SUMMER GARDENS

Nice Steph!

Beautiful! Luscious! Yum.

I've never seen the inside of a pea pod here because they all get eaten whole. And only once did I get any peas into the house uneaten. I'm growing 4 times as many this year, and your pics are great encouragement, seeing as my plants are 5 inches tall!

Have a great. Supper!

I can honestly day this is the first time I'm jealous on Dave's. ..

But VERY happy for you Steph.

Teach me to grow peas!!!

LOL Linda! I just soak the peas overnight in hydrogen peroxide water and sow them the next day. Then I water 'em and they grow. I am growing 3 varieties this year, Alaska, Little Marvel, and Wando. Wando is supposedly more heat tolerant than the other 2. They like cool/cold weather, so you have to plant them either late, late fall or early, early spring, which in Texas is pretty much synonymous.

Stephanie, do you do the same thing with your beans? Obviously you're doing something very right!

Yes, I soak overnight in hot (from the tap hot, not boiling) water and hydrogen peroxide. I also plant them in an area that gets some shade in my garden. Almost all of my garden gets early morning shade, until about 11AM due to the big oak tree in the yard, but after that, it's all sun.

Hmm, very similar yard to mine, except mine are two large conifers. And thank you.

I know Texas has been having some very changing weather; what's your area been like? We've been in the 50-60 day range, but possibly 90 next week. I can't seem to figure out when to put anything out. This is my first year starting veg indoors.

We're in the 80s and 90s. It was close to 100 one day last week. Lots and lots of wind and a little bit of rain. In the evenings, we've been down in the 60s and 70s. We have had a few cold fronts come through, but it doesn't last for very long and the temps aren't all that cold.

Here's a couple of shots of the garden. The first is the main garden plot that my husband thinks is an acre, but in reality is about 15' X 20'. The second pic is the new addition that was formerly a raised bed and the walk space between. We'll extend it this fall.

What all you got growing in there Stephanie? Looks good, and you have a helper! Nice!

That's my yard boy!! LOL Okay, seriously, that's my husband who does most of the hard gardening labor. I'm so very thankful that he's got farming in his blood.

I'm growing garlic, onions (2 varieties), peas (3 varieties), tomatoes (lg. cherry, Pantano Romanesco, Homestead 24, and Marmande), gray striped zucchini, cucumbers (Muncher, Ashley, and National Pickling), pole beans (Fortex), watermelon (Sugar Baby), bell peppers, yellow squash, and okra.

Very nice veggie choices, Stephanie, and I hope you share all your secrets w us so I for one can do better! This year's garden already looks healthier than last, so I hope I have a good harvest and soon! :))

The hubby doesn't work in te garden here.. YET! Lol

It'll come, spwd! I can attest to that. My DC went from 'just stay on the concrete and you'll be safe' to RESEARCHING and helping me build my raised beds, picking up a worm to move it and saying 'oh look honey, it's pooping goodness'. !!!!!!!!!! That, I have to say, is my all-time favorite personal garden story.

I'm Lu-u-ucky. Understatement.

Stephanie your garden area is really appealing, and from the sound of it really productive. I'm looking to you Texas folk now to pseudo-predict me in two months, lol. Thanks for looking good!

Becky, I'm not sure if I can teach anyone anything! LOL It's all good now, but when the heat sets in, it's a chore to even look outside, much less get out in it! The only thing I can say is amend your soil! That's probably the best thing we've done.

A cold front is coming in tomorrow and Tues it's supposed to be in the 60s with lows in the 40s. Then is supposed to get into the 80s. The last few days have been hot and humid. Less humidity sounds nice....

The accompanying rain sounds nice, too. As long as it doesn't turn too severe, I'm all for it! I'll appreciate some cooler temps and the lower humidity.

Oh man the rain isn't as heavy as we had been anticipating but I already caught 55 gallons today with more on the way!

My maters are looking so good I think I'll finally stop being chicken and post pics. Just not today, it's raining remember? Lol! And it about broke my heart to pinch all my flowers off this morning, since they're not quite big enough to set fruit yet. Well I have a few that are getting close to being mature enough. Soon...

My corn is over a foot tall, green beans are starting to get fuller and soon they'll be climbing the corn. Squash is starting to form blooms too. How do I tell male and female blooms apart, and what the heck do I do once I figure out the difference? I know I know, all these newbie questions! Sheesh ;)

We picked up a little over 2" of rain today. Lots and lots of thunder and lightning, which provides nitrogen to the soil and the plants. So happy for that!

The onions really appreciate the rain and nitrogen. They've started bulbing which is always a fun time of the season.

First bunch of large red cherry tomatoes! These guys are so yummy!

First Marmande tomato. (And only one so far.)

All the peas are blooming and putting on pods like crazy.

Hubby's garden expansion project. He's about halfway done with it, then will mix in another load of compost and will plant.

