New to raised beds in TX: HELP

I have been a long-time member of Dave's Garden, but was most often found in the Pets community or Farm community. We live about 60 miles west of Houston in a farming community. For the last 6 years we have raised coastal hay and a few Angus momma cows. We leased our land and sold our cows a year ago, and so I decided to make a garden.

This is my first attempt and I went about the planning of the garden with someone reckless abandon. So now I have a raised 12x12 plot, the soil of which is composed of sand, top soil, compost, and topped with 8 inches of hay. The patch is filled with tomatoes, squash, zucchini, melons, peppers and okra. I have stuff growing next to stuff that shouldn't be next to one another (based on my reading, after the fact). I have got all kinds of trailers and vines going any number of directions. The harvest will be interesting, for sure.

Getting to the point: I want to start over again and do this the right way. I am looking for some advice, experience, and links.

I have really enjoyed having this garden and caring for it, and I guess my enthusiasm accounts for my poor planning. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Melissa

Melissa,

Greetings from a fellow Texan! We just moved to Indiana for the first time a few years ago after being born and raised in Texas (I grew up in College Station actually... a few miles from you). After moving to Indiana we decided to make raised vegetable beds in our back yard after I read a book called "Square Foot Gardening". We really had no idea what we were doing and called our first year our learning year. It was such an educational year for us. We learned that bush beans will not climb up a trellis... no matter how much you want them to and that planting 40 tomato plants in 40 square feet is way too much plant for the space. :) We got to learn all about cabbage worms and early blight and crammed tons of information into just a few months... What valuable months those turned out to be.

I think in order to have a successful garden the most important thing that you need is enthusiasm.. and it seems like you have that in heaps. When we decided to make our garden beds we had to do it on a budget. Working in Houston we both had full time jobs and two incomes to depend on, but since moving up here we've decided that I will be at home with our children and my husband works full time so money is an issue. There is an amazing hardware store up here (low end stuff) that has a great clearance section for their wood and they had tons of plain wooden siding for 49 cents per 4 foot length of siding. On a side note I know that Home Depot and Lowes in Texas does have a clearance section for wood, it's just not quite the same as the Menard's up here. After getting enough siding we primed all of it on a tarp in the back yard with outdoor primer and started assembling. I am a fairly short woman so I needed to be able to reach the center of the garden beds so 4 feet was the maximum width that I could go, but they could be as long as we wanted. We ended up making 4 4ft x 10ft beds the first year and filling with bags of garden soil, manure and peat moss after we laid down landscaper's fabric. We didn't put nearly enough soil, but everything seemed to thrive anyway for some reason. This year had 4 cubic yards of black soil/brown soil/peat moss/horse manure delivered and raised the soil level to a more reasonable depth. For the vining things we use 8 foot hard plastic type rods that we drive into the ground a foot or two and then use jute or sisal twine to make a net for it to climb up. This seems to be very easy on the plants and doesn't heat up like metal does so there is no burning even on tender plants.

The thing I wish I had done last year that I'm going to do this year is keep a gardening journal. There is a resource for one here on DG, but I think I would enjoy making notes and drawing sketches etc in a little sketchbook journal for the garden. Things I wish I noted last year were planting dates, hardening off times, harvest dates, problems and pests encountered, successes and failures. I think I would have loved to go back to it and laugh at all the things I didn't know later on.

I'm sorry I've gone on and on and rambled, I'm sure many many others have more experience and better advice than I do, I'm just excited to see your enthusiasm about gardening. Gardening seems to be a bit of a refuge for me, I go out there and tend my little plants and spend time in the sunshine and fresh air. It's also exciting for me to find someone so close to my old stomping grounds. I met my husband at Texas A&M and that part of the world and the people from there will always hold a special place in my heart.

Alison

Oh.. I'll attach a picture so you can see a bit of what I'm talking about with the beds. The little short ones are our zucchini ones so we don't go over them with the mower. :)

This message was edited Jun 6, 2011 10:37 PM

Happy gardening!!!
Instead of starting all over, why not thin them? and perhaps in the fall follow Allison's way.

allison,
your garden looks nice and I wished Dh has the time to do it. Not very handy but our grass is pretty. Belle

Thank you both for your input.

Alison, I will take a look at the book you suggested for re-beginning my garden for the fall. And bellieg, I could thin out the plants, I had not thought of that. I find it difficult to pull something up when it is producing, but it may be more harmful if I don't.

When I woke up this morning and went to visit the garden, it was horrible. Three of my tomato plants had been almost eaten away - it looks like I have stinkbugs, squash bugs, and maybe a cucumber beetle. There was also a huge tarantula on one of my zucchini leaves.

I have Neem Oil and Liquid Sevin Spray (you attach hose to bottle). I have read pros and cons and am clueless about what to do.

Help please!

Tarantula !!! In Texas???. It is scary!! Regarding the tomatoes it might be the green worms that devour the tomato plants. There was a big discussion about it last year. Someone will tell you what to do about them.

I do not use sevin spray nor neem oil. I use diluted liquid dish soap. Belle

Hi Belle -

I like that idea. I am very uncomfortable with chemicals as I know next to nothing. Do you have "recipe" for your spray?

Hi Alison

Thank you for the great "rambling." Your garden/s are beautiful. I think keeping a journal and sketches is a fabulous idea. Makes for wonderful reflection later on.

I am not sure, base upon the small amount of reading I have done thus far that I will have a fall garden; however, there is much I can do to prepare for next summer's garden.

Weather in your old stomping grounds has exceeded 100 more than once this year and we are in a serious drought.

Melissa

i part dish soap 3 parts water in a spray bottle. i do not like the natural ingredient dish washing soap. Belle

Thanks Belle. I will spray in the morning.

