Fall gardening

[Brent S]

i went out during a lull in the rain a little while ago and picked some stuff in the garden. I still have some summertime stuff producing. I got a pile of bell peppers, a couple tomatoes, a beautiful watermelon, and a couple beets. The tomatoes and peppers must know the fall is here, so they are making a last ditch effort to reproduce. There are green tomatoes everywhere, and the peppers are so heavy with fruit some branches are breaking. I also have the second round of potatoes doing well. As soon as the plants start to wilt I will dig up another round of red potatoes. I have three or four watermelons left, but the cool mornings are allready wilting the vines. I did allready plant the fall stuff with broccoli, lettuces, spinache, carrots and peas.

 

[Liv4today55]

Nice harvest; We have a mild enough winter in Texas to grow year round; Our only challenge has been due to drought; Rabbits were eating all of our seedlings; Have rain now and replanted; Lettuce, radishes, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Spinach , potatoes - All in great shape

 

[Gazrok]

Nice Brent!

 

[Brent S]

Nice harvest; We have a mild enough winter in Texas to grow year round; Our only challenge has been due to drought; Rabbits were eating all of our seedlings; Have rain now and replanted; Lettuce, radishes, broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Spinach , potatoes - All in great shape

I never thought I would care about growing things, but it really has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. I also eat a lot better tasting and healthier things now. I brought in 6 tomatoes tonight, and had one on my sandwich for dinner moments ago. It was less than ten minutes from vine to stomach . The greenhouse was the best thing I've done for yield, as it protects from bugs, sun, drought and temperature.

 

[Gazrok]

Good point on the bugs for the greenhouse. I'm going to just try an open (though fenced in) garden first, but if that doesn't go so well, it wouldn't be too hard to do a greenhouse in the same area and utilize the garage for one of the walls. We'll see how it goes.

We plan to grow some things just along the outside perimeter of the house, in beds, like melons and squashes (and pineapple).

We already have wild blackberries too, but I want to extend these to the whole perimeter of the property.

 

[Brent S]

Good point on the bugs for the greenhouse. I'm going to just try an open (though fenced in) garden first, but if that doesn't go so well, it wouldn't be too hard to do a greenhouse in the same area and utilize the garage for one of the walls. We'll see how it goes.

We plan to grow some things just along the outside perimeter of the house, in beds, like melons and squashes (and pineapple).

We already have wild blackberries too, but I want to extend these to the whole perimeter of the property.

All my landscaping is done with some kind of edibles. It's really cool to have a small vineyard in the front. I've also got a large blueberry patch, a hillside covered in blackberries, and several areas with assorted fruit trees. I still have a large area that I'm not sure what to do with yet. I guess I'll wait till I find something on sale!

 

[Brent S]

Good point on the bugs for the greenhouse. I'm going to just try an open (though fenced in) garden first, but if that doesn't go so well, it wouldn't be too hard to do a greenhouse in the same area and utilize the garage for one of the walls. We'll see how it goes.

We plan to grow some things just along the outside perimeter of the house, in beds, like melons and squashes (and pineapple).

We already have wild blackberries too, but I want to extend these to the whole perimeter of the property.

I like the protection of the blackberries, as a natural thorny barrier. The blackberries I have that were store bought are thornless and have berries four times larger than the wild ones. I got a five gallon jug of wine from them this year, and still have a gallon bag in the freezer for desserts. It is kind of nice not getting cut up when picking them.

 

[Dani]

I planted three thornless blackberries in my backyard. When Ike blew in, fence fell and took only one out completely, so then I had two. Hunny overtook my sick barn for the geese, so when I had a sick goat, brought it to the backyard. FYI, they LOVE blackberries and apple trees including bark. I wrapped some wire and corrugated metal around the apple tree trunk and well the blackberries, we'll just have to wait and see when spring comes. I do still have the wild berries that I can pick at least. Since we had the possible bobcat kill of the goose, hunny has brought the geese back in with the chickens so I have my sick barn area back, but with a bobcat lurking around, just not comfortable putting any in there. I only have one, Dexter, who has some hoof rot because of how much rain we have had. Brought him in the back since it is higher than the pasture and been giving him antibiotics along with a hoof hardener. It is slowly healing.

 

[Brent S]

I planted three thornless blackberries in my backyard. When Ike blew in, fence fell and took only one out completely, so then I had two. Hunny overtook my sick barn for the geese, so when I had a sick goat, brought it to the backyard. FYI, they LOVE blackberries and apple trees including bark. I wrapped some wire and corrugated metal around the apple tree trunk and well the blackberries, we'll just have to wait and see when spring comes. I do still have the wild berries that I can pick at least. Since we had the possible bobcat kill of the goose, hunny has brought the geese back in with the chickens so I have my sick barn area back, but with a bobcat lurking around, just not comfortable putting any in there. I only have one, Dexter, who has some hoof rot because of how much rain we have had. Brought him in the back since it is higher than the pasture and been giving him antibiotics along with a hoof hardener. It is slowly healing.

My blackberries send out long runners that when they touch the ground they root and now my 7 plants are like 35. There are some wild thorny ones growing in the same area, so will probably cross pollinate??? Either way, they are growing great and obviously like the soil and climate here. All I do is add some water between rains when it's really dry. I like low maintenance plants.

 

[Brent S]

I picked the last gallon of green beans yesterday. The greenhouse really helped keep things growing longer. December 1st, and still growing beans, potatoes and a couple tomatoes in there. We have had a mild season so far, but it was really a huge improvement to start growing 'indoors'. I started picking some sweet peas yesterday too. There were just a handful of them ripe and they never made it back to the house. I like them raw better than cooked, kind of sweet and nutty.

 

[Dani]

The only none fall items I have still growing out in the garden are some bell peppers and habaneros. It has been mild so far here too and I just cover them with old feed sacks and mulch heavy with pine needles. Have been picking greens (collard, mustard, and turnip) like crazy and processing them up right now. Rutabagas are getting close and lettuce is being eaten as fast as we can eat it. . . . and I eat a lot of salads.

 

[Brent S]

The only none fall items I have still growing out in the garden are some bell peppers and habaneros. It has been mild so far here too and I just cover them with old feed sacks and mulch heavy with pine needles. Have been picking greens (collard, mustard, and turnip) like crazy and processing them up right now. Rutabagas are getting close and lettuce is being eaten as fast as we can eat it. . . . and I eat a lot of salads.

I've never tried a rutabaga yet but will give it a go. I'm hoping to till the bed the beans are in and plant some more stuff this weekend. Lettuces are a must and more carrots.
I didn't get a single bell pepper this year. Luckily I have several bags of frozen ones for cooking with. With the unpredictable weather it's really cool to be able to preserve what you produce to help carry over in the lean seasons.