I could post this in the Veg Gardening forum but I figure this is a good spot because we in Texas have the ability to have veg gardens almost year round, what a treat!
We've had ours in for a couple months and everything has grown exponentially! My DH says he sprays fish emulsion on it and some other organic goodies and it's produced the largest plants we've had yet. We have 10'x2' beds and the squash bed has grown up about 3' high and is touching the neighboring beds. DH counted about 80 tomatoes in one of these beds. He has things tightly planted following author/gardener Eliott Coleman and we trellis a lot of things as they vine out. We only are using metal stakes to hold each tomato stalk up and they seem to be thriving.
We gave some yellow squash to a neighbor and she said when her dad came over he asked where she got the squash because it looked so healthy. She said her neighbor. He said, "Well where did he buy it?" She asked him to follow her up the stairs to look down into our backyard and see the garden of giant plants. He was surprised we had full grown squash already in this area as he tries to grow it himself.
Just wondering how all your veg gardens are doing. If there are any varieties you've attempted over the years you've adored and others you've nixed. The one thing we haven't done well is carrots but I think we just need deeper composted soil so we will try these another time in large pots. I figure they are one of the cheaper veggies to buy from the store so we stick with the pricer vegetables for now.
Wish I could post ya'll a pic!!!!
Texas Vegetable Garden
I have what you call a "real mixed" garden with alot of veggies too. I have tomatoes starting to ripen now--this thread is a couple of weeks old but its a tour of "part" of my garden...the back yard specifically. I put it in the veggie forum although it contains alot of non-veggie plants. I will be updating that thread after the RU Saturday. I do carrots in the fall--as well as all kinds of lettuce, broccoli, brussel sprouts, garlic, onions (thanks to the RU).
Debbie
LINK:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/592621/
hopping around and found this here thread. thought I would add to it.
I have started an 8'x8' raised bed. also tight planting. before the pic though I had 3' high zuchinni and yellow straight neck squash. Had to pull them. wifey does not like either of them. plus they were choking out my okra. radishes are gone and there is only a few beets left. the lettuce bolted on me so I pulled it and will try again this fall.
everything else is growing nicely and healthy......
calvin
This message was edited May 19, 2006 2:53 PM
Mine's still doing really good...but I grow "weary" of high vegetable maintanence when it starts getting hot. July-Aug nothing here. Nivlac, I gotta lot of vegetable seeds I can send you to experiment with...way more than I'll ever need...lol
We have been squashed OUT! Oh goll, I think next time we will plant the 10' beds in 4 sections of the same plant and alternate planting weeks so we aren't overwhelmed as we were this year. Unable to eat our bounty we had to give a lot away for free.
We never can get enough green beans or peas, they always go fast.
Found an old time pickling recipe and put up 14 pickling cucumbers in a 2 gallon jar...it takes almost a week for them to pickle but it has some incredible ingredients, hoping it will be GREAT!
dmj send them willingly :)
I 'll take them off your hands.
calvin
Let me know what you want to try...I've probably got it. Are you in the addy..Address exchange?
Don't know if I am in the addy or not not really sure how to find out I'll have to find out. If not I'll add it there.
or dmail me.
This is my first post here. I joined especially for Texas vegetable talk because I'm relatively new to gardening, and fairly new to Texas (July 9th will be two years). I bought my home when I moved here, and there was already an "established" plot (not really - but kind of. It was incredibly overgrown, soil was in very poor shape, but the rows were noticable.....haha).
I did some vegetables last year, but this is the first year I'll actually call my garden a "vegetable garden"
Early in spring I planted a packet of mixed lettuce seeds. I ended up, after thinning (too much) Red Oak Leaf and a green spikey lettuce I don't know what to call it. They both did AWESOME. I harvested leaves right up until they finally bolted last week. Zero bug troubles (maybe because an army of Lady Beetles has a barracks here).
I interplanted the lettuce with peppers, and they are now producing. I have Tam Jalapeno, Pimiento, and (I think) Banana. They don't seem to be bothered by any pests yet.
I had 5 big tubs of Tomatoes (moved them to tubs because last year they did poorly, and I thought it might be the soil). The Cherry Tomatoes are going gangbusters (I have 1 Husky Red Cherry, and one Sweet Million); however, all but one of the Roma's succombed to some type of virus or fungus (same ailment that got them last year - this fall I'm going to try something more naturally resistant - if anyone has some ideas I'd love the advice).
I planted green bush beans, but I pretty much failed. I have about a dozen plants now, but that's in a 35ft row.... Not sure where I went wrong, but probably I planted them too deep or the ground crusted over. A few got some type of fungus/virus since they were very deformed looking. Not going to get much of a harvest I'm sure, but I'll plow everything left under when I prepare the row for fall.
