Things I've learned this year from gardening

• I bought 3 heads of sprouting garlic at the grocery store last Fall. Half expected them not to grow but all came up. Do you know how many garlic plants that is? Heh. Planted them in rows around my brussels sprouts and cauliflower.

 

In March I noticed the plants closest to the garlic were half the size of their siblings elsewhere. Seems like garlic is a water sucker. I dug them up and moved to other places in the garden. Their roots look like Medusa's head! Two months later my stunted brussels sprouts are taller than the originally tallest plant (which is much farther along in sprout growth tho...). Garlic will be planted in its own bed from now on.

 

• When I moved in the front yard was all acid-loving plants and the back yard was base soil plants. That decided I would plant the gardenias and hibiscus in the front and non-acid plants in the back. I could MirAcid freely in the front and plain Miracle Gro in the back. After last year's drought I've determined to produce as much food as possible this year, and most before June in case the drought and insane heat repeats.
  
  I created a spreadsheet with columns for the veggie name, prefers acid, prefers base, preferred planting date, and amt of water needed per week. I never knew most, I mean MOST, veggies prefer soil on the acidic side! This year I use a lot more MirAcid but my garden is going great guns. Freezer stocked, I eat very well, and love handing bags of veggies to friends and neighbors.

• When 1/2" of rain falls overnight, dump it from the rain gauge instead of getting a "full weekend" reading. I wonder how much over 5" splashed out of here when Sugar Land just south of me got 7.5" overnight and Bellaire just east of me got 6.5" overnight....

Sunday is Funday

5 days til Thanksgiving, today's high was 80°, and rainfall for November is 1/2" over the average. Everything's back to normal! Even with a warm day I can tell it's Fall because this is the only sun the courtyard gets all day. But chair cushions can stay out all day (if it's not raining) with no worry about them fading.

Turkeys are 29¢ a pound with $25 purchase and so much else is on sale I'll make two $25 trips before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the garden is bountiful. The mustard, bok choy, chard and peppers below were sauteed and then piled with garlic on a pizza. Green beans steamed.

Tomorrow starts salad twice a day to keep up. Always with a garlicky Caesar dressing and three-day old bread toasted with herbs as croutons. Left, red tip lettuce, window box is cilantro, Romaine, arugula.


Harvest time for lemon basil. Too much lemon taste for pesto but dried leaves are a tasty addition to tortilla soup and pintos. Didn't plan ahead, tho. The humidity's so high lately the salt is clumped in my shaker and why didn't I think there's no place to dry basil leaves in this climate? (Also note how the weeds are back all over the courtyard with weekly rain. Arrggh)
The ceiling fan is on 24/7 but they're still moist. Wonder if tying the branches with twine and hanging them in my winter coat closet would be aromatic or a disaster..
For the longest I've wanted to make a seafood dish with cubed crab, tomatoes, cukes, mango, and avocado stacked in layers inside a can with the bottom removed so it can be pushed out in place on the plate. If you've noticed, almost all cans have rounded bottoms making it impossible to open the bottom with a can opener. Found the perfect cans for appetizer and entree sized seafood stacks.
One of the biggest lessons a farmer learns is patience. No one rushes Mother Nature. I planted 24 garlic bulbs a month ago. None were sprouting so I didn't expect them to break ground until Dec. One came up within a week and 3 weeks later, still the only one, was 10" tall so I feared they had been treated with a non-sprouter I'd heard commercial growers use. I can fix that. I searched the bin and came up with these three sprouters to plant next to them (not on top of them because Mother Nature bats last and loves little tricks).

On this morning's walkaround I found 11 of the bulbs have now broken ground. I have plenty of room elsewhere (those bell peppers will stop bearing eventually) and one can never have enough garlic.

Like Gardening in Phoenix...

In the last week, 2 of my favorite Texas garden bloggers announced regretfully they were giving up on their veggie gardens... and the second one is a farm!

Harvests hardly justify a water bill quadrupling. Even with mulch, no trees on the west side mean it needs water twice a day and temps hit 104-112 out there daily the last 3 weeks of June. If I'd known this was coming I'd have hung shadecloth from the house to the fence but this year is just an anomaly, right? At least I didn't install gutters and rainbarrels as planned.

Here's why I'm not giving up just yet. With summer cucumbers and green beans turning brown and dying one by one, the collards, mustard greens, chard, bok choy and brussels sprouts from winter are thriving on the west side. I would have bet money nobody could grow those in a Texas summer, much less this one. Brussels never reached harvest size by May but I left four of them to shade the cantaloupes and they keep growing. I could roast a mess of them tonight... if it weren't so hot. Ready to try more "winter" veggies during summer.

