Projects

So besides the actual gardening and growing I had to do some related projects. First was a raincatch. This isn't really mandatory for the square foot gardening, but I do need it to grow my blueberries. As I mentioned in an earlier post, blueberries like acidic soil, and I got around that by putting the blueberries in containers. However I could ruin it all by watering the containers from the hose, adding in all the alkalinity from the groundwater. I'm surely not going to buy bottled or purified water, so I decided on collecting rainwater. I looked at raincatches at Home Depot (where I have been spending a disturbing amount of time and money recently) but they were too expensive and all seemed poorly designed. I decided to build a cheap one my own. I bought a 54 gallon Rubbermaid container, some 1 1/2 inch PVC, PVC elbow joints, screen, and zip ties. I think you can get an idea of the construction from the pictures:

I have no idea how well this will hold up, but the total of all the materials was around $28.00 and it took about 30 minutes to put together. The screen is to prevent mosquitoes from using the raincatch as a birthing pool.

Like a hobo Ive been keeping the rainwater in milk jugs and other bottles and hopefully this will be enough for the blueberries. After about two months rain and snow, I have about 40 gallons of water:

Yes, I know I drink a lot of soda.

For now Ive retired the raincatch. I have plenty of water, and when I run out I can just put the container under the drip line of the roof and it will be full.

The next project was a composter. Again, I looked at a bunch of fancy ones at home depot and they ended up being quite expensive. I bought a small, heavy-duty plastic trashcan and just drilled about 30 holes in the bottom and sides with a 5/8" boring bit, to allow oxygen into the compost:

In the end, this cost about 15 dollars and will be important for making my own compost for future plantings. Here it is after a month or so (I turn it every week or so):

ah Swiss chard...

Finally, I wanted to construct a kind of cage to prevent varmits from getting in to the vegetables and either eating the seeds, the fruit, or the plants themselves. I did it with 3/4" PVC and a few T and elbow joints. The top is a woven trellis and later I think I will put wire around the sides. I specifically made it so that I can scale it up by replacing the vertical supports.

Its going to be pretty awesome when I come out one morning and find a raccoon who has gotten himself trapped inside.

Update

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic with school stuff and a few visitors to Austin, so I haven't had much time to blog or really do much work in the garden. Honestly, there isn't much to talk about right now, other than a few small things.

Monday (March 15) I planted the remaining seeds in the garden: 2 plants each regular and pickling cucumbers (two adjacent squares in the upper left corner), 2 lima bean plants (from here, via the Masons), and 9 garden beans (in the lower right hand square). In the back row you can also see the shoots of four corn that I planted a few weeks ago.


Soon after taking these pictures I had my first bit of food from the garden: I picked a red onion and chopped up the stem and base for garnishing on some jambalaya, and I also picked some of the mesclun greens for a salad before St. Patrick's day dinner.

I have some specific concerns:

1. The potatoes are growing so fast. I have started trimming the plants, mainly to let some other plants surrounding the potatoes get sunlight, but I don't know the wisdom of doing this for three or four more months (for new potatoes), or what effect this will ultimately have on the potatoes I do get. Also, I have no idea what is going on under the soil... I've been thinking about next year and perhaps I will do a type of potato bin and just let the potatoes grow.

2. The strawberries are really disappointing. If anything they seem to be dying back. I don't know if they will take off once the weather starts to get really warm, but I hope so. My other berries, the blueberries and the blackberries, are doing really well. The trees also:

peach

apricot

Also regarding the trees, one of the main branches of the pomegranate in the front yard has been snapped off. There are also giant logs of crap around the base of the tree. I have a good idea who is responsible. I don't think the injury will be fatal to the tree, but in fact the tree may already be dead...or its just dormant for a much longer time than the rest of the trees.

I have two other projects. At the plant sale I bought two container tomatoes. I've planted those in some pots and I keep those outside most of the day (unless it is really windy or cold). Generally, I've begun to "harden off" the tomatoes and peppers I have under the lights by leaving them outside a few hours each day. The transplants should be ready to go into the ground in about 3 weeks (after the last frost).


