Cool Season in South Texas

[tlintx]

It's 102 degrees out there, heat index 121 and a severe heat advisory. Nothing to do but plan for fall!

Anyone care to share their general gardening schedule from now to spring? Or any tips for making the most out of the cool season?

I am going to squeeze in a round of tomatoes and peppers (started from seed six weeks ago), and try broccoli, lettuce, kale, onions, cabbage, radishes, carrots, beets, all the usual suspects.


Tl

[tlintx]

So, we're coming up on September 1st!

All the summer tomatoes are still hanging in there and not looking any worse -- they look like balls on the top of sticks. The stand outs for health so far are Bear Creek and Copper Currant. German Red Strawberry is also looking pretty good.

My fall seedlings have caught same thing that's been picking off my container tomatoes. First the top turns brown and crinkly, then the plant dies. Quick topping sometimes saves the plant, sometimes not. Not sure at this point how many I'll have to plant out.

My salad boxes and in ground greens are producing, with swiss chard, tokyo bekana, and "spicy mesclun mix" being the clear winners in the heat and humidity. Definitely worth a full scale attempt next year. I'm excited to plant radishes, carrots, and such, and for the cooler weather greens in a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be 100 degrees this weekend.

Will be interesting to see if it gets easier to garden here as it gets cooler. I'll admit spring and summer were a bit discouraging!

[Keger]

In this stuff all that is happening are cowpeas (even they aint happy right now) peppers, okra, and eggplant. They are doing great. They like hot and humid.

I started the fall stuff from seed a few weeks ago. They are still in trays outside. about 4-6" now. I started snow crown cauliflower, green boy cabbage, Coronado Broccoli, blue max collards, and one that likes heat, tendergreen spinach. Also is an Asian spinach.

I think if you didn't bother until mid sept it would still be ok. FWIW, between the weeds, bugs, heat, and humid I think trying tomatoes now falls under cruel and unusual punishment. But of course I have a row out there.

[tlintx]

I didn't think to start anything from seed -- in this heat, anything I start seems to get lanky. And nothing wants to "anchor" to the soil properly. Not sure if I'm not planting deep enough or if it's just too hot. Seems like if it's shady enough, there's not enough sun, and if there's enough sun, I could just add olive oil and harvest pre-fried. Next year I will make space for indoor starts.

Is your asian spinach komatsuna or one of the others? I've been sowing and planting komatsuna all summer in SIPs (and some in field) and it seems like a fantastic choice for our climate. I was also surprised by the tokyo bekana and how adaptable it is. I also discovered that many other greens (from mixes) will flourish if you plant them, don't think they're coming up, and replant with something else you'd prefer to grow instead of them.

I think I've got it! The key to our climate is to encourage rain by spraying stuff you don't want washed off, encourage dry spells by fertilizing on a "rainy day" with the hopes that the rain will do the watering, and treat everything as if it were a weed!

[Keger]

Yup, it's that komatsuna... I started all the seeds in 72 cell trays and transplant from there. They are like 6" tall and doing well. I do plant them a little deeper.

[tlintx]

Grrr, wrote a nice long post but the internet ate it.

I love komatsuna, doesn't seem to be as susceptible to powdery mildew as the tokyo bekana. Also having good results with the portugese cabbage.

Should I be starting transplants of cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc. now? For some reason I have written in my notes that I should be direct seeding them in a couple of weeks

[Keger]

You bet, fire them up! The need to start going in the ground Sept 20 or so.

[tlintx]

I'll start seeds tomorrow, spent today planting out peppers and cleaning up the decimated remains of my tomato seedlings.

I'm pretty sure I've identified the plague that's been killing them off. It's HEAT. Next year I'm going to plant a lot more seeds. And a lot more dwarf varieties and determinates.

I guess, on the plus side, I now have a lot more room for cool season crops!

[tlintx]

Started seeds yesterday for cabbage, kale, broccoli, broccoli raab, a few onions, some flowers... maybe a few tomatoes and peppers to try growing inside... I'm also planning on direct seeding some more cool crops a little later in the season.

The tomatoes I set out for fall are already cooked! The ones I started in June are still hanging in there, looking awful, but I think there's a good chance they'll start making tomatoes once it cools down a little more. The cherries, especially.

Peppers and eggplants are doing really well. Not sure there's enough time to get an actual crop from them (just starting to see flowers on a few), but I'm planning on bringing about half inside and leaving the other half outside to see if they'll overwinter.

I love the variety available for tomatoes, but I think, other than a few (dozen) hobby plants, I'm going to narrow my focus down to a couple of "main crop" tomatoes next year.

