Seasonal - Watering Trees in Summer

Watering my trees. This is a baby fig tree. When the weather gets relentless in Texoma, you've got to get a little creative about water. A small hole drilled into the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket ensures that each tree gets plenty of water. The hole is small for a slow release. I give my trees 10 gallons of water each week in this way.  The bricks are there so that husband and son don't mow them over (again).

Peach Picking - Jenkins Farm

We had a great time yesterday picking peaches at Jenkins Farm in Ravenna.  Due to our crazy winter, peach season is short this year, and farmer Claude Jenkins doesn't expect it to last much beyond this week.  Call first, and then hurry over there if you want peaches.  Blackberries will come later, and corn after that.  He has such a great operation over there.  Lots to take note of if you're a gardener or mini-farmer.

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!

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.

Quick Tip - Don't Forget the Compost Pile

Don't neglect your compost pile in all this heat that we're having. They can dry out just as easily as your garden beds. While you're giving the beds a spray, be sure to include the compost heap!

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!

Hail Protection

In our area spring tends to bring some of our most severe storms. Hail can come unexpectedly, wreaking havoc in our gardens. Large-leaf and non woody stemmed plants can take the most damage. Most of the time the damage isn't the end of the world, but you can lose harvest.
There are several options that you can choose from to protect your plants from hail damage, ranging from a sheet spread over the plants to hoophouses or other structures. The idea is to cover your plants with something that the will hail will bounce off of. Simple as that. Here's a link to another blogpost covering several hail protection methods used in an area that gets struck with more hail than we generally do.
If you already have some hail damage, then here are some suggestions on what you can do to help your plant recover.

Potato Shoots

I noticed in my garden walk yesterday afternoon that the warm weather jump started all of the potato starts that my family and I planted a couple of weeks ago. There are cute little shoots popping up out of the hay mulch! I love seeing vegetables and flowers growing.
Potato starts are available now for purchase from garden stores. They can be planted right now in our area. You can check out Michele's previous post on potatoes to see the difference between potato starts specifically for planting vs using potatoes intended for eating.
I used red potato starts intended for planting. I want to mention that I picked these up from my local hardware/feed store for a much cheaper price than the home supply stores. It's always a good idea to check out your local shops before heading to the big box stores. You can luck out on some great deals.
Don't feel that it's late in the season to plant potatoes. It's nowhere near that. Last year it must've been halfway through April before I got mine in the ground. I still got loads of potatoes, lasting all the way until the heat and drought finally did them in.

A Winter Reminder: Projects & Planning

My family finally made a start measuring out the area where we intend to build a large garden. It's an ambitious project that we're taking on, but this is the perfect time of year for that.
I've said this before, but it bears repeating. Winter is a great time to plan out your spring gardens, construct raised beds, pick your seeds, and all things garden planning related.
Many of us have put our gardens to bed for the winter. Those of us who do still have things growing find that caring for them is minimal. This leaves the time to accomplish tasks that are often difficult to finish in the growing seasons.
Take advantage of this time to take care of those lingering tasks and projects. Build that chicken coop! Dig those irrigation trenches you've been putting off! Assemble that tool shed! Believe me, you don't want to be doing these things in the burning heat of summer.
If you've never gardened before, then hack together your first raised bed, fill it, and cover it with mulch. Dig out a conventional bed in the ground, and mulch that over if you prefer to work with native soil. Decide which seeds you'd like to plant, or decide which store bought plants you'll be purchasing. Start small! One garden bed is plenty for a new gardener. You can add beds as you gain experience.
If you finish off these tasks now, they'll be ready for you come spring. It's very easy to get overwhelmed with all that you feel needs to be done with a garden, especially if you're gone all day with an outside job, have kids to raise, and/or are new to gardening. But gardening does not have to be mutually exclusive with any of those things. Be kind to yourself, and use each season to finish the tasks that are suited for them. It will make the busier growing seasons much calmer and enjoyable. And that is, after all, a large part of what gardening is all about.

Morning Glory Update

Goodbye morning glories.  The cold finally did them in.  They'll have to be pulled down today, as they're an eyesore now, but I'll be grabbing up some of the seeds that will fall copiously from them.  I'll probably even have enough to share.  If you're pulling your glories, down, take a moment to collect seed as well.  They make nice gifts if you tie them up in a pretty bag and add them to a gardening basket.  Click here for a previous post of mine on these prolific beauties.

Frost Protection

For more on protecting your fall plants from frost and cold temperatures, check out this video of master gardener Jerry Baker. He brings us some good visuals on what we can do to prolong our fall harvest.

Protect your garden from frost

The winds are whipping out there today and the temperature dipped overnight. I checked out the weather forecast and was surprised to see that the temps may dip as low as 32° tonight. Hey, my squash is looking great, I’m not ready for it to freeze yet! I bet I’m not alone in this thinking. The temps are getting lower at night and flirting with frost, so maybe it’s time to look at how to protect your fall garden.

