Houston Progress - Page 3

duajones · February 24, 2007

Wow, a foot of snow? we south texans dont deal with that or couldnt imagine it for that matter. But at the same time, while we are blessed with what many call good weather, it is as Feldon called it once I believe, 2 short seasons with an inferno in between. I was reminded today to be careful what you wish for as I was really tired of all the cold weather. Today we had a high of 92 or so with lows tonight expected in the upper 40s. It was a quick reminder of whats coming and who knows how intense it will become and how quick.

feldon30 · March 10, 2007

Well, I finally planted out some of my plants! The temps have been perfect for several days now, but my plants were not hardened off yet.

The 4' x 8' bed and half of the 4' x 16' bed are done. I did Earl's hole planting method. 3 weeks ago I mixed several bags of Black Kow composted manure into each bed. Unfortunately, a lot of things are sold as "compost" or "manure" which are very poor quality products. Black Kow is $4 a bag but worth every penny as it really is silky black gold that the earthworms seem to be loving.

I dug out about 1 1/2 cubic ft of soil into a wheelbarrow.

I added a handful (3/4 cup) of Epsom Salt, Bone Meal 0-10-0, and TomatoTone 4-7-10. Plus 1/4 cup of Pelletized Lime and a tiny bit of Phosphate. I mixed it up really well and dumped it back into the hole.

Transplant!

I gently tamped down the soil into a "well" to hold water.

Can't forget that straw/newspaper/shredded leaves mulch!

4' x 8' planted with: Anna Russian, Gregori's Altai, Husky Red Cherry, Jet Star, Kimberly, New Big Dwarf, Red Penna, Sungold.

4' x 16' planted with: Arkansas Traveler, Burracker's Favorite, Cherokee Purple, Earl's Faux, Gary O'Sena x 2, Tom's Yellow Wonder, and Wes.

The second row of the 4' x 16' bed will get Black Cherry, Brad's Black Heart, Brandywine OTV, Brandy Boy, Cherokee Green, Paul Robeson, Tidwell German, and maybe a 2nd Cherokee Green.

2007 Spring Planting Chart

I started planting when it was cloudy, then the sun came out and it got quite hot. To save the plants from any more transplant stress, we put some 2' bamboo pieces around and then draped a bedsheet over the bed to give the plants a break while they are getting established.

Mantis · March 11, 2007

With all that TLC they should do well Feldon. Good to see someone else as particular about planting out as I am

feldon30 · March 11, 2007

I did break down and buy plants of Cherokee Purple, Jet Star, Black Cherry, and Husky Red Cherry (what the heck, I'll give a dwarf cherry a shot). With the exception of the Black Cherry, these plants were stocky, VERY healthy looking, and all about 8-10" tall. I'm really impressed that Cherokee Purple is now almost ubiquitous at Houston Garden Centers, Houston Plants and Garden World, etc. So many people are getting introduced to this variety. Another surprised at HPGW was Caspian Pink. It's probably an ambitious variety for Houston, but the fact they are selling another old time pink beefsteak besides Brandywine is impressive. With more space, I'd probably have bought one!

It's WARM out there. The sun is in and out so hopefully it's not too much stress on the plants. At the urging of a few folks here, I sprinkled Sevin dust directly on the plants yesterday for 3 reasons: provides some protection from sun of the leaves, kills cutworms dead, keeps opportunistic bugs away that might want to nip at the leaves. And because the tomatoes are very small with no flowers, I am hoping I don't have to worry about honeybee toxicity. I will not be using any more Sevin after this.

I will be out planting the last 8 plants today. Then if I can get that new 4' x 16' bed built, I will maybe stick 2-3 more plants at the end (as indicated in my diagram) and the rest goes to cucumbers and pole beans. I am really impressed at how fast my potatoes are growing. My onions have really perked up, and my brussels sprouts are setting sprouts.

If I can find a block of Pro-Mix or other good potting soil, I will be planting 4 pepper plants in a 62 qt container. I am not sure what fertilization to use. I will probably do a variation of Earl's tomato method. Also containers you have to up the fert. since it gets washed out during watering.

elkwc36 · March 11, 2007

Feldon yours are looking great. I'm just starting seeds so behind you aways. Will put onions in this week. The first to be planted. Jay

feldon30 · March 11, 2007

Planted 8 more plants. That's 24.

Now I have to build another bed if I want more tomatoes in the ground.

And that bed is mostly spoken for as far as cucumbers and pole beans.

Earl · March 11, 2007

Barefoot! Dang. Great pics! I agree, Black Kow is the best.

