Starting your plants from seed or rooting and making them thrive

I love doing this starting my little plants from seeds and have played with a lot of ways to do it and have had multiple chances to see how it is done on a much larger scale at the Johnson backyard garden. Soil and moisture are two of the most important factors in the process after the quality of the seeds. Then the amount of effort to keep them going and not damp off before the get big enough to transplant is another big issue. Seeds should be kept dry and cool for best chance at germination. Ideal germination temperatures are different depending on the plant: germination chart  This site endorses pre-sprouting but has a great chart on the #of days to germinate at which temperatures: pre-sprouting and temps .
My best method to date involves a bit of combining of methods.

1. I use an unfertilized seeding soil well moistened for all seeds but I use a big enough container to put good lightly fertilized potting soil in the wells first and dampen well. I then put in about 1/2-3/4" of the well moistened seed soil and pat it down. 
2. For littler seeds I scratch the surface and drop on 1-2 seeds per sector. For larger ones I add enough seeding soil to cover the seed the required amount--the depth of 1 seed. 
3. I water the whole tray when done seeding and set on a tray to catch the moisture and cover with bubble wrap or in a plastic bag or under a clear dome and set in a warm enough place to germinate the seed. 
4. I watch the flats and wait for the seed to pop out a leaf. I do not water from the top as a general rule. Soaking from the bottom works better and makes for stronger longer roots. 
5. I generally use a misting of fish oil in water on the seedlings weekly as they grow and most of them get blown on to strengthen their stems. You can use a small fan as well. You can also use weak compost tea.
6. Once they are up and have at least a set of leaves I move them to the greenhouse most of the year. It is lightly shaded part of the day and gives them better air circulation but does increase their water consumption.
7. I try to get plants up to several leaves before they go to the garden. I lose fewer this way and have room to grow them and up-pot them when needed. 

Growing herbs and tomatoes from rooting a cutting takes a bit of planing and has been hit and miss for me this year. Most herbs do well if you pinch off a length of a growing tip and drop the stem in either wet sand or just water and wait for roots to appear. Once they have roots move to wet potting soil and decrease watering to bottom only. Tomatoes can be rooted by breaking off suckers from the plant and dropping them into a cup of water. I take a piece about 6" long and strip off the leaves at the bottom if there are any. I use rainwater or purified water for this.  In a couple of weeks the roots will be big enough to transplant into a pot then the garden. Sweet potatoes can be done this way as well. 

Springing into the harvest of more than greens

We are also beginning to harvest some of the onions we planted. They are drying out a bit faster now that I have removed some of the mulch--not such a good thing. I put the first harvest in to ferment--1/2 gallon of the white/yellow onions. I will probably ferment these small red coach onions as well.  Lots of the larger ones will go into the onion safe that George built for us last year. The yellow onions are getting big--3" or more in diameter and some of the red ones are picking up a better size as I baby them. Some of the garlic is also getting dry but not as big as I hoped for. We have been using the garlic greens for a long time to flavor dressing for salad and butter. These have just been ones I planted to deter bugs over the winter that have been a real treat and bonus crop.Now there are a few squash plants that came up from seed in the compost that I am looking fondly upon. I think one of them is a cantaloupe so am holding off planting more until I can tell. Also have picked the first eggplant in spite of the cooler than normal weather. I think my big cloches helped a lot!

Our garden has been good to us this year and I should not complain as I planted all the greens but sometimes you just want to eat something else. that said, we have had beets and carrots too but a lot of greens for a long time. We had a decent crop of broccoli and a few cauliflower along the way too.This is the 2nd year I have planted Contender Gr. beans and they are fantastic tasting, fast to fruit and produce prolifically--8-10 beans on each plant ripening at once!  

