Its Memorial Day weekend and summer’s around the corner. Our spring garden is wrapping up its abundance. The beans have been harvested, the peppers are producing, and the eggplant does love all the rain but our squash not so much so. The cantaloupe is running over the garden with lots of blooms. We’re picking tomatoes every few days to keep the birds, and other critters from getting them and ripening them on the window sill. All in all it’s been a great spring garden. So now I’m letting my passion for food gardening take a rest.
Now…There’s still plenty to do in your garden. If you love okra, you should try “Baby Bubba Okra.” Sally Gill is growing it and having great success. We have the seed from Burpee Seed Co. Peppers will produce all summer and worthy of a new planting. The climbing Malabar spinach is a great warm weather green and as beautiful as it is delicious. Eggplant will also provide food all summer. If you want to change things up, seed out some zinnias, cosmos, or sunflowers and watch your garden turn into a flower extravaganza you can cut and share. Flowers and food always make people smile!
I hope you have enjoyed following our garden as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. I’m already thinking about what to plant in fall!
Our garden is growing with lots of produce heading our way. We spent some time last Saturday pulling and hoeing weeds. It was not long that the mosquitoes found me. So I grabbed the Mosquito Beater Repellent Granules and sprinkled in and around the garden, waited 10 minutes, went back out, and presto…no mosquitoes! I love these granules, they smell good and work! We are starting to see some powdery mildew on the squash foliage. I trimmed most of the bad off and then sprayed with Serenade. It’s an organic fungicide made from Bacillus subtilis. It suppresses and inhibits bad fungi like powdery mildew, fire blight, black spot, rust and a host of other nasty fungi that give our plants grief. Our cantaloupe is growing, blooming but no fruit set so far. I may have to become a bee to help with pollination. The rain showers that came through Monday were a great blessing!
I love our spring garden; everyday is full of delicious surprises. I sprayed my squash for blossom end rot last week and IT WORKED!!! I have already harvested 2 scallop squash since I treated, it was that fast. The zucchini plants are loaded with blooms and….surprise…I found a beautiful ready to pick zucchini hiding among the growth. Our pinto bean plants are loaded with beans. The wood bees are taking up residency in the bamboo poles. I reassure them every day we mean them no harm. The celery that was hanging on has finally surrendered to the season’s temps. I’ll do some more cleaning, weeding and another dose of Hasta Gro this week.
Life is good…in our garden!
The rain has been a huge boost to our garden! Beans are climbing everywhere, peppers are sizing up and the Roma tomatoes are starting to have a little color. We have been picking handfuls of cherry tomatoes, roasting them with onion, garlic, olive oil and a little seasoning…OMG is it good. The secret to roasting tomatoes is you have to squeeze their guts out. Otherwise you end up with mush. We have developed a real issue with blossom end rot on the 1st scallop squash plant. Every time I think they’re good, I flip them over and there’s a rotten spot. Now I knew about blossom end on tomatoes, but on squash? GRRRR…! It’s caused from a calcium deficiency. Easy to correct with crushed egg shells sprinkled around the base of the plants or use Fertilome Tomato & Pepper Set. Since we do not eat a lot of eggs, I’m going for the spray!
Well I took a break last week from working in our garden much. I had a few skin spots frozen and removed last week. Oh the price for spending too much time in the sun. All is well and healing…very grateful! I finally removed the last of our kale. It was getting a little stinky. You cannot imagine the strong root system they had formed. No pulling them, I had to get a shovel! I credit this to using Bio-Tone With Mycorrhizal Fungi. I forked the soil, re-made 3 mounds and have planted cantaloupe. After seeing how good the Scallop squash is doing, decided to add another one. Added one more pepper…another Grande jalapeno. This time I purchased a 1 gallon even though the other wimpy ones are looking better. I may be peddling peppers this summer or at least making lots of salsa…lol. Of course everything got a handful of the Bio-Tone and a foliar feed of Hastagro. All is looking good!