Those are some good lookin beds. But I'm worried about plant spacing, you know you're going to have a jungle in those rows, right? :-)

duajones · March 12, 2007

Looking good Feldon, How much rain did you get last night? I got around 2.5inches but it all came down at once so some of my plants took somewhat of a beating. More heavy rain is forecast so I put up a tarp over my main bed and need to do something on the smaller one when I get home from work tonight.

feldon30 · March 12, 2007

The Jungle
2' centers is too close, I know.

I did the plants 1' away from the edge of the bed and they are slightly staggered (not quite straight across from each other).

I did not put 2 monsters next to each other though. I put Black Cherry and Sungold each at one end, and I did not put Brandywine OTV, Brandy Boy, Earl's Faux, etc. next to each other.

I really don't know what to expect. I mean in the ideal conditions, I'll have 5-8' tall plants loaded with 10-20lbs of fruit each. If that's what happens, then next year I will dial it down. I guess I don't have a lot faith yet.

Who knows?
Read stuff on the Internet until your eyes cross.
Buy the materials you can afford and are available locally.
Have some soil delivered which is never quite the texture you were wanting.
Buy books and read those cover-to-cover.
Try to come to some consensus and Just Do It [TM].
Worry, wait, and cross your fingers for 3 months!

If I get a jungle, then I will dial it down next year. I have repeatedly lowered my expectations and that way I will be pleasantly surprised if it all goes right. Last fall really set me back as far as growing big varieties when I should have done almost all cherries, planting a month late, and then getting a frost 6 weeks early.

Now we're playing with Clay!
The 4' x 8' bed is entirely my own soil mix of the existing loamy clay, peat, compost, etc. and it's pretty good stuff. It was full of earthworms when I dug it up.

But the 4' x 16' is that 4 cubic yards of sandy soil I had delivered. It's basically 75% sand and bark and 25% compost. I guess they figure most people will mix it in or integrate it with the typical Houston clay. There's no "substance" or meat to it. You squeeze wet soil and it doesn't hold together even for a second.

Sandy Soil

A little Clay'll do ya.

So what I did is since we are digging up some of the clay near the house to add some drainage, I just dug up a wheelbarrow full of nice dark clay and broke it up with a shovel into very small pieces (took like 45 minutes). I then integrated 1 shovelful of that broken up clay into each "Hole". So the front row of 8 plants in the 4' x 16' bed is just planted in sandy soil. The back row of 8 plants has about 1 gallon of very loosely broken up clay added to each hole. It will be an unofficial science experiment.

Barefoot in the Fire Ants
I was only barefoot when I was walking on the Coolcrete around the pool (A textured substance which is painted onto concrete which makes it grippy (no slips) and room temp even in full sun). Walking on the grass, I wear sandals. I only got 2 fire ant bites which is good for me.

Drenched
Of course I planted yesterday, mulched, and watered all the plants in well. Also watered my potatoes and brussels sprouts. Then today at 5am, BAM! Major thunderstorms and 2" of rain. And it's supposed to repeat tomorrow and Wednesday. Wonder if all that hard work of good fertilization is going to get washed out.

I will probably do a clear plastic tarp too. The framework over the bed has been torn down and will be replaced with something stronger, something that can hold my Bully's [TM] half-cages.

duajones · March 12, 2007

My brother reminded me of the tarp we had in storage this morning, had completely forgot about it or I would have put it up yesterday. The majority of my plants look ok with the azoychka and sungold being the only ones that were completely layed over. I propped them back up with a plastic tie, so hopefully they will bounce back. We needed the rain but why does it all have to fall at once?

Worth1 · March 12, 2007

Feldon that black soil you are calling clay is not really clay.
some of us call it gumbo but whatever you want to call it, it has been a great resource for farmers for years.

http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/statesoil.html

I have grown in this stuff for years with little or no addition of sand, peat or compost.
What you are doing is just fine with adding some back into your garden mix.

How did your plants fare the rain?

I got up this morning after the all night down pour expecting to find all of my seedlings to be beat to death.

But no, all 26 plants were standing tall after about 6 inches of HEAVY RAIN.

I hope yours did as well.

Worth

feldon30 · March 12, 2007

They look very healthy. But I intend to protect them from more torrential downpours. They've got enough water now. Where's the sun?

Ruth_10 · March 12, 2007

You guys in Texas are warriors. Good luck in your battle against the rain, clay, and heat. Ugh. Bad enough here.