Garden tour recap

There were some fantastic things to see on the tour this year.Take a look at pictures of the tour from start to finish on the WBNA page: 2014 Garden tour 
Loved Rachel LeBansky's yard and am looking forward to a start of the colored yarrow, the trailing rosemary at Barbara Romero's was so interesting all trained over a wrought iron piece and the Victoria salvia a real hit as was her stacked wall around her patio; George Holcombe got to show off his new sweet potato starts and the irrigation system that runs off his rain barrel. Yvette Shelton showed off the plants that are thriving in the shade at home and her 2 gardens at the community gardens, chandra Patel even demonstrated the irrigation system for us and showed how it was laid out--the plants are thriving too. I got to explain those hugelkulture beds and brag on their water retention then we looked at the cinderblock bed with planted squares and the onions. Thanks to Yvette for explaining how to grow great ones. At the school garden we got an up close look at how the hoop houses were constructed and the new tank beds and how both conserve water. Last stop was the community gardens with Heather Johnson , Dianne Koehler, and Yvette Shelton showing us around the beds. Heather and Dianne (me) lead classes during the school year and add considerable expertise in gardening to the program. 

Garden tour in WB

We have 8 gardens on our tour this year. Thanks to all who are sharing their yards with us. Invite anyone who is interested to join us. We will meet in front of the Rec center 3000 Shoreline dr. Each site will have a sign and maps will be available the day of the tour.
Schedule for Saturday's Garden tour:

Meet at Rec center 9:00am
9:15 shady garden—Yvette Shelton 2111 Fuzz Fairway
9:35 veggies &fruit trees, drip irrigation setup — Pravin"chandra” Patel 2409 Rick Whinery
9:55 General garden—Barbara Romero 2440 Rick Whinery -
10:20 xeriscaping —George Holcombe 14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
10:40 water wise, mostly perennials, butterfly attracting flowers—Rachel LaBanski 14904 Yellowleaf Trl.
11:05 Hugelkulture beds and alternative raised vegetable beds—Dianne Koehler 14909 Alpha Collier
11:30 Hoop houses, tank beds, greenhouse, kids gardens—WB Elementary gardens enter off Town Hill in back
11:55 Community gardens —Heather Johnson
garden tour map

Easy to grow and drought tolerant plants for Austin TX

One would think that most plants would be easy to grow here. We rarely get freezing weather, we have decent soil, we used to get an adequate amount of rain especially in the winter. Now and for the for forseeable future it looks like we are going to be in a drought. 

What makes plants easy to grow? Is it that the seeds come up easily? Is it that the plants thrive once they are up and produce? Is it that they do not require a lot of tending? A lot depends on the gardener in this case. 

One of the things that makes plants easier to grow takes a little work up front. Especially during times of drought and heat it is essential that the garden have adequate mulch around the plants. This serves to keep their roots cooler and to retain moisture in the soil. It is also beneficial to establish a soaking program for the plants so that they develop deeper roots and are less

dependent on frequent watering. Some plants however do not have deep roots systems, it is not their culture. This includes peas and beans and many of the cole crops like broccoli and cauliflower.  Many leafy plants can be grown in the heat of the summer like lettuces if they are grown in a much shadier location where they only get 2 to 3 hours of sunshine per day. Plants that have smaller leaves also tolerate drought better as do plants that have fleshier leaves or hard stems. You may want to choose plants with shorter days to harvest in the spring to assure a better chance of picking before it gets hot>> VegetableVarietiesTravisCounty   It is a good plan to place the plants with the same water requirements in the same areas of the garden. If you put your plants in pots, you may want to avoid clay pots that are not glazed in favor of the glazed and plastic pots. Darker colored plastic pots may overheat service of your plants in the summer causing them to die. Best to use lighter colored or to cover the outside of the pot with a wrap to not cook the roots.

When you consider what plants to grow in a vegetable garden for spring and summer most years we need to plant plants that we can harvest the fruits before July. The easiest plants that can be planted very early in the spring February through April are of course the lettuces, some greens like kale, peas, root crops like beets, radishes, spring onions, and carrots, and several types of beans. We are still able to transplant broccoli through mid-March but it frequently will draw diseases to the garden.

