Ready…Set…Garden!

It’s that time of year again…”Gan-Green Thumb” and I are ready to start gardening. Gardening in Texas can be tricky; you have to plant your vegetables late enough that they are not in danger of frost (and here you never really know when the last frost will be), but you also have to plant them early enough that you can harvest them before the fire of Texas summer burns up the whole yard. This will be our third year to garden. Our first year was pretty much a wash-out (“Gan-Green Thumb” started way too late), and although last year was better, we still have a long way to go. But we are excited and ready to get going on this year’s garden and put to use all of those books that we have read.

There is a new threat to this year’s garden, however, and it is even more destructive than the “Gan-Green Thumb”: Molly-Anna Marie. She’s our new golden retriever puppy.

Yes, she’s cute, and oh-so-soft, but when it comes to plant life, she can tear out a newly planted violet in record time. She also loves to dig in the square foot gardens and stomp all over EVERYTHING! We will see how much suffering is caused in the days to come!

I have eagerly awaited the return of my four beloved blue berry bushes. I bought them year-before-last, and they were just tiny twigs (I had read on the internet that it was best to have two different varieties). Knowing that they liked soil that was more acidic, I planted them in pots with a mixture that was about 1/3 potting soil and 2/3 peat moss (give or take a little). I also give them a little shot of azalea food now and then. They have done so well! In fact, they have done so very well that they really are outgrowing their pots. Where we are going to plant them is still under much discussion, but they definitely need a new home soon:

I had ordered something called the Hansen bush cherry last year, which I have since read is not that great. However, here it is, and two of the three plants that I ordered actually survived the winter. It is another little critter that will need to come out of the pot before next year (I think I may need to buy some acreage!).

Miss Molly-Anna has done quite a number on my young grape vines, chewing some of the branches off at the base, but there is a little bit left, and they are looking pretty good:

One thing about which I am really excited is that this is the first year we have had a dedicated garden spot (besides the square foot gardens). I learned in a gardening class that tomatoes and peppers really do better if they have some room. I'm thinking that corn will probably like some room, too! The Old Coot Who Married Me borrowed a tiller from a friend and tilled up a little area in the back:

He has even been working on a simple little fence (to protect from golden-haired marauders). It will also be used as a trellis for the cucumbers and zucchini that I planted next to it:

The gate has been built, and is ready to be mounted:

The square foot gardens are still intact, and my raspberries are looking like they might need a little more “foot-space”. We are hoping to find an old, antique style bath tub or a stock tank to plant them in, because we have learned that they will take over the whole yard if they are not contained at all!

Since we absolutely LOVE strawberries, I decided to dedicate one of the square foot gardens to them, with enough room to run (I hope!):

The Old Coot Who Married Me has some experiments of his own going, including something that he calls “vertical gardening”:

My bell peppers are okay so far:

And I even have some little tomatoes starting:

This may look like some terrible dirt, and I admit that we have a few more years of amending this soil to get it in shape, but this is actually a row of corn with a row of black-eyed peas planted directly in front of it:

I am trying something called “companion planting” which is a concept put out by the book, “Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening” by Louise Riotte. The idea behind this book is that certain plants do well when planted with other plants. Supposedly, the black-eyed peas will provide the corn with needed nitrogen, while the corn stalks will provide support for the peas to climb. I will later plant some marigolds among all of this, which are supposed to repel the Mexican bean beetle. Those little critters did a real number on our peas last year, and I was angry! If the marigolds don’t work, I will see if I can get some DDT or a flame thrower! (You don’t mess with a Southerner’s black-eyed peas!)

Here are more “Old Coot” experiments (our soil here is awful!):

And here are my compost bins:

I wish I could have the compost set-up that is recommended by the “Dirt Doctor”, but it is an open system and we have had too much trouble with mice around the green house, and they don’t need to be fed any more than they already are! The large green barrel is a compost bin that I ordered a couple of years ago. It does everything that it claims to do, and it was easy to assemble. However, for those who are budget-minded, a trash can with some holes drilled in it (as seen on the left of the picture) is almost as good. I have enjoyed having compost bins – between my recycling efforts and my composting efforts, the amount of trash that we set at the curb each week has been reduced significantly. However, my compost does not seem to “cook” as fast as I would like, and I obviously have more to learn before I am a “master composter”! I had to buy compost this year, which did not make me happy, but compost is not only a natural way to fertilize your soil, it can actually help to change the texture of that awful, clumpy soil that we have (over time). There is a website that I found that is dedicated to composting, and I will be spending some time there!

Once again we have cute little peaches making an appearance!

Will the birds and squirrels get them all, like they did last year? Will the mocking birds eat all of the blue berries once again? Will “Gan-Green Thumb” lose the battle with the Mexican bean beetle this summer? Will Molly-Anna Marie just take the whole garden out, saving us the struggle? Check back in a few weeks for answers to these burning questions!