I am using my couch time to reserch, order seeds and do a whole lot of planning for next year.  On the night of Dec. 4th, we had a hard freeze of 19 degrees, the first of the season and it was a surprise . All of our annual flowers  including the house of zinnias that were suppose to take us to Christmas with flowers, froze and left me with no flowers till the early spring flowers like ranunculus and anemones start blooming.

We were very busy the month of November planting all of our greens and lettuces. Amazingly the tomatoes did not freeze. The days have consisted of clouds, rain and cool temps as of late and the tomatoes are not growing .  We have decuded this year not to purchase propane and heat the greenhouse and if they freeze, we will just replant in the early spring.

In preparation for spring, we have all of our ranunculus, anemones, delphiniums, dianthus, bells of ireland, campanula, snap dragons, freesia up and growing. Normally we are able to start picking some of the flowers before Valentine's days,

I can't wait to be able to go out in the garden and get my hands dirty and back to work.  I'm excited about 2010 and have alot of ideas to implement to bring new and exciting products to my customers.

I'm just itching to start some of the fall crops but with temps being so high, I'm a little hesitant. Most of our crops are making it through the summer thanks to alot of drip irrigation. Two saturdays ago when we were coming home from market in Houston, I saw what I thought was a huge flock of birds ahead and as we got closer, realized it was a huge heat twister. We slowed down to let it go in front of us because it took up all four lanes of the interstate and was as high as you could see and what I thought were birds, were actually corn leaves and other debris. I remarked to my husband, I hope we don't get one of those through our greenhouses. The next afternoon as we werre taking a nap, we heard a loud noise and went out to see what the rucus was. Well it was another one of those huge heat twisters and it took the plastic off one of my greenhouses and ripped a shade cloth off another. It was the same greenhouse that was damaged in April and was going to be repaired anyway and it just did some of the work for us by taking the plastic off. I had a beautiful crop of celosi in the house and when the plastic came off it was hit by some high winds and knocked and broke alot of the celosia down and then the high heat burned some of the plants that wern't use too the heat. It always something and keeps life interesting.

Next week we will start transplanting our fall crop of tomatoes into our beds and the start to alot of work. We also will be transplanting another fall crop of zinnias and as always lots of sunflowers. Our youngest son who is home from college for a couple of weeks between semesters is doing alot of repairs and some new construction for us so we can concentrate on growing. One of his biggest projects is building a cooler for keeping flowers and maybe vegetables also at different times of the year.

Erin our daughter and her husband Jeff are anxiously awaitiing the birth of their 3rd child in late October which will be welcomed at home by  Avery who is 3 and Chase who is almost 5 and will be attending pre k . Our oldest son Jim and his wife, Nikki are pregnant and expecting their first born in March. We are anxiously awaiting the births of more grandchildren.

Here is a site that I wanted to share on flower care.

Enjoy

Eventhough we have had such an extended drought, our crops seem to be doing okay because we use drip irrigation and water only at the base of the plants and don't waste any of the well water. Can't wait to see my water bill this month.

Saturday was a good day at the market. We harvested alot of cucumbers and basil this week along with all the flowers that are blooming away. Celosia just loves our hot summer are blooming away. We should have plenty of cucumber, basil and celosia next week at the market again. The heat has kept some away from the market but I am very thankful to the customers that come out and brave the heat.  The weatherman is forecasting rain for next week and hopefully it will come.

We have started our seeds for our fall tomato crop and germination was good and hope the grasshoppers and worms don't get to them before they grow a little. We just planted another planting of cucumbers and will be replacing our tired plants with new ones. The summer heat of 100 degree temps everyday is really taking a toll on the greens crop and before we know it will be fall and they will kick in and grow like they are suppose too.

The deer in our area are also very hungry and we have had to put up fences to keep them from eating our sunflowers.

Farming isa challenge and we just have to rise to the challenges to be sucessfull or learn more of life's little lessons.

Cuts of Color is owned and operated by Rita Anders of Weimar, Texas. Rita began growing greenhouse tomatoes in 1979 when her grandfather retired and wanted her to take over the family business. When she took over the business, she started out with a 4,800 sq. foot greenhouse growing tomatoes only. Within a matter of 5 years,  the business expanded to 20,000 sq. feet and in 1990, grew another 12,000 sq. feet. Growing tomatoes was the sole crop until 2005 when Rita decided to downsize and diversify in order to grow other crops and flowers. 

During this time, Rita decided to expand her business to grow beautiful flowers along with several vegetable varietes, and various herbs. The decision for doing this was based on the ever rising costs of fuel. This is how Cuts of Color came about.  To this day, Rita believes her decision to grow flowers and herbs in addition to growing tomatoes, was the most rewarding experience of her agricultural career. She truly enjoys growing her crops and making bouquets and finds customer satisfaction is her top priority. To date, Cuts of Color consists of 26,000 sq. foot of greenhouses in addition to two acres in outside flower beds. Cuts of Color also practices sustainable agriculture using organic growing methods whenever possible. 

Every Saturday, Cuts of Color brings their beautiful flowers and vegetables to the Urban Harvest Farmers Market in Houston.  Cuts of Color is located in Weimar, TX which is located an hour west of Houston, on IH 10. From our family to yours, farm visits are always welcome, but a phone call ahead is always best.  Availability of crops and flowers vary with the seasons and are subject to forces of mother nature, insects and deer.