Well guys and gals, spring is here. No, not according to the calendar, but by my own declaration.

This morning when I was driving to the hardware store, I saw my favorite doe. When spring weather arrives for good, she begins to graze a particular pasture with the cows. It’s the only time I see her in the pasture with the cows, but it’s how I determine, at least at the top of the hill country, spring has sprung.

Therefore, I say it is time for an official TFF gardening thread.

Now is the time to get your beds, or garden, ready to plant. If it hasn’t dried up yet, you could actually look into using a raised garden bed, or even growing in containers. If you are fortunate and are able to plant directly into the ground, but have clay, or any poorly draining soils, you can remedy the problem by adding peat moss and/or sandy loam to the soil and tilling it in. I would also take this time to add nutrients such as nitrogen (chicken poo is a GREAT source of nitrogen, but you might want to cut it with brown, or fallen leaves (they add carbon to the soil). Green leaves will add more nitrogen to the soil. For those of you in North Texas and East Texas, due to the rains, you might need to add some gypsum, or limestone, to the soil, especially if you plan on growing healthy tomato plants. I would suggest having your soil tested before adding this, but it‘s a good possibility your ground has been oversaturated and needs replenishing.

Once this is done, you are ready to begin planning your garden. I would suggest plotting out your garden on a piece of paper before planting. If you grow the same vegetables in the same part of the garden every year, rotate them around. Also, leave plenty of room between the rows so that you can either till or hoe the ground throughout the growing season without risking damage to the roots. While the tap roots for the plants are pretty much directly under the plant’s stem, the entire root system is important and damaging it could weaken the plant and make it more susceptible to disease. When making plans on how you want your garden laid out, consider adding plants along the border that will attract bees. If you can get a hive coming to your garden on a daily basis your crop production will increase by approximately 30 percent.

I have had my onions in the ground since January, but it’s still not too late for you to plant yours. Many feed stores still have some available and with the wet weather we should have this spring, it won’t be long until yours make substantial growth. My sweet peas are in the ground now AND I was able to purchase 60 (total) tomato and pepper plants this morning. Although the morning temperatures are going to be too low this weekend for mine to go in the ground, I will be introducing them to the cooler temperatures for the next 7 to 10 days. I will, however, be planting my cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini and okra seeds this weekend .

One more thing, if you do have tomatoes, remember MATURE plants ONLY require .5 to 1 inch of water a week. If the plants are browning up, it might be a pest problem, or a disease, but it’s more than likely they are getting too much water. I would suggest investing in some soaker hoses (at least for the tomato plants), or hand watering, and be certain to keep any sprinklers from hitting them. It’s best to water after the sun has risen in the spring and during the heat of the summer around 4:00 in the morning.

Guys and gals, this is one of my favorite times of the year. The sun stays out longer, baby animals are appearing every day, fish are beginning the spawn, and the vegetation is beginning to sprout or green up.

While I don’t have a degree in horticulture, I do have many, many, many years of experience thanks to my mom and grandfather getting me interested when I was young. It’s a very relaxing hobby for me and if you have any questions or tips, please post them here so we can all gain knowledge from one another.


***One thing I forgot to mention, because of the strong possibilities of hail storms, I would suggest keeping your plastic milk jugs and 2 litter bottles. They can be rinsed out, the bottoms cut off and placed over small, tender plants to protect them. Just leave the lids off when you place them on the plants. They can also be used in case of a freeze, but I seriously think we are for the most part out of the woods (at least down here)...

My onions were planted 2/29, and they have started sprouting really well after all this rain and sun. The potatoes are also just beginning to sprout, and the lettuce is well on its way as well.

Tomatoes and Bell Peppers are still inside and I'll probably plant them in the next week or so.

I also have a strange looking little sprout that shot up in one of my peat pots that I had a bell pepper in. I'm going to cut it, but it appears to be some type of tiny round-head weed. And that is inside my house. Weird.

How can I keep the tobacco bud worms from swarming?

Lettuce, and spinach have been in the ground and are growing like gangbusters. 4 new roses picked out and waiting on the back porch to be put in the ground. Peach trees have budded out and are about to pop.