We talked about how to prepare the unused portion of your garden for the winter, but how can you prepare the plants still in your garden for the coming frost? The first thing that comes to mind is to simply cover your plants. This will work as long as it doesn’t get too cold, and it is simple to do. Get a lightweight plastic tarp, sheets, newspaper, or whatever you can come up with and put it over the plants in early evening. The idea is to cover the plants before the heat of the day escapes. Trap the warmth under the cover to protect the plants overnight. Be careful to keep the covering from squashing the plant! It’s important not to forget to remove the cover in the morning, or as soon as the temperatures rise. The plants can suffocate if you don’t! This is probably the easiest method in a raised bed, but not too tough in a conventional garden either.

Ready for some not quite as obvious ideas? Well, at least not quite as obvious to me… The first thing you can do is keep an eye on the forecast and water the garden a day or two before the frost is predicted. The moisture in the air around the plant will help keep it warmer. If you don’t mind the water bill, you can also put the sprinkler on and lightly spray the plants all night. The running water will take a lot longer to freeze. Another idea is to hang small lights, like Christmas lights, around the garden. Come on, we’ve all seen Christmas lights out already, so put yours to good use – decorate your garden! The heat coming off of the lights will suffice to keep the frost off of the plants. Another suggestion is to mulch. It seems I can’t get through a blog post without suggesting mulch, but there it is. Protect the plants and their roots with a layer of mulch. A couple of inches should do!

I am interested to hear any other ideas to keep the frost at bay! Let us know if you have any.

Preparing for Winter

I know it’s not winter yet, but as the weather is finally cooling off, it might be time to think about it.  We all know that in a few weeks it will be time to get out the sheers and do our annual pruning.  It will also be time to transplant new trees, dig up any bulbs we want to separate and get the flower beds in order - but what about the vegetable garden.  Do you need to do anything special to prepare it for winter?  The answer is yes.  As many of you know, here in NE Texas you can have some things growing just about year round in the garden.  Some vegetables that we just can’t grow all summer thrive in the cool weather.  Our winters are generally mild enough to allow for spinach, cabbage, onions, beets and a few others to thrive right through the New Year.  I am looking forward to seeing how long I can keep these plants going this year.  Even my pickiest eater will eat raw spinach!  That being said, it must be noted that these crops often don’t take up the whole garden.  There is a lot of space left untended.  Should you just leave it over the winter, or is there some better way to take care of it the unused garden?  These are the questions I asked myself last week.  A little bit of research yielded a predictable answer.  Prepare for winter!

If for no other reason than to make your life a little easier in the busy spring months, you should consider getting ready now.  Aside from saving time in the spring, proper preparation now can enrich the soil come spring, help prevent winter weeds, and keep the topsoil from blowing away with the winter winds.  Sounds great, so what to do…

The best thing to do is to plant a cover crop.  Yikes, more planting?  Yes  more planting, and you don’t even get to harvest it!  Planting a crop like winter wheat, crimson clover, or rye will keep the soil from blowing away in the winter, shade the soil to keep the seeds from germinating into nasty weeds, and add organic matter back into the soil when springtime finally rolls around and you turn it under.  That’s right, you just plow or till it right back into the soil in the spring.

Ok, that’s the best thing to do, but if you have raised beds, or just don’t feel up to the extra effort, at least you can till and mulch.  Turning the soil now will leave it soft for the spring and ready to plow.  Make sure to mulch it so that the loose soil doesn’t blow away!  Weed the raised beds to get any old plants and weeds out and then mulch, mulch, mulch.  Your spring garden will thank you by yielding a bigger harvest!

Don’t forget to put a layer of mulch over your perennial vegetables and flowers too.  This will help protect them from the temperature changes we experience here and keep them from freezing if the temperatures do dip too low.

A little extra work now can save a lot of time next spring.

Jenny - September Veg Gardening Duties

Hi, y'all. Sorry for the long absence. I wanted to chime in to talk about gardening in September. In some areas of the country, it's time to plant bulbs and shut down the veg gardens for the winter. Not so in Texoma. We have the blessing of a long growing season and can now prepare for what's sometimes called the short season. You can also often get away with the cooler weather crops that most of us don't dream about earlier in the year, crops like peas, beans, and lettuces. I know that's hard to believe while it's still so blazing hot outside, but it's true.
If you have tomatoes, you may have noticed that they're still producing. Great! This happens to me all the time, and I'll often have tomatoes all the way until the first hard frost. Keep them watered and happy, and see what happens. Our pepper plants are also going strong. We've been harvesting steadily all summer. We have so many, we've had to give them away! We'll be keeping them happy for as long as possible also, as well as harvesting seeds from the tastier ones.
So go ahead and begin prepping your garden beds and get to replanting. Clear away any spent plants from your spring/summer garden. Loosen up the soil if it has become packed again. You might want to fertilize, especially if you've grown soil sappers like corn or tomatoes. You can also plant soil rejuvenators such as peas in those beds. They can help return some life to the soil. Many crops ideal for the short season can be sown directly into the soil. Good. That saves time. Peas, beans, and many lettuce types are direct sow. Squash are direct sow, though avoid any super-long growers (Check the seed packet), or "juicy" squash like zucchini that might resent coldish nights. Perhaps most importantly especially while the days still blaze: water in well!
Every garden is very dependent on tree cover, shade/sun exposure, wind, etc. Even in Texoma the terrain can change from one town to the next. My garden beds set onto straight prairie land perform differently than my friends who have a lot more tree cover. You know your garden best. Check your seed packet instructions (or look it up online of course), trust your instincts and have fun with it!