Planting the Cool Season Garden for 2015 and Getting Ready for This Season's Purple Martins

The week of February 8th, 2015, we are planting the cool season garden according the TX A&M Planting Guide.  http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden14.html

To start off the new planting season, we added mushroom compost to the beds and worked it into the soil.  Then we had to buy new soaker hoses this year.  The process of laying it out so it doesn't kink can be tedious.  We used metal staples to hold the hose.  We made them out of 12 gauge galvanized fencing wire.  Each let of the staple is about 6".

The manifold at the end of each raised bed where each hose is attached.

We purchased 400 feet of soaker hose this year.  We tried a new kind that, according to the tag, has a longer life.

The other end of the beds with the newly laid soaker hose.

We purchased 4 bunches of yellow onions.  We went with the 1015s.  We always have good luck with yellow onions.  After harvesting last year, they have lasted us through January.

We use a magic marker to make the holes for the onions. 

We plant the onions so the roots and about one inch of the onion are in the ground.

 The onions are planted and look good.  We planted them approximately 3" apart.

 We bought a flat of broccoli, red cabbage, spinach, and swiss chard.  We also got a parsley and a thyme plant to be planted in the middle herb garden patch.


We left the flat in the garden the night before we planned to plant them and some little peckerwood bunny nibbled our broccoli!  We went ahead and planted them but plan to replace them.  We checked the fence to find the holes in the fence where the bunnies were entering.  So irritating.

Merlin & Festus kept us company while we were planting the garden.  Note that Festus is on the lookout for bunnies.

Here is the start of our herb garden.  The trailing rosemary is now in full bloom.  The asparagus on the top has not started sprouting out of the earth yet.  We have parsley, chives, and thyme.

All the cool crops are in the ground now.  The artichokes overwintered in the top of the circular garden.  They are coming out now and looking good.

First view of the planted cool season garden.

Here a picture of the other side of the newly planted garden taken at sunset.


Our large rosemary bush in the front yard is in full bloom right now.

And finally - it is time to clean out the Purple Martin house for the new spring season.  According to the migration map for 2015, the Martin scouts will be coming through about the 2nd-3rd week of February here in North Texas.  First we lowered the gourds on the pole for easy cleaning.     http://www.purplemartin.org/scoutreport/


Next we take the plastic gourds off the pole and dump out last year's nesting material and brush them out.


We add some new nesting material to each gourd. 


We then raise the gourd tree back on the pole to wait on the arrival of this year's Purple Martin  families!

Happy New Year 2015

Today, January 17, 2015, is the first really nice day we have had here in North Texas.  The temperature reached the 60's with a very light breeze.  I realized I hadn't made a post to my garden journal so I'm posting pics I've taken this year so far.  Birds have been flocking around my feeders, especially when it was cold and rainy and have been the most interesting things around the yard.

White crowned sparrows

A very loud Carolina Wren visited my front yard today - I originally guessed a House Wren when I took the picture - but the stripe above the eye makes me now believe it is a Carolina.

House sparrows were visiting the feeder last week when it was so cold and rainy.

A male cardinal visited my yard.

This is a crab spider.  I have never seen one like this around here before.  We found it in my husband's t-shirt drawer!   I took it outside to get some light when taking the picture.

It is sitting on a barite rose.  These rocks come from Oklahoma.  Here is a link to some information about them.  http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Oklahoma/stateRockRose.html

The only thing blooming in January is rosemary.

We harvested broccoli the last week of December 2014.  I never got around to posting the pictures.  We had several large heads.

I'll close today with Jonie.  She is all by herself since the bobcat attack last year.  She doesn't like to come out of her chicken tractor very much and is very wary.  I coaxed her out to enjoy the sunshine today.  We plan to get her some new friends this spring!  I found a hatchery that guarantees female chicks and I can order a small number of chicks through the mail!
Meyer Hatchery:  https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=AELS

Thanksgiving Week 2014 - Including Our Attempt at Killing a Fire Ant Mound

We have had both very cold and warm days this fall.  Even though the plants are looking winter drab, we still have new and interesting things going on now.  Since the trees have been losing their leaves, we have to clean out the swimming pool filters more frequently.  We found this frog in our pool basket.  The water was SO COLD.

