A Bountiful Day

A small harvest of fresh veggies for the kitchen uncovered some large and very beautiful veggies. Evening egg collection surprised us when we found that every chicken had laid! We would like to thank (in no particular order) Pia, Lacey, Uno, Lucy, Cinnamon, Solo, and Maybelline.

A giant carrot hangs out with me

A glowing beet relaxes in the garden

Red beet, orange carrot, white beet

An egg for every chicken

Itching for Spring - An Experiment to Establish Tomato Plants Early

We have been experiencing temperatures at least 10 degrees above average for the last week, with at least one record high temperature set. This warm spring-like weather has been encouraging buds to swell on perennial plants around the yard, including the primrose jasmine weeping over our path to burst into bright yellow.

With the mild temperatures, I felt like I should be getting the summer vegetable plants planted in the ground. I know that we can still experience freezing temperatures for several more weeks, but with global warming causing deviations from historical weather patterns and more plants in the greenhouse than we can ever find space for in the garden, we decided to experiment.

A friend described a planting technique that she had recently seen at a local nursery, so we decided to give it a try with our tomatoes.

This year we decided to create a more organized support system for our tomato plants. Last year - our first garden attempt - we decided to mostly let our plants do their thing and see what happened. The indeterminate, sprawling tomato plants did create a nice ground cover for the garden, but also sprawled across our pathways. Especially in the fall and with the heirlooms, we noticed that the plants spent more time and energy on their exponential growth and less on ripening fruit and it was a scavenger hunt to locate the fruit that was on the plants.

Therefore, we are using a staking system of two stakes at either end of 3-4 plants with a double-thickness of garden twine wrapped around the stakes at sequential heights as the plants grow to provide support and keep the plants growing vertically. Utilizing trunk segments removed from yaupon holly encroaching on the street in front of the house, we buried support posts. Between the posts we strung the first level of twine to guide the placement of the tomato plants. We utilized the posts to separate tomato plant varieties, planting 3 Sun Gold and 4 Brandywine Pink, spaced about 18" on center.

4 posts create 3 planting runs

Now comes the experimental part. For each plant, we dug a deep hole. The plant was centered in the hole  below the twine, with the top of the vegetation still about 4 inches below the existing soil level. Then the hole was back-filled with soil freshly amended with compost just to the level of the existing root ball. Then we pinched off the cotyledons and wrapped the stem with foil to protect against cut worms. We cut the bottom off a black plastic nursery pot and centered it around the plant. When placed, the pot stuck several inches above grade. The soil was then moved into place around the pot.

Plant centered under the twine

Plant placed deeper than existing grade

 We hope that the black pot will protect the plant from cold winds and absorb the sun's heat to help plant growth. Additionally, the soil should help insulate the plant during cooler weather. Once the plant grows above grade, the pot will be removed, any low branches pinched off, and the soil back-filled into the hole to promote more root development for the plant! Remember, all those little hairs on tomato plants are potential roots. Building off suggestions from a book that gives tips on devices for maximizing solar impact, I created homemade cloches/ mini-greenhouses for half the plants as an experiment. I cut the bottoms off of gallon milk jugs and put them over every-other pot/tomato plant. The jug caps can be put on at night if it is cold to lock in more heat. Additionally the milk jug is a protective frame over which insulating material can be piled if the temperature drops. The first level of twine of the tomato staking system put in place to guide planting placement is also the perfect height to hold the milk jugs in place! 

Milk jugs placed over pots, held in place by twine

The Tale of Two Rhizomes

Ginger: This spicy flavoring is essential in a lot of our meals. Although we don't live in the optimal growing range because of winter freezing, we are still going to try it out! I bought organic ginger and cut it into 5 pieces, each with several sprouting tips. Conventionally grown ginger is often treated to prohibit sprouting. Soaking the rhizome overnight supposedly helps overcome this effect. We planted three pieces in a pot that can easily be protected from cold weather by bringing it inside. Two pieces were planted into the garden, about 2" deep in an area that will be sheltered from the harsh afternoon shade. We'll see what happens...

Ginger cut into 5 pieces

Each piece has several growing points, as seen in the center of this photo

Sunchoke (aka Jerusalem Artichoke): We started 3 rhizomes last January - 2 bought at the grocery store and 1 from a plant nursery. They all did great with no noticeable differences. They grew multiple 8' tall stalks with repeat blooms of sunflowers at the tops. The tall vegetation died back in the fall. After a few freezes had come through the area, we began harvesting the sweetened rhizomes. We tried them sliced raw in salads and pureed into a soup, but our favorite has been to roast them with a variety of other vegetables. With the weather warming, we knew that we should harvest anything remaining before it starts sprouting. We found buried treasure! We dug up as much as we had harvested already throughout the winter. Unfortunately, as they store best in the soil, we'll have to eat these pretty quickly. Tonight we're going to substitute them for water chestnuts in our stir-fry!

Scrubbed sunchokes reveal their golden beauty

The Sweetness of Winter

We sampled some of our fall seeded carrots and enjoyed the wonderful sweetness enhanced by the cold winter weather. Many crops survive the winter by building their stores of sugar, which feed the plant during low-light days and freezing nights. Sugars also prevent the plants from freezing as sugar water has a lower freezing point than pure water. We enjoy taking advantage of the work of nature! 