First real harvest of the season today!!

Kiowa blackberries (that hubby thinks I need to make something with! LOL), peas, and some onions that I pulled to use as green onions since they didn't bulb. Still a ton of berries to pick in the next days and lots more peas will be ready soon.

I suggest adding just a little bit of sugar to the berries, then pour them over some homemade shortbread. Follow with some heavy cream (no need to whip it).

He keeps eating them as he walks by them on the counter. Pretty soon, I won't have to worry about it. LOL

Really beautiful Stephanie.

So you did make them into something - a snack. If any of my berries make it into the house I do like David says, only without the sugar. This is a divided household: one likes sweet, the other likes sour, so it's your tomatoes, my tomatoes, your berries, my berries.

I took a nap since I was up early to work out in the garden and I've not totally recuperated from my work week last week. I usually do that on Sundays, but I went to the North Central Texas round up (DG's version of a plant swap/meet) and spent my whole afternoon trading and talking plants. Tough way to spend the day! LOL

Did you get any pictures ?

I miss the RU's. We went to Kentucky 4 years in a row. But it's a long trip, 800 miles.
7 years at Iowa RU, but that fell apart when Dave sold DG. Many left for other sites.

Might drop in at Texas one of these days, although it's hard to get away this time of the year.

Yes and while my garden is only starting ,,
Most of the RU's Seem to of went South ,) Like Texas ,


Pic of where I am ;
Pumpkin
Watermelon
Pepper
Cucumber
Catnip

Country, I didn't take pics this time, but when they post them on the Texas forum, I'll post a link.

Here's the link to the RU pics.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1361068/

I am finally back home.
While I was away my DH harvested a few tomatoes (picture #1)
Yesterday I found more tomatoes, huge squashes, eggplants, cucumbers and blackberries (picture #2-3)
I also harvested 4 bags of lettuce (most of them were starting to bolt) and a few peppers (picture #4).
Then I went outside today and found more tomatoes and blackberries.
The tomato plants are loaded of huge green tomatoes.
One of my husband pet claim up the veggie garden and ate half of my pepper plants ... the others were all been walked over ... so maybe not so many peppers for me this year !

Onions and garlic are ready. I have started to harvest the garlic and then ... I stopped and went to look at my Bio-dynamic calendar and today in NOT a root day.
I will harvest them on a root day next week, so they will store much better.
I think I might have tons of garlic this year ...

More peas harvested yesterday, 5/22/14. These are the last of the Alaska peas as well as some Little Marvels.
My patriotic Kiowa blackberries. We've harvested about 6 cups of berries so far and there's tons more.
Got some maters brewing! These are Marmande tomatoes, I think. They could be Homestead, though. LOL
Hubby expanded the garden a bit, so he just had to go buy more things to plant. These are various bell peppers.

What in the world is a "Root Day"? What determines length of storage for garlic bulbs? Do you do something to prepare your garlic for storage?

klrkkr
I follow the Maria Thun Bio-dynamic calendar.
See a sample in the picture. It has all the planting dates ready for you.
I just follow the colors. Brown is for "roots", planting, transplanting and harvesting.
I have been following this calendar for 4 years now and it works like magic !

Okey, dokey. Now for the garlic questions.

Ken

Wow Steph, thinks are looking great! Thank you so much for the blackberry plants also, can't wait to pick my first fruits next year!

Drthor, nice harvest! I don't know if my garden will produce much this year, but it's looking better every day :)

Couple pics, first one is a quickie shot of the tomato rows, 34 plants. They've been in ground a little over a month. The next one is a blueberry tomato plant whose leaves are curling.. What the heck could be causing that? I had noticed blister beetles on a few of the plants and was diligent about picking them off and squishing them, been watering every other day if no rain, and they probably could use a feeding when we get back, just can't figure out the leaf curl issue 😩

Here's a shot of one of those little nasty things I took when I first discovered them, and a shot of the three sisters raised bed from the same time. We've gotten some rain since then and it's grown a bit more :)

So where r these pics u speak of?

Weeeird, it says "click an image for an enlarged view" like there's suppose to be a pic there but no pic. Let's try again..

1 The leaf curl plant, 2 the blister beetle, 3 the tomato rows, and 4 the three sisters :)

This message was edited May 24, 2014 11:30 AM

Is there a lettuce that can be planted in the summer?

I have never had any luck growing lettuce in the hot months of late spring/summer/early fall. It will bolt. I think you could take it when small though, particularly leaf lettuce. I think that is called "baby lettuce".

Ken

First I couldn't see the pics, now I can't see any lettuce. What wrong with me...?

Many times leaf curl just happens....but I have to ask if you see any webbing on the leaves?

Becky, you can try growing lettuce inside during the summer. I've never tried it, but that's the only way you can get lettuce in Texas in the summer. It does great in the fall, winter (if it's mild), and early spring.