Raised Bed Gardening Infographic

Look at this great infographic on raised beds!  It includes information on ideal bed sizes and soil mixtures.  While I loved my double dug beds, and have plans to build a hugelkultur mound in the future, transitioning to raised beds for most of my garden has really streamlined the soil building process.  The black clay that my soil is made up of is extremely rich in minerals, but an absolute bear to work with.  It's notorious for compacting back down.  Every year saw me tilling it back up.  The benefits of the double digging didn't last beyond 2 seasons.  Making the switch to raised beds has made it a lot easier to create healthy, humus rich soil that doesn't need to be plowed up every year.

Click to Enlarge Image



Build The Benefits of Raised Beds
Infographic by CustomMade

Garden Goings On

Now that the black gumbo has firmed up bit, we're in the garden running damage control (picking cracked tomatoes and such).  We're also spraying neem oil, fertilizing with fish emulsion, harvesting what's ripe, and scouting for a good location for the rabbit hutch.

Herb Season

We are deep into herb season in Texoma! Here pictured is rosemary, orange mint, parsley, and cilantro. Cilantro and basil are probably going to seed on you.  Parsley older than one year is too. In my experience only parsley loses flavor when it seeds, and that's just the stalks that are actually flowering, so don't be shy to keep clipping and eating your fresh herbs!

Quick Word on Roses

Roses love Texas. These are a mini rose called Happy Chappy. They are prolific blossomers. I don't fertilize them much, though I do spread new mulch around every couple of years (as it breaks down).  I also give them a biweekly Epsom spray and dead prune them through the growing season.  If they need a harder cutting back, I usually wait until late winter.  Grasshoppers have eaten my roses to bits, so I'm experimenting with neem oil this year to see if that helps.

Continual Sowing: Beets, Turnips & Radishes

Do you sow a little beet seed each week? How about your turnips and radishes? If you're not, you certainly should. Remember that you only get one root per seed planted. If you plant some seed every week, not only will you get more harvest, but it will be staggered through the season, instead of a glut of roots and then nothing.
One exception to this is if you intend to can your harvest. In that case one large harvest is preferred, though you can always stagger sow a lesser amount for fresh eating.
Let a few go to seed, so you can collect them for next year!

Deciding when to Mulch

Most people will agree that mulch, properly applied, is very good for your garden.  The mulch master website (http://themulchmasters.com/whyMulch.html) has a nice summary of the good things that can come from mulching.

Reduce surface evaporation from the soil

Improve water penetration and air movement

Moderate soil temperature fluctuations

Protect shallow-root plants from freeze damage and frost-heave

Discourage weed growth

Improve soil structure and nutrient availability as they decompose

One of the questions that has recently been asked around here is not whether to mulch, but when to mulch.  You may mulch in the late fall, preparing the beds for winter.  You may wait until spring when you’re preparing your beds for planting or wait until after the seeds have sprouted and mulch around them.

There are a few problems that may be encountered by mulching over the seeds.  Considering that mulch helps prevent weeds by slowing down the germination of the weed seed, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that it may also inhibit the germination of the flower or vegetable seeds that are trying to grow in the same area.  Although mulch can protect small plants from a freeze, it may hold the cold in the ground if it’s been covered for the winter.  This will delay germination while the seeds are waiting for the soil to warm up.  It may also hold so much moisture in the ground that the seeds will rot, or block out the sun that some seeds need for healthy germination.

If you have mulched for the winter, it is a good idea to scoop the mulch away from the area where you plan on planting and then spread it back out after the plants have sprouted.  Even clearing an area as small as a bowl is sufficient to overcome the hazards of mulching over the seeds.  If you do want to keep the mulch on the bed, it is a good idea to make sure it is very thin – half an inch is plenty until you see sprouts.

Hope this little bit of information helps out! 

Prairie Hawk Farm: Frost Protection - Garden Cloche Jars

This is a quick post that I put up for my business' blog over at Prairie Hawk Farm.  It's a short word on my quick and dirty method for providing frost protection for young plants.

Prairie Hawk Farm: Frost Protection - Garden Cloche Jars: I really should have snapped a photo of our garden today.  It's full of mason jars, glass storage containers, plastic storage containers...

Beautiful Blossoms and Frosty Weather

Do you notice all the beautiful blossoms on that tree?  Those are our plum blossoms!  It looks like it could be another bumper crop – except for the fact that the weather shows lows of 31° over this coming weekend.  Houston, we have a problem!  Since I’m not ready to lose our crop over a couple of cold nights (at least not without a fight), I’ve been looking online for ideas.  Our two plum trees probably don’t warrant a smudge pot, so what to do...  

Here is a website that describes several ideas that the kids and I might try:

http://www.gardenguides.com/77972-save-fruit-trees-spring-freeze.html

I like the idea of Christmas lights and regular old incandescent light bulbs the best.   My husband has suggested getting the space heaters out and plugging them in near the trees too.  I don’t know how much that will help with the upper branches, but I guess it won’t hurt.  Buckets of water and a sprinkling the lawn are also on the list.  

