Week 46 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Jay White

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, the “dream I dreamed” for my vegetable garden is now very close to completion. Danny Hartley came down last weekend and sloshed around in the sticky, muddy clay and helped me install my irrigation system. It was a big job and I simply could not have done it without his help. Next spring, my garden will consist of 12 rows of herbs, flowers and vegetables that are watered by a soaker hose irrigation system that is feed by my six new water spigots! Thanks so much Danny!

This weekend I will finally get to pull up my okra, tomatoes and cucumbers. One row will be reserved for my onions. The other two will be replanted with beets, turnips, collard and mustard greens. Below are some more things you can do this weekend in your yard and garden.

Thanks to Danny Hartley my dreamsof a “Southern Living” quality garden is one step closer!

VEGETABLES

Plant – One of the great things about gardening in Zone 9 is the ability to plant year round. Even though it is the middle of November you can still plant lots of things. This weekend I will be putting out more beets, turnips, collards and mustard greens. You can also plant sugar snap peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach, Asian greens like bok choi, kale, chard and so much more!!! Do not forget to check out Patty Leander’s Planting guide to see what else you can plant in your November garden
Harvest – If you have things ready for harvest I would suggest that you bring them in. We are fast approaching our average first frost date. While many of our fall veggies can take a light freeze, squash tomatoes and cucumbers cannot.
Fertilize –Heat increases the metabolism of all living things. Because of this, the nutritive value of the compost is “used up” more quickly in the warmer months of the year. If you compost now the cooler temperatures will make your compost “last longer”. Basically, a good heavy application of compost now means you will not need to feed your soil again until April or early May.

ORNAMENTALS

Plant – You can still scatter poppy and larkspur seeds for the next week or so. I have tons of these two flowers and I love them both. They come in several colors so they work in every landscape AND they reseed with abandon. Plant some now and you can realistically have them forever
Prune – It is still too early to prune trees. However, it is a great time to prune ever green shrubs. Since the cool temperatures slow their growth rate for the next few months a good shaping now will keep them looking great until Spring
Fertilize – Just like your in the vegetable garden, an application of compost to your yards will gently feed your lawns until the grass begins actively growing in the spring
Move – If you have made any landscaping mistakes now is a great time to correct them. November is the best time to move (or plant) perennials.

Chicken and Asparagus! Our girls like the fall garden almost as much as Sally and I do.

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Week 41 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Jay White

Well, summer is refusing to leave. It is hard to believe that after the record rainfalls of spring, we are slowly slipping back into a drought situation. Because of this, take time this weekend to do some deep watering of your trees, shrubs and other perennials. Below are some more things you can do in your yards and gardens this weekend.

Now is a great time to plant lettuce from seed and shallots. I grow them together in the beds of my potager.

VEGETABLES

Plant greens – Now is a good time to plant spinach and lettuce from seed. I use my Cobrahead Hand Hoe to make a shallow furrow in soil that has been well worked with compost. I spinkle the seeds and then cover lightly. Most greens need some light to germinate os do not plant too deeply or compact the soil too tightly after planting. Keep the soil moist until the plants are at least 1 inch high.
Plant shallots –. While it is still too early to plant bulbing onions, you can plant shallots now. I grow three varieites of shallots. These keep us in onions through the winter and we use their tops in in soups and salads.

My “Crimson Glory” roses are putting on their fall show. Feed your roses now with high phosphorus fertilizers

ORNAMENTALS

Feed your roses – Most of my roses are putting on their fall show. Feed them now with a high phosphorus fertilizer and give them regular water until the first freeze
Gather seeds – My wife loves saving seeds. By this time some of our zinnias and bachelor buttons are beginning to look pretty ragged. Sally pulls up the entire plant, ties them in bundles and then hangs them upside down in our garage. Once they are dry she crushes the seed heads into paper bags, lables them, and them places them in the refrigerator to be used next spring.
Plant poppies – Thanks to my wife’s efforts we have lots of poppy seeds saved from last year. Scatter them on the ground and then drag a rake over them. Water and then forget them. Wait until April and enjoy one of the most prolific and showy flowers of the spring garden
Divide Daylily and iris now – I dig up the entire clump and then beak them up into individual plants. I space my daylilies about and iris about a foot apart.

This weekend is a great time to divide day lilies and iris.

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Tip of the Week – Week 5 in the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Jay White

Between the threat of rain and the Super Bowl it may be hard to get out into the garden this weekend. However, Thursday is supposed to be gorgeous and Friday will be nice. If you can get outside on those days here are some tasks that can be done now:

Vegetables

Right now is a great time to plant your salad fixings. While lettuce (check out my in depth discussion of growing lettuce here)and spinach are the stars, don’t forget that the supporting players like radishes, beets, carrots, kale and mustard greens also can also be planted now. These quick growing greens will be ready for harvest in about 45 days. At that time you will be ready to thin your onions and use them in the salad.

