What to plant?

[glypnirsgirl]

I am so excited! I have always wanted to go to Washington on the Brazos and now I have a reason to do so.

I got out and planted 12 tomato plants. Now I do not have room for my peppers and eggplants, but I understand that they can take the heat better and my husband promised to build another frame this weekend.

We did decide to go with the raised beds. I wanted to go with the open bottom - Ian is a traditionalist and originally wanted a "row" garden (YUCK!) --- he read Square Foot Gardening and it appealed to his lazy gene so we are doing the 6" beds with weed cloth underneath - we did dig out the sod.

I wanted to do raised beds that had been double dug to 12 inches with lots of compost. The SFG ended up being our compromise. It is a nice light mix 1/3 agricultural vermiculite, 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss. I have a lot of molasses, greensand and lava sand that I could add. Should I?

(Thank you for your helpful advice - I really appreciate it).
Elaine

[Suze]

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

I am so excited! I have always wanted to go to Washington on the Brazos and now I have a reason to do so.

Hope to see you there. You are also welcome to pay me a visit some time if you want and come get some tomatoes. I think it is about a 3 hour drive, at most.

I wanted to do raised beds that had been double dug to 12 inches with lots of compost. The SFG ended up being our compromise. It is a nice light mix 1/3 agricultural vermiculite, 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss. I have a lot of molasses, greensand and lava sand that I could add. Should I?

Go for it. All good stuff, but do add at recommended rates. Even "organic" stuff can amount to overamending, if too much is added. My understanding is that greensand and lavasand might accomplish much the same purpose, so you might want to take that into account. Some folks mix the two together first, and then apply at the recommended rate.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

I am so excited! I have always wanted to go to Washington on the Brazos and now I have a reason to do so.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

I got out and planted 12 tomato plants. Now I do not have room for my peppers and eggplants, but I understand that they can take the heat better and my husband promised to build another frame this weekend.

You can also grow peppers in 5-7 gallon pots. I had good results. Hard part is the watering.

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

We did decide to go with the raised beds. I wanted to go with the open bottom - Ian is a traditionalist and originally wanted a "row" garden (YUCK!) --- he read Square Foot Gardening and it appealed to his lazy gene so we are doing the 6" beds with weed cloth underneath - we did dig out the sod.

First year I did weed block and landscape timbers. I switched to 10 inch high beds and removed the weed block. I did dig down somewhat and hopefully by now my good soil and amendments on top have started to improve the clay soil below.

Due to our torrential rains, I'm not sure how Ian's idea of raised beds without sides would really work. The good soil would just get washed away. But if he really wants to read up on that, you might get him Ed Smith's The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. It explains why you want wide, deep garden beds and narrow walkways, rather than say a single row of carrots or corn (incredibly wasteful IMO) and then a huge walkway.

Originally Posted by glypnirsgirl

I wanted to do raised beds that had been double dug to 12 inches with lots of compost. The SFG ended up being our compromise. It is a nice light mix 1/3 agricultural vermiculite, 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss. I have a lot of molasses, greensand and lava sand that I could add. Should I?

(Thank you for your helpful advice - I really appreciate it).
Elaine

As Suze said, feel free to add those items just go according to package directions.

[Tomstrees]

Tiny Tim
Black Cherry
Big Yellow Zebra
Banana Legs
Ceylon
Amana Orange
Ananas Noir
Violeta Crispm Roso

#1 - Black Cherry - DO NOT miss out on this one
#2 - Amana Orange
#3 - Ananas Noir
#4 - Ceylon
#5 - Banana Legs

~ Tom

[creister]

As Suze and Feldon said, the earlier you can plant out in Texas, the better. But just be prepared for a late freeze. I have made several raised beds and newspaper works real well as a weed block. The advantage is the newspaper will eventually break down and become part of your improved soil.