Finally, I decided to try and grow some ginger, in what seems a very simple process. I'm doing it in the container because I will have to bring it in when it gets too cold.

Plant Sale

Given my seedling die-off and, on advice from mom, I decided to check out a few plant sales yesterday and today to buy some seedlings. I still object to this, because I want to grow things from seeds and buying young plants feels like cheating, but I want tomatoes and peppers and this might be the best way to get them, at least until I get better about starting plants from seeds.

Apparently these sales are quite a big deal, but I just randomly found them on craigslist. Yesterday (Friday) I went to a sale at one of the local Austin schools. I can't find a link to it, but it turned out to be pretty small- it was basically a vocational thing. I bought a habanero seedling and a jalapeno seedling.

UPDATE (March 8): I misremembered...I bought a Habanero seedling and a Cherry Bomb pepper seedling.

Today I went to a much bigger sale, at Sunshine Community Gardens. I showed up towards the end of the day, but the amount of peppers and tomatoes they had were massive (you can see a sample by clicking on the list at the above link). I bought two "new big dwarf" tomatoes, which I figure I'll grow outside in containers, not in the garden. I also bought a sweet pickling pepper, an Anaheim, and a "mucho nacho" jalapeno.

So here the new setup of the growing tray:

My grand champion cherry tomato is still totally dominant (its a good 6 inches tall and pretty bushy), and the black krim are coming up nice (bottom row, second from left). I am also getting some action on the other new varieties I planted a little bit ago, so hopefully that will continue.

Two "master gardeners" from the extension office had a table and I asked one of them what was going on with my seedlings. He told me that it sounded like the soil could be too dry or too wet. Big help (I'm being sarcastic). He also said that the grow light should be as close to the plants as possible, which I was confused about (I'm serious). He also told me that the extension service has an email address where you can send pictures and descriptions of your problems and experts can try to answer, which might be more promising.

Hot Plant Action

First, an update on the plants I started in early January under the grow light. A few weeks ago I transplanted them into some simple black nursery pots filled with some of the leftover Mel's Mix from the box. Some were starting to outgrow their little peat pots and I wanted to make the transition into the box as easy as possible. I now have them under a tent of aluminum foil to maximize the light:

Below is a list of what I started with, and following it is what I have now:

• Habanero pepper= I now have 1 doing OK and the other is stalled.
  
• Jalapeno pepper= all died
  
• Bell pepper= 2, both doing OK
  
• An Anaheim-type pepper= all died
  
• Hungarian wax pepper= 1 left, all but dead.
  
• Pepperoncini pepper= all died
  
• Roma Tomatoes= 1 stalled, 1 doing pretty good
  
• Beefsteak Tomatoes= all died
  
• Cherry Tomatoes= 1 massive bastard:
  

All in all, this is a pretty damn miserable performance. I started with about 4 seeds/peat pot and five peat pots, so out of 20 seeds I got about 1 is potentially useable plant. I figure I had about a 50% germination rate, most of the seedlings didn't survive, and then a few more died in the transplanting.

For the life of me I can't figure out why so many have failed. They are in good soil, get a regular amount of high quality light, and are kept moist (but not wet) by regular spritzes. I also water them with a 1-2-1 fertilizer (as recommended by the folks at ANG) every few weeks, diluted into the spray bottle. The stalks of the plants are very strong but the leaves are shriveling, drying, and dying.

I saw this coming a few weeks ago and ordered some new seeds to try and get something going:

Black Krim, a Russian Heirloom Tomato ("In Russia, Tomatoes grow you!")

Ceylon Tomatoes (a mini-beefsteak), because my other beefsteaks died.

Early Jalapeno, because I love Jalapenos and they are one of the reasons, if not the reason, why I started a garden.

Ancho Poblano Peppers, I would like to try and dry these.

"White Lightning" Habanero, because my Habaneros died and these look pretty cool.

