Texas Veggie Gardeners!! Stories, Tips and ADVICE!

[bnjrob]

The screened in beds that galanie has are exactly what I want to do.

We did good with our garden down in central TX. Moved here 5 years ago....grasshopper plague just eats everything!! Last year I did not bother with a garden at all between the grasshoppers and no rain. And this year, I may put something in pots soon, but my first batch of chicks aren't due to be hatched until the end of March at the breeder's so I am not planning anything large scale until I see how well the chickens do with grasshopper munching.

One thing I am planning to do, once we get ready to have bigger garden again - probably next year - is to get soaker hoses to run to the pasture where we put the garden. We used soaker hoses underneath mulch at our old house - MUCH better for not wasting water and keeping the plants alive.

My mother and grandmother have had good results in protecting their garden with sheets and sheer curtains they got at Goodwill and making tents over the plants to protect them from the sun. It worked too, they have had some nice harvests with less loss due filtering the sunlight some.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I put in a raspberry plant last year and it did fairly well, but not as good as my black berries. I guess I need to take a look at it this year and see if it's still hanging in.

Galanie, I'm conducting a mangel experiment. I planted a small bed in mangel beets over the weekend. I'll let you know if/how/what they do. I'm not sure I want to devote a large area to growing them until I see how they do and if the critters are even interested in them.

I also started some eggplant seeds over the weekend. Probably a little late getting going with them, but what the heck, might as well give it a try. I have some huge radishes in the garden that I didn't harvest. Hubbie seems to have lost his taste for them right now, so I thought I'd let them go to seed. I tossed a few to the goats just to see if they were interested. They love the tops, but only the GP dog seems interested in the radish itself. She mostly thinks it's fun to use them for a chew toy and spit them out.

Spring break in less than two weeks! I'm getting itchy garden fingers. If the weather cooperates, I'll get most of my main garden planted then.

 

[galanie]

I'm getting a small bed ready now for some mangels. I'm doing the same as you are, just seeing how they grow and if the chickens are even interested in them.

I grew some diakon radishes last year, the huge ones, close to the edge of the garden where the chickens could get some of the tops. They loved eating the radish leaves and any of the India spinach beet leaves they could get were gone fast. I'm growing more this year and have some planted intentionally so that the chickens can get some of the greens. For the moment they're happy though with all this yummy winter rye grass that has come up. They are grazing like cows on it lol. And hardly eating any chicken food at all. Maybe 1/4 cup per bird a day. The rest is greens and what seeds and bugs they can dig up. I'm providing all they want, they just don't want much, too many bugs and greens available.

I watched a BBS series about some historians living as they did in the 1800's called Tales of the Green Valley and they grew mangels for the livestock, chickens included. They had an old "grater" for the mangels that chopped them into small pieces. They just loaded it up, turned a handle, and the cutter chopped them and let them fall out of the bottom. This got fed to cows, pigs, and chickens in the winter. They ground them fresh every day, taking them from a straw covered pile where they were kept, outside.

Course with our warmer, more humid climate we couldn't store them quite the same way, but I found the whole thing pretty interesting and instructive.

I know it's way too early but with this weather we're having I'm so very tempted to go ahead and plant some beans. And I might plant just a few. I think I'll have enough seed to replant if they don't make it. Got some Calendula coming up and dill. My bell pepper plants are up but not ready to go in, they need a bit more growth on them. The Comfrey I got this winter is going nuts. The chickens graze a little on those too. It's supposed to make good forage for them.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's official - my raspberry plant from last year didn't make it. However, the blackberries are taking over their little part of the world. Several of them have root-tipped and are starting new plants. Wow, self-propagation - a lazy gardeners dream come true!

And on that note - some of my lettuces are going to seed, so I'm going to let them. I might never have to plant that lettuce bed again. It keeps going and going and going. It's on season number three. AND, I'm thrilled to report that I've got two cabbage plants that are actually making heads. That'll be a first for my garden. Brussel sprouts are making little sprouts, some are a bit bigger than marble size. I'm a little disappointed in them though, I thought I'd be eating them long before now. Saw a couple blooms on some pea plants and noticed leaves coming on the fig and persimmon trees. Somebody pinch me - spring really is coming!

Galanie - I'm going to have to find Tales of the Green Valley, I'd love to see that.

 

[daddykirbs]

I started my Spring/Summer garden! I've done it like this before so I'm not sure how it's gonna turn out... life is a fun experiment.

 

[daddykirbs]

... noticed leaves coming on the fig and persimmon trees. Somebody pinch me - spring really is coming!

Yep! My little Fig has some leaves on it too I LOTS of native persimmon trees that are all starting to look nice and green. Sadly, two of my persimmon trees didn't make it through the drought.

 

[galanie]

Make sure they can drain and pay tons of attention to watering those bags. Might work great, it's like planting in 5 gallon buckets without the bucket. That plastic will disintegrate in the sunlight but by then you'll likely not need them any more.

 

[daddykirbs]

Make sure they can drain and pay tons of attention to watering those bags. Might work great, it's like planting in 5 gallon buckets without the bucket. That plastic will disintegrate in the sunlight but by then you'll likely not need them any more.

Good Advice, Thanks. I did poke holes in the bottoms just to make sure they drain well. I did not think about the sun, but you are correct... I won't use these next season.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What a great way to re-use those feed sacks Daddykirbs! And, by putting down the black plastic you will not only stop the weeds for this season, but by next season you could put another raised bed or two in that space. I might need to give that a try myself.

I need to repot the tomato and pepper seedlings or just go ahead and take a chance and put them in the garden. In order to do that I will need to move some chickens OUT of the garden. Seems to be the story of my life these days----move chickens. (Received 25 Barred Hollands this morning! Hated to resort to hachery birds, but I've got 5 others that I've hatched from a breeder.)

The mangel beets that I planted are starting to pop through. I'm anxious to see how that experiment works. If we get really lucky maybe the rain will go around us and I can get the rest of the garden in while I'm off on spring break next week.

 

[joan1708]

I grow blackberries. They do fine. I'm trying paw paws this year.