Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower

Onions in 2012

We had a really successful onion harvest this year.

The photograph above is of half of our crop curing after we had harvested them.

In total, we had approximately 90 onion bulbs.  Most of them are 11 to 12 inches in diameter -- the size of a softball.

I planted seeds in October of 2011, and those onions were ready to harvest in June.  However, despite our mild winter, the bulbs were fairly small and the germination rate was very low.

I also planted a 5' x 16' bed in January with onion starts from the nursery.  These starts did great and were the source of our harvest of oversized onions.

This was my most successful year, yet.  Last year was also very good, but my onions were significantly larger this year.   I am not certain what to attribute this success too, but I will venture a guess anyway.  If I had to bet, I would attribute the success to the fact that: I continue to build the fertility of our soil, I provided ample moisture as the plants matured, the plants had lots of sunlight, and there were no really hard freezes during the spring.

Here is a photograph of the onion bed in late March:

I harvested the onions in early May and let them cure on my covered patio for 2 or 3 weeks.  I could not let them cure in the beds because we were having a lot of rain.

Here is nice article on growing onions in Texas: Softball Sized Onions.

On another note, my garlic bed was a total failure this year.  I did not get the bed planted until January, and it was just too late . . . a complete failure.  I should have gotten the beds prepared and planted in October or November.

June Harvest From The Vegetable Garden

 

June was a very productive month for our garden.  We had good  production from our plum trees, blackberry bushes, peach trees, and tomato plants.

I am particularly proud of our tomato harvest this year.

My favorite fruit or vegetable to grow is the tomato.  In my mind, nothing tastes better than a sun ripened fresh tomato sliced and seasoned with a bit of salt or in a BLT sandwich.  The taste has the biggest payoff versus store tomatoes bought because most store bought tomatoes cannot compete in taste or, if you buy expensive heirlooms at Whole Foods, they aren't always in the best shape after shipping.

But I have struggled the last three years growing tomatoes.  Either the varmits got to them before I did, the plants were stunted, or the plants just did not produce much fruit.

That changed this year.  We had so many tomatoes this year that I didn't know what to do with them all.   I think that I can attribute this year's success to a few factors.  First, I got the seedlings in the ground very early in the Spring.   (I did not have time this winter to grow tomatoes from seed so I had to buy seedlings from the nursery).  Second, I think I am finally, really building up my soil quality.  Last winter, I added a significant amount of homemade vermicompost to particular areas of the tomato beds, and I saw much better production from the plants where the heaviest amount of vermicompost had been added.  Third, I irrigated a lot more this year.  Last year, I used small drip hoses to irrigate the tomatoes, but I transitioned back to pop-up sprayers this year.  The pop-up sprayers put out a lot more water, and I think this was a signficant aid to the plants.  The drip hoses just were not putting out enough water over a consistent area.  (For my Fall tomatoes, I am going to use individual mini-spray heads for each plant to try and reduce the amount of spray that gets on the foliage and, consequently, late season blight or wilt.)  Fourth, our plum and peach trees were ripening throughout June, and the varmits targetted the fruit instead of our tomatoes.  Finally, I planted several hybrid varieties that really produced well for me.  SuperFantastic produced a great number of huge beautiful, perfect, tasty tomatoes.  I will be growing SuperFantastic again to see if I can repeat my success.  I also had good success with Green Zebra, but I do not prefer the taste of Green Zebra and will not be growing it again.  Maybe if I fried green tomatoes more often, I would have a greater appreciation for this variety.

Here are a few more photos of our vegetable garden in June:

 

In the bed above, we have zuchini, buttercup squash, and cucumbers growing.

 

 

In the bed on the left, you can see our Swiss Chard, butternut squash, and sweet corn growing.  On the right is a bed with eggplant and tomatoes.  The two trees in the background are peach trees.

 

 

In the bed on the right, we have okra growing in the foreground and artichokes behind them.  I also have watermelon seedlings beginng to sprout in this bed along with some beets still left over from the winter.  On the left, you can see several of our cucumber cages.  The trees in the background are fig trees.

 

Here is a close-up of the artichoke flower heads.