Now is a great time to replant lettuce. My favorites are buttercrisp and black seeded Simpson

Right now is also a good time to start adding compost to your beds. I sprinkle a couple of inches over the areas I am going to plant in March and cover with spoiled hay. It is not warm enough for the compost to start breaking down. However, in conjunction with the hay, it acts as a great mulch that will suppress many spring weeds. It will also feed the worms that will begin taking it down into the soil for you.

Ornamentals

As you know I am a big supporter of field grown flower farmers. Right now my friend Mike at Prickly Pair Farm is planting ammi, stattice and dianthus under cover. You can start the same flowers indoors now. Growing from seed is the best way I know to have a ton of flowers for spring planting without spending a ton of money.

Right now is a great time to begin adding compost to the beds that you will be planting in the March

Lawns

I have a couple hundred daffodils planted in my yard. As I walked around yesterday looking to see if they had broken ground I noticed lots of some very bad weeds beginning to make a stand. Dandelions and thistles are beginning to come on strong. These are easy to take care of with a good sharp hoe. However, my true weed nemesis is Queen Anne’s Lace. Queen Anne’s Lace is actually wild carrot. Right now it is forming its cluster of leaves on the ground. I leave it alone until it sends up its flower stalk then I pull it up, white carrot root and all.

****Be sure to check out my friend Bart’s blog (Our Garden View) for more great tips for the Central and South Central garden!

This post has been shared on the HomeAcre Hop. Be sure to stop by the hop. Tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Grow Luscious Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Jay White

Lettuce is a very interesting crop to me. Most people I know eat a ton of it. However, I have never had anyone tell me that lettuce is their favorite vegetable of all time. In fact, if you asked ten people to name their favorite vegetables, I am willing to bet that lettuce would not make anyone’s list. At its best, lettuce is a just an exceptional supporting character. While you won’t find many recipes that feature lettuce, we all know that our salads and sandwiches are much better when lettuce is a part of them.

Lettuce may not be your favorite food but it sure makes a lot of your favorite foods better!

People have been eating lettuce for a very long time. Scientists believe that lettuce was domesticated about 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Sometime around that time period, the Egyptians started turning a weed whose seeds they used for oils and medicines into a leafy food source. The Egyptians eventually shared lettuce with the Greeks and the Greeks eventually shared it with the Romans. In fact, the term “lettuce” came from the Roman name for the plant “lactuca”.

Since lettuce readily cross pollinates, breeders have built a wide array of varieties

Since lettuce cross pollenates easily, breeders have produced a wide array of plant types and colorations. Lettuce types range from loose, frilly leaved varieties to the tight balls of leaves you see in iceberg lettuce. Lettuce coloration can vary from pale green to deep burgundy with some varigations that have both colors. Because of this range of colors and forms I use lettuce as an ornamental as much as I do for its nutritive qualities. Lettuce is generally broken up into seven categories based on leaf structure and use. These categories are leaf, romaine, crisphead, butterhead, summercrisp, stem and oilseed. Seeds of the first five are readily available to the home gardener.

Lettuce’s many colors and textures make it as useful in the flower bed as it is in the kitchen garden. Photo by Patty Leander

Growing Lettuce – Lettuce is a great crop for the beginning gardener. It is fairly easy to grow and it is quick to harvest. However, lettuce does have a couple of problems you need to be aware of before you plant. First, lettuce of all types hates high heat. Sustained temperatures over 75 degrees will make lettuce “bolt”. Bolting is a term that is used to describe the process where some trigger (heat or stress like drought, weed competition or pests) makes the leafy, edible plant we eat produce a tall stalk that flowers and seeds. Once this happens lettuce leaves become tough and bitter. Second, just about every pest known to the gardener likes lettuce as much as we do. Be aware that if you grow lettuce for many seasons you will eventually have problems with mammals, bugs, bacteria and viruses.

Baby lettuce in a square foot garden. Photo by Bruce Leander

Here are some basics for growing lettuce. In addition to cool temperatures (45 to 75 F are preferred by most varieties), most lettuce prefers a soil that is slightly acidic. Most lettuce varieties do best in soils with a pH of 6.5 to 6.8. With so much crossbreeding going on with lettuce you can find varieties that will tolerate more alkaline soils. Lettuce also likes loose, nitrogen rich soil. Since the plants have a relatively small root system they need ample water and nutrition in the soil to help them thrive. Also, even though many varieties will tolerate some shade, most prefer at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.

When it comes time to plant remember that lettuce seeds actually need light to germinate. Because of this, cover them lightly with soil when you plant. If you plant the seeds too deeply they will never germinate. When I grow romaine or heading type lettuces I start my plants indoors in coir pellets around the first week of September. I then transplant them in late September or early October. I place my transplants about a foot apart for head types and six inches apart for upright types. Lettuce that is planted too close together deprives the plants of sunlight they need to thrive and also invites in a large number of pests.