Well our garden is really growing! The beans and zucchini have already sprouted. The scallop blend squash is loaded with blooms and little baby squashes…they are so cute! I rigged some tie supports for the tomatillos just in time…they have tripled in size. The Japanese eggplant is starting to bloom. My only concern is for the last couple of peppers I planted. They are not looking so happy so might just start with new ones now. Here’s hoping April brings more delightful weather…a little rain, a little cool, and sunshine!
I have managed to have a decent crop of carrots in spite of the critter trampling that happened earlier this season and plan to share them with our family Easter Sunday…
The tomatillos and magic mountain basil have turned out to be a nice combination. The lavender blue basil blooms are highlighted by the lemon yellow flowers already appearing on the tomatillos. I wish I would have got a few more but alas even a buyer can’t make growers have what she’s looking for….I did get the pinto beans, zucchini, sweet basil seeded in the garden. A friend wondered why I would plant pinto beans, they are so reasonable to buy. Well like many things we grow, they just taste better. Plus I have never grown them, so why not.
I have had to spray for the harlequin bugs I found while purging the rest of the broccoli. I am using Natural Guard Spinosad. Need a couple more Pine Straw Bales to help with weeds.
All this rain has made everything grow! Happy Easter!
Planting has been a breeze since we got some much needed rain last week with more in the forecast! With the rain I do not have to add much compost to help with soil compaction.
I pulled a bunch of carrots and now have a place to seed some sweet basil. I have finally surrendered to pulling most of the broccoli, parting is such sweet sorrow. It will be the space for a hot jalapeno & grande jalapeno. I love using those grande’s for stuffing. Yummy! Our nasturtiums are spectacular even though they’re in the middle of my rows to plant. Our Meyer lemon tree is blooming and the fragrance is pure sweetness. Life is good!
I purchased our first plants for our spring garden and got them planted finally on Sunday afternoon. I started working outside Saturday morning with the best intention to get the garden planted. But the trimming, weeding, and fixing broken things in other areas around the yard postponed my goal. I planted 2 tomatillos near the fence so I can train them up. I added 2 more tomatoes to our volunteer Cherry tomato, a Roma tomato and a Valley Girl. Roma is a paste type and Valley Girl is an early slicing type. I also planted an Ichiban Eggplant, a Poblano Pepper, & Magic Mountain Basil to attract bees. Everything got a handful of Espoma Bio-tone in the hole. It is the fertilizer with the Mycorrhizal Fungi that boost root development, very important going into spring and summer. I will be adding a hot jalapeno plant this week. The zucchini squash, sweet basil, and pinto beans I am starting from seed. Let the growing begin!
I have cleaned out the turnip/radish/lettuce bed and pulled the remaining green cabbage. I am leaving the kale, chard, carrots, celery, broccoli, and herbs until I deem we want to plant there. Part of the beauty of leaving end of season veggies is watching them mature to their flowering stage. Our cilantro is bolting and begins to flower tiny white stars. The volunteer lettuces are setting their flower stalks as well. The culinary sage is showing off with periwinkle blue flowers. All of these help provide food for butterflies and bees, both of which we desperately need to pollinate other food we plant during spring.
Broccoli is one plant that has beautiful yellow flowers and a pungent smell. Bees love them! But leave them outside. I made the mistake of cutting older broccoli heads and putting them in the fridge. The next day our fridge smelled of stinky broccoli past their prime….puuuwee. Best to let nature enjoy their beauty…outside.
In our garden, sticks and stones are always helpful! Here’s a rustic trellis I built for our volunteer tomato plant. I used some old cedar sticks collected from a hill country trip years ago. Our broccoli just keeps on giving…here’s one of our 8 plants full of florets ready to harvest!
Just came in from cutting more celery, thyme, and broccoli to make a little chicken soup. I did not plant anything new just yet. I plan to turn the rows, add Medina Growin Green Fertilizer, Dried Molasses and water. The ground is quite dry so a good soaking will help before we plant again. As we are coming to the end of winter, I always assess what we did and how it’s done. Here are a few notes worth remembering; writing them in my garden book so I will… remember!