I also have a row of Chinese Greens. I got the seeds from evergreenseeds.com. They are called Hon-Tsai-Tai, and man are they doing well!!! I've given greens to friends (and even people I don't know). They are still going strong even though they've already sent up flowers and are making seed pods.
I have 1 hill of watermelon that have little water-babes on them. I got one little Bonnie's pot from Walmart at my daughter's urging. The vines are trying to take over everything, but I'm guiding them to places where they won't choke anything. Had Aphids, but the lady bugs seem to be keeping them under control.
Two hills of cukes that are in full production. These are the Burpless type. No problems so far.
The watermelons and cukes are all under black plastic (I just cut an opening to plant them. I have black plastic between each row to help with the weeds (I use those garden staples to secure them up against the plants in each row).
I use soaker hoses to water most everything.
Wow, did I write a book? :-)
faantstic gardening VeggieHappy,
Keep going. this year was my first chance to plant a veggie garden. I had lived better part of my married life in apertments and that puts a major drain on the gardening ideas, which led to total discuss in the gardening altogether. Not to mention the whole complaint system that came from the neughbors. I am the type that when I forsee the trouble ahead I will tend to avoid the cause altogether.
I planted blackseeded simpson lettuce this year but it bolted before I could get to enjoy it. I'll try again this fall. I only planted roma tomatoes in the bed and I will harvest my first tomorrow. I noticed it tonight.
How about some pics everybody of your veggie gardens?
calvin
there's alot of pic here....if pics are what you want..
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/592621/
Deb
Raising vegetables in the Hill Country areas is challenging! I use raised beds, of course. I'm mostly doing tomatos this year because of the drought. Water, water, water...gets old, at best, the bill gets higher all the time. But I just harvested a nice tomato, yum! That taste is the only reason I keep trying. Store tomatos just suck as far as tomato taste goes.
I just need help dealing with this....I am NOT a food preserver. lol
I would be SO happy to help you with those tomatoes, Debbie!!! LOL
We can arrange that Marylyn. By the way, my pink daylilly from the sale is about to bloom. I'll post you a pic...its still in the pot, of course...lol
Debbie,
Gosh your veggies look awesome!!! I am with you...no processor here!!! I just slice tomatoes and cukes up EVERY DAY as my pregnancy snacks. HAHA! My kid will LOVE THEM, eh? I guess romas grow better as far as not splitting at the top???? I heard splitting was due to too much or too little water at once. We did have some good rains here in SA that added to the watering but basically we have a soaker system on a timer so we could combat this issue. Still getting 50% splitting at tops. And noticed the birds are now poking just 1-2 holes per tomato. Grrr.....
Any bird advice??? I have 2 cats who get free run of the backyard and will stay there as long as I'm out, days they go out less tomatoes get hacked.
The only variety I've had any splitting at all on is Goliath Yellow. I defy all the rules I overhead water, but my mulch is so deep I don't have to water much.
I don't grow any romas...this is the closest thing I've got.
Hard rocks
LOL.
Okay, what about the pesky birds? Scarecrow didn't work. Cats can't watch 24/7. Should I get a bobble head Owl or cat statue??? Or does netting work?
Netting worked for me, but the pesky mockingbirds will find a way under it if not soil bound. Stopped getting the upper ones, but any they can reach from the ground they pecked. Bought more and solved the problem. Then the tomatoes grew through - had to create a canopy. Did not recover the netting untill all vines died.
thanks bubba!
My neighbor uses netting, my plants are spread apart...and definitely not setting fruit as were. But hey, have you been outside today? This is the backside of those hard rocks.
These I keep threatening to yank if I can't see my rangoon creeper...they are in another part of the garden.
Debbie,
So you do not use cages either?
nope....spirals....they were a gift from a very special friend for Christmas. Work great too.
debbie,
the spirals were from a friend but can you tell where to get them. They look expensive? I am using traditional circle cages and they are not very appealing to the eyes. The spirals seem to really support the plant and add interest to the garden.
calvn
Calvin--no, I don't think they were cheap. But I did hear on the answering machine that there was no more additional shipping for 3 sets than 1. Out of the 4 methods used here for trellising, they are holding their own.
He got them from Lee Valley. They make interesting yard art too. lol I'm thinking they will have other uses as well....I'm getting kind of tired of dealing with tomatoes.
Oh Deb!
Don't say that! They are the best part of the whole garden!!! =) We just used metal stakes and tie our tomatoes up on them. The cages require too much room and we were using tips from Elliot Coleman on how to grow more in a space. We have tomato plants on top of tomato plants. LOL. But it's working!
I hate cages too...I have no storage area for them (after all gotta store that hurricane wood for windows down here...) and think they are absolutely ugly to look at in a mixed landscape. Cages functional? Probably. But since when have I ever chose to do something the easy way? lol