I love spring!

I wanted to plant my peppers and tomatoes today, but I know better...Sunday or Monday it's supposed to get to 40, but we'll probably get down to 38 or 35, so I'm not going to risk them since they are so tender. It'd be different if they hadn't been grown in a greenhouse...I'll be buying more tomatoes tomorrow since they had some varieties I hadn't grown before and wanted to do some research before purchasing them...

dont forget, exhausting the hot air is imperative.

Take a pic and post it before cutting it...Are you sure it's a round-headed weed? It could be a plant that the seed hasn't come off of...

I'll try a picture tonight (didn't work last time because it couldn't focus on it.

It's about a 1" tall one stem, and at the top of the stem is a circular "disc" that is kind of brown.

just planted two flats of asian jasmine on the side of a slope to help stop a bit of erosion

That could actually be a pepper plant that the seed didn't come off before it grew...Try to GENTLY remove the disc without pulling off the leaves or breaking the stem...

We have a lot of jasmine growing around some of our Ashe Junipers as a ground covering...I had to remove a flowerbed of that stuff a couple of years ago...It grows fast and takes over everything...We had a sidewalk running beside the guest house we didn't know was there because of the jasmine growth...

I have to drive back to Meridian to get my Homestead tomato plants I left behind...I had set them aside with the others, but forgot to pick those up...Oh well, I guess I'll go buy another flat of plants so I can save the 8%. That's a good excuse to buy another 48 plants, right?

I just wish my garden would dry out enough to till.

Has anyone on here grown the Sweet 100 tomato plant before? I picked up 4 and now that I've done some research, it appears they can grow somewhere between 1 foot to 15 feet depending on the conditions...That's a HUGE difference in size...It's a cherry tomato plant (not what I wanted, but my sisters love them so I guess that's good), but I've never grown them...

If you've grown them, what was your experience like?

Also, has anyone grown the Lemon Boy variety? It's an heirloom plant that is supposed to produce 7 oz to 8 oz tomatoes that are yellowish clear in color...I will be picking up some of those too...

10' sounds about right. They get big, but they stopped producing when the heat turned up and didn't start again until late September.

Unimpressed.

Oh... and the skins on them are really tough too.

Man I hear ya.
This is no lie....I didn't get much from my tomato plants last spring, but had a bunch in the fall. The garden was so muddy, I got what i could one time and left the rest on the vine. My garden has literally been too wet to till ever since! We're talking complete mud pit for at least 4 months now.

Will be preparing my soil this weekend. Hoping to get things in the ground by the following weekend.

Okay, well I always have volunteer cherry tomatoes, so they can help...But DANG, 10 FEET?

If I hadn't moved our garden to the lake house a few years back, I'd be in the same ship. The garden area of Joshua is swampy too...There has been a LOT more rain north of us than we've gotten...

Okay, just got back from Meridian and picked up another 48 plants...Grand total of 108 will be planted in the garden next week after I get them acclimated to the temperatures by setting them out on the screened in porch...

I also met a new fishing buddy...Man it has been a great day today...

They were all the way up to the eaves of the house. All I know is to hang the hummingbird feeder up there, I've gotta get a ladder. So it may just be 9' ... but doubtful. And that's not counting what decided to make a break for it from the trellises and spread all over my lawn.

Hey, its better than some of the roses I know of. Labeled as grows 5-6 feet.... but had a friend down in Houston fall into her 20' monster and have to go to the emergency room to get all the thorns surgically removed

Wow...Okay, that's gonna be tall one...I guess my sisters can pick those tomatoes if they want them...

My neighbor had a similar rose over here at the lake, it started pulling down the overhead phone line that's at least 15 feet high...He and the other neighbor got into who actually owned the rose because it was over taking the fence and neither one had lived here long enough to have planted it...It wasn't until the thing was taken out that they knew who actually owned it...

