HoustonVegetableGarden.com

Only 110 heat index so better to be planning than doing.  The fall garden in Houston is basically a cool weather garden so one does not need to get started too early unless you want to plant corn or tomatoes.  I have had reasonable luck with corn, but poor results for fall tomatoes.  For both of these crops ripening will occur in early November when the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler (hopefully).  As a result, ripening will be slow.  For corn it spreads the ripening over a longer period than in the spring; not a bad thing.  For tomatoes, however, ripening can take forever. Both corn and tomatoes need to be planted in August which beans fighting intense heat for a long time.  If you must try tomatoes, the cherry/plum type are likely to be more successful than slicer varieties.
 
Beans are intermediate between long growing season crops like corn and the frost tolerant winter crops.  The are not frost tolerate but take only about 50 days to mature.  I have successfully planted fall beans as late as early October. However, September planting is preferred.

The real joy of fall and winter gardening is the wide variety of vegetables that do well in our cool, but not cold winters.  They include all kinds of root vegetables, greens, various member of the cabbages and lettuce and other salad greens.  The following link gives my plan for the fall garden and approximate planting dates.  2110FW Plot

We finally got a picking of okra in the Houston vegetable garden.  I planted a combination of ZeeBest and Flower Bed, both locally produced seeds formerly available through Urban Harvest.  Both produce nice okra on bush type plants.  The seed were planted in April after the broccoli was finished.  Germination was poor; probably because the seed were rather old.  Next year I will have to decide on another variety.

Otherwise things are rather slow.  The heavy rains have caused a lot of weeds to germinate.  It was a good spring garden.  A real good crop of tomatoes, beans that lasted into June and a lot of onions and leeks.  We had a few left over beets that we finally pulled in July.  They were still good!

“In other environmental issues we tell people to stop something, reduce their impact, reduce their damage,” - US Ecologist Gary Nabhan

Since the beginning of the green movement, there has been a rise in the number of organizations and businesses that are doing their part in the promotion of sustainability through conservation. As human beings, we’re told to reduce our carbon footprint, consume less unhealthy foods, and spend less time in the shower! But let’s take a minute to step back and look at this from a different perspective; one that Gary Nabhan strongly suggests.

Gary Paul Nabhan, phD., is a Arab-American writer/conservationist whose extensive farming work in the U.S./Mexico borderlands region has made him world renowned. Specifically speaking, Nabhan is known for his work in biodiversity as an ethnobotanist. His uplifting messages and attitude towards life and culture has granted us access to multiple beneficial theories including his latest of eat what you conserve.

According to The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization , about three quarters of the genetic diversity of crops been vanishing over the last century and that a dozen species now gives 90% of the animal protein eaten globally. In accordance, just 4 crop species supply half of plant based calories in the human diet.

Nabhan claims that by eating the fruits and vegetables that we are attempting to conserve/save, we’re promoting the granular dissemination of various plant species. But this goes beyond what we typically buy in supermarkets, particularly because of price and abundance. We must remember to try new things and immerse ourselves in the very concept of diversity. Keep in mind- the benefits of splurging for that costly fruit/vegetable supremely outweigh the cons. Not only are you promoting biodiversity and further eliminating the needs of farmers to remove rare, less purchased crops off their agenda, but you’re also effectively encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Agriculturist Marco Contiero mentioned that “biodiversity is an essential characteristic of any sustainable agricultural system, especially in the context of climate change.” [1] With sustainable crop efforts being lead by the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) and the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) the duo plans to provide a more sustainable crop that can withstand natural disasters, avoiding food shortages like Haiti is experiencing. Contiero goes on to state “We need to ensure this is the basis for the future…” – This is exactly what Doug Band, the CGI, and the IRRI are doing by engaging in sustainability efforts.

So remember, next time you’re in the supermarket picking out a common varietal of navel oranges or strawberries, turn your attention to something that’s a bit more exotic in nature. The same goes for salads/salad ingredients; shop outside the norm, picking spices and vegetables that you wouldn’t normally incorporate into your everyday diet. During such economic downtime it isn’t always easy to maintain the same level of grocery shopping intrigue, but we must also not forget that in this sundry of foods we can find fun!

Dan Grifen – Supporter of all things green and progressive.

As mentioned in a previous post, my son bought several Earth Boxes for raising vegetables and herbs in Houston.  His back yard has too much shade as well as 2 beagles.  However he has a sunny driveway with areas not used by cars.  He tried a number of vegetables and had good luck with most.  Here is how each worked out:

• Corn:  The biggest failure. The boxes are probably just too small for a plant as large as corn.  Also, it is hard to plant enough to get a reasonable harvest.  Pollination is also a problem.
• Tomatoes:  Worked well. One plant produced about 25 slicer tomatoes of good quality.
• Beans:  Moderate success.  Enough was produced to feed 2, but production was light and nothing produced after the first round of blooms.
• Peppers:  Very good.  Both hot and mild peppers did well.
• Herbs:  Very good.  A good way for anyone to raise herbs.
• Squash:  Nothing.  Plants got big but no squash.  Might be due to vine borer.  I find squash impossible to raise in a small garden.