While the seedlings have been pretty disapointing the stuff out in the yard and in the box has been going great. The peach tree, in particular, is starting to bloom:

I also bought a lemon tree a few weeks ago at Great Outdoors. Even here in Central Texas it gets too cold for a lemon tree to survive year-round planted in the ground. I keep this one inside in a sunny window in the back bedroom but I may move it outside during the summer. Its already got six little lemons on it.

The veggies are also going pretty strong. This is the lettuce, mesclun greens, and carrots (from the front of the picture to the back) and all nine spots of each have sprouted:

All nine buttercrunch lettuce have come up as well:

And all four peas:

So in the box, I'm batting a thousand. All seeds have sprouted and all the seedlings are doing very well. And though I didn't take a picture of it, the potato runners are also nearly up to the surface.

Fruit Part 2: Bushes

Now, the berries. Blackberries grow quite well in Texas, and the "Sustainable Central Texas" website even says that Blackberries are "the best berries for Central Texas." They need lots of sun, so I started "Ebony King" and Apache varieties down along the chain link fence they can climb up:


I also put in strawberries of the "Chandler" and Sequoia varieties, but these went into the box with the veggies, 4 plants per square foot. I went with 2 varieties of each strawberries and blackberries because I want to see which type performs well.

Finally I put in some blueberries. Like the cherry tree these are kind of a stretch for Central Texas. Blueberries are notable for two things: their preference for cold weather and their need for very acidic soil. The first problem I think I solved by carefully selecting the type of berry. In addition to the "Highbush" and "Lowbush" varieties there is a "Rabbiteye" type which is best for Central Texas. Of all the Rabbiteye types, I chose "Climax," which matches my climate at a recommended 420-700 chilling hours.

The acidity problem is more difficult. Because the blueberries need a very acidic soil, I don't think I can "cheat" and acidify the regular soil. Instead, I'm going to plant the blueberries in containers, and fill those containers with blueberry-friendly peat moss, which was left over from making "mel's mix."



The containers are placed behind the square foot bed, but they are suprisingly light, so I can move them as the sunlight dictates.

Fruit Part 1: Trees

This was initially one very long post, but I decided to break it up into trees and vines/bushes.

I'm not just going to limit my gardening to the 5' x 5' box, I'm also going to try and grow fruit. I could try to grow these from seeds, but that will probably fail, so for all the fruit trees and bushes I bought young varieties.

There are a few issues with regards to fruit that I had to figure out. Plant hardiness zones were the primary thing, but they were pretty easy to figure out (see here). I'm in zone 8b, the same, coincidentally, as my parents in Central Florida. This is a bigger issue for the fruit trees than the veggies, but if you look on the back of seed packets or tree tags they will say which zone the plants will thrive in.

A little more complicated were the "chill hours" for my area of Texas. What are chill hours? According to Texas A&M:

"hours of winter temperatures between 32° to 45° F to break dormancy and induce normal bloom and vegetative growth. If varieties are chosen that have a chilling requirement that is too low, there is a greater probability that they will bloom early and be more subject to frost. If the chilling requirement is too high, they may be very slow to break dormancy and abort fruit."

I found a map on the Texas A&M University Extension Service website which was really helpful (and not just for this part). The relevant image is here:

Travis County (where we live) is in the 700 hour zone, but I think that is a little misleading because that includes some of the Hill Country, which can get very very cold, as well as Austin proper, which will stay warmer than the surrounding areas just because it is a big city. Also, most of the posts about gardening in Austin I have read usually complain that they don't get enough chill hours to grow certain fruits. Bearing this in mind, I figure that we probably get around 500-600 actual chill hours on the eastside... Issue 1 "solved."

The second issue was the soil. It's nice because I don't have to go through the whole measuring and mixing process as for the square foot garden because the trees and bushes are going to go in the yard (except strawberries, which will go in the garden). However that limits me to whichever trees will thrive in Austin's alkaline soil. So, alkaline soil and around 500-600 chill hours.

