Mother Nature

So Mother Nature has decided that we weren't to have any freezes here in north Austin until late in the year - like I don't remember going quite this long before getting a freeze.  We may hit freezing tonight (predicted low of 34), and we'll likely get a brief freeze tomorrow as well (predicted low of 33).  And of course it's coming in with some rain which means that the sheets I put out are soaking wet and the Christmas lights on the plants keep tripping the CFGI on the outlet. 

Now you may be asking WHY I have Christmas lights on the plants - and I really only have Christmas lights on 2 plants - the tomato plant and the mum plant that has a queen chrysalis on it.  To be fair, the added heat isn't for the mum. 

This is the latest I've ever had a tomato plant; and it is loaded with green tomatoes. I may end up having to make Jenny's famous Green Tomato Chutney (which is very good); but I was so hoping to get some ripened tomatoes.  I just wish I had paid more attention to when the plant was flowering because then I'd have a better idea of when I should be expecting the tomatoes.  I feel like it was in early October because I was expecting them to be ready around Christmas-time...

Your Mid-Fall update

It's like the middle of fall.  I've got some shrimp plant blooming; and the Mexican Petunia (or Carolina Petunia, depending on who you ask) is putting out blooms like no tomorrow.  The milkweeds are all still blooming and the grasses have their fall seed heads.  Yet, it seems like everything is getting ready for winter.  I've pulled in the ginger and the tender succulents/cacti.  I have my Vorlon tomato wrapped in Christmas lights (as well as one milkweed plant that I keep moving all the caterpillars I find to); but I keep forgetting to bring in my pepper plant (it's totally going to die).  The tomato plant has a few huge tomatoes on it, but they don't look like they're getting ready to turn and I know what's going to happen is that it's going to get down to freezing on one of the nights that we're not home and that's how I'm going to lose my tomato...which is fine as long as I actually get the tomatoes off of it first.

Now's the time to do projects, and I've got a big one lined up; but it's also going to require getting some PVC pipe and drilling holes in it (easy), and then laying them down and filling an area with angular rock (much harder if only because it requires my husband to help), and then mashing them with a weight thingy until my arms fall off (extremely hard).  Needless to say I'm putting it off because I'm nothing if not a procrastinator.