Doing all of these things for a temperature that is barely below freezing might seem like overkill, but I don’t trust the weatherman 100%.  It might get a little colder than forecast.  Of course it might not either, but we like plums fresh off the tree and look forward to the jelly we make from these plums all year long.  We also use them to barter with our buddies for their delicious spring crops!  All in all, I’d rather hedge my bets as best I can rather than risk losing the crop to old man winter.

If you’ve got things in bloom too, good luck!

What to Plant - Late Winter/Early Spring

I have mesclun lettuce mix popping up in the garden!  I know that it's still a bit cold out, but since our soil doesn't usually freeze, there are many cool weather plants that you can get in the ground here in Texoma in late January and early February.  In fact many of these resent the hot temperatures that come with our spring and summer, and will wilt away once the really warm months arrive.  Here's a quick (and by no means complete) listing:

Baby meslun lettuce sprouting!

Lettuces
Swiss Chard
Onions (usually from "starts" bundles)
Pretty much anything in the cabbage family (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels, kale, etc)
Peas & Beans
Potatoes (starts or cut up your own)
Carrots
Turnips
Beets
Radishes
Cilantro
Parsley





You may have to cover the young plants with a tarp or a plastic bottle (with the top cut off) if there's danger of a sudden frost, but, believe me, that's hassle that you can live with to have fresh vegetables on your table as early as possible.

Cleanup Time!

Time to tame this mess for the winter.  Most of the bugs and butterflies are gone.  We've harvested all the rose hips. It's always a bit sad to see the flower garden bare, but making room for new spring growth will produce a more beautiful garden.

Spotlight - Armenian Cucumbers

We harvested two huge Armenian cucumbers from the garden yesterday. They are both around 20 inches long. We're looking forward to having fresh cucumber with dinner tonight.
Armenian cucumbers, also called yard-longs, are the preferred cuke in my garden. They technically are not a true cucumber, but are from the closely related muskmelon family. These cucumber cousins not only taste like the real McCoy, but they have some traits that actually surpass traditional cucumbers for garden performance!
Armenian cukes tolerate the heat and dry air better than other cucumbers that I've grown. They are never bitter tasting, and each fruit will grow to over fifteen inches. There is no need to peel them, as they lack the thick skin traditional cucumbers have. Armenians also don't seem to cause the gas issues that regular cukes do in some people. Yard longs can grow along the ground as Michele does, or trellised as I do.
If you haven't tried growing Armenian cucumbers, then you should definitely include them in next year's garden. These heat-loving, versatile performers won't disappoint.

Summer Gardening

Well it looks like summer is finally here and with it is the heat.  It’s what we expect here in this part of Texas, but that doesn’t mean our garden has to like it.   Don’t give up though – with a little bit of time and patience and a lot of water, you can still keep your plants growing!  Unless we get a nice storm, you can expect to water at least every other day.   It doesn’t have to be a drenching drink, but get out there early morning or in the evening and get them wet.   This time of the year, even sun loving plants would like some shade.  If you can grow vines up a trellis or plant something tall to help keep the west sun off of your garden, it can be a big help.  This technique is mentioned in several videos and on various websites.  It makes a lot of sense if you think about it.

So now that you know you can keep it going, did you get everything planted you wanted to?  I didn’t!  Well, I planted a lot of things this spring.  We have been harvesting produce for several months, but the cold weather plants are about done and I have some extra space in the garden now.  To tell you the truth, there isn’t too much you can plant now that will be happy in this heat.  Not too much, but some.  It’s getting late, but you can still plant cantaloupe for the next week or so.  After the end of June, you’re pushing the window, but you can still get them in.  You can also still plant watermelon, winter squash, sweet and Irish potatoes, okra and summer greens.  Believe it or not, you can start thinking about planting corn again for the fall crop.  I haven’t tried a fall crop of corn yet, but my spring/summer corn always struggles, so I may give it a try this year. 

Jennifer posted a great link to a planting guide, so go check it out and see what else you can still get in.  It’s no fun to fight the heat, but come harvest time, you’ll be glad you did!

Link - Companion Planting Guide

I never plant anything in rows.  My garden beds usually look like a riotous mix of plants with herbs and flowers tucked into every available spot between vegetables.  I'm a big fan of using companion planting to enhance the growth of plants, repel pest bugs, and attract beneficial bugs to my gardens.  A little knowledge can go a long way towards keeping harsh chemicals far away from your vegetables and flowers. My favorite book on companion planting is Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte.  But you can get started with this useful link on companion planting.   It's not as comprehensive as the book, but it is a very good start.

Link - GardenToad's Companion Plant Guide

Spotlight - The Redbud Tree

The Redbud Tree is one of my favorites.  We have four of them in our front yard and they fill the space with beauty every spring.  They seem to be everywhere in this part of the state and thrive with very little attention.  With the tree being so plentiful, I had to wonder if there were any particular uses for it other than the most obvious – it being so lovely and pleasing to the eye. 