When planting carrots, always cover with wire to keep 4 legged critters out. Fertilize a little more with Hasta-Gro For Plants.
Plant in early October in order to have food ready sooner. Start in mid-September with cleanup/soil prep.
The benefits of using Espoma Bio-tone With Mycorrhizal Fungi are visible more now as our garden has matured. Super strong stems and dense white root systems show how valuable it is.
Growing turnips, lettuces, radishes from seed was somewhat successful but would have been better with more sun. Not bad for our first try at growing them.
Soil prep and fertilizing was good; we will do the same this fall.
As we enter the transition season from winter to spring, I am always in a quandary. Do I keep this winter plant or pull it in order to start my spring garden. For me, a spring veggie garden is limited to my time or lack of to spend caring for it. New plants take more time and a watchful eye during spring when insects and disease are more active. Still it’s hard to pull a plant that is still growing and producing food. I spent Saturday pulling up the cauliflower plants; they were done. My red cabbage plants were looking wimpy and some of our carrots are ready to harvest, as well as a few turnips and radishes. It’s the kale, Swiss chard, and broccoli that can hang on for a while longer so those are the ones I pull when we’re tired of eating them. For now we’ll keep harvesting and sharing. And with the removal of those few plants, I have some room to start a couple of tomato plants, maybe a squash or two. Peppers and other hot weather veggies will come later in the month.
In just a couple of weeks, we’ve harvested most of our Cauliflower and will begin pulling plants up soon. I had someone ask about the plant mixed in with our broccoli. It looks like giant dollar weed but is actually nasturtiums I seeded as a cover crop a few years ago to control weeds. Now they return every year and have at times overrun the garden, acting more like a weed…although an edible, blooming one! Lots of other weeds are showing up and I will be spending some time this weekend pulling & hoeing. Warm temps and sunshine are the forecast….looks like spring is starting early!
It’s been a couple weeks since we did an update on our garden. Holidays and weddings have kept us busy but we are still enjoying the fruits of our labor, as you can see! Our celery has gone nuts, broccoli and cauliflower getting bigger every day and we’re finally seeing a few radishes and tons of chard and kale. There are still no shoulders showing on our carrots. I found several of our carrot tops smashed down by some critter. Note to self…PUT THE WIRE OVER THE CARROT PATCH NEXT YEAR. The best part of growing food is eating it, sharing it, & using it in some culinary creation! One of my favorite recipes is from Cooking Light magazine. It is a recipe makeover of lemon squares…delicious!!! WARNING -you may want to make 2…they can mysteriously disappear! Bon Appétit!
Lemon Squares – August 2012 Cooking Light
Serves 16: 124 Cal; 5g fat
¾ cup all-purpose flour (3.4 oz.)
¼ cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp. canola oil
Cooking spray
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350°.
Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour, ¼ cup powdered sugar, pine nuts, and salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times to combine. Add butter and canola oil. Pulse 3 to 5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Place mixture into the bottom of an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; press into bottom of pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. Combine granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (thru egg white) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour mixture over crust. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, and cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Sprinkle squares evenly with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar.
Our garden is growing and looking great. We harvested our 1st broccoli head this week with many more to follow…quickly! It’s important that once you see those heads sizing up that you check them daily. If it’s cool/cold they are slower but when we have several warm days, they will get soft or even limp. Remember to leave the plant and only cut the broccoli head so you can have lots of broccoli sideshoots.
We are also picking bowls of lemons! These are Meyer lemons, large, juicy and very tasty. Most citrus ripens in the late fall & winter months. You can have tons of citrus all at once making storage a challenge. If space is limited, leave them on the tree. Most citrus including lemons will only get sweeter if left hanging during cold weather and they will last through January. Pick them off the ground if they fall, give them a good scrubbing. If it’s going to freeze, then pick all you can.
