Texas Veggie Gardeners!! Stories, Tips and ADVICE!

[7L Farm]

Is it not the most wonderful thing in the world to see all that green after last summer and fall?

Amen !!! Here's my back pasture.

 

[daddykirbs]

Amen !!! Here's my back pasture.

Beautiful!

 

[joan1708]

Monarch caterpillars on milkweed I found in my yard today!

 

[bnjrob]

Love the monarch caterpillars!

 

[MotherGoose 777]

I want to play.

I've been here in Texas for a couple of years and last year was just miserable with the drought, never-ending wind, and grasshopper plague. I brought home a bunch of baby ducks that took care of the grasshoppers, and built some wind breaks, but the drought ended up doing everything in in the end.

Now this year I'm worried because my tiller broke (and kept breaking!) and I only JUST got the main garden mostly tilled a couple of days ago. I have some onion sets languishing, and some seeds, a handful of seed potatoes, and not much else. Of the seeds I started, only the catnip is coming up well. I vowed not to buy anything until I was SURE I'd be able to plant, since I've lost plants before when problems came up, and I can't afford to waste anything this year.

I did replace some trees, since most were lost. I have some new apple trees, and figs, and a plum. The new pomegranate is dead, and I think the geese killed the mulberry the day I put it in the ground. And I have a bunch of blackberry, blueberry, and grape clustered next to the house in a temporary fenced-in area to keep them safe from the geese. I need fencing FAST so I can get them planted out.

Tomatoes and peppers have done well for me a couple of years ago. Looking forward to putting those in ASAP.

I just feel like I've missed the "window" (I'm near Dallas and it got HOT yesterday) and I can't bear that thought, when I lost everything last year. I don't want to go TWO years with no fresh food. At least our rain is up, and hopefully they won't be imposing no-water restrictions again this year.

My wish list (things I want to grow over the next year that I haven't started yet): mangels, sunchokes, tomatoes, peppers, lavender, garlic, onions, potatoes, chard, basil, black beans, red beans, amaranth, mulberry, strawberry ... and I'm sure there will be plenty more when I think about it.

(I can so relate to the first post in the thread -- I feel like I am ALWAYS a step ahead or a step behind what I'm "supposed to" be doing at any given time. Sometimes it seems like the only "right" time to do things goes by in a flash ... and it rained that day!)

 

[joan1708]

Mothergoose - I feel your pain. It was a hard year last year. And the window is closing on planting this year. I got my onions in. I have some peaches on the trees and I see figs coming in. I have a few strawberries ripening now. My lettuce and cilantro was too pretty to pull up, so now it's bolting and I have nothing to put in there. I think I'm going to do okra and sweet potatoes.

 

[MotherGoose 777]

Oh! Can you tell me about sweet potatoes?

I need - I mean really NEED - to plant sweet potatoes, since they figure into the feed for several of my animals here and the other day I had to pay $3 for 3 potatoes at Wal-Mart.

I've never grown them. Can I just plant tubers from the store? Plant them whole? I saw someone selling bushel baskets by the road the other day and I thought maybe I'd missed it entirely, since obviously his harvest is come in. I seem to remember them coming in during the summer in Louisiana though? You're very close to me as far as climate, I think, so I hope you don't mind me asking?

Thanks!

 

[bnjrob]

I hear ya MotherGoose777! We live in the middle of pasture. The 3 pine trees that we planted in the front yard about 4 yrs ago did not survive last year. We didn't garden at all last year after we had 2 gardens get eaten by the grasshopper plague. That was one of the reasons we decided to get chickens - to see if they would help any with the bug control. Last year was definitely the worst it has been here in TX in a while.

 

[joan1708]

2 years ago I cut up some sweet potatoes from the store and they grew like crazy. It's best to have loose fertile soil, they are vines so they need room, and they are pretty. I watered them along with the yard. I try not to grow the same thing twice in the same spot, so I didn't grow them last year, so I don't know how they would have done int that heat.

 

[MotherGoose 777]

Thanks so much! Maybe that guy is still selling bushels by the road. If I can get some from him, they are almost surely a variety that will grow here (though I may grab a couple from the store too, since obviously he harvested his earlier than I am planting).

Love sweet potato vines. I wish I had them already ... the baby goats could use them as well, and my dog needs sweet potato (special diet).

I'll try them in several spots. Glad to know I can cut them up. I'd thought maybe since they were a tuber they'd need to be kept in one piece -- I really had no idea. Thanks again!