 There are several seed suppliers that specialize in plants that seem to do better in Texas and the Southwest where it is drier and hotter. A number of vegetable plants do well until it gets into the 100s in July and August like tomatoes, Peppers, and eggplant. These can be grown from seed on a windowsill and then transplanted into your garden when the soil is warm enough in late March through early May. Black-eyed peas or cow peas thrive in  the heat as does okra and malabar spinach. And sweet potatoes are very easy to grow the summer both for greens and tubers if you can keep them irrigated over the summer. Swiss chard will grow for several years at a time and does not mind a bit of shade.

Landscape plants for the garden should be selected from the list of Texas natives when at all possible. Most of these are perennials and unfortunately during their first year Will require much more water and in subsequent years. Gardeners get the idea that they want A blooming English garden but our climate just doesn't support those kinds of plants very well. It is possible even in a drought tolerant Garden to have blooms from spring through late fall if you pick the right plants and put plenty of mulch around them. They are finding that plants from the nursery that are grown and squarish containers transplant better because their roots don't get all wound around and will spread out better in the garden. 

links:

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/veg_variety/select.php   Recommended Vegetable Varieties for Travis County

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/  Fruit and Nut Fact Sheets

http://horttest.tamu.edu/travis/files/2012/11/VegetableVarietiesTravisCounty2013.pdf  Vegetable Varieties for Central Texas—Great list

http://www.attainable-sustainable.net/growing-food-drought/  

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

http://www.rareseeds.com/search/?F_Keyword=drought  Seed source

http://www.southernexposure.com/blog/2012/02/what-to-grow-through-very-hot-summers/   seed source

http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomatoes-for-hot-dry-climates.html  seed source

http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/vegetablesaz.html#gsc.tab=0  has lots of hot weather seeds—got my summer lettuce here

https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Watershed/growgreen/plantguide.pdf

http://austinnativelandscaping.com/xeriscape-texas-native-plants-for-drought-toleran-landscaping-in-austin-texas/  nice list of plants with interactive features

http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=centex_drought

http://valleycresttakeson.com/watermanagement/resources/top-5-drought-tolerant-plant-resources/

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/organic/files/2011/03/E-512_mulching.pdf  great discussion on types

http://alternative-energy-gardning.blogspot.com/2013/05/shade-tolerant-vegetables.html  shade tolerant veggies


http://www.ivillage.com/best-plants-attract-butterflies-your-garden/7-a-535056?ivNPA=1&sky=stu%7Civl%7Chh%7Cbutterflies%7C%2F  plants to attract butterflies

Harvesting sweet potatoes, kohl rabi and more

Last  spring some of the sweet potatoes I had purchased near Thanksgiving and began to sprout.I investigated how to produce sweet potato slips from them and successfully came up with about 12 slips. Digging into the bed behind my shed and readying it for the slips was the easiest part. Not much grows in the summer heat and I was pretty busy with camp anyway. The vines got really rangy and in August I snipped some and shoved them into a pot just for greens. I should have used a bigger pot as when I pulled the soil out it was full of little fingerling potatoes.Last

With a frost predicted this week I began harvesting my sweet potatoes. I decided to use my weed weasel in hopes that I would not damage the potatoes. Great choice! The harvest was not bad, about 3 gallon jugs but I probably would have had more if I had known to cut my vines and either harvest the leaves or just have more individual plants. As it is I put up three bags of leaves for creaming and probably will have another two or three bags this week as I complete the harvest.

Some of the kohl rabi from last year didn't make any  rabes or bulbs but because the leaves are so tasty I left six or seven of them in the garden. After all of the heavy rains during the last month, imagine my surprise that they're making rabes or bulbs. With the cold weather I have pulled the last of the okra plants and am still harvesting A handful of green beans that survived the bugs. It is still nice to have a variety of fresh vegetables right from the yard. We still have several eggplant in the garden that are full of blooms and baby eggplants as well as green peppers that probably will need to be covered with plastic to survive these cool fronts.