 

Spring Vegetable Garden

Our late winter / early spring vegetable garden has been a little hit or miss.  However, our asparagus is definitely a hit.  This is the third year since I planted our asparagus crowns and they are going bonkers.  This is on target with what the "experts" say; expect your first truly big crop in the third spring.

I left the asparagus unattended for a couple of days, and some of the spears were already too mature to harvest.  These spears are really stout . . . about as wide as a big toe!  And so sweet.  They have so much sugar content that I like to eat them raw.  Our 8 year old daughter even likes them, and she is pretty discerning.  I definitely include asparagus in the category of foods that definitely rewards growing food at home.

The other vegetables that have done well are our perennial artichoke plants.  Over the winter, I moved seven artichoke plants from a flower bed with fairly anemic soil into two of our raised beds.  It is unbelievable how big these plants have gotten in a few short months.  One reason is because we did not have a killing freeze this winter, so the plants did not go dormant.  Additionally, I think the plants have enjoyed the raised bed soil which is heavily enriched with compost and composted manure.

The only problem is that these plants have gotten so large that they preclude me from growing anything else in two of my nine large raised beds.  Consequently, this past weekend, I moved them back into another flower bed.  I cut the leaves way back, but the plants still suffered some shock from the transplanting.  The torrential rain that we received the other night, however, brought them right back, and they look very healthy.

 

 We have some cauliflower, brussel sprouts, lettuce, spinach, and kale growing from seed; however, a lot of the seed did not germinate for me.  I was a very lazy gardener this winter and did not use the greenhouse tunnels.  Nevertheless, given how mild our winter was, I don't really think it impacted the garden that significantly.

Our sweet and red onions that I planted from onion starts are doing great.  They should be ready in another month or so.

It is a different story with the garlic.  I planted my garlic cloves saved from last year's harvest, two months late!  They do not look good.   I am still holding out hope that more will sprout shoots from the ground, but it may be a lost cause.

This is a photograph of our blooming rosemary with a blooming plum tree barely visible in the background.  The rosemary is blooming a lot more than in past years.  In fact, I don't recall it blooming before.  The sage is also blooming, and our cool weather herbs like dill, fennel, cilantro, and parsley are all growing like gangbusters.

 

Our lone, surviving alpine strawberry is already producing its tiny, sweet berries.  I lost the remainder to last years remarkable heat and drought.  I transplanted this plant into the asparagus bed, and I am going to plant about 10 more plants with it.  On the other side of the asparagus bed, I transplanted about 15 musk strawberry plants to make them easier to harvest.

This past weekend, given the warm temperatures that appear to be here to stay, I started interplanting hot temperature vegetables.   I planted my favorite, charentais melon, from seed among the onions.   I am interplanting cucumbers into the garlic.  And I planted about 12 tomato plants and pepper plants (I am shamed to admit that I bought tomato starts from the nursery, but we were too busy to start the plants from seed this january).

I will try to get the rest of my seeds planted in the next few weeks: eggplants, squash, corn, pumpkin, etc.

 

First Frost for Fall 2011

We had our first frost for the Fall of 2011 last Friday, November 4th.   The weather service was reporting that it got down to 35 degrees in zip code 75229.  I am wondering if it got even colder in our garden with the cold air settling within our garden surrounded by three walls.

This seems earlier than in past years.

As you can see from the photograph above, the cold really did a number on our butternut squash.  I believe the plant is still alive, but the cell structure in most of the leaves was destroyed.  I am hoping the plant will regenerate additional leaves because many of the squash need further ripening before they are ready for harvest.

Here is a link to an earlier post about how to determine when your area may get its first freeze of the year:  http://dallasfruitgrower.typepad.com/dallas-fruit-vegetable/2011/03/average-last-freeze-dates.html

In Dallas, the first freeze is typically between November 16th and 20th:  http://dallasfruitgrower.typepad.com/dallas-fruit-vegetable/2010/11/first-freeze-of-2010-for-dallas.html

Sweet Potatoes

A couple of weeks ago, we harvested our sweet potatoes.  The photograph above shows the bed shortly before harvest.  As you can see, the sweet potato vines had grown and spread prolifically.

 

In May, we had planted several sweet potato slips from Territorial Seeds.  Slips are essentially dry rooted seedlings.  Approximately six plants survived and thrived.

