Texas Gardening: Garden out of control, 0 by 1lisac

1lisac wrote:
Mine are still from spring also except for a couple that haven't produced as much as the spring planted ones. When I moved here 17 years ago from So. Cal. I didn't know about the 2 plantings idea and to be honest I have never understood it, at least for my area. Texas is a big state. It gets as hot in CA as it does here and CA main industry is agriculture at 1 time 80% of the country's processing tomatoes were/are grown in the central valley and the last time I was there it was 108*. On a train trip through Illinois this past summer I got a taste of really humidity thought I was going to die and I swore I would never B..... about the humidity in TX again, but their tomatoes were producing like crazy (yes I talked to the locals in Galesburg about gardening embarrassed the poop out of my sons). I find it easier to keep my tomato plants going through the hot days of summer then putting out young plants and babying them, shade cloth, extra watering etc... My plants never completely stop producing but they do slow down. This summer was not a good example it was abnormally hot and dry.
I think the 2 planting seasons may be more around the 2 rainy seasons which were important before irrigation. IMHO
I have many clients who thought their plants were dying because of the heat but it was spider mites. Those that sprayed for SM also have a bumper crop this fall.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Lisa