If the tomatoes are climbing that high, vertically, you might be able to drape it over the other side (if it's growing on a trellis). I haven't done this personally, but I have heard of people doing this.

onions are coming up nicely, peas are busting through the ground. I put 4 heads of lettuce out and killed the other 10 when they got flooded in the container I had them in. Tomatoes are about 6" tall now and peppers are about 4". My plan is to start hardening up some of the tomatoes by keeping them out for a little each evening here over the next week and have them in the ground by 3/25. Peppers can wait... They're doing in the garage.

I'm glad your onions are doing well...It's a shame about the lettuce, but you really shouldn't pee in your vegetable containers...

Well, I got home, and it was dead and shriveled up. So, no picture, lol.

just cut broccoli this evening

Got to get rid of the winter crop to make room for spring. All greens still producing, haven't dug the parsnips yet, still a few turnips, spinach still doing well where I've kept it cut, gone to seed where I didn't. Three types of leaf lettuce still going strong, as is curly endive. Arugula going to seed as well, that stuff grows like weeds!
Planted 9 Celebrity tomatoes in 1 gal. pots on Feb. 10, will keep them there until end of Mar. They are about 6" tall now. Going to put clear plastic around cages this year, and keep it there as long as possible, not for heat units, but to guard against thrips that carry tomatoe wilt virus.
Will see what I can squeeze in between fishing trips.
* Seven hens from last May are avg. 4 eggs a day.

Our seedlings are staying inside until after Easter. Until then they'll stay nice and warm in our seedlingararium.




I'm waaaaaaaaaay ready!

Looks good, Madchad...I don't blame you for waiting...Up there, y'all still could have some could nights...

This morning, I dreamed I had peppers ready to pick that had somehow survived the winter...I had foot long banana and bell peppers in this dream...Oh, I can't wait to harvest my first one...

Would putting a heating pad under the pan holding my seed pots get them growing a little faster? I might start doing that a couple hours a day...

yep... It definitely helps..

My garden this year will consists of 2 pumpkins from Halloween. Every year after the goblins leave, I set the pumpkins on the ground in a sunny spot. They sprout and make runners, but never make any punkins.

Seriously, we simply have to much shade for a garden. I do have a spot in the front yard I could plant, just not sure what the neighbors would think of the "Hic" across the street.

My garden is in my front yard, but since you enter the house through the back, it's really not an issue...Besides, I like getting my neighbors riled up, I mean at their age, they need to get their hearts a pumping...Peppers, onions, carrots, turnips, beets, potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, watermelons and cantaloupes and okra don't need shade (although the last two do require more water if they don't get some shade), so you might want to look into planting those...

As JDavis wrote it would help. You could also find the room in your house that gets the most sun and stick them in there while you're at work...If it has a massive drop in temperature at night, just bring them back to the main part of the house...

Exactly where we placed our seedlingararium - in the window that gets the most sun. If anybody has an old aquarium that's not in use, just get you a piece of double pane glass cut to fit where the lid goes. Make it 1" short on the length and 1/16" short on the width. Put the lid centered so there's a little gap on either end for freash air and set it in a sunny window and you'll have a nice little green house going. When there's not so much sweat on the inside, add 1/2 cup or so of water. We are having great results. They have all sprouted and the plants are looking super healthy.

The okra sprouts are already 6" to 8" tall and we planted them on Saturday the weekend before last. The pepper plants are all around an inch or two, and the jelly bean tomatoes are a little taller than the peppers. I added 10 peat pots with beefsteak tomato seeds this week (they're for my grandma's garden) and no sprouts in them yet.

Also, I was looking around in the garden and found several peppers (hot banana and cayenne) that had fallen on the ground from last year. The seeds inside looked good so I just mushed them in the dirt a little and we'll see what happens. If they sprout I'll have extra, if they don't there's backups in the seedlingararium.

Well my Texas Redbud is now in full bud... Yep, spring is most definitely here at the top of the top of the Hill Country...

LSS or anyone else, is there such as thing as "must do" and/or "must not do" on planting different vegetables next to each other? For instance would planting peas next to stringbeans be okay or would there be something in one that inhibits the other? I just pulled those two examples out of the air, but I think you get what I'm asking.

