My first Fall Garden

So this year was my first attempt of a fall garden.   Usually my summer garden does so well and last so long that by the time I harvest everything, its to late for fall planting.  Since this past summer was a bust, it allotted me the time and opportunity to give a fall garden a chance.   

I first built some new raised beds and moved some things around.  My old 4x4 beds that I have had for about 6 years were beginning to decompose.  I decided to build four 4x8 beds and lay them long ways facing the sun.  I left about 5 feet between the beds and the back fence where I transplanted my grape vines.  I then took some cuttings of oregano from the front yard and planted it between the grape vines. Since I had plenty of room, I left in two of my old 4x4 boxes on the far left side.

With my first attempt at a fall garden I started everything from seed.  I planted swiss chard, broccoli, spinach, bib lettuce, loose leaf lettuce, cilantro, radishes, and some black seeded simpson lettuce. 

swiss chard

cilantro

black seeded simpson

Everything is growing pretty well so far.  I have already harvested some of the simpson and swiss chard and enjoyed eating it in salads and pastas. 

left over spaghetti with swiss chard, onions, garlic, and goat cheese

swiss chard with the stem removed

                   

My bucket system I tried out this summer still has green plants but still not much produce from them.  I had to move them into the garage a few weeks ago when Austin got its first freeze for the winter.  I recently moved them back out to the side of the house for some sun.  I don't expect much from them but I just hate to let them die, so I will continue to water and hope for the best.  Not sure if I will do the self-watering bucket system again next year or not, but I do have a few ideas for the buckets if I don't.  

So what I have learned about fall gardening compared to summer gardening is that you use a lot less water in the fall.  You are limited on types of plants you can grow, and there is the hassle of covering and uncovering your beds due to Texas' weird temperatures.  The weather within a given week will  fluctuate from freezing to mid 80's.   Lettuces are easy to grow but it does take time and effort to wash it thoroughly before eating it.  One good thing is that I haven't seen any pests eating my plants in the fall, to cold for them I guess.  Even though there isn't much, I still love the smell of fresh herbs and vegetables picked straight from the earth.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Zucchini and Acorn Squash recipes

So with my 14" zucchini, I had to use it in a couple of recipes.  The first one was in zucchini, carrot, and onion fritters.  Just grate all the ingredients, add an egg and some garlic, drop a spoonful in a pan with some hot oil and that's it.  Serve it up with some sour cream and/or applesauce.  Delicious.



While I was cooking the fritters, I had used the rest of the zucchini to make some zucchini bread.  Instead of two loaf pans, I just used one bundt cake pan.  It came out a little on the dry side but still pretty tasty with some butter on it.



For some reason, I was really in the cooking mood that night so I also took 3 small acorn squash that grew in my garden and wanted to cook them up some way.  I found online a recipe for squash rings.  Simply cut them cross ways in rings, remove the seeds and center of each ring, baste with some melted butter, season with salt, pepper, and brown sugar.  Bake in oven at 350 for about 25 minutes flipping them over half way through.  Turned out good.  I skin was a little tough so we just ate it off like you would a watermelon.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Finally the Fruits of my Labor are beginning to appear

Just when I was about to give up on the garden... after the week of rain and then a vacation to Branson, MO, and getting the water bill for July, I decided to not waste any more water on the garden.  Then the other night I went outside to talk to my neighbor and I looked down and saw this beautiful baby.

A zucchini squash measuring an impressive 14" long.   Now I just have to think of a recipe to use it in.   I noticed a few other small ones beginning to grow as well so hopefully I will be seeing more in a week or two.  The funny thing is though, the squash bed is the only bed that the soaker hose isn't in.  These babies just grew from the little rain we have had in July.

My cucumber vines have all shriveled and dried up, about half the tomato plants are getting sparse with foliage, most of the salad greens have gone to seed (which I will be harvesting and using next year).

I harvested most of the swiss chard last night and sauteed for dinner with some chicken sausage, garlic, spinach, and a little red onion.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

By now its all about experimenting...

We have already hit the 2nd week of July and still pretty much nothing from the garden.  Last night I went to pick some basil for our dinner and was able to collect a handful of grape tomatoes.  My bell peppers are starting to produce so hopefully there will be some in the near future to eat.  My zucchini squash plants are big but still no fruit.  As for the rest of my plants... I must have got a bad bunch this year.  

I decided to construct a greenhouse structure over the beds to help conserve water and to speed up the growing process.  I also created a shade structure with a tarp for the bucket garden since it gets way more than 6 hours of sun a day.

all the cords are also being used to dry our laundry

I would feel like a total failure if my neighbor weren't having the same problem.   He has gotten a few big boy tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.  A few jalapenos and a couple of eggplants.

Its been a few weeks now since we had any useful rain.   That would be the case that as soon as a make a rain barrel it doesn't rain.  Maybe I should also get some gutters installed too. hehehe.

The one positive thing going for me now is my compost..  its definitely getting the heat additive.  Last night I went out to dump our kitchen scraps and nearly jumped out of my shoes when something jumped out toward my feet.   At first I thought it was a rat, but then noticed that it was my little frog friend (I think) from a few weeks ago.  I guess he decided to hang out in the damp compost since there isn't much room in the gutters now.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Not Looking so good this year

So for some reason, the garden is not doing so well this year.  I am not sure what the problem is.   The only factors that have changed since last year are that I planted everything about 2 weeks later than normal and I decided to mulch around the plants to retain moisture and cool down the dirt underneath. 



