My Texas Container Garden

Here are the Moyar's green beans sprouting. Aren't they pretty? They are Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. I checked them today and they have started climbing up the poles. We made the tee-pee for the green beans to climb. It was very simple. We had some extra quarter round in the garage. We cut four long pieces and tied them together at the top. We planted three green beans around each pole, and now they can grow up to the top! It will also provide a cool place to grow lettuce in the hot summer like we have here in Texas!

A little FYI about green beans we learned through trial and error. The first year we tried green beans we had a bumper crop, but shortly thereafter they all died. We were so bummed, and being novice gardeners we ripped them all up. The next year we tried again. The same thing happened, but we never got around to ripping them up after they died, and then a few months later they came back. I don't know if this is supposed to happen, but we will try it again this year and see if it works again.

Here are our tomatoes. These are the Sweet 100's. They are growing so quickly. You can see we have 3 flowers, soon to be, God willing, 3 yummy cherry tomatoes. We also have an Heirloom Hillbilly growing. Completely inspired by this post, we tried an heirloom this year. He is growing much slower, but he seems healthy.

I'm getting a bit nervous because the sun has shifted and the leaves are starting to fill out on the trees and all my (hopeful) sunny spots in the backyard are disappearing. I don't know if this backyard will have enough sun for a full garden????

Just a gardening update,

~Sarah

P.S. Look how cute for the kiddos.

Keep that soil healthy...

I am currently taking a Soil Science class and also a corresponding Soil Science lab...
We have done some pretty fun things that may be good for you to try in determining what to do with your soil for this spring/ summer planting. Many of the experiments require hazardous chemicals, sweet lab goggles and machinery that few to none have at home... so I will just tell you about one of the more simple experiments.. maybe something to be done with your kids or family.

Soil texture is defined by the proportionate quantity of sand, silt and clay in the soil. These three components make up soil, and determining their percentages will tell you what kind of soil you are working with. Sand particles are the largest of the 3 ranging from 2.0- .05 mm. Silt particles span from .05- .002 mm and finally clay particles are anything smaller than .002 mm. But none of us have a microscope to measure such sizes... so I will show you how to do what is called "Soil Ribbons".

1. Go into your yard and find a sample of soil that doesn't have any pebbles, rocks, roots, mulching, etc.
You will want about a handful to give yourself enough to work with.
2. Moisten and knead an amount of soil about the size of a golf ball into a moldable condition.
3. Feed the soil between your thumb and forefinger to form a ribbon. Allow the ribbon to be suspended over the forefinger until it breaks off.
4. Measure the length of the broken ribbon pieces.
5. Repeat to confirm results.

The length of the ribbon depends on the clay content of the soil.
Using the soil texture diagram you can find different combinations of the three factors (sand, silt, clay).
-A loam soil will produce ribbons less than 1 inch.
-A clay loam will make ribbons between 1 and 2 inches.
-Clay soils will produce ribbons longer than 2 inches.


Another more simple experiment to do is to find the texture by feel.
1. Again you will want to get a small amount of soil in your hand and some water in a cup.
2. Moisten the soil until it is easily movable and quite wet.
3. With the wet soil in your palm, use your finger from your other hand and stir it up gently.
4. Pay attention to how the soil feels. You are looking for one of 3 feelings.

A. Gritty feel- sandy soil
B. Smooth feel- Silty soil
C. Sticky feel- Clayey soil

Now what do I do?
Once you have discovered what kind of soil you have, you need to determine whether to leave it, or how to enhance it. Many different diagnosis can be done, if you live near a university or a large soil lab (and you are very serious about your yard), you can get a soil analysis done which will give you results of many different categories, followed by specific recommendations.

We often laugh in class because we always know the right answer... to be honest... almost every answer when it comes to "how can i improve my soil?" is "ADD ORGANIC MATTER". As simple as it may sound, organic matter brings life to your soil and is a cure-all-remedy.