 

Sweet potatoes usually take about four months until harvest to fully form big, fat roots.

 

 

After cutting back all of the vine growth, the each plant looked the photograph above.  For some of the plants, you could see some of the roots protruding from the ground.

 

 

After it was all said and done, we harvested quite a few large, roots that are very sweet and tasty.  It is difficult to tell from the photograph below, but some of these roots were enormous.    To give you a sense of scale, the trowel in the photograph below is twelve inches long.

 

 

T0 cure these sweet potatoes, I put them in the shade under our covered porch and let them cure for approximately one week.  I am now keeping them in my second refrigerator.

 

Most experts recommend that you harvest sweet potatoes before temperatures fall below 50 degrees.  Harvest when the ground is dry so the roots are not damaged when you dig them up.  Do not brush the soil and dirt off of the roots until you are ready to eat them.  Howard Garrett recommends that after harvesting, to store the roots in containers in a warm, humid place for two weeks and, thereafter, at 55 degrees for up to three months.

 

Fall Planting

This is a photo of a carrot blossom in honor of Fall planting time.

 

Although I have not finished yet, I have at least started planting our fall vegetables.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about Fall planting times based upon the suggestions of John Jeavon's book "How to Grow More Vegetables."

As usual, I am behind schedule and did not begin my fall plantings until September 10th.  Nevertheless, I think I am going to be just fine.  The good thing about starting later is that I was able to take advantage of a nice break in the hot weather.

Indeed, after only a week, some of my seeds are already starting to germinate and sprout which is always gratifying.

Because many of my summer vegetables are still producing, I am going to have to plant the fall seeds judiciously, interplanting some of them into existing beds because I don't want to wholesale rip out all of the summer vegetables which are still producing and will continue to produce until November.

I was able to clean out two beds and planted our lettuce, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and radishes last weekend in place of some melons and a fallow bed.  This weekend or next weekend, I hope to interplant beets, onions, carrots, and parsnips in among my cucumbers, tomatoes, and a harvested bed of sweet potatoes.

All of my beds are getting a fresh treatment of composted manure and mulch.  Each bed is 5 feet by 16 feet, and in each, I am putting 6 bags of manure and 6 bags of mulch.   I get such satisfaction looking at the tidy appearance of a freshly fertilized and mulched bed!!

Later, I will have to find a good time to plant the beds where the tomatoes, winter squash, and eggplant are growing.

Here is a complete list of what we will be growing this fall and winter:

Giant Winter Spinach  (Territorial Seeds)

Outredgeous Romaine Lettuce  (Territorial Seeds)

Petitie Rouge Romaine Lettuce  (Territorial Seeds)

Crisp Mint Green Romaine Lettuce  (Territorial Seeds)

Rossa Di Treviso Precoce Radicchio  (Territorial Seeds)

Filderkraut Cabbage  (Territorial Seeds)

Red Ball Cabbage  (Territorial Seeds)

Bright Lights Swiss Chard  (Territorial Seeds)

Amazing Cauliflower  (Territorial Seeds)

Broad Windsor Fava Beans  (Territorial Seeds)

Cherry Belle Radish  (Territorial Seeds)

Red Meat Radish  (Territorial Seeds)

Detroit Dark Red Beet  (Seeds of Change)

Chioggia Beet  (Seeds of Change)

Broccoli Raab  (Seeds of Change)

Early Green Broccoli  (Seeds of Change)

Napoli Carrots  (Seeds of Change)

Tango Celery  (Seeds of Change)

Sherwood Leeks (Seeds of Change)

Falstaff Brussels Sprouts  (Territorial Seeds)

Valencia White Onions  (Seeds of Change)

Stockton Red Onions  (Seeds of Change)

Santo Slow Bolt Cilantro  (Seeds of Change)

Dark Green Italian Parsley  (Territorial Seeds)

Perfection Fennel  (Territorial Seeds)

Dukat Dill  (Seeds of Change)

Cobham Improved Parsnips  (Territorial Seeds)

Tomato weather on the horizon

Most tomato varieties don't like evening temperatures above 75 degrees.  Added to that, most tomato flowers will not set if the temperatures are below 55 degrees or above 92 degrees. 