I always start and end my days spending time in our fall winter garden…well almost. My holiday schedule last weekend was packed to the brim. I did not have time to take a look at the garden immediately after last weekend’s storm. I was horrified the next day when I saw most of our kale, cauliflower and broccoli laid over on their side. So I promptly grabbed my old bamboo stakes and began propping everybody back up. The ground is so soft from the beneficial rains but once it dries a little they will be fine and able to hold themselves sturdy again. Just in case will keep a few fingers crossed for good luck.
Beautiful weather is helping our garden be healthy and growing. We’re harvesting lots of kale to sauté, use in smoothies, and make kale chips…very yummy! The redbor and seabor kale are the curly leaf varieties. Seabor reminds me of a ruffled petty coat, it is as spectacular to look at as it is to eat. The sage and cilantro are ready for more picking. We’re watering more with all this sunshine. All is well as we prepare for Christmas cooking!
After working in the yard all Saturday, what better way to relax than with friends around a grill and a fire in our chimenea!
Our garden is in love with this weather! One would think all this chilly, cloudy, drizzly, weather would have ill effects on our plants but it is just the opposite. Everything is looking great, even the lettuces I had all but given up are showing promise again. The only thing I had to do was add some more pine straw and some stepping stones to reduce the mud I keep tracking in.
Last week I talked about our harvest contribution to Thanksgiving and thought we should talk about harvesting a little more. Our broccoli and cauliflower have the center leaves to protect the heads as they form. They both develop center heads which should be cut once they reach size (like you see in the grocery store). Broccoli will continue to develop side shoots called raab the rest of the season, cauliflower will not. Cabbage too will begin folding their leaves inward as they form their head. They need time and cold to really grow to size. Carrots will have beautiful tops long before they are ready to harvest. Watch for carrots to shoulder in the soil. It’s when you see/feel the top part of the carrot just under the soil. No shoulders no pulling. Even when they are ready, don’t feel the need to start pulling all at once, carrots store great in the ground as long as it is cool/cold. Greens like kale, chard, and collards should be picked regularly by trimming leaves from the bottom or outside of the plant. Always keep some leaves on the plants so they can keep growing and you get to keep enjoying. Greens also taste better when you harvest during cool/cold weather.
One the many reasons I love a fall winter garden is that when the north wind blows and the cold air finds the way to South Texas, I don’t have to worry about covering, moving, protecting! The cole crops we have planted like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and most greens love the cold and more so, need the cold to produce their best harvest. The best thing is to water well before temps drop. I did pick a bunch of the peppers off our leftover pepper plant from spring. Now they do not like cold temperatures. I think this may be its last hooray. As I was weeding and tiding up the garden Saturday (before the cold front) I found a freebee…a volunteer tomato plant has sprouted and growing well along the fence. So maybe I will give it a little extra TLC…
Our garden is providing celery, kale, thyme, sage, and peppers for our Thanksgiving. By Christmas there will be much more. Now that is just one more thing we are truly grateful for! Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll!
In our garden this week, I took advantage of the cool nice sunny days and fertilized with a round of Plant Tone by Espoma. Our celery has started forming larger stalks and there’s enough to cook up a batch of chicken stock. I take the celery I cut and put it in a glass of water in the fridge. It keeps it fresh and crisp. Just be sure to change the water daily. Another nice surprise is our Mexican mint marigold aka Texas tarragon that I whacked way back, has not only rebounded but is blooming again! Our lemons are turning color. We always squeeze our lemons and pour the juice in ice cube trays, freeze, bag cubes, and repeat. This way we can enjoy for months!
I do love the time change. It gives me time to enjoy the sunrise, breathe in the freshness only found early in the day. It also gives me time to peruse our garden for any surprises. This morning I found our red veined sorrel particularly beautiful. It is tasty and beautiful in garden salads. I have used it to decorate gifts adding it to the ribbons and bows. It also adds elegance to a vase on a Thanksgiving table…just around the corner.