Well, I'll say this, DO NOT plant cucumbers too close to pepper or tomato plants, unless you are able to control where the cucumbers will climb...I had some cucumbers growing freely on the ground for the first time ever last year...I won't be making that same mistake. Although the plants flourished and produced quite heavily, they also overtook the pepper and tomato plants making it hard to harvest.

Also, you do not want to plant yellow squash right next to zucchini because you can end up with hybrid fruits. I've had it happen to me a couple of years. Although it was okay, it wasn't as good as the zucchini/spaghetti squash hybrid I intentionally created...

As far as one plant being bad for another, I can't think of any, but as I stated previously, you do need to be mindful. Now if you are planting different varieties of corn, make certain you have 25 feet or more between the sections of corn.

DF, do not plant onions near peas, as well. I don't have firsthand knowledge but I've been told it will make the peas taste terrible. A few feet away should be okay, though.

Did anyone here plant lettuce? I planted mine on 02/01, which makes them in the ground 40 days. They're supposed to be ready in 60 days, but they're still only about 1/2" tall, and only have 2 leaves so far. Strangely enough, the other plants in the garden are growing great.

Thanks for the info guys. Appreciate ya'll.

I've only had my peas next to my onions once and I didn't notice any funky taste to them...Although I do like to eat peas with pearl onions, so maybe that's why?

Have you checked your soil's PH level? It should be at 6.5 from what I've read. Also, lettuce requires a good amount of water. The two snow days since your planting could have damaged them, but if they are growing, I'd probably look to the soil's PH level (you can buy an electronic soil tester)...

sounds like my lettuce from last year.. My guess. Dead from frost bite.

If using 5 Gallon buckets for planters, what soil mix should you use? I used a potting soil with miracle grow in it last year and it didn't work out too good.

interesting planters for 5 gallon buckets.. What's interesting to me is that I did this EXACT example on my own last year, and thought I'd come up with something really original.. Not so much.

http://plant-parenthood.com/?page_id=60

You can use "Mel's Mix" which is 1/3 Compost, 1/3 Vermiculite, and 1/3 Peat Moss. Good stuff...

Planted my peas today and a couple Nasturtiums.

my peas are about 2" tall now.. Just rigged up my drip irrigation/mini sprinkler system to my garden. It looks like it's going to work real and won't waste a lot of water.

I planted my garden last week end. One pack of seeds each cantaloupe and water melon. One place for each, dumped all the seeds in hole and hope for the best, probably get the worst.

they didn't produce as much as I would have liked plant only got to about 6 foot.I used wire baskets on these because there cherry tomatos are so heavy on the stem

Companion Planting

Outstanding! Thank you, I saved the link.

Thanks, Siberman...

Just saw the weather which is saying around the Waco area it could get to the upper 30's tonight and both the D/FW and Waco areas could be in the mid to upper 30's on Sunday night...Watch your most tender plants...2 litter bottles and 1 gallon jugs can be used to cover them (just leave the caps off)...

How many more times do you think it'll freeze, LSS?

I don't think it will freeze, I just think there's a chance for a light frost which would damage the tender plants...Especially those plants that don't have any type of protection from the north or west...

Of course, even without a frost, the 30's aren't a good temp for the pepper or tomato plants...

Square foot gardening here. So far my peas, radishes, lettuces and onions are coming up nicely. Still waiting on the nasturtium, marigolds and carrots to make a showing. Last weekend I planted a celebrity and sweet 100 that are being protected from the cold. This weekend I plan to plant bell peppers, jalepenos, cukes yellow squash and butternut squash... Although, the forecast is calling for low to mid 30's in DFW this weekends so I may wait on the pepper transplants. Also, the rain we got yesterday filled my 55 gallon rain barrel so I think I'm set.

Seedlingararium Update:

Every last peat pot has sprouted. Last year it was one out of three just using peat pots and seeds. Using the aquarium has made an insane difference. They'll need some potting soil or something added because the okra's already growing roots outside the pots. After Easter we'll put them outside and they'll have a great start.