Today I was able to harvest one measly little corn cob from the small batch I had.  From the evidence on the ground, it looks like the squirrels at least enjoyed my corn.  I lit up the grill and threw it on for a few minutes, buttered it up, and added some Tony's seasoning.  It wasn't that bad.  With corn being 6 ears for $1 at HEB, its not even worth trying to grow in the backyard.








The only reason I had it was that I planted it up at the school I work at for the students' garden
and transplanted it after school was out because first, I wanted to see if it would transplant, and second, I didn't want to just waste it.  It actually transplanted better than the other plants I brought home.  The problem was that the batteries in my water timer went out and a few days went by without my plants getting any water.




Mechanics of Gardening:

I finally finished the rain barrel, but Austin still hasn't had much rain this spring and summer.  However, I will be ready for when it does.   Austin will be going to a Stage 2 water restriction this Monday due to the ongoing drought.   So to help out, I have my timer and soaker hoses going off at 4am for only 20 minutes.  After some Internet research, I think I am not watering long enough.  I am going to change my watering routine and see if there will be any improvement.

 

To assist in water conservation and with the mosquito problem, I added some river rock in the gutters.  This will displace the amount of water needed in the gutters but still be able to raise the level of water to reach the baskets in the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets.  The day I filled the gutters with rocks and refilled with water, my little frog friend popped out.  Not sure if he is still around anymore since there is less room for him to lounge around in the gutters.  

It's been about a month since I started the garden with small transplants and seeds and as of today, I have only harvested a handful of grape tomatoes, a few basil leaves, 1 ear of corn, a lot of lettuce, and 2 small acorn squash. 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

A little friend and foe

So things are slowing beginning to produce in the garden.   So far a few little grape tomatoes have been ripe enough to pick and a couple of the Early Girls as well.  Looks like I have a three cabbage shoots sprouting up to in one of the raised beds.  Everything seems to be going well with the old beds.  I laid out a soaker hose and covered it with some mulch this year to see if it helps with the watering.   I am still using the timer on the hose and have only been letting it water for 15 minutes.  I recently decided to increase the time to 20 minutes to see if there will be any change.

I spent most of my weekend working on the rain barrel for the self-watering gutter grow system.  I finally have it finished and still need to install it.  So far I have just been dumping collected rain water from five gallon buckets into the gutters to feed the plants.  One day as I was moving the buckets over, I found a little friend sitting in the water just soaking up the coolness of the water.

To help with the mosquito problem, I went to a local pet store and purchased some 10 cent fish to eat the larvae.   Not sure if its working or not.  Only bought 4 fish, so either I didn't buy enough or there are just to many larvae.   I ended up doing some research and found that I could use the mosquito dunks in the gutters and that it would not be harmful to my vegetables.

This past week I spent all day Monday trying to fix my fence (it was leaning in my neighbors yard at about a 45 degree angle. So I straightened up the post and decided to cut the pickets in half and make a 3ft fence.  This will allow my neighbor and I to talk with each other, keep Cassie in my yard, his kids in his yard, and the sun to hit both of our gardens.

The squirrels are back!  I found this guy just lounging around, probably because he was full of eating my vegetables.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Getting 2013 summer garden up and running

Due to a late freeze this year, I finally got the garden started about two weeks after Spring Break.  Hopefully the late start won't hurt me to much this year.   So every year I try something new to experiment with in my garden.  This year its several things.  The first thing I am trying is companion planting.  I have been reading up on this in a few books and various websites and found it intriguing so I thought lets give it a go.  Another thing I decided to try this year is mulching over my soaker hoses to save on water loss.   Austin already has a stage 2 water restriction in place.  I know vegetable gardens are exempt from the restriction, but I figure if I can do my part in water conservation then that means it will just add on to the future of available water source.

The third thing I decided to experiment with I got from a friend of mine.  Its a self-watering gutter system using five gallon buckets.  After doing some quick research online, I found that this method was created by a guy named Larry Hall.  He has a few videos out explaining it and many people use this method for rooftop gardens in urban areas.  Since I already had a few plastic gutters laying around in the garage, I figured why not try it.  I found some food grade buckets on craigslist for $2 each, spent about $10 on some treated 2x4s at the home improvement store, and some netcups at a local nursery for about $5 for about 18 cups.  The only real money I spent was on the float valve to adjust the water level in the gutters.   I still have to find a barrel to hold the water in but I have guy who will hook me up.   Just need to call him.

So looking at what I started with this year is this
seedlings:
tomatoes- purchased 6 (variety of kinds), 16 that just popped up in the beds
zucchini- purchased 4, 3 that popped up on their own
cucumbers- purchased 6,
bell peppers- purchased 6
okra- purchased 3
grape- purchased 6 plants


from seed:
bib lettuce
spinach
mixed greens
bush beans
corn
radishes
cabbage
basil (not sure if I threw out some seed or it just magically appeared like last year)


 As of today, we have had several salads with the amount of lettuce and spinach I've grown.  I made some pickled radishes the other day, and have just started pulling off a few cherry tomatoes.

My one failure so far this year has been my "salad table" constructed with some leftover gutters and 2x4s from my garage.  The problem is that I drilled too many holes in the bottom of the gutters so all the water drains out and the shallow depth of the gutters dry out way to quick for anything to sustain growth.  The only way to keep things growing is to water 2x's a day and that's not good for me. 

 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!