Given that our temperatures have been well above 92 degrees for most of the last 3 months and our evening temperatures rarely fell below 83 degrees, my tomatoes have not been very prolific this summer.  In fact, they have essentially gone dormant.

However, Tomato weather may be around the corner in North Texas.

Starting today, the temperatures will be just right for our tomato plants.   All week long, the high temperatures are forecasted to be between 86 and 92 degrees.  More importantly, the evening lows are forecasted to be between 64 and 68 degrees.  That's just right.

If the hot, hot temperatures don't return any time soon, maybe we'll get some nice big ripe tomatoes on our plants in September, October, and November before the season is over.

 

 

Fall Planting Times for Dallas and North Texas

 

 

The following is a seed starting schedule for the Dallas area from John Jeavons' outstanding book How to Grow More Vegetables.

This schedule assumes an average first frost date of November 13th.  Note that this is an average date, and different sources claim an average frost date of anywhere from November 11th through November 30th for the Dallas / Forth Worth area.

Here is a link to a useful Interactive Map showing first and last frost dates.

If you are outside of Dallas, adjust the dates accordingly.

 

July 1st

Plant seeds in garden for:

pumpkins (assuming 120 day maturity)

winter squash

 

July 1st - 15th

Start seedlings for:

fall tomatoes (assuming 75-100 day maturity)

 

August 1st

Plant seeds in garden for final corn planting (assuming 100 day maturity) 

Start seeds for:

parsnips

 

August 14th (14 weeks before first frost)

Start seeds for:

broccoli

cabbage

lettuce

chard

brussels sprouts

cauliflower

You are probably better off starting the forgoing indoors and then transplanting them later, but you must slowly harden them before transplanting.  Nevertheless, I am a lazy gardener and prefer to just take my chances by direct sowing them into the garden with regular waterings for germination.

fennel

parsley

cilantro

 

August 28st (11 weeks before first frost)

Start seed for:

peas

carrots

spinach

kale

kohlrabi

fava beans (for fall harvest)

 

September 18th (8 weeks before first frost)

Start seeds:

radishes

 

September 25th (7 weeks before first frost) 

Start seeds:

beets

 

October 1st-October 15th

Plant strawberry crowns for Spring

Plant potted fruit bushes

 

October 15th

Plant:

garlic cloves (for spring harvest)

shallots (for spring harvest) 

onions (for spring harvest)

fava beans (grown as a cover crop)

 

Late December after numerous frosts

Harvest horseradish after numerous frosts.  Divide the roots using the largest to make horseradish sauce.  Transplant smaller roots for next year.

 

The items in red are not listed in John Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables.

Some of these vegetables like beets and radishes can be succession planted.

Remember, when you are starting seeds directly in the garden. you need to supply steady, daily moisture to these seeds for them to germinate and thrive.  Also remember to consider the soil depth for the particular variety of vegetable when planting and mulching.

Harlequin bugs

This is a photograph of a Harlequin bug.  They are a pest and will usually show up when you leave your spring vegetables too long in the summer garden.

I left my broccoli and kale deep into the spring going into the summer vegetable in order to let them go to seed for next year.  As a result, I had a huge infestation of these harlequin bugs.  Once the broccoli and kale were cut down, however, they left in fairly short order.  They stayed around for a little bit of time preferring to roost in the flowering stalks of my corn, but it did not appear that they were doing any damage to my summer vegetables.  They have since left.

In the Texas Bug Book, Howard Garrett states that these bugs feed on spring vegetables and can cause light splotches, shriveling, and deformity on their leaves.  He advises that the best way to avoid these bugs is to plant your spring vegetables early in the Spring or in the Fall, and take the spring vegetables out once it gets hot.

Here is a photograph of their eggs.  They like to lay these on the underside of the leaves of spring vegetables.

 

Harvest

Here is a photo from a portion of last Sunday's harvest.  We are receiving a constant supply of slicing and pickling cucumbers.

Our peppers are also producing well.  The large collander is filled with very mild, eat-out-of-hand jalapenas.  The yellow collander shows some of our bell peppers.

The pink vegetables are the last of our beets which I need to pickle as sweet beets.