Lemon Ajax does wonders.

MelissahL,
You really should go for a fall garden! There's a world of difference between it and the blistering summer garden. It is soooooooooooo delightful to be outside when the weather is turning cooler, and see your plants enjoying themselves, and not struggling to stay alive.

The best solution for tomato hornworm is removing them and killing them. They will eat all the vines and eat into the tomato harvest.

Although they look aggressive, they do not sting.

Check underneath the leaves cut the leaf and bag the culprit.

Melissa,

One of the things I will miss the least about Texas is the heat of summer, but the fall is very nice! We used to say that we had two seasons... hot and brown :P
About the gardening journal, I just started mine a few days ago to record successes and failures and little things that I learn along the way. I also noted what plants and seeds I bought where, how much they cost and how well they are doing now. It's been really fun to draw the weird bugs that I've learned about along the way.

Last year we had a few hornworms also, but we also had parasitic wasps that I had never heard about that were just SO weird! They lay their eggs on the back of worms and when they hatch they borrow into the worm and eat it from the inside out. EWW. There are so many things that I don't know and it's exciting to learn new things all the time. I think gardeners will always draw from the knowledge of others because you simply can't know it all. This community is so full of valuable information and eager helpful people. I'm so glad to have found it.

I was thinking about your 12 x 12 bed last night. How are you able to harvest, do you have a pathway through the center? I found an article here that talks about cutting back tomatoes and peppers in the fall and getting a second harvest from them. http://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/julaug02/fallgarden.html it also mentions just planting into existing beds for a fall crop. I think if I were you I'd just learn what I can from this go around and maybe take advantage of the fall Texas weather (cooler and wetter).

Oh and I meant to mention, I surround all my gardens with garlic and onions to help ward off pests. I read that in a book I borrowed from the library: http://www.amazon.com/Small-Plot-High-Yield-Gardening-Turning-Organic/dp/1580080375 There were NO pictures in it, so at first I set it aside since I'm a picture person, but once I finally picked it up and read it it was the most informative book that I'd gotten in the bunch. :) Certainly worth checking out at a local library and giving a good read .

Babbling again so I'm going to just end it with a lovely picture of the poor hornworm that got to play host to the wasp family... eww

tomato hornworm's are bad for tomaotos
but they make a nice picture.

The good thing about gardening in Texas is that you get a second shot for the fall! So, you can start now preparing to plant your fall garden and take all your new knowledge and apply it to your garden!

I just read a neat little gardening guide put out by Burpee that I thought you might like to read: http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/gardenfresh/index.aspx
-A

Tomato hornworm's give me the freakin' willies!

I see ya'll have met Harry.

I held one in my hand for the first time in 2010 (with Bubba_MoCity standing next to me for protection!), and I fell in love with Harry the Hornworm. I always visualize him as that hungry, hungry, hungry, ALWAYS hungry little character in the Madagascar movie. It wasn't until I encountered Harry in the garden that I figured out what he was in the movie! How can you not love those beautiful markings, and the fact that he's all "fluff" and will roll over and play dead if you go "boo!"

You could always plant a decoy crop off to the side of your veggies, and lovingly relocate Harry for the duration, or, until he eats it all (which he will!). By then, hopefully, he'll be ready to settle down and make a nice cocoon and turn into a wonderfully beautiful luna moth! So HUGE, and wings like a fur coat!

I'm learning to live in harmony with the wildlife... I had a "herd" of Assassin Bugs set up camp in the grass underneath every one of my tomato and bell pepper containers this year. They did their job so well, I have found exactly 1 army worm, and 1 cutworm in my entire garden this whole season. The wildlife can be beneficial!

Now, if the Assassin's could keep out the neighbor's cat and dog....

^^_^^

When i was a kid in michigan we had them all over the tomaotes.we had so many tomaoto plant they realy didnt cut into production hardly at all i suspect the local critters ate them even our dog would eat them sometimes.

Well, I have thinned out my garden a bit, created a sort of "weave" thing to support my remaining tomato plants which are producing quite well, and read an article sent to me by Alison (thanks) on tomato and pepper plants. So, to determine what should be planted in my fall garden. Whatever I choose, I assume I must plant seeds?

Thanks so much for everyone's help.

Melissa

You can start seeds indoors to plant out, but most will need to be direct sown in your garden.

Thanks, Stephanie.

Thanks for the correction on the moth, Pod. And, I do understand that everyone has to handle the wildlife in their own way.

It's just that Harry is so darn gorgeous in his own way. He couldn't help being born with a bottomless pit!

Great information from everyone. I've started my first garden this year and am having a blast. I feel like a new mommy everytime something matures enough to eat. :) I'm also from the Bryan/College Station area of Texas and am living in Lewisville now, near Dallas.

I bought Lady Bugs and have released about 4 thousand of them spread out over time. I hardly ever see one though I know there's a life cycle at work. I'm considering buying some Praying Mantis but am impatient and would like for our Chameleons to come back that we've had every year. Last year we put out diatomaceous earth powder to kill fleas and ticks, etc. and never thought about our Chameleons not having anything to eat and leaving us. I finally saw one of the babies that frequent the indoors until they mature and move outside BUT I've only seen one. I'm wondering if I should buy some of the little Chameleons to repopulate our yard since we've started a garden and have more bugs around than EVER. I imagine they would eat the Lady Bugs (or maybe not). I've researched to see which ones are indigenous to our area and look like our visitors we've had in the past. Does anyone know how these three interact in a veggie garden area? Lady Bugs, Praying Mantis and Chameleons? Or if they don't, which one (or two) is the best pest control? Anyone have any suggestions as to where I would look to find this information?

I have SO many questions about just about everything and have been reading voraciously - too bad I can't remember a lot of it. :)

Deb