This frog is very different from the one I found in September 2014 - that frog was solid green, where this one is spotted.  I believe this frog is a "Plains Leopard Frog".  See link for a picture of the green frog:  http://rainbowmagicsparklebutterfly.blogspot.com/2014/09/planting-fall-garden-mid-september-2014.html

We found this wooly caterpillar.  I believe it is the caterpillar of the giant leopard moth.  We did not touch it as we were concerned about getting stung.

Due to all the recent rains, the fireants have been building large mounds in the backyard.  Here is one in the blackberry patch.  We boiled a large stock pot of water and poured on it.

It is amazing that any of the ants lived through the boiling water, but they did.  The live ants brought all the dead ants out of the mound and placed them on the edge of the mound.  See picture below.


This is a close up shot of all the boiled alive dead ants.  I wonder how many ants survived?  Must have been a lot for them to have been able to bring up so many dead ants to the surface!

We found this centipede in our house - he was removed promptly to the outside.

On to the vegetable garden.  We have some broccoli that are starting to produce heads now.

I thought the summer heat had killed the artichoke plants however, they have "risen from the ashes" so to speak and are looking great this fall!

Blooming trailing rosemary - in late November!

Red Yaupon holly berries are out now.  Birds that eat these berries are bluebirds and other thrushes; woodpeckers; catbirds; thrashers; mockingbirds.


Here are the blue wax myrtle berries - I have learned that yellow rumped warblers eat these berries and I took a picture of one last year in my yard!  See post:  http://rainbowmagicsparklebutterfly.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-ice-storm-in-north-texas.html

And finally - here is a picture of our Asian persimmon tree.  It has lost all its leaves now.  We picked most of the fruit, but left the fruit on top for the birds.  

November 11-12th 2014, First Freeze in North Texas and Making Green Tomato Salsa

Our first freeze of the season in North Texas was the evening of November 11th.  We ran out to the garden and made a last final harvest of beans, tomatoes, and bell peppers.  We also picked most of the persimmons off our Asian persimmon tree.

The first order of business was to make some Tomato Salsa using up the peppers and tomatoes.  I had about 2 gallons of green tomatoes to use up.  This is the link to the recipe I used which started with 5 gallons of tomatoes.  We like it very much and I recommend it to anyone with lots of green tomatoes!
I used the following proportions with a little over 2 gallons of tomatoes.

Green Tomatoes (approximately 2+ gallons before cutting and chopping)

Onions (4 large onions)

Garlic (4 large elephant garlic cloves) Peeled

Green and Red Bell Peppers (6 large bell peppers)

Jalapenos (8 large peppers)

Water (1 cup)

Ground Cumin (About 1 1/2 tablespoons--taste and see what you like)

Canning Salt (2 1/2 tablespoons)

Pepper (1 tsp)

Lime Juice (1 cup)

About 3 tablespoons of dried parsley (I couldn't get any fresh parsley)

The link below is to the original recipe which uses 5 gallons of tomatoes.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/annies-green-tomato-salsa-recipe-for-water-bath-canning-zbcz1411.aspx#axzz3J4qbP2Zd

To the chopped tomatoes I added 6 large bell peppers, 8 large jalapeno peppers, and 4 large onions along with 1 large elephant garlic (with about 4 large cloves).

I also added lime juice, salt, cumin, and parsley flakes (I didn't have any fresh parsley).  We were initially going to can the salsa but later decided to freeze it so I didn't add any vinegar. 

Next I chopped all the ingredients in the blender.

The final mixture was put in a stock pot and brought to a boil.  I cooked the liquid down until the salsa was thick enough to my liking.

I continued to stir to ensure no scorching.

We froze 18 pints of Salsa today!

I took some pictures of the fall flowers around the house before the first freeze.  Here is some Mexican Marigold.  This herb has a nice scent and blooms all fall long.  It is a perennial.  I cut it back to the ground in the winter.  Here is a link to information on this herb which can be used in cooking.
http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-texas-tarragon/

Butterfly weed has interesting seed pods this time of year.  The seeds are very wispy.

The blue salvia in the backyard is blooming now.  I don't see many hummingbirds around in November though.

And finally, I wanted to show a picture of the persimmon tree before we picked all the fruit.

To bring this garden post to a close I want to chronicle that during this week we are also have extremely cold temperatures with no relief.  The link discusses the cold snap gripping the country.  
 http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/harsh-cold-to-freeze-northeast/37451243 

That's all for now!