Sounds familiar - we're planting quite a bit of the same stuff.

This is also my first year setting up rain barrels, and WOW, they are great for water conservation

weather.com is calling for 32 saturday night in the metroplex

If it does freeze up there, there are a lot of things you can do to protect your plants...If you have tomato cages, put them over the plants and take some large black trash bags and cover the cages with them, tying the bags at the bottom...

2 litter bottles and 1 gallon milk/water jugs can be emptied, rinsed, and have the bottoms cut off then placed over the plants leaving the tops off or poke holes in the tops.

If you have a boat load of leaves, you can pile them over the plants after the sun goes down and remove them as soon as it comes back up...

You can lay down tomato cages on their sides and cover the plants with sheets, or put them strategically around the garden and place a large tarp over them keeping the tarp off the plants...

I'm sure there are other things people on this forum have done in the past, if you have some ideas, please share them...

Here's what I was planning on doing...let me know if you think it would work.

I have two 4' x 4' raised beds. I put 4 pieces of Rebar in the ground, at each corner. Saturday night I'll take 10 ft. lengths of PVC pipe, put each end on a bar of Rebar, and build a little "hoop house" type-structure. Then take some 1 mil plastic dropcloth and put it over that, and weigh it down by bricks.

I might also put a few sections from the newspaper over each plant.

edit, found a pic:
kind of similar to this, but with PVC pipes, not steel. And I'll put plastic dropcloth over the top.

That should work fine, but I wouldn't do the newspapers...The main thing is to protect them from the wind. I would also do that before sundown to keep some heat in there...Remember to pull it off as soon as the sun is up...

I've got a similar setup. Raised bed with some PVC over the top that I use to cover the garden while it's still cool at night. I'm not putting plastic over mine, it's just a row cover. It's got about 70% light transmission and protects from a light frost. This bed is 4'x8' and the PVC over the top is a 6' piece of 1/2" PVC.

Really nice setup jeff.m

i dont feel so bad about not having my garden up and running,with this freeze coming

It's not just the temperature drop that could hurt the plants, but the wind. The cold winter wind can dry those plants out, effectively killing them. I have a guest house blocking the garden at the lake from the north wind, so I don't have to worry about that, but most people, especially in the D/FW area don't seem to have a lot of ways to block the wind. I'm actually more concerned about the wind up there than the temps. I still think the weather morons are wrong, but if it is better to be prepared than to be replanting...

There is a fence only inches from the north side of my beds so the wind shouldnt be an issue for me but I think I'm still going to cover them with some plastic jugs.

Need to know what you guys think of this. You know they talk about potatoes you shouldn't eat that are "green" because of the toxin they contain. The toxin comes from the potato being exposed to light when growing.

I wasn't really expecting it, but one of the potatoes had a shoot when I went out there yesterday to check on them. I never saw it (I guess it was there Wednesday or Tuesday). You see, I put the potato seeds in the dead-middle of the square, on my square foot garden. How was I to know nature would not perfectly agree with everything I was doing, and would send a shoot 6" away, completely unforeseen?!

Here's a picture of the potato shoot. I actually covered it a bit up with soil before taking the picture. I'd say there was about 2" of the potato sprout sticking out of the ground. It's in the corner, as you can see, and (at least in the afternoon) it's shielded by the box so the light was not hitting it.

I haven't grown potatoes before, although my grandfather did and I loved pulling them out of the ground...I think it just goes to show that sometimes things don't go as you planned...

I like the raised bed, so far. Though we'll see in August

The problem I have is, my soil is SOLID clay. Nearly impossible to dig into. So, raised beds were an easy pick for me.

i had a 30 X 90 for six years near abilene and we had to fight wind in the garden all the time, we buried the tall plants very deep at planting, i was always amazed at the corn stalks- after some windy days they'd be listing badly

Sorry for you fellers that had seedlings out in this weather. We got a little snow on the ground, but all my seedlings are still safe in the seedlingararium. There have been a few additions and today we're going to start some banana peppers and add another couple of cubanelles (Mrs Chad makes some awesome rellenos!). We've also started a couple of zucchini plants. Mrs Chad uses it in fried rice so that'll be nice.

