Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[jinman]

My wife and I got out and covered all our tender veggies. I've also been busily cultivating and weeding my onions yesterday and this morning. Actually, the only weed is nutgrass. The ground is really crusty, so I'm breaking it up and tilling to aerate. I planted my onions on a raised bed and the darn rain is washing the soil away from them. I get it good and tilled and pull it back around to cover at least up to where the leaves separate from the bulb/stem. I found some pretty dry spots where I added sand and didn't get it completely mixed. I'll have to water more in those areas because the sand drains so quickly.

I cultivated around each tomato plant and pepper plant as we covered them. Everything is well cultivated. I've found that if I don't keep the soil loose, rain seems to pound and solidify the surface so it is really crusty. That's probably just my soil.

My wife cut asparagus spears while I tilled. She cut about 30 spears and I made more asparagus roll-ups to have as snacks when my grandson gets off the bus. The ones I fixed to take to my daughter's house turned out delicious. I gotta go put them into the oven.

Oh yes. . . I cut some spears into 1-1/2" chunks and dropped them into some left-over pickle vinegar. After a week, they were quite tasty. Who would have guessed that you can pickle asparagus?

 

[Bird]

Who would have guessed that you can pickle asparagus?

Jim, I've had pickled asparagus and it's delicious. We're still good friends with a couple who used to live next door to us in the late 70s, early 80s. And she had a sister who was a school teacher somewhere in the state of Washington. That sister had a boyfriend who was a commercial asparagus farmer. So when she came to visit she'd bring some canned, pickled asparagus with no labels on the cans, so I don't know where they had it canned. That's the only asparagus I've seen pickled, although I see that Amazon.com sells more than one brand.

 

[farmgirl19]

Can I come and eat with you?.. sound like your dogs eat better than I.:laughing:. Lou

Of course, Lou! I grow most of my own food, and love to cook, freeze and can. I am a long drive from the gulf coast though. And if we set record low temps tonight, I don't think anyone will want to be around me much, any time soon!

 

[pacerron]

My wife and I got out and covered all our tender veggies. I've also been busily cultivating and weeding my onions yesterday and this morning. Actually, the only weed is nutgrass. The ground is really crusty, so I'm breaking it up and tilling to aerate. I planted my onions on a raised bed and the darn rain is washing the soil away from them. I get it good and tilled and pull it back around to cover at least up to where the leaves separate from the bulb/stem. I found some pretty dry spots where I added sand and didn't get it completely mixed. I'll have to water more in those areas because the sand drains so quickly.

Jim,
It has been cold up here too. Our little onion patch is starting to pop though. Been in about 2-3 weeks now. You won't believe it but there are 850-1000 onions in this little spot of old used potting soil.
Been doing it that way for years. Way to early to plow the garden.
My wife quit counting at 400 but had more than half left to plant. I think 8 pounds of onion sets in all. There are more to come up. We weed them by eating lots of them everyday as soon as they barely start to form a round head on the bottom. We usually consume them all in a month or+1/2. Rest of the year, big round store bought onions, but our favorite in the winter are #4166 from the Andes mountains. We buy about 1/2 bushel as soon as they come to the store in about January.
Asparagus patch is just starting to produce this year, so you guys are way ahead down there, even though you have been cold. We don't dare plant tomatoes till the 20th of May and even then we could have a frost problem, but not usually.
Ron

 

[texasjohn]

55 degrees now, breezy, low flying clouds from horizon to horizon, winter is back!

 

[jinman]

Jim,
It has been cold up here too. Our little onion patch is starting to pop though. Been in about 2-3 weeks now.
Ron

I got my onions in the 1st week of March, so I'm ahead of you just a little. Most of my onions are exactly the same size as yours. I'm sure that potting soil is the perfect medium. It must allow great root formation. Tell your wife that I said it looked like she was wasting space. Can't she plant them a little closer? :laughing:

Bird: I first experimented with left-over green olive vinegar. It seems much more salty than regular pickle vinegar. By cutting the spears into sections, the pickling vinegar seems to really be easily absorbed. I'll have to look on Amazon for some.

 

[pacerron]

I got my onions in the 1st week of March, so I'm ahead of you just a little. Most of my onions are exactly the same size as yours. I'm sure that potting soil is the perfect medium. It must allow great root formation. Tell your wife that I said it looked like she was wasting space. Can't she plant them a little closer? :laughing:

Yes the soil is great. I mixed sand with the clay there many years ago which was ok, but when I caught her tossing the potting soil from the deck rail petunia baskets and other hanging pots over the hill, I made a strong suggestion....
So it has a lot of years of her homemade mix of peat, vermiculite, and potting soil mix tilled into it. Snap peas also love it, but your white tailed friends eat them off to the ground. I guess I should put some your famous deer fabric around that spot too. We really love that stuff. I left the T posts in the ground and was able to plow around them last fall, so putting it back up will take about 30 minutes of unrolling from the plastic pipe we use as a gate end and tying it to the posts with used plastic baling cord.
Ron

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Jim, I know you've stated in the past that "if you just keep weeding nutsedge, eventually the roots will die". How long do you have to do this? Nutsedge has taken over my garden. I think how deep I tilled may have something to do with it? I scraped off about a foot of soil with my boxblade and then put it back after a few days to air out. Added some lime, fertilizer and ashes to the top and tilled it in about 6-8" deep. I hate nutsedge...I hate nutsedge....I hate nutsedge. (wish I could afford one of those little baby honda tillers, but I'd still have to weed close in to the plants). I have planted my rows about 3 feet apart so I can till with my 24" tiller in between. Wastes a lot of space.

Planted about 30+ of sweet corn seeds and only about 5 or 6 germinated....bought seed at TSC.

 

[txdon]

Kyle, the best seeds in Giddings are in the Ace Hardware bins.

 

[Bartcephus]

Good Morning All, 41 Cool spring degrees this morning and cloudy. I can't complain about the weather as far as the garden goes, I have been unable to plant because I am moving from my 1/2 acre city lot to 10 rural acres. Still serviced by city (rural) water, (read no well to maintain.) but does have septic. I have tilled up a garden spot, but I have not had time to plant anything. A neighbor (at the old place) and I built a green house, but the temp drop under 32 around the end of March made us start over. (No the GH is not heated.) I can hardly wait to get seeds in the soil. The rains have hampered the ability to get in the garden AND moving. With these colder temps... I don't think I am too far behind my neighbors. Have a great day all!