Margali 2020 Garden

[baymule]

I am north of Tyler, just above Interstate 20. We moved here 5 years ago from Livingston, 75 miles north of Houston. I was raised in Houston, graduated in 19** from Belaire High School. The I moved to Baytown, then east Texas. In Livingston I could keep a winter garden with lettuce, mustard, turnips and all the cole crops. Here, it gets just cold enough for everything to freeze. Then it gets hot enough to boil your blood. Humidity gives us a break. LOL LOL January of 2018 we got down to 9*F, but it didn't last long. We had 3 days of snow and ice before it all melted and went away. Official temp was 10*F, broke records from 1955.

You will be able to plant cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, greens, onions in the fall and harvest all winter. I had a PVC redneck green house wrapped in plastic that I stuck a little electric heater in and had tomatoes and bell peppers in December. Are you in League City? In high school, my best friend's grandpa had a Brangus cattle ranch in League City. Went down I-45 to League City, turned right and a few miles out was the ranch. Now--it's all houses! Used to be all cows. LOL

Your orange tree will do well, you should plant kumquat, grapefruit and Myer lemon too.

 

[margali]

So fence is up around garden. Yes the kids could belly crawl underneath but hopefully they will not. Going to train pretty pollinator attracting flowers on it.

I need barrier so kids don't pull all the flowers off trees (Cassandra) or dig up everything (Dominic).

 

[margali]

So that lovely 2'x 6' garden bed is a single fire ant mound. Tried half gallon of spinosad drench on Texas A & M handout. Hopefully I can kill them and get my bed back.

 

[baymule]

I hate fire ants. You know, if they were an essential ingredient in Chili, they'd disappear in no time. Now to convince everyone...…..

 

[flowerbug]

I hate fire ants. You know, if they were an essential ingredient in Chili, they'd disappear in no time. Now to convince everyone...…..

i heard one way of upsetting their apple cart was to take a shovel full of one nest and drop it on another. not that _I_ want to do that! those buggers are little big meanie heads. i've only had one run-in with those in my life on vacation in South Carolina one late winter...

 

[baymule]

i heard one way of upsetting their apple cart was to take a shovel full of one nest and drop it on another. not that _I_ want to do that! those buggers are little big meanie heads. i've only had one run-in with those in my life on vacation in South Carolina one late winter...

Yes, they go to war with each other and kill each other off. You can pour boiling water in the nest too. Or pour gasoline in the nest and clap a garbage can lid on it to force the fumes into the nest-that one is not my favorite. Pour diesel on it and burn it, another one of my non favorites.

 

[baymule]

@margali if you get up Tyler way, I have a loquat tree you can have. It blooms in the fall and will set fruit that would be ready in early spring, only mine freezes. It is covered with brown, dead blooms, buds and it is never going to make fruit here. Bring a big tub and I will dig it up for you. LOL We planted it 4 years ago, but it gets too cold here.

 

[margali]

Sounds neat! We could swing by sometime from visiting DFW. Let me ponder... How big is big? Will a 22gal barrel work?

 

[baymule]

Sounds neat! We could swing by sometime from visiting DFW. Let me ponder... How big is big? Will a 22gal barrel work?

It should. It is an attractive tree, evergreen and won't get real big. It will never make for me, I hate to toss it. We are 7 1/2 miles off I-20, a little over an hour from Dallas. If going in the back of a truck, bring something to wrap around the tree like a big sheet, to keep the wind from beating it up. If going in a van or SUV, we could wrap the root ball to keep from spilling the dirt in your vehicle. It is about 5-6' tall. Would love to have you come by! PM me when you are going to come this way and i'll send you my contact info.

I have a thread on BYH, because a couple of people there have loquat trees and I was asking about them. It had blooms in December, none survived, they are all dead and brown now. Instead of digging it up and tossing it, I will be happy for you to have it, it just needs a warmer home!

Loquat Tree

Ok @B&B Happy goats and @CntryBoy777 my Loquat tree is doing something! It looks like it is about to burst out in blooms. It is also going to be 28* tonight and 24* tomorrow night. Will the Loquat blooms survive the cold or is it doomed?

www.backyardherds.com

 

[margali]

Hmm I looked up loquats and found references that they get 20 - 33ft tall by 20ft wide? I'm not sure about dwarfing it by keeping it container bound. I'm afraid I'll kill it...

I still would like to come by and hi next time we are up towards DFW.