Hard Fall

[brog]

Sorry Neva, I had wrong name it should be bloom BOOSTER. Old timers catching up with me.

[b54red]

Finally the forecast is for weather in the 80s tommorow. Now if we can just get a little rain so I don't have to run the water every day. Hopefully with this hot fall we won't have an early frost and some of these late planted tomatoes will have time to make, but who knows.

[Timbotide]

It sprinkled here for about a minute and quit. Maybe we will get more this evening.

[ireilly]

It was pouring at 4 AM in Dallas. Only thing that suffered was one pepper plant split a branch off and my "temporary" wall of moonflower became even more temporary (fell over). Putting up latticework as I type.

Should be heading your way I would guess.

[Timbotide]

I like to use rain water but my rain barrel
has been bone dry for a while now.
Good thing I had the sprinkler system and 2 outside
Hose bibs connected to a separate water meter.
We do not pay sewer usage fees on any water
used to water the lawn and garden during these long
dry spells.

[RinTinTin]

Rain catchment is the way to go, IF you can devise an economical way to store it. The chicken coops I am planning to build are 10' x 16' (160 sq. ft. each). With that square footage, every inch of rain will provide 100 gallons of water...certainly more than the chickens will drink. The secret is devising a way to store the surplus to last through the dry months.

[Direct Sunlight]

Last year the frost didn't hit until December 4 here (zone 8A N Texas). We may get until late November this year due to the hot summer we've had, so there may be time for fruit setting yet! I've got nice big plants with lots of blooms. Am hoping they keep me outside until dark in the short days of November picking tomatoes.

[b54red]

The forecast was right and we also got a light sprinkle to go with the low 80s. the forecast is for more rain; so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My beds are too dry to till and plant fall crops in and it's time to put in some greens and set out some brocolli and cabbage soon. My bell peppers are already perking up some just from the light drizzle and cooler temps.

[Timbotide]

We received a good downpour about 6:00AM
This morning.
I'm at the hospital with my mom now, she had a Mini
Stroke earlier today but seems lots better now.

[ireilly]

Mine had one a few years back and had to go through PT and OT and is now on statins and BP meds.

Hard to watch someone lose their abilities after one of those.

Best wishes for your mom. Take care of yourself too, stress is bad news.

[veggie babe]

Tim sorry to hear that you Mother had a stroke, we are thinking of you.

It was good to read all the optimistic post, hopefully we will still have tomatoes. It was much cooler here over the week-end, I have added extra watered (like Bill suggested) and I am keeping my fingers crossed for fruit set.

I put collard plants in my raised bed on Sunday, the weather was so nice, I hardly broke a sweat.

Here's to a great fall garden,

Neva

[Timbotide]

Originally Posted by veggie babe

Tim sorry to hear that you Mother had a stroke, we are thinking of you.

It was good to read all the optimistic post, hopefully we will still have tomatoes. It was much cooler here over the week-end, I have added extra watered (like Bill suggested) and I am keeping my fingers crossed for fruit set.

I put collard plants in my raised bed on Sunday, the weather was so nice, I hardly broke a sweat.


Here's to a great fall garden,

Neva

Neva,

Mom is at home and doing good. She had a TIA that effected
Her memory but that is coming back fast.
The only thing now is making sure she takes her meds
Like the DR says to.
We got a good rain and the cool temps are nice.
The plants I have left are looking good and my
Radishes are up and growing.
Thanks for thinking of my Mom.

Tim

I am reading this thread with genuine interest and a smile. I've been experiencing the same killer heat on my garden with the same results on all my plants including the tomatoes. Hear north of Dallas, the heat modified about ten days ago and we are getting nights down into the 50's. Actually got down to 48 the other night with low 80's in the daytime. My tomatoes seem slow to react to this beautiful weather, but they are growing and blooming a little. The tomatoes left over from my spring garden are doing best with a ton of small tomatoes. Most of them didn't produce a single spring tomato.

The idea of using the screen material is really good. I had a couple of sliding screens left over from a construction project and have been using them. I have now put them away for the winter. They did a great job protecting my plants during the 100 degree plus weather. They worked best for me in providing shade for my cuttings. I started attempting to grow cuttings back in July. The heat would kill them in one day. When I put the door screens up in August, all my cuttings lived and are now the largest plants in my fall garden.

I had so many heirloom tomatoes planted this past spring that were a total failure and I am trying so hard to get them to work in the fall garden. The plants seem to be doing well, but blooming seems so slow to develop.

Ted

[ireilly]

Same here in Irving Ted.

Got lots of blooms but nary a fruit to be seen yet. At least they are not all dropping like before.

Peppers are everywhere though once the heat dropped.

It has been an interesting season for sure.

On my op's I have a single tomato on one Sweet Carneros Pink plant. I have lots of blooms. I spent the spring and summer concerned with the fact that night time temps reached the 70's + early in the spring. That pretty much put the stop sign up for the blooms to stop setting for the summer garden. Now someone flipped the wall switch and I am seeing the night time temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. I am wondering if that may be to low for productive fruit setting in my fall garden. It seems the weather masters decided to not have night time temps in the 60's this year.

Ted