I'm proud of all my kids, but my son (a very industrious 10 yr old) is planning a garden at his mom's house. This weekend we got a box of peat pots and the seeds that he didn't already have stashed back. He's going to do cayenne, sweet banana pepper, jelly bean tomato, strawberry (we'll have to buy the seedlings), and he's considering cubanelle and serrano. He's also gonna make his mom a few flower beds with Mrs Chad's flower seed stash. He's a chip off the old block for sure!

Lucky for him he got his looks from his mom!

I haven't been able to find the Cubanelle peppers anywhere... I have Cayenne, California wonder (bell pepper), Tam Jalapeno, Jalapeno, Hot Banana, Sweet Banana, and Serrano, but no Cubanelle

Well, in hopes of keeping the tomatoes alive, I've covered them with old plastic flower pots then with about a foot worth of hay.

Also, I planted some jasmine last week and I've covered it with a wire cage and I've wrapped towels around it. Inside it's little house I've put in a plastic bottle filled with hot water. I'll change it out tonight. I figure that'll keep it alive. I hope

I don't know what kind of jasmine you planted but we can't kill the stuff...Seriously, I've tried...Short of ripping it out by the roots, runners and all, it ain't gonna die...At least mine won't...

Huh. I thought I read it needed to be protected due to it's tropic origins. Well either way, it's extra protected

Anybody have any tips on growing Jolakia Bhut (from India)chilis ? I got a bunch of dried ones as a present. They're supposedly 4x hotter than habaneros ( I believe it ! ) but I'm having a beach of a time getting them to germinate.

Never tried, Siberman...you could try scratching them with a nail file, and putting them in-between a few wet paper towels.


If anyone is interested, there's a guy in Lewisville giving away free horse manure. Can't beat free...

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/zip/1653725299.html

finally got the garden tilled the other day, picked up my primary crops as well. They are safely tucked in the garage waiting till the freeze passes us. Its time to grow stuff

Almost done with the tilling here...I'm ready to grow... We are happy we waiting to plant after seeing this last weather pattern

We didn't get below 35 this morning in Lakeside Village. PULL your covers off your plants for those of you that aren't still experiencing snow...

We have ice on the ground, glad I waited as well. Still leary...

I only waited because I was letting my plants adjust to the nightly temperatures since most were grown in a greenhouse...I've been setting them out on the screened-in porch so they won't go into shock...I'm not worried about anymore freezing weather, mine are going out this week...

Got down to 32 early this morning and it's been snowing (and melting) all day . I'm not worried about the greens or onions but I sure hope my peaches and plums make it.

For those of you in the North Texas area, I'd definitely cover my plants tonight, just in case it gets back down to freezing up there...

Picked up 6 Better Boys & 6 Husky Cherry last Wed. Into 1 gal. pots with the rest. That brings the total to 21 plants. Is that too many for a 20'x12' piece of dirt? Roughly 35F last nite and tonite as well. Mesquites have just begun to put on leaves, think we're in the clear around here. Still have to get rid of winter garden, rained 1.5" last week.

Uncovered everything this morning before work. Now lets hope this cold is over with

I did that as well. Surprised I got up early enough

I keep seeing conflicting weather reports in the D/FW area. Last night the weather channel said it was going to freeze again tonight and tomorrow. Now, weather.com is saying it'll be in the high 40s/low 50s.

Yep, mesquites have finally budded here, should have some leaves shortly.

Ya'll up north probably have to play it a little safe for another couple of weeks and then Spring (the real thing, not the calendar one) should have worked its way up to ya.

I'm going to go get started planting my over 150 pepper and tomato plants...Yeah, over 150, the final count has NOT been done (primarily because I haven't finished searching for some specific plants)...

We've got cubanelle seeds. How many do ya want and I'll mail them to ya if you'll pm me an address to send to.

I'm dying to get my hands on some of them infamous ghost pepper seeds!