Re Earl's concern about spacing, Feldon--you could do some pruning if it gets really crowded--or maybe you planned to do that anyway.

feldon30 · March 12, 2007

I suppose I can prune some. I don't want to hurt production. But if I don't prune, then that will also hurt production AND encourage fungal diseases.

feldon30 · March 13, 2007

If anyone has any pull with the Guy Upstairs, could they please make this stop?

March 10, 2007	#32
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Well, I finally planted out some of my plants! The temps have been perfect for several days now, but my plants were not hardened off yet. The 4' x 8' bed and half of the 4' x 16' bed are done. I did Earl's hole planting method. 3 weeks ago I mixed several bags of Black Kow composted manure into each bed. Unfortunately, a lot of things are sold as "compost" or "manure" which are very poor quality products. Black Kow is $4 a bag but worth every penny as it really is silky black gold that the earthworms seem to be loving. I dug out about 1 1/2 cubic ft of soil into a wheelbarrow. I added a handful (3/4 cup) of Epsom Salt, Bone Meal 0-10-0, and TomatoTone 4-7-10. Plus 1/4 cup of Pelletized Lime and a tiny bit of Phosphate. I mixed it up really well and dumped it back into the hole. Transplant! I gently tamped down the soil into a "well" to hold water. Can't forget that straw/newspaper/shredded leaves mulch! 4' x 8' planted with: Anna Russian, Gregori's Altai, Husky Red Cherry, Jet Star, Kimberly, New Big Dwarf, Red Penna, Sungold. 4' x 16' planted with: Arkansas Traveler, Burracker's Favorite, Cherokee Purple, Earl's Faux, Gary O'Sena x 2, Tom's Yellow Wonder, and Wes. The second row of the 4' x 16' bed will get Black Cherry, Brad's Black Heart, Brandywine OTV, Brandy Boy, Cherokee Green, Paul Robeson, Tidwell German, and maybe a 2nd Cherokee Green. 2007 Spring Planting Chart I started planting when it was cloudy, then the sun came out and it got quite hot. To save the plants from any more transplant stress, we put some 2' bamboo pieces around and then draped a bedsheet over the bed to give the plants a break while they are getting established. Last edited by feldon30; March 10, 2007 at 11:32 PM.

March 11, 2007	#34
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	I did break down and buy plants of Cherokee Purple, Jet Star, Black Cherry, and Husky Red Cherry (what the heck, I'll give a dwarf cherry a shot). With the exception of the Black Cherry, these plants were stocky, VERY healthy looking, and all about 8-10" tall. I'm really impressed that Cherokee Purple is now almost ubiquitous at Houston Garden Centers, Houston Plants and Garden World, etc. So many people are getting introduced to this variety. Another surprised at HPGW was Caspian Pink. It's probably an ambitious variety for Houston, but the fact they are selling another old time pink beefsteak besides Brandywine is impressive. With more space, I'd probably have bought one! It's WARM out there. The sun is in and out so hopefully it's not too much stress on the plants. At the urging of a few folks here, I sprinkled Sevin dust directly on the plants yesterday for 3 reasons: provides some protection from sun of the leaves, kills cutworms dead, keeps opportunistic bugs away that might want to nip at the leaves. And because the tomatoes are very small with no flowers, I am hoping I don't have to worry about honeybee toxicity. I will not be using any more Sevin after this. I will be out planting the last 8 plants today. Then if I can get that new 4' x 16' bed built, I will maybe stick 2-3 more plants at the end (as indicated in my diagram) and the rest goes to cucumbers and pole beans. I am really impressed at how fast my potatoes are growing. My onions have really perked up, and my brussels sprouts are setting sprouts. If I can find a block of Pro-Mix or other good potting soil, I will be planting 4 pepper plants in a 62 qt container. I am not sure what fertilization to use. I will probably do a variation of Earl's tomato method. Also containers you have to up the fert. since it gets washed out during watering. Last edited by feldon30; March 11, 2007 at 03:17 PM.