When the first cukes died, I started a small garden on the courtyard because, with shadecloth over the concrete area, it only gets direct sun from 10am - 2pm and needs watering once a day.

Left: courtyard Dec 2010 when Houston was still a muggy tropical paradise. After several days in the mid-20s, and 1" of rain since the end of Feb, pulling those 12" tall weeds is no longer a monthly chore.

Lost the palm on the right in an unpredicted hard freeze. Sad because it's the last pup of one I bought the day before our '98 trip to Italy. Never put it in the ground because of freezes.

Below is today, with evidence of Asta's passive-aggressive fight (this was done while I was grocery shopping) over what I see as beets and turnips to the left of the lemon basil, and she sees as her 3pm napping site. In the middle are radishes, green onions, chard. On the right is Genovese basil. The tomatoes in 3 pots full of pure MiracleGro garden soil are outperforming the organic fertilized ones on the west side. All are still producing flowers and 2 nights last week lows were 75 which is the miracle point when they'll set fruit. I'm still babying and watering them and waiting for Fall.

Sunday Update

Lots happening around the homestead this weekend. Sidewalk poured and sod laid over the now cemented solid sinkhole. I water this every evening at 6pm (you can see in this shot my hose doesn't reach to the farthest end. I've hooked a third hose so I can sprinkle their grass as well. It's not high quality grass; a quarter of the squares are more Johnson Grass than St Augustine but at least the city puts it in.

My grandfather Bob Duke did this when the city of Dalhart planted trees along their street back in the 20s. Amidst the neighbors' teasing he watered those trees every evening. Thirty years later my mother pointed out that's why the trunks of their trees were three times the size of all others on the street.

Irises have moved to a Garcia's house. Top 10:30am, bottom 3:30pm

Bed 4 is finally finished. After an HD run for brackets: okra, tomatillos, black beans and Italian green beans. Blank space in Bed 3: I got caught for the first time using 3 yr old black-eyed pea seeds. None came up and my online seed sources don't carry them! On the HD list. White flowers in Bed 2 are arugula sprinkling seeds for next year.

My first tomatillo almost doubles every day and all tomato plants have flowers on them.

Sounded good until I came across my garden May 10, 2004 (below). This was the last year I could garden because the trees on the right blocked all sun. It was cool enough to sit around and drink out there but not so much fun.

Papayas Revisited

Not only do they taste great for a Caribbean breakfast, every papaya seed I've ever planted has grown.

I discovered this at a Garcia BBQ. Luisa asked if I liked papayas and took me out beside their deck. She whacked one off a tree and cut it up! They grow quickly but are weaker than banana trees. 6-month old Asta chewed down a tree taller than I was that had thrived planted on my courtyard since before she was born.

Last April I gave a handful of seeds to Bill McCormick. Here's his papaya field Jan 1, 2008.
It almost doesn't qualify as frugal to plant and water them since they're always on sale for 49 cents a lb. But I'm starting over. I should scatter those fertile seeds on my sidewalks and driveway and see where the birds drop them in my yard. Label that entertainment.

UPDATE Sept 08
With fences and shingles down all over SW Houston:
"while my papaya trees were stripped almost bare of their branches, the fruit hung on.....They were tiny before the storm hit, and I had blooms as well....Seems as if they all laughed at Ike."

Peach

Wednesday Garden Shots

Look at those turnips. Would that the beets were as spunky.

I've felt a bit guilty harvesting the soft outer Romaine leaves thinking I was creating smaller heads. I couldn't figure out how they were ever going to get as crisp as Romaine usually is.

Surprise! Romaine creates a "fruit" in the middle like a cabbage does. We never see the outer leaves at the grocery store so they're all mine.

This is three tomatillo plants holding in a pot until I find space. I have another in another pot. If even half of those buds are fertile I'll have my hands full this summer.

Repair of the sinkhole at the street is finished now which opens up my driveway rosebed. I originally planned okra there since I know my neighbors will never steal okra. Tomatillos are another story but I may may not miss any of them.

Speaking of the sinkhole repair... I've been taking photos all along but yesterday I took photos of the hole where the new pipe was going as the trench had 5' of water in it.

I don't think they liked that because a half hour later the big tractor was swinging this large metal plate to cover it up. All the city crews I've dealt with during this mess for the last 8 months have been industrious and always working. Not a slacker in the bunch.

Glad he missed my palm... and look how that raintree I just had pruned away has come back. Guess I'll be clipping a bunch of green compost tomorrow morning.

