Hey guys,
so I'm moving into a new house. It has a really great back yard, and I want to build several garden beds back there. There's also a lot of trees so it gets a bit of shade, but it should get at least 6 hours of full sun a day (and I'll probably be trimming back a few branches).
Anyways... I'm new to gardening, I grew my first one this spring/summer. I had a lot of success with cucumbers(a lot!), jalapenos, cayenne peppers, green beans, and I've got a watermelon plant really taking off. I'm curious what people in central texas recommend growing this fall? I'm interested in growing:
Potatoes
Beans
Carrots
Lettuce
Broccoli
Onions
I'm open to suggestions, and I want to know if there's any of these plants that you guys think aren't suited to our region.
Thanks!
Fall Garden in Capital City
Welcome to DG!
I live about 100 miles north of you and would have said forget potatoes and onions in the fall. However, this guide to fall gardening put out by TAMU says they can be grown in your area. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/fallgarden/fallindex.html Maybe the planting dates and suggestions for varieties will be of help. Good luck and enjoy your new home and garden!
Patricia
oh, excellent! thanks for this chart.
Yeah, definitely onions and potatoes are fine, although it's hard to find seed potatoes. All that other stuff. Green peas, tomatoes are a fall crop although you should have already started them from seed, leafy stuff (cabbage, chard), radishes and other roots, garlic,... Anything that doesn't need flat out heat.
http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/documents/_English_Vegetable_Varieties_for_Travis_County2.pdf seems to be a good basic list of generally well-adapted varieties. (English language, not english vegetables.) Although, again, not necessarily ones that are available in the store. That extension agent planting calendar is probably a good starting point, but my experience is that dates are pretty flexible.
As you're locating the garden and trimming branches, you might think about how the sun dips to the south in the winter. It can make a dramatic difference in how much light an area gets, especially if you have fence, building, or evergreens. It also matters when the area starts getting sun - if it won't be until the afternoon, frost may linger, whereas a sheltered area facing southeast will warm up early.
Have fun! Let us know what you decide on, and how it works out...
Thanks, realbirdlady.
That will be helpful. I also have Howard Garrett's Organic Texas Gardening book which lists specific varieties suitable for texas. I'll compare these and see if they match up.
So do you know where I might look for seed potatoes around town?
I love potatoes, and I really want to experiment with stacking the containers up as the plant grows. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a regular potato and a seed potato (I'm new to this). I'm assuming they'll be labelled, but what different characteristics do they have?
You can probably order seed potatoes but if I were living in a larger town, I would shop the organic potatoes at the grocery. Pick out the type of potato you like to eat and look for those with plenty of "eyes". That is where the potato plants will sprout from. You may even find some already sprouting. Cut them into sections. You can half, quarter or cut in even smaller pieces. Theoretically each eye will make a plant. After you section them, let them lay in the open (not in the sun) to air dry. If you don't dry them, they may rot in the ground. Then, plant as you want to...
If you pop over to the vegetable forum, there are a few threads on potato growing information. Please just ask any questions ~ either here or there.
Yeah, there's a "fall 2010 zones 8/9" thread or something like that in the vegetables forum, which is mostly texas.
Word on the street is that all the usual mail order places are sold out. I dunno why, every year there's clearly excess demand. I get mine at Buck Moore in the spring, but normally they don't have them in the fall, although couldn't hurt to ask. Otherwise, yeah, go to the grocery and pick out the ones with eyes. If you want fancy varieties, go to the fancy grocery.
The big box nurseries did have seed potatoes this spring, which they never have in the past, so I suppose there's an outside chance they would have them in the fall.
"Certified" seed potatoes means they've been tested for some diseases, but other than that, they're not seed-ier in any way. It's a pretty big deal if you're a commercial grower, but for most home growers, if you get some at the grocery and they turn out to have some virus, which they hardly ever do, it's not like your family is going to starve. (Do be aware of crop rotation, though, even with certified, other sorts of pests can linger in the bed or cause problems for related crops. Shouldn't be a big deal if you're making several smaller beds.)