Welcome to my back yard in stunning Katy, Texas! It's merely a standard suburban tract home, but I greatly enjoy puttering around in my back yard.

Katy is a fast-growing suburb of Houston, which lies about 25 miles east. Most of the new homes are like mine - a standard two-story, two-car garage, 2.5 baths... you know. It's suburbia.

I'm going to post monthly updates and let you see how my back yard progresses over the next 12 months. If you're not into gardening, you'll probably find this site really boring. If you are into gardening, maybe you'll see something useful. I'll try to incorporate some practical advice, plus some of my experiences into the site.

My Back Yard - To Get You Orientated

Facing West Facing East

Climate

Hot and humid. From late April until early October, the highs are usually 90-95, with lows in the mid-70s. It's also quite humid. Summer rainfall in the Houston area is "feast or famine" - we normally record a lot of rain in Houston due to our proximity on the Gulf Coast, but we can have some pretty serious droughts. From July-September 1999 we recorded just a trace of rain out in Katy. For USDA fans, we're in Zone 9a.

From early October until around Christmas time, Houston weather is like San Diego weather. Perfect for the most part - highs in the 70s, lows in the 50s. Then right after Christmas we usually have a big cold front blow through, dropping the daytime highs to around 45 or so. This will last 3 or 4 days. Then we're back to the San Diego weather until March, when the heat starts building again.

Basically, the growing season is pretty much all year, depending upon the veggies you're growing. Cool-weather crops (carrots, lettuce, onions, etc.) do quite well here in the winter.

Soils

Miserable, at least here in Katy! It's plywood-flat here - prime rice-growing country. Literally thousands of acres surrounding Katy are dedicated to rice farming. So not only do we have very little relief in elevation, resulting in terrible drainage problems, we also have "clay gumbo" - a medium that demands raised beds or extensive soil amendments. It is tough stuff to work with - when it's dry, it's hard as concrete. When wet, it's a big, splooshy mess. But we have to deal with what nature gave us.

UPDATE - APRIL 2004

I only wanted to maintain these pages for a year. However, some folks have asked for an update. So... here's my back yard as of April 2004. (Warning: The page is rather large. If you're on broadband, no problem.)

    October 1999
    November 1999
    December 1999
    January 2000 
    February 2000
    March 2000
    April 2000
    May 2000
    June 2000
    July 2000
    August 2000
    September 2000
    April 2004
    Critters
    My Plants