With the recent rains and cooler temps, everything is growing! The carrots have developed more of their strong true leaves, the Spinosad has stopped the critters chewing, the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower are getting bigger. More weeds are popping up but I am still just pulling. Cut a few sprigs of celery, sage, and thyme on Sunday to make a marinade for some pork ribs I cooked for dinner….delicious! Some kale leaves will turn to kale chips this week….yummy!
After last weekend’s rain, our garden is growing nicely, pulling just a few weeds, and sprayed Spinosad to help with critter control. The beer was not doing the trick. I think our plants have at least tripled in size, outgrowing the weeds, so far. With all the good rain and cool temps, I am excited to see what this week brings!
The weather was warm & dry last week and I have been watering a little each morning and evening. It is keeping our plants perky. I did our firstHastagro feeding on October 17th, after fixing my cutoff hose with a new end and invested in a new hand sprinkler. My old one was used as a chew toy. Even though we hoed and pulled weeds before prepping our garden….guess what’s already coming back? The war is coming and I am hoping to have a new secret weapon to use…its organic, smells great and it works….more on that soon. Our seeds are sprouting nicely; all the transplants doing well, the mystery chewers have found the swiss chard already. Think I’ll start with a pan of beer for snails and slugs. If that does not fix it, I will try Dipel Dust or Spinosad. Both are natural and very effective for most chewing critters!
Last week, I shared my before & after soil prep of our veggie garden at home. I tried to plant before last Friday’s rain but did not make it. Good thing, as I realized I had a few areas holding too much water. So after some shoveling to correct the problem, we planted our hearts out Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. We planted by transplants, tuscano kale, seabor kale, redbor kale, broccoli, cauliflower, green cabbage, red cabbage, bright lights chard, rubarb chard, tango celery, thyme, dill, and anartichoke for fun. Then we sowed Botanical Interest seeds of cherry belle radish, purple top white globeturnip, cilantro, kuroda carrots, carnival blend carrots, gourmet blend beets, and red sails lettuce. Before seeding in our root beds, I mixed Bio-tone and Rocket Fuel in the soil. Both of these are very beneficial in root development. As we planted transplants, we added just Bio-tone into the hole, mixed it with the soil, and then planted. This is because we foliar feed with Hasta Gro which helps with both root and plant development. Our last step was a few bales of pine straw to help with water, weeds and looks. Now we say a blessing and a prayer that our garden will be bountiful with plenty to share!
A couple weeks ago, I gave a talk on fall veggie gardening. I have been working on mending my fence to keep the 4 legged kids out, and finally have the soil tilled, ready to plant. This process was a backbreaker this year as I did not water enough prior to breaking and tilling, so what should have been a 1 day job turned into a 3 day job and some sore muscles! My garden was born 6 years ago. Every year since, I add a little more Cotton Burr Compost, some Nature’s Blend, a little sandy loam to the root veggie area, Dried Molasses, & Medina Growin Green. I mix it up, add water and let it rest a week. I’ll share my progress as it goes along. By this weekend, I hope to have all my veggies and seeds planted…just in time for a little rain…I hope!
A lot of folks are asking how to get their tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers to put on more fruit. The answer might be as simple as you need more bees! Pollinators like bees and butterflies are a critical part of any successful garden, so make some space for bee attracting plants. Some of our favorites are Pink Fairy Duster, African Blue Basil and Calendula.
The Fall Season is getting closer every day and that means thinking about your fall gardening plans. If you’ve kept your garden tended; pulling weeds, keeping the ground well-watered and past-prime spring veggies culled, you’re well on your way to your fall planting. Keep up the good work, add your Nature’s Blend Compost in early-August, and start planting tomatoes and peppers shortly after. Remember to wait on cool weather crops till late September.If you’re like me and let the heat and weeds get ahead of you, then now is the time to start cleaning and weeding so to be ready by mid August planting time. A little every day will make the work bearable and water from the heavens or your hose will help with the clean-up.