Tomato experiment this year

I am working on a new watering scheme for the tomatoes this year. First I got seeds from the Sustainable food center that are recommended for our area (I did check the A&M list too) and started Early Girl, Brandywine, San Marzano, and Supersweet 100s for this year. I also started a Thai pink egg that did well last year and a black cherry that did well for others. I also got 2 Jaune Flammee from the SJC.

Transplanting was tricky with the weather but they got up potted several times and went into the ground in mid-March. I set gallon milk jugs near each one inverted so I can give them a gallon of water without directing it to the surrounding soil. Calculations are that the plants need 2-4 gallons/week depending on the heat. This also is allowing for direct application of fertilizer without hitting the leaves.

On the advise of many tomato growers, I am nipping all the suckers this year. God they sprout fast and often. I have rooted several and thrown a lot of them away. Pinching them off below bloom level sounds like a great idea in theory--in practice it takes a lot of vigilance but the plants are full of blooms and fruit at this point about 7 weeks after transplant. I did cage all of them so they may not get as much air as they might if I only staked them. We will see. Although we have had a very cool spring it looks like things will heat up soon so now every plant will need some mulch around the jugs.

Gardener's TO-Do list for October

From Organic Living

Our zone-by-zone list will keep you busy this month.

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• 

Zone 8

• Plant more lettuce, Chinese cabbage, spinach, carrots, beets, peas, radishes, onions, turnips, garlic, shallots, and cress.
• Set out strawberry plants.
• Sow a cover crop of winter rye (Secale cereale), purple vetch (Vicia benghalensis), Austrian winter peas (Pisum arvense), or ‘Elbon' rye (Secale cereale ‘Elbon') in vacant beds.
• Use rye clippings to add nitrogen to compost, speeding the breakdown of fall leaves.
• In flowerbeds, plant anemones, oxalis, and ranunculus for spring bloom.
• Also, seed annual candytuft (Iberis umbellata) in bare spots of flowerbeds for spring bloom.
• Broadcast wildflower seeds to establish a meadow.
• Plant trees and shrubs: Warm fall temps will help them get established before winter.

For more zones or to look at other articles: organicgardening.com

Tim Pfluger to discuss planting the fall garden and soil amendments 9/15

If you don't think you have a Green Thumb, this is the meeting for you.

Tim Pfluger of Green and Growing will teach us about how to plant the Fall/Winter Garden, including proper soils, compost, fertilizers and amendments for growing vegetables, flowers and other plants during the Garden Guild Meeting Saturday, Sept. 15.  11:00 AM at the Recreation Center on 3000 Shoreline.  

This is the most important basic knowledge for growing plants.  Come get your questions answered.

Also (Extra, Extra), new feature of the Garden Guild, come at 10:30 AM (before the meeting) with plants/seeds to share or food to share a bit of a chat before the meeting. "

Creating an herb garden to accent the yard

 We have been talking for a year about doing some kind of plantings around the oak tree at the corner of our front yard but have spent way more time on the other beds. I did put stones around the tree and put down weed cloth topped with grass clippings and some weedy grasses. Last weekend we finally put down a load of compost/mulch and got it spread out. Suddenly it was plain that if I grouped all the herbs there that they would help water the tree and get a bit of protection from the blazing sun and heat we started getting this week. 

I wound up moving the plant stand too so it would be closer and open up the path area to the chairs a bit more. This may be our permanent grouping or we may move things around a bit more. I'd like to pot a couple of the coleus to get a bit more color in the area but need to monitor the sun a bit more yet for that.  I am getting lots of comments from people walking by on the garden and the mix of flowers and vegetables. The bamboo teepee is attracting a bit of attention now that the malabar spinach is climbing well.

