Hope to start a small raised garden soon. Hoping for cucumber and spinach. Maybe peppers ?

Anything wrong with seeds from Lowe's ?

Second shelf, middle left. Is something not growing, or taking longer to germinate?

That container is for Kale, and my goal was to stagger planting those seeds about 2-3 weeks apart. First planting would be the left third, next planting would be the middle third, and the final would be the right third. I really wanted to teach my 3 year old about where food comes from, so I got her to help me plant. Turns out that a 3 year old will plant seeds where ever she wants, so I actually got a couple of errant seeds in the middle third that I didn't want there at that time. Oh well.

Happy to report that ZooGuy's peas, pumpkins, and borage survived the overnight freeze (light frost? it was only 32* for 3 hours) and are looking great.

I can't decide if the cabbage is thriving or not...feel like it's plateaued. That being said, poblano and jalapenos are going in the ground in a couple of weeks since they're about to outgrow their little Dixie cups.

I've got 12 ...50 foot rows going in. And another 5...50 foot rows in another area. That's down from 29...100 foot rows. Hoophouse is up and going. All y'all that are seeding in trays don't forget to harden 'Em off for a week before planting out. And look up Soil blocking. That'll get you going even quicker. Use Eliot Coleman's potting mix formula. It's pretty much the only recipe that holds together really well.

I'm just doing jalapenos and tomatoes this year, one japanese eggplant. My garden just isn't positioned right in the sun to really get the best produce. I can grow the **** out of meyer lemons and I planted my key lime in the ground this winter and both will go crazy. At least I won't have scurvy. I had over 200 lemons this year.

This will be my first season in our new home in ETX. I've missed the past 2 seasons. First miss was we had just moved to a new home in CTX, and I was building the garden area and installing irrigation along with landscaping etc. Then we moved to ETX in January and were living in a town home until July.




Previous owner had some old tomato cages along this bed and is the only area that azaleas and other bushes aren't planted, so I know it's supported a garden before. I've added some 2x6's along the base of the fence so I can add some castings and compost next weekend. It also has 2 sprinklers capped already, so I am going to build drip lines off of them and run them along the ground.

I will plant some onions/garlic, (already late on them, but can't hurt). 2-3 tomato bushes, some japs, and I'll see what else strikes my fancy at the nursery.

Next year I really want to cut the turf in the area out and make the entire strip my garden.

Planting a couple rows of spinach and a row of green beans. It is still a couple weeks away for north Texas on the beans, but I am impatient with all this warmer weather.

REleased the worms....


Time for them to get to work.

Kids could help wanting to poke them...

Got seeds in the mail from rareseeds.com Saturday.

"Only" got 47 different varieties, including the 30-40 varieties I still have from last year.

Yes, I love gardening, and yes, I'm nuts.

Planted our first garden in Austin a couple of weeks ago. Bought plants at Lowe's instead of starting from seed. 32 x 4 bed that was previously hedges on south side of house, added a few inches of mature compost topped with a few inches of less mature compost as mulch. Onions, cilantro, parsley, basil, bell peppers, jalapeos, broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes all planted. Had a little freeze scare last week but covered everything and we appear to be fine. Probably spent a lot more than had we started seeds but looking forward to learning a lot and hopefully having some great fresh produce.

Red Pear Realty said:

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SoulSlaveAG2005 said:

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Time for them to get to work.

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The kids or the worms?

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I just started my first group of seeds tonight. Banana peppers, bell peppers, two varieties of jalapeos, eggplant and three varieties of tomatoes. Also got two small beefsteak tomato plants from my dad. Trying to decide where I'm going to plant them, probably pot them up.

In a week or two I'll start my next seed tray for my squash, zucchini, okra and cucumbers.

I'm also a little behind, but plan on planting some carrot seeds and onion sets directly into the garden tomorrow and see what happens.

I decided to try artichokes and planted two last week. I noticed some holes in the leaves but couldn't find any pests til yesterday evening there were slugs. We had a massacre, but is there anything I can put out to control them that doesn't involve a nightly slug hunt?

So what's the consensus on coffee grounds in the garden? Seems like the interwebz is about 75% for and 25% against, give or take.

I put some on my plants this weekend and everything seems fine except the more mature peas (3 months vs 3 weeks) are 'yellowing' a little bit. Could be correlation vs causation, but the only change is the coffee grounds.

All other plants, including younger peas appear fine.

Here is what Agrilife recommends - just depends if you are wanting to stay away from pesticides:

Numerous methods of killing slugs exist such as commercial slug baits and traps filled with beer. An alternative that keeps other critters away from the bait was created by Helmet Brodka from Renton, Washington. It requires an empty 2 liter soft drink bottle. Cut off the top end and drop a spoonful of slug bait in the bottom. Invert the pointed top end into the bottom section of the bottle. Staple the sides together in 3 places and place the trap in the garden next to a leafy plant. The slug will crawl in through the small opening attracted by the bait and not be able to get out. Use the bottle for several weeks and then discard. Start over again for you will never be able to get ride of all the slugs but you can keep them under control.

