Dead

Well, all the progress made in the fall was decimated in one full swoop. The frost that hit while we were in Mexico killed just about everything in the garden. These were those lovely chili plants!







A few things made it - the lettuce, the oregano and perhaps some carrots. The beans were destroyed as were the chilis. Its ok though, we will be in our spring weather soon enough and begin planting the next plot in the Bob Randall planting series.

Jan – March Planting Guide

Field 4 –peppers all chili’s – not moving to plot 4 Add garlic in late fall Spacing 6” need top of soft phosphate buy bulbs at store, plant in cool weather of late fall. In late march, put basil where the onions were. November change to plot 1	Field 2 – Lettuce, Tom Cabbage Will harvest lettuce – any that can stay and keep producing will Book says keep growing salad crops until Feb Sept – Nov grow cabbage family plants November change plot to 3
Field 1 – Legumes Dec – Jan plant sugar snap peas March – April: plant pole snap beans or edamame where November peas have finished (on same trellis) May – July: other beans July more pole beans August – Sept snap beans November change plot to 2	Peppers left over annuals if still thriving Field 3 – Cabbage, cukes, Fall roots Replace any that you planted in late winter and grow again. Can add broccoli or cauliflour. Leave room for planting cucumbers in late March (on trellis). May add eggplant. Sept add carrots, parsnip, beets, multiplying onions. November change plot to 4.

Rosemary – after cold weather

Thyme grow in a separate pot after cold weather

Oregano supposedly grows in all weather

Mint grow in its own container (maybe big silver after watermelon?

Marchish plant basil – harvest june - november

Chili Prize

This is the prize winning jalapeno "Macho Nacho" is the name of the variety. This is the largest one we have had yet. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

The plants are recovering from their caterpillar decimation and producing a LOT of chilies. We will grill them up with some sweeter peppers we got from the farmers market tomorrow and eat them with steak!

Beans!

The beans are growing! Not enough to make a meal out of them but maybe in a few weeks. The plants are small and struggling but they all have flowers and buds growing on them so that is a good sign that beans are on their way!


The second picture here is the mescalin. It is growing very nicely and will make a great salad.

Something is Eating my Garden

It looks like caterpillar damage but I have not found a caterpillar on the plant for a few weeks. Hopefully it is just recovering. Jimmy keeps reminding me our basil was weak all winter last year and then went gangbusters in the spring.

We continue to have problems with cats! Rrrrgh. It is totally grossing me out so I decided we will not eat the greens. The mescalin is doing great and far from the cat area so we can eat them.

I have to keep in perspective that part of what we are doing is creating good soil so it doesn't matter if we can eat everything we grow. Jimmy has a plan to lay a grid down when I do my next planting in January. We will have to work around our awesome chili plants. Supposedly those should grow all year round.

Gross!

I went to check the garden today like I always do when I get home. The beans are growing well but their leaves are deteriorating. Jimmy is calling it "scale" but I am not sure. Bob Randall says beans need an innoculent but I am not sure what that means!

There was one plant, one of the onions, that looked like it had been covered up with dirt. I reached down to brush the dirt away and it was a dirt covering a pile of cat poo-poo! Super, super gross. Apparently some neighborhood cats think I have built them their own personal cat litter. I am just disgusted. I am heading out to the hardware store to get that stuff that wards cats off because it smells like fox urine. Now it is me vs. the cats, I won't let them ruin my garden with their filth.

I intentionally did not take a picture or post a picture of this event. That would be entirely too yucky!

Fall Planting

Today ended up being the best weather to plant for the fall. All my seedlings, apart from the beans (pictured here), have been basically dug up by Maxine! Today I went out to assess the space before going to the garden store and I found another big hole, taking the lives of all my little seedlings. The beans are the only ones to survive, mostly because I planted them up against the trellis so they can vine up.

So I went to our local garden store and found some great transplants. Swiss chard, arugula, mescaline, butterleaf, and green onions. I planted today as well as fixed the twine fence surrounding the garden so Maxine can't get in.

I am hoping both that the fencing works and that the transplants take! It was a year ago we planted our first container garden and had such great success. I look forward to what this harvest brings! I still have my carrots growing ( i hope) and the chili's are going wild.



I am hopeful about the green onions as well, I have never grown them or carrots. Actually, I have never grown beans either. The only thing I feel certain about at this point is the various lettuce. They did beautifully last year and even started a friend of mine on a salad quest!


Oh yeah, I also replanted some basil! I know that seems kind of crazy but the basil plants keep bugs out and the beans are struggling with something that Jimmy keeps calling "scale." Remedies to scale : Horticultural oil and Lady beetle.

Maxine Wins Round One

Maxine dug up all the lettuce plants I had as seedlings. She has felt very free to dig up the garden as long as no visible plants are there. We will change that.

But for the time being, we will also raise the stakes and put three layers of twine around the garden. Hopefully that helps!

The beans are still going strong so hopefully they last.

Watermelon Prevails

Well, prevails may be a bit of an exaggeration. BUT, we do finally have a watermelon growing amid the great vines. Can you see it, kind of dead center in the photo?

The instructions said something like 60 days until flowering. I think it has been a bit longer than that and if you look closely some of the leaves seem stressed. We will see. Maybe this little urchin will grow into the mighty watermelon!

Next Stage Planting

After Maxine's reign of destruction I am not sure what is going to make it and what won't. Fortunately it is early enough in the season to go ahead and try again. Also, if there are any more problems I can always go buy already started plants (as opposed to seeds).

Please note the white flags posted around the gardens edge. I want to believe this will keep Maxine out, but we will see.