WB Garden Tour 2012 gives peek behind the fences

What an absolutely fabulous time we had looking at other people's gardens. We started at the community gardens that has around 80 plots and they have creatively used every inch of space there to grow a great variety of vegetables and flowers. We toured about a dozen sites in all ranging from full sun to deep shade and our gardeners found ways to create a restful oa sis and beauty in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Wish I had taken more pictures but I was too busy looking.
Many people added fences, birdbaths, critters, and all kinds of items to the gardens to create more interesting areas. Every kind of path was in use from crushed stone to mulch to pavers and grass paths. Most had punches of color and all shades of green. One of our gardeners has an intensive square foot garden that is amazingly full. Benches and chairs were everywhere so the gardeners could stop and relax to enjoy the areas they created.  I want to go back for a 2nd look as I am sure I missed as much as I saw.

WB Garden Tour 5/19/2012

The Wells Branch Garden Guild invites the community (and your friends) to join in a tour of gardens in the area. The garden tour will begin at the Wells Branch Community Gardens around 9 am. We will spend 20-30 minutes at each garden on the tour and finish up at the WB Homestead in the park to see the results of our plantings in April and maybe sit in the shade a bit and discuss the gardens. The gardens include vegetable and flower, shade and sun, drought treatments, community and demonstration gardens.

• A.       9 am WB Community Gardens at Town Hill and Single Trace
• B.       9:35 Don Harrell - 14533 Donald Drive
• C.       9:50 Eleanor Brooks - 14535 Donald Drive
• D.      10:10 Heather Johnson--15209 Mallard Green Lane
• E.       10:35  Laurie Childers--2436 Rick Whinery
• F.        11 am Dianne Koehler--14909 Alpha Collier Dr
• G.      11:25 Rachel Lebansky--14904 Yellowleaf Trail
• H.      11:50  Steve  Weikal- Karen Nunely--2333 Klattenhoff Drive
• I.         12:15  Wells Branch Homestead 2106 Klattenhoff Drive

Garden tour map

Our garden is a destination

Twice in the last week people actually came by to show off my garden--people we  did not know! My husband was working out in the garage when a man and his son came into the yard. The man was pointing out the different types of vegetable to his small son--that is a cabbage, that is carrots, etc. Quite interesting to observe. The second time a woman brought her mother by in the car to see that the garden was in the front yard. We are managing to share more growing information than we otherwise could. Every day someone walking by stops to comment on the plantings. I have the tomatoes out now and am ready to start taking cabbages in. Most of the kohl rabi are already pulled but there are quite a few yet to bring in.

There is also a fair bit of interest in the rain barrels and how to build them and use them. So much fun!

Spring bringing change to the gardens

 The winter garden this year was amazingly productive but as I pull out the cauliflower and broccoli plants I have all kinds of spring summer plants ready to slip into the ground. Using the window grow box and the greenhouse to grow my transplants has helped me to provide plants for the garden that I know were grown the way I want them grown. I kind of jumped the season a bit by planting tomatoes on Christmas day but when they were transplanted in the  last couple of weeks they

were ready. Some had buds on them and many now are blooming. A few even have tomatoes on them already. We refinished a bench glider and put it on a platform against the house looking out on the gardens. We can sit morning and late afternoon and have a drink and rest looking out at our bounty. More than that, people who are walking by stop and ask questions about the garden and the plants and are amazed that the plants are largely vegetables with a smattering of flowers here and there.

I thought by now I would be taking the sides off the greenhouse and replacing the plastic with row cover cloth but the extra humidity has the peppers going crazy and setting lots of fruit so I am holding off a few more weeks. I found a variety of cucumbers that do not need pollinators to grow in the greenhouse and have a nice showing already.
Off to do more planting as there are still a few feet of unplanted soil that I can drop seeds into.

Home-made heat mat for seedlings

I got a link for a homemade light box to start seedlings in my http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/11658/diy-heat-mat-speeds-seed-starting email this week but it used expensive rope lighting that I did not have on hand and many of our local stores did not have in stock due to clearance sales. I also was not sure I wanted to construct a box of plywood right now as we are redoing the kitchen and that takes priority. I did have a heavy cardboard box the right size and several strings of mini-lights that are not LED  to make a try. 