In the course of my research I found out that you can eat the flowers in the springtime and the new, soft green seedpods in the fall.  Wow.  It is a member of the legume family and shares many things in common with the pea.  The flowers, which have been described as having a sweet and slightly nutty flavor, can be eaten by themselves, mixed in with salads or other foods, or even made into jelly or relish.  In the fall when the seedpods are young and tender, they can be eaten raw or cooked like peas.   Like many legumes, the seedpods contain nutrients such as protein, iron and some complex carbohydrates.

 The picture above shows some young seedpods on one of the Redbud trees in our yard.  They look very similar to peas.

Since Redbud trees are usually under twenty feet tall, they makes a good under canopy tree in the forest.   That is not only true for the forests in parks, but also the food forest you might want to start at home.  Whether you’re just looking for an easy to grow tree to add some dimension to your yard, you’re trying to start a food forest and need some canopy trees, or you just want to something aesthetically pleasing, relatively long lived, and easy to care for that will come in handy if things every get really tough, you might consider the Redbud tree.

Video - Curing Onions

Texoma is historically known for growing onions. Our black clay and unfussy onions get along beautifully, making onions high on my list of plants to start with for people new to gardening.
Onions can grow so successfully here that you can end up with quite a harvest. What to do to preserve all of your onions? Well, you have some options. Drying, of course, is one. You can also chop them and keep them frozen in bags, to use as needed. My personal favorite is to cure them and store them in a dark, dry place, where they'll often keep for months.
Curing onions is not at all hard. The key is to not be hasty. Leave them to cure for as long as they need to set properly before storing, and you'll minimize your losses to rot. Here's a video describing the process. Good luck!

Companion Plants: Sweet Pepper & Okra

Leave room in your sweet pepper beds for okra. Okra often grows taller than pepper plants, offering a bit of shade in our burning Texas sun and wind protection.
Michele advises us to generally not plant okra before May, due its resentment of coldish weather; however, if you leave space for it where you've planted sweet peppers, then you should be able to fit the okra in nicely.

Nutritious and Delicious Mulberries

The mulberry trees are full of fruit and it is ripening fast.  It will be a race to see who gets the most off of the trees – the kids or the birds.  The birds usually win, but the kids don’t do too badly.   We have four trees in our yard that we planted from seedlings shortly after moving to our current home.  In the nine years since, the trees have flourished, and have been yielding fruit for the past few years.  They are hardy here in NE Texas, like rocky soil, and are drought tolerant (although they do appreciate a drink when it’s as hot and dry as it was last summer).  What’s not to like?

Our trees, being relatively young, aren’t all that big yet, but they can get up to fifty feet tall.  A word of warning – they can be messy!  The fruit drops off and if squashed on a walkway, can easily stain it.  Our trees are planted away from any sidewalks and this will not be a problem for us.  Another thing to consider if you live in a city and the tree will be close to the house, driveway or walkways is that birds love these berries.  A lot of birds usually leads to a lot of droppings.  On the upside though, they will grow well where other trees will not, can be used as a windbreak, are easy to propagate, and the fruit is healthy and delicious.

Here is what one page had to say about the nutritional benefits, along with the link:

Mulberries are actually a good source of raw food protein, a rarity in the fruit kingdom.  They are also a good source of magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, iron, calcium, vitamin C, and fiber. One of the mulberry's greatest health assets is it's high concentration of resveratrol, an antioxidant currently being studied for its effects on heart health. An ancient fruit of Asia, the mulberry is touted in medicinal folklore as a remedy for ringworm, insomnia, arthritis, and tapeworm.

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/a/What-Are-Mulberries.htm

I sent the kids out today with a container and told them to get to work.  They came in with about two cups of berries and the stained fingers and cheeks that led me to believe they’d eaten another cup or so while they picked.  The earliest of the berries are just ripening now, and in next week or two there should be plenty more.  It is easiest to just put a tarp on the ground and check it every day.  The ripe berries tend to fall off of the tree.  If you check it often enough, you can beat the birds to the sweetest berries!  I made a batch of mulberry muffins this evening to reward the kids for their hard work.  

I think the fact that they complained that I didn't make enough is a sign that they liked them!

Trees are a longer term investment than a traditional garden, but they'll reward you for years to come.  

Companion Plants: Borage

Photo by Jengod

Borage makes a good companion plant for tomatoes and all brassicas. They're also one of the few plants that have truly blue flowers. I have borage interplanted throughout my garden beds, mostly as companions to strawberries and tomatoes. Borage itself is also edible by the way.

Gumbo Garden Beds - Update

Happy to report that my no till, double dig method conventional beds, which are still mostly gumbo, are performing beautifully. Their ability to hold moisture is remarkable compared to our raised beds, which have no black gumbo in the soil. All bets are off for our hot summers though. I'll report back then. So far, it looks like these beds were worth all the work to dig them out.

Video - Starting Tomato Seeds

Penny from Penny's Tomatoes brings us a short video on how she starts tomato seeds.  This method would work well for pretty much any seed that you wish to start indoors.  As she mentioned the pre-soak is not mandatory, but if you prefer, you can also use just plain water or a compost tea.