Organic matter will improve:
-soil texture- giving you more pore space for leaching of harmful elements, also allowing more air filled space to bring oxygen to your roots. Better drainage will result as well, keeping your plants from having root rot.
-soil pH will balance to a healthy and stable level
-available nutrients- organic matter is full of them

How do I get organic matter?
Dead and decaying life- Compost is a great way to get nutrients into your soil. Keep fruit/ vegetable scraps in a container and periodically empty it into your soil and be sure to stir it in very well mixing it with the existing soil. The more surface area you can get to touch your addition, the faster it will decompose. Also be sure that the soil will receive sunlight or some form of heat, this speeds up the process as well.
-Living organisms- Bring in the worms. If you have little boys, they might love this project if you are scared of them. Worms are a great way to get your soil to improve. They move aroundand keep the soil aerated, they bring life to your soil and help slow erosion.
-Other additions- Is your husband/ are you a woodworker? Sawdust is an excellent way to add organic matter. Run to a local hardware store and see if you can round up their collected sawdust. Sprinkle it over your soil and mix it in. Being so finely ground, this is a great addition that decomposes very rapidly. You all know the color of potting soil for potted plants.... that rich dark brown/ black color is what you are searching for. If your budget is large, you can always load wheelbarrows full of rich soil and spread it throughout.
-Ask someone locally- Soils vary throughout the world extensively. Alkaline, acidic, sandy, clayey, etc. A local professional will be able to diagnose your soil just from some basic information provided through the experiments above.

~Cameron

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
~Cicero

Fieldtrip: A Farmer's Market

Now that the northern hemisphere is starting to lean back towards the sun, farmer's markets are opening up around the country. That means we packed the kids up and drove a little north of our home and visited the local market. The existence of farmer's markets is a good idea for so many reasons but perhaps the best reason is to reconnect an almost lost but so important link between communities and their local farmers. Small, family owned farms are starting to have a comeback and it's precisely because of venues like these. Though most small farms produce superior products to their counterparts they cannot compete with these huge farms that exist hundreds or maybe thousands of miles away. I have heard stories from farming friends who say that when they lost out on the grocery store bid their produce was piled high in the fields and left to rot. It is the farmer's market which allows them to still be able to get their goods to the community and not be wasted. Always fresh and in season and often at premium prices. Beyond that, farmer's markets are fun, interesting, educational, and totally diverse.

Because farmer's markets are bringing in local goods, no two are exactly alike. You will find anything from locally grown produce and meats to handmade crafts and soaps - and more! It's also a very laid back atmosphere and it's a great time to chat with locals and get to know the community of farmers around you. Always friendly and ready to tell you about their experiences and often offer you some great tips and advice.

Another thing I love about the farmer's market is knowing exactly where my money is going. I know that when I buy something from a vendor that that family will then be able to use that money to buy more seed, land, tools, and return next year with a greater harvest. That connection just feels good. Especially significant and interesting is a "producer's only" market - where the people selling you the goods are the people who produced them. No middle man. How great is it to be able to ask the man who is selling eggs what kind of chickens he has or what their housing is like? Or talk to the woman about her bountiful harvest this winter because of it's milder temperatures. It creates a greater awareness and responsibility between producer and consumer.

So get out to your local farmer's market - buy up their tomatoes, eggs, and sweet tasting jams and jellies! Your kids will love it and you'll know your doing your community good! Just make sure and bring some cash. These markets, especially the smaller ones, don't usually have credit card machines!

Not sure where your closest market is? Click here and find out!

~Megan

Questions from a Reader: When to thin seedlings

I am trying to start my own seeds this year. I have peas, radishes, and some herbs. The peas have already grown sprouts. When do I want to thin them. As soon as a few sprout or after they get their true leaves?

~Christy R. Salt Lake City, Utah

I thin slowly, in a few step process. Mother Nature will sometimes thin out the weak seedlings for you, if you thin too vigorously at the beginning you may not end up with as many plants as you had wished. I tend to wait until I have some healthy looking seedlings, then thin them out so they aren't right next to each other. Once they have grown a little bigger and you can see which seedlings are the strongest, thin them again so they are spaced according to what the packet says.

If seedlings are too close together, it is a good idea to thin them by just cutting the top off with scissors. This will prevent uprooting the seedling that is staying.

Though thinning is beneficial for many plants, it is especially important for root crops such as radishes, overcrowding will prevent them from growing round roots.

~Marisa

Snow Growin'

I once attended a gardening workshop sponsored by a church women's organization. A sweet, soft-spoken lady in her 80s offered the meeting's invocation asking, among things, that we be spared of snow "so our gardens can grow."

Chuck was the guest speaker. He was tall and burly and sunburned in spring, just the kind of thing you'd expect from a no-nonsense kind of guy who loves the land. As soon as the "amens" were offered he immediately stood and started speaking with a passion. "Now, I've get to set something straight. Nothing against that prayer, " he said almost as an afterthought, perhaps glancing at the quailing grandma, "but you CAN have a garden do well if it snows."