He is going to try some later season okra now.

Earth boxes (www.earthbox.com) are one of a number of bottom watering systems that seem to be very popular.

I planted two peach trees about 10 years ago and never had a fruit until this year.  One of the trees, a Mid Pride, set some fruit every year but the plum circulia ruined all of it.  The other, a Red Baron, evidently never had enough chilling hours to produce.  I planted a new Ujukitsu orange close to them, planned to cut the peach trees down.  The cold winter changed everything.  Evidently, the plum circulia had a bad time and the Red Baron got enough cooling hours.  The result:  a bumper crop of peaches.  Now what to do?  Will we get another winter like this past one, or will it be like the past nine years and unproductive for peaches??

A lot of innovative ideas have surfaced for space and sunlight deprived urban gardens.  The New York Times had an interesting article on raising tomatoes from a hanging basket, with the tomatoes growing from the bottom.  See:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/garden/20tomato.html?hpw

A number of other ideas have also surfaced including Earth Boxes and similar self watering pots and planters.  My son has planted a number of vegetables in Earth Boxes. We will know soon how they worked out. I notice that Gardeners Supply now offers all kinds of bottom watering pots and kits.

I have always used a bottom watering system for starting seed indoors (link), but have never used any of these for growing vegetables, because I have enough real space with good sunlight.  Would be interested in hearing of anyone’s experience.

The traditional spring crops are in harvest and some are winding down in my Houston vegetable garden.  I have picked a few tomatoes and have a lot more just about ready.  As usual Merced is the earliest and most productive—too bad the seed are no longer available—followed closely by Celebrity and Homestead.  Early Girl has lived up to its name but is a rather wild indeterminate with fruit of only average quality.  Next year I will drop it and Floramerica and add the recommended Merced replacement mentioned in a previous post.

The green beans are through the first picking.  The Contenders may give a small repeat crop and I expect Derby will give a good repeat.

Sugar snaps are finished are on the compost pile.  Onions and leeks not quite ready.  Beets and carrots remaining need to be harvested.

I planted a few Suyo long cucumbers on the fence and some okra seed.  That will be about it for the summer while I am gone.

The Contessa onions in my Houston vegetable garden are starting to form bulbs and should be ready in a couple of weeks; hopefully before I leave for Montana.  The photo on the left shows the thriving bed (the super sugar snaps in the background are about finished but have produced an unbelievable amount of peas).  The picture on the right shows that the bulb is forming.

The recent newsletter from Dixondale Farms “onionman” had some interesting observations on onions that bolt prematurely to seed pods.  He says it is due to stress (lack of water, too much water, etc.).  I always have a few that bolt, but it seems rather random.  One will bolt and the plant right next to it will not; hard to explain by the stress theory.  The onionman points out that onions that bolt will not store well.  In fact, when I was preparing some 1015 onions from the store today (hopefully the last I will buy for some time), the central core was turning brown.  I suspect I bought an onion that had bolted.

Picked the first of the Derby beans from my Houston vegetable garden; 2 1/4 pounds from about 20 square feet.  These are the beans that got "burned" rather badly from the late cold weather.  They recovered beautifully.  Last year my first beans also came on May 2.  I also picked a tomato on May 2 last year, although it was a small outlier that ripened well before the others.  The tomatoes look really good, but none are anywhere near ripe.

The Contender beans are about finished.  I will leave them in and see if they repeat, but I do not expect them to repeat the way Derby beans do.  The two beans are side by side and the Derby plants (left) are about twice as big.  Note the flexible green wire fence to keep Esme the golden doddle out.

I picked the first mess of green beans from the Houston vegetable garden on April 17, about 2 weeks earlier than last year.  I started 24 Contender plants under the grow light in deep 6-pack pots.  They really got a jump start on the plants from seeds planted directly.  However, beans from the direct sown plants should be available next week.

Tomatoes are doing well but are still a long way from picking.  The sugar snaps are through; plants are still healthy (no mildew), but no more blooms.  Broccoli production continues from the side shoots.  Packman broccoli is particularly good at producing a continuing yield of side shoots.  Onions are getting thicker, but have not really made bulbs yet.  The late sown lettuce is ready to pick and will probably bolt soon.  Lots of blooms from cilantro and arugula to feed the good bugs.