Peas and Beans

This year's first sweet pea and green bean

Look at that cellulose! (click on photos for larger sizes)

Time Magazine has a fascinating food photo gallery from the book HUNGRY PLANET What the World Eats. Photos of families around the world posed with all the food they eat in one week and how much they pay for it in their own currency and converted to US dollars. Surprising to see how many purchase boxes of prepared food!

Turnips and Greens

Free food tonight: turnips and greens and Spring salad with croutons. Balance had to be purchased: feta, Kalamata olives, balsamic, olive oil, and a big fat grilled hamburger steak from ground sirloin tip. This puts me in a bind as this is the last of the ground meat and tomorrow is Alison's Hamburger Friday. I'll have to go to the grocery store before duplicating whatever she presents.
Preview of Friday Garden Shots. I've finally moved all the extra dirt from Bed 1 - one shovel at a time. I'm not real efficient but have a roaring metabolism by now. It will be tidier tomorrow but I'm beat. Should be driving to Home Depot for another trellis and misc needs but not. Far back are green beans (soon to have a trellis) and sweet peas next to them. Irises will be moved because I have 5 more tomatoes to transplant. At sunrise Bed 1 will be filled with eggplants, pintos, bush green beans, (maybe) cucumber transplants and seeds for canteloupe, zucchinni, yellow squash, and a bunch of carrots.
Well, I just noticed another trellis as part of my courtyard incubator. Seeds don't need protection now and I really don't have to go to HD tonight. Can take it down while the turnips are cooking.

Friday Garden Shots

Bed 1 Apr 12
Too much dirt - being shoveled to beds along fences. Russet potatoes growing in the birdseed containers.
That's a wisteria sprout in the middle. I've cut its roots back every other month for 4 years so I've decided to let it be a small tree.
Dionisio left it intact when he churned the bed for me last week and that was the decider. If the god-of-the-garden let it be it is meant to be.


Bed 2 Apr 18

Bed 3 Apr 18

Courtyard incubator space Apr 12
okra, pintos, black beans, eggplant, green beans, canteloupe, bell peppers, poblanos
...and salad bowls for the tribe only.

Green bin on the right side is my favorite composter, the EnviroCycle rotating bin. Footsteps from the kitchen, easy to rotate, and when it's ready, just roll it out to the garden. Has slits on the bottom that allow drainage into its stand. Add water and it's compost tea!

Rusty Mimosa Apr 4

Our suburban homestead had the most beautiful mimosa tree in the front yard. Its flowers were an unusual bright coral color and for years people stopped to ask what we fed it that caused the vibrant color. The answer was nothing at all. I came across an internet site with a photo and Latin name of the exact strain of this Chinese tree. The name is lost in some corner of my harddrive so I may have to start all over. Rusty, my inimitable father, eventually cut it down when an oak sapling proved it was going to survive in that general area but every three years it came back.

I gathered a lot of seeds a few years ago. They need to spend 5 months in the refrigerator so they think it's Winter and then an edge is chipped with a sharp knife and they're planted. Most usually sprouted but I'd get busy and forget them and none got taller than a foot before withering and dying. Last Fall I found I had a dozen seeds left. I put 4 or 5 in a baggie in the fridge and planted them in March. One came up and here it is a month later. Let's hope I'm neither too busy to watch or overwater this guy.

Friday Garden Shots

First two photos are Bed 2. Next two photos are Bed 3
left: March 28, right: April 4






First iris bloomed today. These are from a patch planted in the French Quarter over 95 years ago.

Great Caesar's Ghost!

Two salad bowls full of Romaine. Time to plant more because I hate for all this stuff to leave. Tomato seedlings to the left, dill to fight potato bugs to the right.

Actually have 3 bowls of it including this one. I didn't realize until planting this packet included Romaine, iceberg, arugula, and a couple of soft lettuces. I was horrified at first but it's pretty with onions interplanted and I plan a whole bed of it for the Fall plantings.

Company's Comin'

Everything's tidied up for the outta-towners tomorrow even if I haven't moved compost to the tomato and green bean beds yet.

Bed 2 is thriving: endive and radishes, arugula, chard, and beets in the background. Courtyard seed trays are bursting with beans, eggplant, okra, and pepper seedlings and 3 bowls stuffed with Romaine.

Bed 3: spinach, turnips, and sweet peas and snow peas in the back row. Just after this shot, I planted more turnip seeds in all empty blocks.

Here's my dirty little secret: the far back Bed 4 is my cornfield and bean plot. This weekend I'll clear the table and pots from the top so I can dig out the St Augustine that's taken over. Then re-assemble all boards to form the sides.