The secret, he taught us, is to plant the right crops at the right time. Cool-season crops can weather light to moderate frosts and include spinach, radishes, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, peas, lettuce and mustard greens. In fact, these crops can't tolerate high summer temperatures, so are best planted early anyway. Beets and carrots can also be planted early, but unlike their other cool-season friends, hold up better through the summer. Cool-season crops can be planted at the end of summer for a second harvest in the fall.

So get planting! Cool-season crops can be planted as soon as you can work the soil (meaning it's not frozen solid or too muddy to dig). If you haven't yet prepared a garden plot, try a container. That's where I have the spinach you see in my photo, taken March 27. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage work best as transplants you start indoors, the others you can sow directly into the ground or outside pot.

If you haven't already, now's the time to get your tomato, pepper, melon, herb and squash seeds started indoors for transplanting after the last frost date for your area. Your local extension service can tell you when this date is.

Jennifer

Line Drying your Laundry

If you've never had the chance to hang your laundry on a line outdoors you are really missing out. Line drying your clothes is just as romantic an activity as it seems to be in pictures. It is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Surrounding myself in the smell of clean laundry invigorates me while the sound of sheets billowing in the wind seems to cleanse my over stimulated ears. And my hanging laundry creates an artistic installment in my boring backyard. There are many other reasons to line dry your clothes. Here are a few*:

• Electric dryers use five to ten percent of residential electricity in the United States!(Some say it cuts their electricity bill in half!)
• Save money (more than $100/year on electric bill for most households).
• Conserve energy and the environment.
• Clothes and sheets smell better.
• Clothes last longer. Where do you think lint comes from?
• It is physical activity which almost anyone can do.
• Sunlight bleaches and disinfects

There are a few options for line drying your clothes outside. Many older homes already have a line installed and ready to go. These lines are pretty but do take up a good amount of space. This year I purchased a space saving model from Amazon because it fit my needs in more ways than one. What I like about it is that it easy to put up and to take down. We are renting right now and so I didn't know if the Landlord would like me to put up anything permanent - and I wanted something I could take along to our next place. I also love that it is so compact. I have memories of walking up and down the clothesline and dragging my basket behind. With this compact and rotating clothesline, I can pretty much stay right in the same place for the whole thing. Here is an image of the clothesline in it's three stages. I took it down because the lawn was getting mowed. It's really light and easy to take up or put down. The pole in the first image is also removable leaving only a small green sleeve that has a cap to close it so it doesn't fill with water.

As with any of these images - click to see larger

Now that Spring has finally arrived down south, I can put my new clothesline to work. This morning I started with a huge load of laundry as you can see. You really could easily fit two to three extra large loads of laundry on this clothesline. I am using wood clothespins because I like the feel and look of them but plastic ones will work as well - they may even make less marks on your things. I have about 200 of them in this handy hanging holder I got. That's probably way more than I'll ever need but I hate running out and like having an abundance of these so I can use them without thought. They also get stolen and used in the kitchen to hold bags closed!

My first encounter with hanging laundry in the real world was at a neighbor's home down the street. I was only about 7 or 8 and I thought that they must be so poor if they needed to hang their laundry! This stigma is changing and line drying laundry is quickly become the chic thing to do for those who care about the planet. That day, I also went and felt some of the clothes expecting to feel something akin to that commercial with the fabric softener bear. I was surprised when it felt stiff and hard. I have now learned tricks for overcoming that stiffness. Right before hanging the clothes snap them a few times by shaking them hard. Do it again when removing them. And hanging them so that the wind can continue to wave and snap will increase the softness. If it still isn't quite soft enough - especially on those towels you can throw them in the dryer for a couple minutes. I've never felt the need to do this but maybe if guests were coming in town I might make an exception!

Something I hate about laundry is the mountain of clothes it makes after I dump them all out on my bed or sofa. In fact, sometimes this mountain is so overwhelming we start just dressing ourselves out of the laundry basket for a few days until we finally break down and fold the laundry. With line drying that step is completely eliminated because I fold each item as I take it down so that it's ready to go straight to it's proper place once I go inside.

Once you've started putting up your laundry you'll start to develop some tricks for quicker drying or more discreet placement. I, for one, like to put my underwear towards the inside behind my other laundry so that neighbors get to enjoy billowing sheets not bras!

In the end, hanging laundry is a spring and summer activity that I look forward to and enjoy. It gets me outside and enjoying the weather and it makes me feel happy knowing that this enjoyable activity is helping save resources that are really in need of saving. So whether you rig up your own clothesline, use an existing one, or buy a new one - I'm sure you'll find that it fast becomes a treasured quiet time to reflect and enjoy mother nature's best resources!
~Megan

*List of items comes from Project Laundry Website.