-Debbie
Dull Mower Blades Damage Lawns
Take the time now to sharpen mower blades, pruners, hedge shears and loppers.In the next few weeks it will be time to prune and a sharp tool will make for a better trim. If your mower blades are dull the grass tips will appear shredded and have a threadlike appearance. Dull mowerblades rip and tear the grass blades leaving a brown look across the lawn. Look closely at a blade of grass. The top edge will show split ends. It means the blade is dull resulting in harm to grass. A sharp cut will leave the lawn looking healthy and green. Do not mow your lawn when the leaf blades are wet. The same is true for pruners. If your pruners are dull when you cut your plants, the tissue is shredded and torn which leads to fungal issues and an overall unhealthy appearance. The plant has a harder time leafing out with new growth as well. Take the time now to insure your tools are ready. We carry a Corona Sharpening Tool to sharpen all pruners, hedge shears and loppers.
Continue To Be Water Wise
The weather is still cool and with misty, wet days, plants don’t need additional watering. As days get longer and temperatures increase be careful not to water too much. All established plants will be happy with once every two weeks watering through February. Beginning in March to April as the temperatures warm up even more, once a week is sufficient. Remember to water slow and deep, but not very often to establish a deep healthy root system. Your plants will thank you, and so will your water bill. Of course annual color with smaller roots systems will need to be watered more often, but all established trees, shrubs, and tropicals will appreciate time between watering. Let’s all train our landscapes to be
water wise.
A Breath Of Spring!
With the last few days of sunshine and
warmer temps, we are all getting antsy to get outside. Fresh shipments of plants are arriving weekly to our stores so here’s a list of some here and some to come in soon.
Live oaks, cedar elms, Italian cypress, burr oaks, wild olives, mountain laurels are here.
Hardy shrubs like hawthorns, boxwoods, pittosporum, Japanese yew here now
Baskets and tubs of geraniums, double impatiens, Mona lavender, and stocks arrived this week with color.
Favorite perennials like lantana, Mexican heather, and salvias are here now with more coming!
Basil, cilantro, mint, thyme, chives, parsley here now with more varieties early February
More tomato plants and seed potatoes are here now
Peppers will be later in February as the cold night temps will stunt the plant to not produce peppers.
Fresh Floratam St. Augustine grass coming this week to Airline store.
[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”false” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]Food from a garden is one of life’s best experiences. You get to play in dirt, sweat with a purpose, and the payoff is just plain rewarding: nutritious, delicious foods for you and your family. Not only is food-gardening fun, but it teaches us patience, trust, and connects us to where life begins – in the soil. So let’s get started![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][cs_row inner_container=”false” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]
1. Keep it Simple
Not too big, not too much. Gardening is fun and laborious. Your first few gardens should be manageable enough for you to have fun and success with.
2. Choose Your Food
We have two great seasons for growing food. Spring (Feb. 1st – June 1st) and Fall/Winter (Sept. 15th – Jan 31st). Each offers their own bounty. Mother Nature plays a vital part in this – check out “Gill’s Spring Vegetable Planting Dates For Nueces County” to help you decide what to grow and when to plant.
3. Pick Your Spot
All food gardens need: Adequate sun, nearby water source, good soil, and proper drainage. Whether you are planting in the ground, raised beds, or in containers, 4 to 6 hours of mid-day sun is generally enough for popular edibles like tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, and most herbs.
Above: Last year, Debbie shared a weekly log of her fall/winter veggie garden – check it out!
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Planting in: The Ground
Most vegetable plants will enjoy a good 12 inches of rich soft loam to grow in. You can make your own by adding Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr Compost, to your existing soil. Follow this with Dried Molasses to attract good soil microbes.
Here’s my recipe for ground planting:
Clean/clear area of all weeds and grass
Moisten soil a couple of days before breaking ground-good for your back!
Break soil with a dirt fork if it’s hard packed. Then till the soil.
Add compost, till some more
Add molasses and Medina Growin Green Organic Fertilizer. Chicken feed it across the bed.