Paris Market carrots, Albino beets, and Danvers Half Long carrots brighten a winter day

Gardening in the Winter

The winter garden here in Texas is a constant mix of nothing to do and lots to do. During the cool days growth is slow and it is inopportune to start new seeds. However, it is the perfect time to undertake infrastructure improvement tasks. Imagine digging without breaking a sweat the moment you pick up the shovel! Our to-do list currently includes installing a drip irrigation system, refreshing the bedding in the chicken coop, removing the bermuda grass from the wildflower meadow, finishing the rain garden, and enhancing the fencing around the beds - especially where bordered by the chicken yard. We are excited to have renovated the large slope on the side yard. A 4' wide mulch path follows the gentlest slopes, integrating with the existing stone retained planting beds and defining new planting areas. A deep mulching to kill the bermuda grass and enrich the soil is in place in these new areas, consisting of a layer of moistened cardboard, debris from the compost pile, and compost on top. This is all covered by a dark tarp in hopes of smothering the horrendous bermuda grass. This project removes unsustainable lawn, reinvigorates an area plagued by erosion by slowing and infiltrating more rainwater, and provides new places for native plantings! We have discovered what a pleasant spot this is, with the elevation change allowing for a nice view.

 I know we are fortunate that unlike our northern neighbors we do not have much, if any, time during the year in which nothing will grow. We've had multiplying onions, lettuce, dill, and cilantro all winter since we got them established before the cooler weather. Similarly we can dig up as needed the sunchoke that grew during the warm months. However during the cool, cloudy weather things grow pretty slowly. I started some radish and spinach seeds on the 11th that sprouted well but then were plagued by flea beetles. I was hoping the unusually cool weather in the last weeks would keep the bugs at bay and that the typically fast-growing radishes would be able to out-grow the bug attacks. We have been spraying the plants with water steeped with blended hot peppers and then strained. It's seemed to help but not solve the problem. Vegetables effected by the beetles are the radish, kale, spinach, and mustard greens - all the brassicas.

After attending an informative class this last weekend led by a farmer highly observant of natural systems, I have some great new ideas to try out. I am dividing our multiplying onions. They have been rocking it all winter. I hope we'll have more for the kitchen and for saving for next year's planting. I divided the onions into their smallest units, stripping off some outer leaves to accomplish it. I trimmed the tops (to reduce moisture loss and compensate for root loss). I also trimmed some of the longer roots so that they could be replanted more cleanly - with fewer bent roots. The largest bulbs and the trimmed tops were kept for the kitchen. Following what I observed this weekend, I am experimenting with planting transplants (versus seeds in shallow troughs to consolidate water for germination) on short raised rows across the width of the beds (instead of down the entire length) to allow for troughs in-between which will catch water and promote a larger root system by enticing the roots out to the troughs.

Other things happening in the garden: Beet and swiss chard seedlings are germinating really well! Carrots are starting to come up too.

Carrots, radish, spinach, beet and swiss chard seedlings with the greenhouse in the background

 Our summer garden seed trays have been benefiting from the warm weather as well as the heavy plastic greenhouse we put up in a large mulch path space in the garden. The greenhouse elevates the temperatures with a diffuse light which has supported the sprouting of many eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, etc. When we had the trays in the full sun on the deck, the harsh difference between the fluorescent lights inside and the full sun burned the leaves of the tender young sprouts. Under our new system, summer and winter squash seedlings have already been moved up to bigger pots, as well as some tomato plants which I wanted to divide before the roots got too intertwined. Last year we thought we would be able to tell plants apart and didn't carefully label pots and quickly learned our error. This year, I made minimalist tags from an empty clear plastic seltzer water bottle that would have gone in the recycle bin, but instead was upcycled! The native plant seeds are starting to germinate. I broke dormancy on the seeds with the hard seed coats by immersing them in water brought up to boiling 1-2 times depending on if the seeds were swelling or not from water intake. We've got some flowering senna, butterfly weed, acacia, and more on their way!

Learning the Ways of the Bees

Nature is fascinating - the way every element developed just so to keep everything functioning so perfectly. Last weekend we began learning more about the bee and can't wait to see where this journey leads us! (maybe to some honey:))

 

Sunshine for the Sunshine Lover's Soul

Even though rain is always a welcome occurrence here, there is nothing so lifting for the spirit as the return of the bright sunshine in beautiful blue skies. Today the sunshine brought an added bonus to cheer the heart! Our seed trays had been looking as desolate as the outside landscape with their bare soil sitting for hours inside the house under fluorescent lamps during the cool, rainy weather. With the return of the sunshine and mid-60 temps, the trays were whisked outside to the rejuvenating sunshine and lively breezes. I noticed that the trays needed some water. Watering meant focusing my attention briefly on each cell of each tray. And then I began to notice them - the first sprouts of the warm weather garden! New baby tomatoes, tomatillos, basil, eggplant, nanking cherry, and strawberry spinach have begun to awake! 

Come on squash and peppers - What are you waiting for?!