March 12, 2007	#39
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	The Jungle 2' centers is too close, I know. I did the plants 1' away from the edge of the bed and they are slightly staggered (not quite straight across from each other). I did not put 2 monsters next to each other though. I put Black Cherry and Sungold each at one end, and I did not put Brandywine OTV, Brandy Boy, Earl's Faux, etc. next to each other. I really don't know what to expect. I mean in the ideal conditions, I'll have 5-8' tall plants loaded with 10-20lbs of fruit each. If that's what happens, then next year I will dial it down. I guess I don't have a lot faith yet. Who knows? Read stuff on the Internet until your eyes cross. Buy the materials you can afford and are available locally. Have some soil delivered which is never quite the texture you were wanting. Buy books and read those cover-to-cover. Try to come to some consensus and Just Do It [TM]. Worry, wait, and cross your fingers for 3 months! If I get a jungle, then I will dial it down next year. I have repeatedly lowered my expectations and that way I will be pleasantly surprised if it all goes right. Last fall really set me back as far as growing big varieties when I should have done almost all cherries, planting a month late, and then getting a frost 6 weeks early. Now we're playing with Clay! The 4' x 8' bed is entirely my own soil mix of the existing loamy clay, peat, compost, etc. and it's pretty good stuff. It was full of earthworms when I dug it up. But the 4' x 16' is that 4 cubic yards of sandy soil I had delivered. It's basically 75% sand and bark and 25% compost. I guess they figure most people will mix it in or integrate it with the typical Houston clay. There's no "substance" or meat to it. You squeeze wet soil and it doesn't hold together even for a second. Sandy Soil A little Clay'll do ya. So what I did is since we are digging up some of the clay near the house to add some drainage, I just dug up a wheelbarrow full of nice dark clay and broke it up with a shovel into very small pieces (took like 45 minutes). I then integrated 1 shovelful of that broken up clay into each "Hole". So the front row of 8 plants in the 4' x 16' bed is just planted in sandy soil. The back row of 8 plants has about 1 gallon of very loosely broken up clay added to each hole. It will be an unofficial science experiment. Barefoot in the Fire Ants I was only barefoot when I was walking on the Coolcrete around the pool (A textured substance which is painted onto concrete which makes it grippy (no slips) and room temp even in full sun). Walking on the grass, I wear sandals. I only got 2 fire ant bites which is good for me. Drenched Of course I planted yesterday, mulched, and watered all the plants in well. Also watered my potatoes and brussels sprouts. Then today at 5am, BAM! Major thunderstorms and 2" of rain. And it's supposed to repeat tomorrow and Wednesday. Wonder if all that hard work of good fertilization is going to get washed out. I will probably do a clear plastic tarp too. The framework over the bed has been torn down and will be replaced with something stronger, something that can hold my Bully's [TM] half-cages. Last edited by feldon30; March 12, 2007 at 11:34 PM.

March 12, 2007	#41
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Feldon that black soil you are calling clay is not really clay. some of us call it gumbo but whatever you want to call it, it has been a great resource for farmers for years. http://www.tx.nrcs.usda.gov/statesoil.html I have grown in this stuff for years with little or no addition of sand, peat or compost. What you are doing is just fine with adding some back into your garden mix. How did your plants fare the rain? I got up this morning after the all night down pour expecting to find all of my seedlings to be beat to death. But no, all 26 plants were standing tall after about 6 inches of HEAVY RAIN. I hope yours did as well. Worth Last edited by Worth1; March 12, 2007 at 12:47 PM. Reason: wrong link

March 12, 2007	#43
Ruth_10 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MO z6a near St. Louis Posts: 1,349	You guys in Texas are warriors. Good luck in your battle against the rain, clay, and heat. Ugh. Bad enough here. Re Earl's concern about spacing, Feldon--you could do some pruning if it gets really crowded--or maybe you planned to do that anyway. __________________ --Ruth Some say the glass half-full. Others say the glass is half-empty. To an engineer, it’s twice as big as it needs to be.

February 24, 2007	#31
duajones Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Corpus Christi,Texas Z9 Posts: 1,996	Wow, a foot of snow? we south texans dont deal with that or couldnt imagine it for that matter. But at the same time, while we are blessed with what many call good weather, it is as Feldon called it once I believe, 2 short seasons with an inferno in between. I was reminded today to be careful what you wish for as I was really tired of all the cold weather. Today we had a high of 92 or so with lows tonight expected in the upper 40s. It was a quick reminder of whats coming and who knows how intense it will become and how quick.

March 11, 2007	#33
Mantis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Oz Posts: 1,241	With all that TLC they should do well Feldon. Good to see someone else as particular about planting out as I am

March 11, 2007	#35
elkwc36 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: SW Kansas Posts: 339	Feldon yours are looking great. I'm just starting seeds so behind you aways. Will put onions in this week. The first to be planted. Jay

March 11, 2007	#36
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Planted 8 more plants. That's 24. Now I have to build another bed if I want more tomatoes in the ground. And that bed is mostly spoken for as far as cucumbers and pole beans.

March 11, 2007	#37
Earl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 1,278	Barefoot! Dang. Great pics! I agree, Black Kow is the best. Those are some good lookin beds. But I'm worried about plant spacing, you know you're going to have a jungle in those rows, right? :-)