Hand rake into soil, water and rest the soil, at least a few days
The end result should be good rich soil, slightly mounded and ready for planting.[/cs_text][x_gap size=”50px”][x_image type=”none” src=”https://gillnursery.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/33.png” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center”]
Above: A raised bed we installed for one of our landscape customers – all ready to plant!
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Planting in: Raised Beds
Raising the bed has some great benefits including reducing weeds, helps with soil compaction, concentrates your energy in smaller spaces, easier to maintain, and it’s easier on your back…for those of us who need all the help we can get!
Here’s my recipe for planting in raised beds:
Build your gardens up as little as 4 inches, as much as 24 inches, more is better, with cinder blocks, rocks, or treated lumber.
Add sandy loam, purchased in bulk, and Nature’s Bend Compost. Mix it up.
Add Medina Growin Green and dry molasses.
Mix in, water, and rest; a few days for the soil & as needed for you.
Using containers for growing food is perfect for small spaces or those who just want a little something to grow…a tomato, a pepper, a few herbs. You can add a trellis for beans and a few herbs or edible flowers for a pop of color.
HERE’S MY RECIPE FOR PLANTING IN CONTAINERS:
Choose some large pots, at least 5 gallon size, 10 gallon is better. Something pretty or old used nursery pots are fine.
Fill with good potting soil. Potting Soil by Landscaper’s Pride and Premium Potting Soil by Back to Nature are quality mixes for containers.
No need for anything to rest, the soil’s already blended and the work is easy!
[/cs_text][cs_text]Look ahead for the next part of this series. We’ll talk about what to plant this spring, seeds and transplants, growing vertical, fertilizing, and watering.
So now that you’ve done all your decision making and soil prep, let’s talk about planting. Most spring veggies love warm days and cool nights. 70’s and 50’s are perfect for all spring veggies and herbs. South Texas spring starts early and ends early as the heat of summer takes over. To maximize your planting, plant early in the season but be prepared to protect warm weather plants in case of late season cold fronts.
Seeds & Transplants
Most all edibles grown here can be started from seed. Again it is an experience everyone should try. Some plant seeds sprout in several days and some just a few. Our Botanical Interest Seeds are non GMO and many are organic. The link to our hand out from last week gives you some ideas of what can be grown from seed with good success. You can start many of your seeds in small containers (even those old egg cartons), so you can keep an eye on them before transplanting in your garden space. Use a good seed starting soil mix like Fertilome Seed & Cutting Mix. Keep them in a warm, sunlit area with moist soil. Label what you plant, so you can remember who’s who. Once they are up with their first set of real leaves, they can be planted. I have also started many of my gardens with seed sowed directly in the soil. Again making sure to mark what is where not to confuse tiny sprouts with weeds. Some of my favorites are pole beans or bush, swiss chard, squash, turnips, beets, carrots, collards, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, and okra.
Transplants give you a head start on some of the edibles that can take time to start from seed. Tomato, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and onion are just a few you will find in our nursery during spring. Most herbs are found in transplants as well giving you instant flavor with a snip of a sprig! Herbs and most leafy greens can and should be trimmed on as you want them, allowing the mother plant to be a continued source of food and flavor throughout the season.
Ready to Plant
Lay out the plants with room to grow. Give yourself room to be able to harvest your food. This also allows air circulation to help prevent disease and bug issues. Dig your holes only as deep as the transplants or follow the planting depth on the seed package. Mix a little Rocket Fuel, adding Plant Tone or Bio-tone to the hole, mix into the soil, place your seed or plant, firm up soil around them, water, and repeat. When you’re all done, mulch the area to help with water retention and weed prevention. I like the pine straw as it’s fluffy and aids in supporting the new tender plants.
Spring Veggies & Herbs
Tomatoes are America’s favorite home grown edible. Picking a handful of cherry tomatoes or one ripe slicing is all the enticing you’ll need to try your hand at growing them. Starting them now allows the plant time to get to size & begin to bloom so they will set fruit before night temps get too hot. Hybrid varieties are bred for disease resistance and better fruit production. Heirloom varieties are flavorful and have unique colorations. They are not as resistant to many of the diseases tomato plants can get. All tomatoes need to have some support. A cage or trellis works great. This helps support the plant when they are heavy with fruit. There are basically 2 types of tomatoes, determinate and indeterminate. Determinate produces most all its fruit at one time and indeterminate produces less but over a longer period. Many of the cherry type tomatoes are indeterminate.