What are you trying to accomplish with using the coffee grounds?

freshfrenchfryfanatic said:

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What are you trying to accomplish with using the coffee grounds?

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Grow things...better?

According to the google, they're decent fertilizer and help the soil. But you know what they say about the internet.

The reason I ask is the recommendation is to use straight coffee grounds directly into the soil is best for acid loving plants (azaleas, camellias, blueberries, etc.). Coffee grounds are excellent additions to compost piles (if you have one) if you are looking to add organic matter to your vegetable garden. You are probably better off using a balanced fertilizer for your veggies at this point if you are seeing yellowing.

Noted. I do have a small compost bin in the back that I've been adding the leftover coffee grounds too.

I'm also wondering if I'm watering too much. Here, the internet tells me that yellowing could be too much water.

so maybe not quite gardening but related to it. I keep toying with the idea of putting in a box garden but never get to it. Mostly b/c I'm the only one who will eat a lot of veggies in my house!!
I'll just use pots and grow a few things I like (jalapeno, tomato, etc).
However, I do have other landscape beds with several different plants plus a lime tree. i know they would all benefit from compost as would my potted veggies. Heck even my yard would!!
So it would be more beneficial/useful if I did my own compost pile.

To help understand my environment. Live in Houston. I mow my own yard. Mostly follow Lemons schedule so I can easily contribute a TON of grass clippings to the compost pile. Typically I just mulch mow in summer. Not sure impact of a lot of grass that's fertilized would have but think it definitely would help. Also have some oak trees in front, bradford pears in back (ducking as we put those in before I knew how bad they were) that I can get leaves from when they drop.

So, that said, any tips on composting?

It's actually best to just leave your grass clippings on your lawn when you mow. It adds nitrogen and organic matter back into the soil. Some people don't like to do that so a compost pile would be a great option especially if you also have a bunch a leaves that you rake up every fall as well. Here is a wonderful article on the basics of composting:

https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/library/gardening/composting/

that's exactly what I have been doing for years. But I end up with a TON of grass so I figured I could easily afford to put some in a compost pile while still leaving some in the yard. i.e. every other week bag the clippings and put in the pile.

txaggie_08 said:

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It's about that time to start planning. What are you doing in your garden this year?

I'm venturing into raised bed gardening for the first, and thought it a good idea to start a thread for everyone to provide details of what they're planting this year, and updates to their garden. I've constructed a 5' x 10' bed, and am trying to determine what all I would like to grow in that space.

Where does everyone purchase their seeds - local nursery or an online store? How do you choose out of so many different varieties? It can be overwhelming looking through some of these seed catalogs. Do y'all start seeds indoors, or just wait and sow directly into the garden when temps are right?

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First piece of advice is to make your boxes much "skinnier". That way you can stay on the outside of the box and simply reach in. 2'-2.5' wide is just about perfect.

I get my seed from Producer's Cooperative, here in Bryan.

Howdy folks. Weekend update here. Tell me why my more mature peas are yellowing, but the newer/younger peas are fine. Both are getting the same amount of water, and right, wrong or indifferent, they got the same amount of coffee grounds.

Disregard the chicken wire, it was an impromptu build because we got a Corgi-type dog that dug up part of the garden.





These peas are ~5 weeks old. Planted directly into the ground after my dog disrupted some. Wanted to ensure something came up, and these did.


Please note, I cut the leaves off the yellow ones. They did not fall on their own.

You could be dealing with Fusarium Wilt which is common with certain pea varieties. This fungal disease causes yellowing and stunting of older plants and yellowing, stunting and death to seedlings. The plant will exhibit signs of wilting frequently and the lower leaves turn yellow and dry up. Unfortunately you can't really treat for this, just have to look for resistant varieties.

Killin' it over here thanks to the seed from Local Feed Stores, Petals from the Past plants, Seed Savers Exchange, Shop at Monticello for Heirloom Seed, Magnolia Gardens plants, Renee's Garden Seed, Ivy Garth Seed, Johnny's Selected Seed, Southern Exposure Seed, Botanical Seed, Baker Creek and High Mowing, Seed

Irrigation in, grow bags planted and drip lines installed. All tomatoes transferred to one gallon pots over the last couple weeks. Planting them tomorrow based on the moon schedule.

Will post picks after planting.

Let's talk fertilizer!

I planted a bunch of tomato, eggplant, jalapeo and bell pepper seeds indoors Sunday night, by Thursday most of the tomatoes were already popping up, and eggplants started yesterday. Now just waiting on the peppers.

Kind of late to the game, but got onion sets and carrot seeds planted directly into the garden Monday night. Wish I could have gotten the onions started much earlier, but traveling on the weekends put me behind.

Going to plant some beefsteak tomato plants my dad gave to me in a wine barrel container today. They'll kinda be my experimental tomatoes to see how they do in a container.

freshfrenchfryfanatic said:

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Unfortunately you can't really treat for this, just have to look for resistant varieties.

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Well that sucks.