I am really looking forward to planting radishes, carrots, lettuce, etc. next month. After seven months of finicky tomatoes, I'm ready for some less particular crops!

[Keger]

Just got done picking a pile of eggplant and peppers for market tomorrow. Okra too. Doing great.

But the hot does to us what it does to the plants too, beats us up.

Yes I'm ready too to put the fall stuff in. Doing it now.

I've been working in my garden for the last month reworking my beds. Very few of my spring planted tomatoes survived the high summer heat. Normally, most do survive in an almost dormant condition. I only work in the cool mornings and slightly cool evenings before sundown. I worked each raised bed by removing dead plants and replanting mostly plants I purchased. Most of the selection was hybrid this year leaning towards determinate varieties. I did purchase some Cherokee Purple and Homestead varieties. Both have performed well for me in the past in my fall garden. I don't perform as much experimentation with different varieties in the fall as I do in the spring. My primary fall goal is to produce some decent tasting tomatoes.

A few of the hybrids I planted are Florida 47R, Bobcat, Rocky Top, and Sunbrite, I have no idea how good they are, but they seem interesting.

I have also planted some cool weather veggies. I planted four beds of yellow summer squash as well. I have planted beets, collard greens, kale, spinach, broccoli, and a few others I don't remember, with a few not planted yet. I am growing all the fall veggies from seed in the soil.

All of my pepper and eggplants survived the heat and are doing well. I should have a huge harvest from them if I luck out and the first frost is delayed past November 15. I'm looking forward to mid September when we should receive our first cool front dropping our high temps into the eighties. I can work as long as I choose in those temps.

Ted

[tlintx]

I really liked Homestead in the Spring. It did ridiculously well here!

Your post gave me a great idea - I'm going to move some of my summer tomatoes to fill in the gaps in my warmer microclimate side bed, then use the raised beds for fall crops.

Any suggestions on "how" and "when" for onions and garlic?

Originally Posted by tlintx

I really liked Homestead in the Spring. It did ridiculously well here!

Your post gave me a great idea - I'm going to move some of my summer tomatoes to fill in the gaps in my warmer microclimate side bed, then use the raised beds for fall crops.

Any suggestions on "how" and "when" for onions and garlic?

I plant garlic now for a June harvest. I only grow garlic every other year. I harvested it in June so I won't be planting any this fall. Onions, I plant in January when some of my beds are open after harvesting my fall cool weather crops. I've tried planting them in the fall, but they don't do well for me when planted in the fall. They don't grow very large. If I leave them in the soil over the winter, they usually bolt pretty quick the next spring. I don't know which part of east Texas your located in. If your near the coast, your winters may not be cold enough for fall planted onions to be tricked into acting as if they have been planted for two years and bolting the first year instead of the second year.

Ted

[tlintx]

I'm very near Houston! About an hour and a half from the coast, just inland enough that hurricanes and sharks aren't an issue. Well, usually.

I think I will look into some garlic and onions. I know we need to do "short day" onions, and I've seen a few varieties available as seed. But I'm finding garlic to be pretty intimidating!

We actually had a "cool" day today -- didn't even get into the 90s, according to weather underground, even though we had a forecast of 100. Didn't feel that cool, that's for sure!

Originally Posted by tlintx

I'm very near Houston! About an hour and a half from the coast, just inland enough that hurricanes and sharks aren't an issue. Well, usually.

I think I will look into some garlic and onions. I know we need to do "short day" onions, and I've seen a few varieties available as seed. But I'm finding garlic to be pretty intimidating!

We actually had a "cool" day today -- didn't even get into the 90s, according to weather underground, even though we had a forecast of 100. Didn't feel that cool, that's for sure!

We used to live 125 north of the coast in the Angelina National Forrest. Hurricane Rita went over our house with winds registering 120 mph. We took our RV a long way inland and still had high winds and rain. It's hard to get away from those things when they are powerful.

Garlic is easy to grow. You simply need to plant in the fall for an early summer harvest. The cloves should be planted in soft soil about two inches deep with three inches between each clove. Bulbing plants like garlic and onions like lots of phosphorous and nitrogen. Phosphorous doesn't transport easily in soil so I use triple super phosphate which will transport easily due to it's chemistry.

I watch weather underground and accuweather. Their temp. forecasts are usually different by about five degrees F. with accuweather being the most accurate normally. Weatherunderground currently shows us to be 87.5 degrees. My outside thermometer in the shade is showing about 95 F. It is interesting how often they miss their forecasts by a large margin.

Ted