Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 (Vol. 19) June 11

Free Republic | 06-11-2010 | Red_Devil 232

[trisham]

Wow. I can't even imagine.

I hate watering. Weeding is therapeutic, watering is torture.

[texanyankee]

Yeah, plus it adds onto the water bill.

[RoseyT]

After over a month with no significant precipitation, I am happy to report that it rained here! We have had several good showers in the past week. Thank God!

I’ve been busy making pickles and I canned some potatoes. Okra is finally producing, squash is hanging on, green beans aren’t doing so well. The corn was pretty much a bust and my poor tomatoes look like it’s already July.

We’re still waiting for peaches and plums to ripen.

Happy gardening, y’all!

[texanyankee]

I’m fixing to dig up the rest of my taters so the garden will have some space available.

Question:

Being in central Texas - with high summer temps - what would be a “good” vegetable to plant at the time of the year? I suppose I will have the row available for planting before the end of June.

[Arrowhead1952]

We are about 35 miles west of 35 and NW of Austin. The storms seemed to start right in our area. It’s nice to see Lake Travis at the full mark again.

[hoosiermama]

Rain in our forecast....Looks like a change of plans. Will mow and then work indoors....See ya all in a couple of hours!

[SoftballMominVA]

I have a question about my tomato plants.

I have 6 bush tomato plants - determinate Romas. Our soil here is very, VERY heavy clay, so we’ve added a lot of amendments to the soil to break it up and add nutrients.

In the past I’ve had little success with tomatoes what with rot and spliting of the tomato itself. Which I know are signs of erratic watering. So I really want to do this right this time!

The bushes are about 2 feet high and are producing flowers and a few golf ball sized tomatoes.

Should I pinch off the flowers until the plants get bigger?

How much do I water them? How often?

Thanks

[texanyankee]

I’m glad you reminded me of okra....
Our okra is just now starting to produce as well. I had enough picked last night to add to pot of zucchini I cooked.

I love okra.

[texanyankee]

That’s nice.....however Lake Buchanan is about 79% full.

[trisham]

Do you have water limits? We did in our old house. Not only was it expensive to water, we could only water every other day, 6-9AM and 6-9 PM. We’re on a well here, but I don’t need to water as much because the soil is different. We were on a sand hill previously. I’ve also got my vegetables in plastic sacs now.

[Nepeta]

Yeah, plus it adds onto the water bill.

I channel my bath water into the garden to minimize the need for watering from the tap. The zinnias don't care where their water comes from.

[texanyankee]

No watering limits as of now. The lakes around here got replenished for the most part. However, we are only at the beginning of summer so the situation could likely change.

Last summer was our first summer here and at that time we were in the midst of a bad drought. There were water restrictions imposed but due to the plentiful fall, winter & spring showers that ended.

[RoseyT]

I can’t think of anything that would make it through July & August in Texas. Here are planting guides from Texas A&M for spring and fall.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden14.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/fallgarden/falldirect.html

[Arrowhead1952]

I sure hope it rains up your way soon. Travis was down over 50 feet last year.

[poobear]

I have a local garden center that blends their own fertilizers. Last year they recommended an all purpose type 10-2-12. on everything but root crops. The recommended a starter fertilizer with high phosphorus for them.

Everything thrived! You may want to look at your PH. I had to till in lye to bring the soil neutral.

Best of luck!

[texanyankee]

We collect our rain water - but our storage capacity is only about 80 gallons so we use that water for the tender flowers & also to water any freshly planted vegetable seeds.

[RoseyT]

Okra and tomatoes...yum yum! I’d like to pickle some too as my kids love it!

[texanyankee]

Thanks.... It seems to say that in our region (transition between zone 2 & 3)I could possibly try planting eggplant.

I definitely got time to prepare the row & seedbed before I figure this out.

[tubebender]

We may actually see the sun for the first time in a couple of weeks here on the far N/W coast of Calif but the cool damp weather has been great for the @#$%^&^%$#@!@ WEEDS!!! I need to fill about 50 pots and planters with Black Gold potting soil for the deck so my live-in gardener can finally plant her flowers she grew from seed. She will have to pinch them out as they have grown leggy in the cold frame and that's after she mows the lawns which is after she gets her nails painted. Did I tell you she has already walked 3 miles, spent a hour on FR and 19 other web sites while watching what ever is on Fox between 4 and 5 AM and is starting a wash, made the beds and emptied the dishwasher and it's already 6:15 here.

It's 54 degrees and windy here on the Vast Bender Estate...

[texanyankee]

I wish our son loved okra. We grew up eating garden grown tomatoes & okra. I dont care which way you cook okra - it’s good & I’ll eat it.

My favorite way is a pot of sliced okra with quartered tomatoes, onions and a dash of pepper & salt.