I transplanted the arugula, swiss chard and butterleaf lettuce. I planted some additional beans, carrots and green onions. I found a black caterpillar working on some old mint (that mint just simply will not go away). I am missing my basil plant, which not only provided a ton of great basil but kept pests away. I will definitely plant more basil after our last frost next winter.

Maxine and the Beans

Yesterday, we found Max sitting in a BIG hole she had dug right beside the bean seedlings. I guess she saw the fresh soil, no big plants and thought we had just extended her sand box! I was very upset at her. As you can see, a few remain and we will see what happens. I can still plant some replacements. Fortunately, Jimmy put up a trellis for the beans to grow.

The carrots also took a hit this week. The gardeners came on Tuesday and trimmed the out of control ivy on our fence. However, when the trimmings landed in the garden they raked them up, not realizing the little carrot seedlings were there! I do not yet know the damage but I will this afternoon when I go to plant the new arugula, swiss chard and butterleaf lettuce in the garden! Hopefully, Max doesn't dig those up.

More About Beans

This is less than 24 hours since the last picture, can you believe how much they have grown!? It is so amazing.

7:54

The beans are growing!

Fuzzy Carrot

My first carrot seedling! Sorry the picture is out of focus but this is seriously exciting.

I forgot to mention that I also planted green onions. Supposedly they grow without a wide range of soil needs which is very important in this garden.

I hope everything grows!

BEANS

Ok, I think I get way too excited about this stuff but these bean seeds are pushing right up and are a pretty big plant. Supposedly these will vine up and are very good for your soil. Not to mention they should yield some pretty yummy vegetables! Isn't this amazing?

I will try to take another picture in an hour or so, you can literally almost see it growing!

Arugula Rules!

In the race between newly planted seeds for carrots, pole bean, arugula, swiss chard and butterleaf lettuce . . . . ARUGULA WON! It is so exciting to watch these seeds fight the ground around them and grow. They are true champions! I love to see them strive forward.

I can't wait to plant these in the ground!

September with Caterpillars

If you could understand the previous post of the cryptic garden plan, you may get that we are trying to rotate different families of crops so that the soil can become rich in all different kind of nutrients and become true healthy soil. His plan is based on a 200 square foot plot! Mine is 3' x 16'!!! Pretty small.

But exciting! Sunday I planted carrots and pole beans right into the ground. I created 12 little starter pots to be kept inside for the first few weeks. These were all my lettuce family: swiss chard, arugula and butterleaf lettuce.

While planting, I discovered that my chili plants (annuals, so hopefully they can stay in their same spot for awhile), were a bit thin in the leaves. Earlier in the week Jimmy reported that our eggplant was stripped of its leaves and was "just a stick." Our squash was on its way out as well, in their case they were just not growing right.

Anyway, what I discovered was some of the BIGGEST caterpillars I have ever seen! This gardening shovel is pretty long, can you see how fat that little guy got off our eggplant and 1/8 of our chili peppers!? These guys are a real problem, you have to diligently watch your plants every day so they don't suddenly clear your garden!

Fall Garden - the Plan

Field 1 – Legumes nothing in it – old herb spot × Sept plant pole beans– 6” for new bean plant in that soil use a bean inoculant (ie PEACEFUL)- spray monthly with kelp, mulch frequently (do not replant in this place for three years) ×Dec plant peas

Field 3 – Fall roots empty right now save an eggplant that doesn’t look like it will make it – looks like ×Green or multiplying onions will be planted here Sept – May Get seeds at end of summer, grow indoors to transplant 6-8” apart (184) recommend planting 12 which we obviously don’t have space for × Carrots if have space – plant in early September and water twice a day for a week or two. By seeds – 2” apart 55 days to harvest; mulch any roots coming out of soil,

Field 2 – Lettuce, Tom Cabbage currently has summer squash which should be harvested in Sept!? ×Lettuces – winter density variety if they have; butterleaf, swiss chard not technically in lettuce family – wait until full day temp drops to at least 85 degrees consistently (later in fall) -176 by seeds in soil ×Arugula plant in Sept (159) – space 4” ×Horseradish – buy a root at least 6 in long with some leaves attached in a supermarket in the fall (sept-oct)

Field 4 –peppers all chili’s – annual and will stay planted unless we have problems If have room in November: parsley and cilantro ×Add garlic in late fall Spacing 6” need top of soft phosphate buy bulbs at store, plant in cool weather of late fall

Harvest

Almost a year ago we took a series of classes from Urban Harvest on organic gardening. Urban Harvest is a local non-profit advocating and teaching community gardening. It was an incredible class. The main goal is focusing on the health of the soil and the plants and not combating every bug in sight with pesticides as well as gardening informed by the local ecology. So basically growing things in Houston that are native to Houston.

We gave it a try.

We started with some humble containers and focused exclusively on herbs. We created this garden just a few weeks after Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc throughout Houston. It was the wrong season for herbs, but our garden was successful just the same. We ended up with herbs throughout the winter and transplanted these into a raised bed in the spring.

We ended up with this crazy, wonderful garden of herbs and eventually chili's which has provided a ton of yield. This bush is lemon basil and I just could not harvest it as fast as it grew.

Today we finally harvested all the herbs and packed them up for use throughout the winter. This picture is everything we harvested - it is a LOT of herbage. We have a bag of rosemary, one of thyme and one of oregano frozen in parchment packets in the freezer. The basil is a little harder to freeze so I am putting it through the processor in batches of olive oil and basil to freeze in packets. I am hoping this method works.

The next step is consulting Bob Randall, Phd. and setting up our next patch. We have a lot of humus, organic soil, earthworms, etc so I am hoping we can grow some good winter veggies. Maybe some carrots . . . definitely some lettuce of some kind. Yum!