I always have kept track and dated anything I have planted.

It doesn't look that detailed but it is.









I have 3 6x12' beds ready for action.

Onions, potatoes, and garlic are in the ground.

My garden in Feb.

I appreciate the offer...My mom has a phone customer that has a feed store and they are supposed to go Wednesday to their suppliers and see if they can get me some Cubanelle and Gypsy peppers...If they can't, I'll take you up on the offer...

There seems to be some fraudulent sales going on with those seeds you're looking for. I'd try and buy them from one of the established companies (I've tried to find them through Google) when they become available...Otherwise you'll end up with the habanero plants...

Good looking stuff, ChickenMan

Hopefully my garden will try out enough so I can till this week. If not I will be going to Home Depot and buying a lot of soil. So I can make my own mounds and get them going.





My jalapenos and a few of the mater plants are getting huge already. The okra and bannana peppers aren't too far behind them. I need to get them in the ground soon.

If anyone is interested in square foot gardening here's a helpful site to plan your garden:

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KitchenGardenDesigner

Only downside is that it doesn't have everything I planted including different varieties of peppers but I just put in the closest thing they have and then rename it.

Really good sweet pepper...

Clicky

Excellent. Keep rotatin' them crops, dude.

It's good for salads and for Yankees... I am currently growing the following peppers:

California Wonders (Bell Pepper) - 20 plants
Jalapenos - 8 plants
Tam Jalapenos - 16 plants
Hot Banana Peppers - 4 plants
Cayenne Peppers - 8 plants
Serrano Peppers - 2 plants
Sweet Banana Peppers - 20 plants

I should be getting either 4 or 8 plants of both Cubanelle Peppers and Gypsy Peppers this week...Yeah...I need to find some Habaneros now that I see the list on the screen...

LoneStarSon. What do you do with everything these plants produce?

I give some to family and friends, freeze some of the squash, zucchini, and peas. This year, I'll also be setting up a vegetable stand and selling some of the peppers and tomatoes to help offset the cost of the water...

I'm surprised you dont have a giant rainwater collection unit.

You using anything to collect rainwater, LSS? While watering yesterday I started to see just how much water I will be using. A bunch is an understatement.

My potato plants are growing well; I think a "Yukon Gold" finally sprouted. Took considerably longer than the "Red Noreland" variety.

Onions are slowly starting to perk back up after that intense wind the other day. Carrots are about an inch tall as well.

Unfortunately I think my experiment with seed-starting is about over. Other Cherry Roma seeds started the same time as mine are about 10" tall now, and mine have not grown above 2.5" in several weeks. The Bell Pepper sprouts have multiple leaves, but are still tiny - maybe 1.5" tall.

Huh, same here with the potatoes. Red Norelands are going nuts but the Yukon Gold have barely come up.

My Texas sweet onion transplants look like carp. Any advice on these?

Carrots were planted about 2 weeks ago and I've yet to see any green.

However, my bunching onions sprouted up 2 days ago and are already over an inch tall.

My carrots took about 14 days to sprout. Look really close, too, because the greens on them are incredibly tiny.

What are the Texas onions doing?

Most are bent over and turning a little brown.. not the healthy green look I was hoping for.

I actually have a water system connected to my gutters for the flower beds that surround the main house...Our water bill gets out of hand for the yard, not the garden...Hopefully this year won't be as bad as the last 2...It's an acre of land and because it has a slightly sloping elevation, water retention for most of it isn't the greatest (makes for great drainage, especially in flooding weather, but not for water retention in droughts)...The garden gets by on fairly little water in comparison because of the Ashe Juniper tree droppings...They, like pine needles, help with the water retention in that area...

Cut off the tops and be certain to water during the drier times...

how low shall i cut them?

I'd probably cut the brown ones about an inch from the ground...Since onions are a single root vegetable, the greens aren't as important to the survival as say potatoes...The good thing is your onions will probably grow a bit larger than before because you won't be as anxious to pull them with shorter greens....

