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I am in need of advice, especially those who live in SE Texas where I live. I would like to garden and in the past have attempted to have tomatoes and a few other things in pots. I can never seem to actually grow anything. Our house is situated so that we get morning sun in the front of the house, but a large tree shades most of it, and the back of the house bakes in the afternoon sun. In the past the sun has cooked any plants I have back there, or bugs/birds invade them. How do you garden in hot climates? Right now I have a tomato plant in a pot in the front of my house to see if it does better there. So far it looks good but it doesn’t get a lot of sun, but it does get some. I would like to grow other things but am frustrated with the weather problems I am having and not knowing what to do about it. We can buy vegetable plants in February and get started before the heat of spring and summer, but I don’t want to invest in a raised garden till I can find a place to put it. HELP!!

I'm in Montgomery county and my county agent told me to plant tomatos early so as to beat the heat of the summer sun, plant around Mar 1st, and that they thrive on sunlight, the more the better. But they do not like 100deg sun. I was blessed last year to have western shade in the hot afternoon from 3pm on, so I had tomatos when my friend's had burned up. I only get about 5-6 hrs sun because of a heavy tree canopy, but there is this little sunny spot about 14ft x 20ft that I can garden in.

Best thing would be get in touch with your country extension service and show them photos of your property and get their advice, they're pros!

Sun won’t hurt your plants, as long as you keep them watered. If you are growing things that might actually sun burn, you can make a hoop house with flexible tubing and shade cloth and alligator clips (like you would use in an office). This works great with a raised bed garden because the tubes (polyurethane water pipe) just bend down and are secured by the edges of the bed. Easy to put up and easy to remove. Looks like a Conestoga wagon when you have it all set up.

I did this a few years ago when I had to leave town shortly after planting my garden. I set up a sprinkler on a timer and a shade house. When I got back a week later, everything was great. I have some pictures, but they are on my other computer. I’ll post them later when I find them.

In your situation (TX — drought) I would recommend a raised bed with a drip watering system on a timer. Consult tubebender for instructions on a drip watering system.

I live in Wisconsin, but I lived in TX for nearly 10 years in the Houston area. It took nearly 10 years for us to get the trees up enough for me to open my drapes. That sun can be brutal. The finish on my piano is still crazed from the sun it took between the time we moved in and the drapes were deliviered.

Here’s a great site to help on those tomatoes and peppers in SE Texas.

http://www.settfest.com/2009/02/se-texas-tomato-growing-calendars/

As other have said, check with your county agent. Also, and this takes some time but well worth the effort, check your growing season with the NEW zone map because climits have changed and then go to Burpee’s site and do a spread sheet of sorts for your zone’s veggies. Combine that with the Farmer’s Almanac planting by the moon dates and you’re set.

Yeah, last year was a buggerboo for Texas gardeners. We’ve already had 100 degrees in Central Texas so it looks like we might be in for a second year of HOT. You would probably have better luck not doing containers here since they dry out too fast.

Update - hubby just refilled the hummingbird feeder that he had refilled last night about 8pm. He had them flying around as he was trying to hang it. Geez, that’s 18 hours. Told y’all they’re lined up like it was McDonald’s.

Big pots help. Tomatoes like the heat, but if the roots get hot, they'll grow long and leggy and you'll have very few fruit. You may also consider planting them with another plant to provide some shade or burying the pot halfway in the ground to provide additional protection from the heat.

Julienne tomato and mango

Julienne tomato and banana

If you have a little space, a small hydroponics setup may work.

Hydroponics May 2012