1. After cutting the box to size for half my windowsill  I added a 3" wide box in the center for stability and possibly to set transitional plant on top of. 
2. Next the lights were divided between the 2 halves and mostly  positioned under the lids of egg cartons. This give a good surface to set the plant trays and keeps the light a bit subdued. 
3. Next I secured enough plastic to make a cover and added a couple of pieces of styrofoam to insulate near the window. The plastic keeps in the heat and humidity pretty well. 
4. I added a tray of seed for the first trial. The temperature at top of soil level is an even 70 degrees which is perfect for the tomatoes. We used the top of the  freezer last year but some of the seeds need light to germinate or shortly after and the hotter and cooler cycles probably weren't the optimal either.

I  made my own starter cups using a clear XL egg carton with its top as the drip tray. Of course I did use the organic seed starting soil I have used in the past. Next week we'll see how things are actually progressing.

Growing the monster red/purple cabbage in Texas

This has been one of the most interesting vegetables to grow in the garden.When I was a teen we grew Brussels Sprouts and they really got our attention although I do not remember them doing really well. I put the cabbages into the front yard garden and used the square foot garden spacing--a foot apart but they have been WAY TOO close!
They spread out so that two feet on centers would have been close enough! They have attracted a lot of attention though as my neighbors walk by and monitor their progress. The weather this year has gotten far too hot for them but I have managed to bring all four of them to a harvest-able size. Never did I expect them to get this large!  The inner head is not so big, maybe a pound or so but each leaf junction is making tiny heads too so I'll keep babying them along as long as possible to get those to grow too.
We made stuffed cabbage rolls with the first leaves and will have more in a few days. The chard growing around the border of the cabbage is thriving too and giving us many meals.

Spring gardening in the perennial beds

This has been a really interesting experiment combining the flower and vegetable beds but I am sold on it! Not only is it a better use of the space but it has all the walkers that come down my street keeping tabs on the progress. Although I do intensive planting in the back yard, in the front I am allowing more space as I am trying to establish perennials. I am also trying not to purchase too many plants but grow them from seed or cuttings and so far, so good on most things. The cabbage is way too close as the plants got much bigger than I expected-1 ft spacing with plants around them is WAY too close but they are self mulching this way and will soon be harvested. The variegated chard is a color punch next to the greens in the beds. The calediums and coleus are both giving nice color to the shady areas and are good next to the hostas.  Some of the begonias have red leaves too which is a pretty punch of color in the shade. I added the red leafed lettuce there too for show and for our table.


We planted some of the wildflowers in the bed under the tree but they get a bit too much shade so when they are done blooming they are moving to the sunny bed. I already moved a plumbago clumping to the sunny bed and added a few marigolds that self-seeded alternating with parsley along the border.  The geraniums wintered pretty well and are showing off nicely in the middle of the sunny bed. George is able to see the zinnias and sunflowers from his office window now that they are tall enough. The blue salvia is doing so much better than the white one that we are a little over on the blue plants. 


We are using natural colored mulch and have put in 20 bags so far. I think 5 or 6 more bags will do the trick. I am sure the garden guys at the big box just smile each time I leave with another 6 bags of the stuff. The mulch we used before was soil colored and too hard to identify when I needed to cultivate. We did add massive amounts of compost and organic garden soil to the beds this year and I am delighted we did that. Plants really are growing well in the mix. The organic soil is reputed to have too much nitrogen and the compost too little so the mix must be just right. 

