed them. I did not read the online guidance that while stocks are cold weather plants, they are not freeze tolerant.  Now, at some expense, I have practical experience. The flowers come in vibrant colors and have a strong and pleasant fragrance. I bought many more and installed them into their temporary greenhouse home. These have all done well.  Like many flowering plants, timely harvesting promotes additional growth.

For those who attended the February CMG meeting, I hope you noticed the tables of free seeds that I believe Emily S set out. I sure did and crammed my pockets with various samples. I managed to slink away with a few packets of wildflower, vegetable, and flower seeds. I report that most of the wildflower seeds have sprouted. I also planted rows of turnip greens. I have never eaten turnip greens and decided to try them with a secondary consideration that if I do not like them, my chickens will. They will eat almost anything including each other. These little buggers have all sprouted and now I am in an enviable spot of having to cull some. This type of bounty is not normal for me. My spouse remarked that she has had some and did not do it again. We shall see.

As an update, we finally persuaded Flower the Skunk to move out permanently. Our mud room still smells a bit like skunk #2, but it is fading. She was a very pretty and nice boarder but needed toilet etiquette, i.e. do not poop where you eat.

March 2023

My household works in strange ways. I am not allowed to watch westerns because of the employment of horses. Same with any nature show because of the possibility that someone may be eaten. Same with any violent show to include fisticuffs. Same with news broadcasts, again because of violence. This leaves me with Ghosts and Young Sheldon. I mention this because I am also not allowed to shoo away wild animals who take up residence inside our house. Oh, did I mention that I am required to feed a herd of deer twice a day, and about nine pounds of dry cat food to the raccoon, possums, porcupines and skunks that show up for a nightly meal.

In my last submission, I mentioned Flower, an adult possibly male or female, skunk that began living behind our washing machine. It is a rather small animal and actually quite cute. Nevertheless, as happened before, it does #1 and #2 back there. I have determined through actual experience that this is far worse than an occasional poof in the house. The stench from a #2 deposit permeates the area with a very persistent vile odor defying description. A mere poof is actually not too bad and one gets used to it after a short while. It dissipates somewhat quickly or perhaps I get used to it. Well Flower lived behind the washer since my last posting until about February 15th. While we blocked the two entrances to its new den it quickly learned to move the trail blockers. It would leave at night through the cat flap to hunt, but would return in early morning. Now, you say well just close the cat flap. Re-read the first paragraph. I was not allowed to do this as it would preclude a few of our six rescue cats from entering, hence possibly causing them distress. We blocked Flower’s entrance to the main house by closing the powder room door and pocket door to the kitchen/diner. The utility room was then her new abode. A few days ago we were sure Flower had left to go shopping during the day and decided to clean her room. The washing machine has a drain under it for unintentional spills and skunk #1 and #2. Marcia took the garden hose with an adjustable sprayer and washed the area extensively. While waiting for it to dry, here comes a totally drenched Flower from behind the machine. You would expect her to be really upset. I mean, how would you like to be sound asleep and have your other or roommate dump a large bucket of cold water on you. Nope, she was not phased. She walked right by Marcia and tried to hide behind the kitchen patio door. Marcia opened the door and she just walked out, trailing puddles of water. Once again, we believe Flower to have returned to the wild, but just in case, we are watching closely.

As to actual gardening, I have little to report. Last month I purchased 18 tomato plants from Plant Haus and repotted them into eight and ten inch pots. Unusually for me, these repotted tomatoes are doing very well. I also planted zucchini and zinnia seed, not in the same pot. None have as yet sprouted. I replanted a desperation dispersal of new carrot seeds as my first planting failed. A fellow Master Gardener says it was likely due to my using my old home-grown seeds from a couple of years ago. My cilantro is doing very well and even grows in the walkways. The broccoli did not do well but I got enough florette-sized heads for two salads. I am hoping for the Brussel sprouts to produce, but as time passes those hopes are waning. I also have a couple of plants that I forgot to label. Both are going to flower. I think one is arugula. I have a large key lime, Meyer lemon, and some kind of fat lime tree in separate large pots. The freeze a couple of years ago taught me that no level of cover and heat lamps will save them in the wild. I roll them into the garage at the hint of another freeze.

Be careful in your garden and do not let the garden wagon run you over.