Others to plant now:
Since it is still winter and cold is probably not done yet, you could start a few of winter fav’s like broccoli and cauliflower. Neither takes too long to produce so worth planting.
Seed potatoes and onion sets should be planted now. Being a root plant they both like very good drainage. Planting them in raised beds or large containers work great. Other root edibles like beets, turnips, radishes offer double the bounty; you can eat the tops and the roots.
Leafy greens like Swiss chard, lettuce, kale, spinach can tolerate some cold weather. Your garden can be your smoothie bar with just a few of these growing!
Cucumbers, beans, peas, and climbing spinach are vining plants and will need support. You can use your fence, build your own with poles and heavy twine or simply add a trellis to your garden.
Peppers, okra, eggplant, and most melons need more heat and will not tolerate much cold. These are better started later in spring for better success.
Herbs for spring include basil, cilantro, mints, thymes, rosemary, oregano, parsley and sage.
Now that everything is planted:
Water everything well and check your garden area daily for water needs. Your young plants and seeds will need to stay hydrated but not drowned. They may even need 2 waterings a day when our humidity is low, winds are high & sun is shining.
After a week, fertilize with Hasta-Gro plant food. It’s organic and safe. I use the hose end to make it easy. It mixes for you. You should do this once to every other week.
Finally, I like to take a picture of my newly planted garden and then again each week to see how fast everything is growing. You will be amazed!
-Debbie
Hopefully we have seen our last big cold snap of the season, so it’s time to get tomatoes in the ground.
Rocket Fuel will help your plants get off to a great start.Feed with Plant-tone once a month throughout the growing season.
Tomatoes need full sun for their entire growing season. Once frost is done, put them in a bed enriched with compost. A couple tablespoons of Rocket Fuel under the roots will help your plants get off to a rapid start. Feed them with Espoma Plant Tone monthly through the growing season.
I like to put my tomatoes in a cage as soon as they are in the ground and wrap that cage with row cover fabric, top to bottom. Ours is called Grow Web (12ft x 16ft). Cut the fabric to size and cloths pin the sides together. The fabric will protect the plants from cold nights and, more importantly, harsh spring winds that can dry them out in no time. Don’t worry – it doesn’t block water or sunshine.
Remove the cloth when the plant reaches the top of the cage. If it starts blooming before then, remove the cover from the top of the cage and shake the cage gently whenever you walk by. That will encourage pollination from the top of the plant down to the bottom. Row cover can also be used to protect Peppers, Squash, Beans and all the tender spring vegetables in the garden.
–DeAnna
We have less control over our plants during prolonged periods of rain or flooding than during drought. Unless they are in moveable containers, there is little we can do except wait for the weather to change.
If your soil is waterlogged, chances are good your plants are showing signs of stress. Water logged and flooded soil has insufficient amounts of oxygen in it for the plants roots to take up and release water. Plants may look like they are wilting, but it is not because of too little water, it is because they can no longer access the available water. This leads to root rot and decline.
Signs your plants have been damaged by waterlogged soil include: stunting, yellowing leaves, twisting leaves, dropping leaves, soft spongy areas at the base of the plants, wilting despite plenty of water, roots turning dark with a rotting odor.
Some plants prone to root rot from prolonged wet soil are Rosemary, Esperanza, Cape Honeysuckle, Plumbago, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Texas Sage. Just because a plant shows signs of distress does not mean it will or will not recover.
A few things we can do to help them recover quicker is to poke air holes around the root system of the plant to allow them to dry out faster. If the wilting persists, you can cut the plants back to eliminate some of the foliage since the plant has lost roots. Next, improve drainage in the area by adding expanded shale.