Quarentine Lawn Decor

Found this walking around our San Diego neighborhood last month...

Garden Tip: Use Faux Plants to Protect Real Ones

This is an easy garden tip I learned by accident.   I had tried and tried to grow plants from seeds on my back porch when I was living in an apartment, but time and again the hot Texas sun fried the seedlings before they could grow.   So, in frustration one day I just stuck a bunch of fake flowers in the pot, strait down into the soil I had planned for real flowers.

And then, two weeks later, I noticed some new leaves pushing up through the faux plants.   REAL petunia seeds had sprouted under the shade of the fake flowers and were now inching their way past them to the sunlight.

Even when we moved to a house with a real yard, I used this technique.   I'd buy dollar store fake flowers, and stick them in the ground over my rows of carrots, beans, peppers, ect. until the plants were strong and hardy enough to do without the shade. 

Above you can see a young green bean being protected by some of these dollar store flowers.  

Yes, you can also start seedlings inside and transfer them once they're stronger...but that doesn't work with all types of plants, and it's an extra step you can skip if you use fake flowers or something else to shade them.   And the fake flowers are easy to use and look pretty in the meantime. 

What To Plant In Texas In April

1. Cantaloupes, 2. Collards, 3. Corn, 4. Cucumber, 5. Cushaw (and Pumpkins) 6. Eggplant, 7. Melons (honeydew), 8. Lima Beans, 9. Luffa, 10. Malabar Spinach, 11. Okra, 12. Peppers, 13. Pumpkin., 14. Snapbeans (19), 15. Southern Peas, 16. Summer Squash, 17. Sweet Potatoes, 18. Swiss Chard, 19. Tomato* 20. Watermelon

*On tomatoes plant transplants (too late to plant from seed)

These are all plants which are great for planting in April here in Texas.  I've been learning all about the best time to plant different plants from a book called Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas.  I wish I had gotten this book years ago...it's teaching me so much about Texas gardening that I really was absolutely clueless on!  I knew Texas had two growing seasons but I really didn't understand when the seasons started or ended.  It turns out I trying to grow nearly everything at the wrong time!  I'm going to try to share tips from the book each month (but there's so much info, I couldn't even begin to share it all).   They also share what else you need to do each month (when to fertilize, aerate your soil, tackle weeds, etc.). 

But, if you just want info on what veggies and herbs to plant each month, you can also get that information online here.  That's a good resource for  other states too.

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I found the photos for my mosaic on Flickr, and the photographers were nice enough to offer up for use through Creative Commons (click on the links to see the photos larger).  Yes, the Sountern Peas (ie cowpeas) in that picture are blighted (that was just a hard one to find, so I took what I could get.)

I'm linking up at the gardening linkies at Living More, Spending Less and Ramblings of a Christian Mom.  Also linking up at Mosaic Monday.

A Decade of Blogging

Wow, it's been an amazing decade.   It's hard to believe I've been blogging this long...but Texifornia was already 5 years old in 2010!

So much happened in my life during this time.   I survived the hottest summer in Texas history,  learned how to garden in Texas, discovered wildflowers and wildlife, had my back yard catch fire,  lost my dad to Parkinsons and my mom to COPD, saw my kids grow from elementary through high school, spent four years homeschooling my youngest, and, in 2017, moved back to my home state of California after 20 years in Texas.  What a decade!

I thought I'd go back and see what posts through the years resonated...in stead of just doing a top ten, I thought I'd do the top post from each year.   Here there are, in chronological order....

2010

Thoughts Following This Election


2011

Good Clover vs. Bad Clover



2012

Wildflower or Weed?



2013

California Coloring Pages



2014

Human Trafficking in Texas



2015

Now Texas Has Earthquakes



2016

Railroad Commissioner Websites are Comedy Gold



2017

In the Shape of Texas



2018

Black Friday Weekend Sale



2019

Things That Make a Gardener Go Hmm... 

Things that make a gardener go hmmm.....

That is a tomato plant.

That's right...that's a tomato plant growing on a sign out of what looks like pure concrete on the side of the road!  There were actually little green tomatoes starting to grow on it.   Just one of many "we're not in Texas anymore" moments I've had since coming back to California.

After how much I've struggled to keep plants alive stuff like this blows my mind.  

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Texifornia Stats

Found this interesting tid-bit doing research on California Ballot measures today:

From 2000 to 2015, the state lost nearly 800,000 residents with incomes near or below the poverty line. Nearly three-quarters of those who left California since 2007 made less than $50,000 annually. The leading destination for California’s poor? Texas.
From CalMatters Article "Californians, ere's why your housing prices are so high."

So, for those here who have moved from California to Texas, was finances part of the reason?