Early 2017

I might have called this post "Late Winter 2017" but the weather has been so warm here lately that the word "winter" doesn't even come to mind. I heard that the last freeze we had here was Jan 8th!  We did have frost last week one morning, but otherwise its been lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s on average.  I read that a lot of the South is experiencing and extremely warm winter this year, and many trees are budding already.

I meant to do a final post last year, but forgot to. One of the disappointments was the Jumbo Pink Banana Squash.  It never had enough time to produce.  By the time the weather cooled enough, the plant was in a lot of shade, and it had two growing, but not enough time to mature.  I think the problem was the very warm fall.
The sugar pie pumpkins did come through at the end, and I had at least 15 pumpkins.

Early Starts for Warm Weather Plants

Well, since we are having extremely mild temperatures, I'm planning on getting a very early start this year with some warm weather plants. In those yellow pots (Dickey's BBQ cups with holes punched underneath) I have planted three Jumbo Pink Banana Squash, around 6 Spaghetti Squash, and 5 Golden Acorn squash (saved from a store bought squash a number of years ago, I just hadn't had a chance to plant it).  I plant to give 3 Spaghetti squash plants to my sister, and keep 2.  I will keep them in pots (and move them to bigger pots) probably until early March( if mild weather continues), and then put them in the ground.  Then I'll have covers handy if we get frost or a late freeze.  Same thing with my tomatoes.  I also have some Cherry Tomatoes going in those small jiffy peat pots.  In the meantime I have to monitor the weather,and bring them in on cold nights.

Cool Weather Plants

I have lots of cooler weather crops growing now.  The picture above also shows some Bibb lettuce, and some Spinach.  I had built a makeshift hot-frame in early January, and seeded them,  They got off a to good start, but with the warm weather I keep the glass off.  Also in the back, is some garlic.  I also planted it in early January.  

In last year's final post I had shown some cabbage I had started in pots. I put them in the ground shortly afterwards, and they have done very well. Its the "Flat Dutch" variety.  I've only had to cover them twice, in mid December and early Jan. when we had some temps in the teens.

Cabbage picked early Feb.

 We've picked about 4 good heads now, and there are about 8 more developing.

some remaining cabbage,with onions in the back

I also started some onion sets in the end of January, and those are coming up now.  Its a variety of red, yellow, and white onions.  

One of my favorite cold weather crops in Spinach. I have 3 small beds growing now.  One was shown above.  They do great in the winter here in North Texas, because they are very cold tolerant.

In the picture below is one of my patches. with some pea plants behind them that recently sprouted. Those I started from seed at the end of December,and had them in small pots until their secondary leaves came out.

spinach, with peas behind them

And below is a small patch that my daughter Elizabeth had started back at the end of October.  It also includes some lettuce and cilantro.

Below are some more plants:  Some turnips (which have big roots now that are ready to pick) and a few red mustard.  I actually have a bigger patch of red mustard in my front yard, which are very pretty and I am treating them as ornamental plants (that are edible too!)

I'm starting to see aphids on the turnips though. :(