Busy revising the plantings and transplanting

Expanding front perennial bed

Anyone who comes down our street has noticed our ever expanding shade garden of mostly perennials and seems to be waiting to see when it will reach the sidewalk. I am adding equal parts of peat moss and vermiculite over a weed barrier then adding composted soil on top. It seems to be working well. Finally the top is a layer of shredded cypress.

ruellia & salvia

 I was able to find 2 low mounding perennials that seeded well and transplanted gold dust alyssum and rock Soapwort today as they all have their 2nd leaves. I put them into groupings of 6-8 plants figuring some will make it. They take the shade and will only get about 6" tall and are supposed to spread. I also added liriope interspersed in each new area to hold the soil and provide interest until I can replace some of them with another planting. The blue and white salvia are blooming like crazy and I think all of the plumbago  are going to finally grow. I even found one of the 

mums & asters

ornamental peppers that came up from seed in the beds. The ruellia are blooming and taking hold in most of the spots. Lois tells me that they may begin to act like weeds--not for a while yet, I hope.

roses, mums & salvia

The asters,  mums, and vincas  I got at Lowe's are providing a lot of color next to my ever bearing roses. It is really pretty coming up the walk with all the blue, purple, and red rioting there. I had hoped for a bit more yellow with all the marigolds but not much of that survived the hot summer or spider-mites. The lantana looks great in pink/yellow so I guess that will do.

mum

Out back we have another section of paver walkway completed. I am not sure but we may be paving our way to Austin at this rate. I will border it with the liriope that is getting way too tight and have a nice protection when it rains to keep the soil in the adjacent beds.

Broccoli and cauliflower are taking well and liking the cool nights. I found tiny tomatoes on one of the 5 plants I have in pots. All of them are blooming and will soon be moved into the greenhouse room by the windows if it gets much cooler at night. The peppers are covered with buds but not setting any fruit that I can find. The eggplant is covered with beautiful purple blooms and lots of little fruits so I expect to pick quite a few of those. I love the oriental ones as they seem to grow better and are nearly seedless. Beets and carrots are both up. I moved some of the beets apart to give them more room. The bibb lettuce is bolting with the continued hot days but will soon be replaced with some ruffled red and more bibb as the days get cooler. I have to let the plants get a bit bigger before transplanting as the bugs are cutting them off even with collars around them. The multicolored chard are doing OK but nothing to brag about and the NZ spinach seems to be winding down but the regular spinach is not making it--bug or snail bait supreme!
I'm still considering getting the soil sampled as something is still not in sync with the plants. I am enjoying using the myfolia program to track the plants.

Transplanting and planting time in September

The cool weather has me reinvigorated! I have been transplanting my lettuce from the picnic table (we may actually be able to use it this fall) into the garden mixed with a new multi-colored chard. The chard does not seem as ruffle leafed but it is pretty with red and yellow stems. I may even put some in my shade garden out front. I added a few spinach transplants to the far end and my seed some directly at the other end. Last winter that made them official bug food though so maybe more flats and transplants.


I transplanted the broccoli this morning and will pick up BT at Lowe's today. Using the companion planting theme (if it works) I seeded beets between them. The New Zealand spinach is loving the recent rains and the cooler nights and growing like crazy (lower left) I am getting a cup or so a day from this little patch.


The new cherry tomatoes are thriving in their pots so maybe we'll get some tomatoes this fall and winter after all. The purple basil is going crazy as well and needs to be harvested again. For a plant that is hard to start it sure gets going well.

I expanded the shade garden in the front yard another 5 feet and need to mulch it. Our plan is to bring it all the way out to the junction of the front sidewalk and driveway. 


I have some house plants in there that will have to come inside this winter if it freezes and lirope and a number of perenials which I hope to add to this fall. The Laura Bush petunias are finally doing well and blooming. The plumeria has held on and the new ruelia is taking hold. 

Spring gives us a start on so much

We got really crazy this year and decided to expand the garden in the back for vegetable, add a garden in front for flowers and put in a cement paver walkway from the front to the back along the garage. I am getting garden dirt so we can get all this started.

 I had never grown potatoes and saw on the internet that they could be grown in laundry baskets so that is something we are trying. Got sets of youkon golds which we like.