I use lettuce to line the beds of my potager

When planting leaf type lettuce I direct sow the seeds in my garden beds. I dig a shallow furrow with my Cobrahead Hand Hoe and then sprinkle the little seeds down the row. Once the seeds germinate I thin to allow at least 6” between plants. Lettuce needs sunlight to develop color and nutrients. Lettuce that is planted too closely together will be stunted, pale and low in nutrients.

When trying to establish seeds it is important to keep your seed bed consistently moist. Since these little seeds were basically planted on top of the ground, their first roots are often exposed to air. If your seed beds are too dry, these little roots will dry out and die.

Lettuce does not compete well with weeds. Keep your beds weed free to ensure the best quality lettuce. Photo by Bruce Leander

Once your little plants are established you want to keep the area around them weed free. Lettuce has a small root system. Most plants only have some type of small taproot and then a few lateral roots. Weeds can easily suck up the moisture that these plants need to thrive. Also, if lettuce feels stress from weeds it will begin to bolt.

Since most varieties of lettuce are ready to harvest in about 45 days you should not need to fertilize if you plant in a bed that has been well worked with organic material. However, if you want the biggest and greenest leaves possible you can provide a weekly supplement of compost tea or other liquid organic product. If using a commercial product (like Miracle grow), mix the solution at half the recommended rate and apply weekly.

Lettuce is plagued by a variety of pests. Once your plants are established begin to watch for bug damage or signs of disease

Once your plants become established begin to watch for problems. Bunnies love lettuce and so do many different caterpillars and bugs. If bugs become a problem you can apply a translucent row cover to help keep them away. Diseases are a different matter. There are several bacterial and viral agents that can attack your lettuce crop. These agents can cause leaf wilt, leaf spot, curled leaves, rot and even death. If you believe you have a virus or bacterial infection you need to remove the plants as soon as possible.

Since lettuce is a cool season plant you always have to be prepared to manage unexpected freezing temperatures. Luckily, even though lettuce is about 96% water, it is a fairly hardy plant. Most varities can survive temperatures as low as 28 without much damage. If it is going to get colder than that you will need to cover them. While some varieties can take a freeze down to 24 degrees, temps this cold will burn the leaves of almost all varieties. To extended their life as long as possible in cold weather, mulch heavily and set up hoops so you can easily apply row cover.

One more thing, lettuce is a great container plant. I love growing lettuce in containers because I can keep them close to my house for easy harvest and so I can easily bring them inside when temperatures plummet. With so many textures and colors it is easy to make lovely and edible potted arrangements to keep by the back door. Plus, if you plant the leafy or romaine types, you can snip off the outer leaves for smaller harvests and keep the same plants producing for months.

This post has been shared on the Homestead Barn Hop. Hops are great way for you to connect with and learn from some of the best bloggers on the web. Be sure to check them out!

The Fall Potager

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Jay White

Even though it is the middle of December, my little potager has never looked better. This is one of the reasons I love living in Texas. Because of the mild winters, I can literally garden year round. Everyone loves to complain about our hot summers. However, in my opinion, our winters more than make up for it. I heard last night that Houston averages 16 days per year below freezing. We are about 90 miles north of Houston but I am willing to bet we only have 20 to 24 days that are that cold. Due to this, with proper crop selection, some rotational planting and the willingness to occasionally cover things up, your fall garden can last right up to the spring planting. Below are several pics of the things that are currently growing in my potager:

I have three different varieties of broccoli growing in my garden.

I have 12 cauliflower growing. I planted the cauliflower in blocks of three two weeks apart. This way I don’t have to worry about eating 12 cauliflower in one week!

My wife and I love spinach. Because of this, two of our triangular beds are lined with it. In classic gardening form, one bed had a bout a 100% germination rate. In the other bed, the germination was very spotty. These little set backs are the things that keep me interested. I will spend hours trying to figure out why one bed performed perfectly and the other, identical bed, was somewhat of a disappointment.

I always grow lettuce in the fall. We eat a ton of it and it is so easy. I only grow leaf lettuce. Nothing against head lettuce, but once you harvest a head you have to replant and wait. With leaf lettuce you can continuously clip the leaves through out the season.

I love shallots. Their form is lovely in many applications in the potager. I grow these things year round. I never harvest them all. Many people call them dividing onions and there is a good reason. I recently left a clump in the ground for a year and there were almost 50 off shots on it. I have about a dozen heads of cabbage scattered around the potager. We are going to try our hand at homemade sauerkraut when the harvest comes in.

I don’t just have veggies growing in the potager. I have tons of flowers. These are baby larkspur. I also have lots of Victoria Salvia, poppies, calendula, mums, two different roses and hollyhocks. There are also a few byzantine glads and dianthus scattered around as well.