Thirdly, the pollination issue. Some trees require a second to pollinate it. If there is no pollinator present, you'll tend to get blossoms but no fruit. Because I have limited space, I would rather have 2 self-pollinators rather than 2 of the same type who must pollinate each other. So, alkaline soil, 500-600 chill hours, and self-pollinating. One caveat...I spoke to my backyard neighbor who informed me that there are some fruit trees in adjacent lots. I'll pay attention this summer and perhaps I can get a tree that requires pollination in next winter.

So these were the criteria I was working with. I also found a really awesome page on the Extension Service website about growing fruit trees, which work well, which varieties are best, and so on here. With a few exceptions, I bought most of my trees from Willis Orchards and planted them.

For the first tree, I chose Apricot. Apricot grows very well in Texas provided, once again, you get the chilling hours right. I chose the "Royal" variety, which, according to the Extension Office, it is "one of the most consistent croppers in the Hill Country." It is also self-pollinating, and I put it between the pecan tree and the back fence. However, I will need to be watchful that Riley doesn't get into the fruit. She has been known to eat tomatoes off the vines...

Apricot tree, I dug out a large hole and backfilled with some of the leftover compost

For the second tree, I went with a peach, the "La Feliciana." This one I bought at Home Depot. Usually this is not a good idea because the big box stores tend to sell whatever the hell they can probably get the cheapest, regardless of whether or not its appropriate for the climate in that particular area. In this case, however, the La Feliciana is a good match with its chilling hours (about 550) for our yard. I planted it in the backyard, between our back boundary and the apricot tree. I dug out the ground and added one of my spare bags of compost, then planted the tree (right now it is about 5 feet tall):


Thirdly, I chose a pomegranate tree, the "Wonderful" variety. Like apricot and peach, pomegranate trees are exceptionally well suited to Austin. I've got a good spot for this one in the front yard. It grows up to 18 feet tall which, if mine actually survives, will pretty much dominate the front yard. It will be a nice problem to have...

now its just a little guy...

I also got a flyer from Austin tree folks, a local organization that gives away free trees, provided you plant them close to the street so they will help mitigate the urban "heat island" effect. They gave a choice of trees, but the only one that was fruit bearing was a "Mexican Plum." I'm supposed to get it dropped off in a few weeks, so when I do I'll post about it.

Just a note here: I really, really wanted to try to grow a cherry tree. I love cherries and remember having a cherry tree in my backyard in the 'burg growing up. I did a bit of research online and found that a "Brooks Cherry Tree" would fit pretty well in my chilling requirements. However there are other issues- Cherry Trees need well drained, mildly acidic soil and are sensitive to excessive sun. I could try to fortify the soil, and I did have a spot where the sun wouldn't be too intense, but trying to do all this twice (I'd need another cherry tree to pollinate) would probably make my margin of error too slim. Also, one of my guiding principles of the yard is minimum maintenance. I realize this is kind of an oxymoron with having a garden, but cherry trees just seem to add a lot of work with a slim chance of paying off.

January Plantings

On January 21 I planted my first round of crops. I put in spinach, mesclun greens, buttercrunch lettuce, red onion slips, potatoes, strawberries, and carrots, laid out like this:


Everything was pretty basic, but the potatoes were somewhat difficult. As you can see below, I had to dig out the square, then put 4 potatoes at the bottom of the square, then cover them slightly with some dirt. As they sprout and send up runners, I have to keep sprinkling dirt over the new greens. At any rate this is kind of a pain in the ass. Given that potatoes are pretty inexpensive I don't know if I will be doing them next year.


We'll see how these come up, but I feel fairly confident (I don't think I'll end up with a situation quite like these guys, but soon)...

Update- I have some pictures from earlier today. These are the strawberries and the onions, both are doing great. I don't know about the strawberries because each plant has 3 stalks coming off of the main trunk or root. Mel says its 4 strawberries to a square foot, so I dont know if these count as one or each plant needs to be trimmed down to only 1 stalk.

Another picture, and the spinach has just started to come up.