They could have browned because of the snow or because of the bountiful rain amounts y'all have had recently...If any of the onions have green stalks mixed with brown, just remove the brown ones and keep the green ones on that onion...You might also want to try a little miracle-gro or other plant food because the nutrients might have been greatly diminished because of all the rains...

Alright, who can make it to the NW side of Lake Whitney by 3:30 this afternoon to help me finish planting? I have 94 plants left to get in the ground...I'll have at least another 30 to plant by this weekend...WTH?!?!?!

Anybody got Pequin Chili's? (Tiny Peppers)

I planted one last year and these little dudes are hot and turn into a bush.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pequin_pepper

These are great for adding flavor.

Some of you may know that my 10 yr old son is starting his own garden. He's growing mainly peppers and he's going to try and sell them to make some exta $$$$. He researched on google and boy-howdy! Did he ever! He's breeding a hybrid habanero/cayenne plant. I'm proud of my boy! He gets the mad scientist tendencies from his paw. Anyway, if it works well he's gonna do all hyprids next year and sell peppers that nobody else has.

I have two plants that I have had for a couple years now. Just bring them inside for the winter and set them out now. I should have tons of sprouts this year too. I left a bunch of peppers in the container to dry and sprout.

We call 'em chili pitens - the plant comes back every year from the roots. I dried about two pints worth last year. They are one of the ingrediants in the shake I put on deer jerky.

I noticed you've got horsetail (?) rush growing on the left by the rocks. You got a fish pond over there ? You can't get better water for your chilis than water full of fish poo.

Tell him to look up Thai Dragons. Not the small ornamentals but the 1.5 to 2" variety. Chipotle without the smokin'.

I used to work with a guy that would eat those chili petines by the handful. Seriously. He died of stomach cancer not too long after he retired. I think there was a strong connection with eating them the way he did and the cancer.

That's sad to hear, DF.



I think I'm going to go buy 3 tomato plants today and 3 Bell Pepper plants. I'll have to put "better seed starting" into the "goals for 2011" category, cause that was an failure.

Anyone know where (besides some guy's house in Joshua) I can get some organic Cherry Roma tomatoes and some Bell Peppers?

They aren't at my house in Joshua... I probably do, but I'm thinking Lakeside Village is a bit far for you to drive...

I would try the feed stores in the area...

MSR, I tried the feed store in Mansfield, they don't have any...The Plant Shed there on 287 might, but they aren't answering the phone right now...

Awesome, Mansfield Nursery comes in with the win again! I gave them a call (they're across 157 from the Mansfield Feed Mill) and she said they still have some. If I get there, and they're all gone, I'm hunting you goons down...

If they don't have any let me know and I'll pick some up and meet you somewhere...

Leave a couple MSR!! I am heading that way after work.

Don't have a pond, but I would like too. I do have 8 chickens right here in the middle of Dallas and I mix C.poo in and it seems to really work well. That horsetail pops up all over the place.

I wish someone with a green house would start up all the seeds(peppers/tomatoes) next year and sell them to all of us on the TFF!!

I might be doing that...I'll let you know later in the year.



How many do you need? I'll make sure I leave some and tell the lady/guy at the counter to keep some for you. I'll be heading over there at ~5:00 or so.

Anyone else have city chickens?


Today's harvest.

Say whaaaaatttt????

I think you put up the wrong pic


...edit,

That's awesome, AdventureTX. I really would like to but the HOA won't permit it. I currently have a rabbit I use for it's manure and have some meat chickens growing at a friends' house. I contemplated raising the meat chickens at my house because they make almost no noise. But, that would suck to get hit with a $500 fine...

I've been thinking about chickens. Thinking hard on getting 1/2 dozen or so, but, between the feral cats, my dogs, and the hawks, I'm not too sure. I dunno if I'd wanna go through the hassle of building a coop. Saw some pre-fab ones in Mother Earth News, but they are outrageously priced.

I'd love to get some chickens, but my dogs would eat them...

Fortunately, my boat mechanic has over 6,000 birds, some chickens in that mess, and I get plenty of free chicken poop from him...And I get Turkey eggs on occasion...Those are GREAT...