The driveway bed, with zinnias in front, basil behind, and okra behind that.
OK, I realize this list is coming waaaay late. But for the sake of documentation, I’m doing it anyway. I spent August rushing to make preparations for a month out of the country. So I actually did get my planting done, I just didn’t get a chance to write about it. I’m back now, and planning on catching up with my garden, both real and virtual.
I spent many hours before I left (all first thing in the morning of course, lest I get a heat stroke) cleaning the spring plants out of the beds and preparing for fall. I was very excited to see that, for the first time since we’ve been here, I have too much material for my compost pile. This is an excellent development, because we bring in straw for our compost piles. I would love to close that loop in our garden and create all of our own browns.
Once the spent plants were removed, the bed preparation consisted of adding compost and tilling it in. Because we have heavy clay soil in this area, many people recommend applying expanded shale (once), which breaks up the clay and improves the soil tilthe. I’ve never done it previously, because I’m quite happy with compost. But after talking with a bit of a fanatic at a party next door, I decided to run a little experiment in one bed. So I also applied a 1-inch layer of shale to one of the front beds where the fall crops will go. I’ll report back.
OK, on with the planting list:
There are two references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club
I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.
DPM
arugula
beans*
broccoli*
brussel sprouts
cabbage*
carrots*
collards
lettuce*
mustard
parsley*
spinach*
watermelon
CCMG
beans
mustard
cauliflower
corn
cucumber*
kale
kohlrabi
peas, southern
potatoes*
rutabaga
squash
turnip
I have to preface this by saying that it was a complete leap of faith for me to do my initial fall planting and then get on a plane. While Jan has the best of intentions, I can’t expect him to look after my garden the way I do, and newly seeded beds generally need to be kept moist for a week or so. Fortunately, we had about a week and a half of rain right after I left, and he was saved!
I planted potatoes left over from the spring harvest into my fabric bags, in straight compost, on 11 August. I still haven’t dialed in the whole potatoes thing, and upon return I see they haven’t sprouted yet (it took about 3 weeks last year). I’m wondering if, even with the rain, they didn’t get enough moisture. That is one problem with the bags, as they are completely above ground.
I also planted cucumbers that day. By the time I got back on 28 September, they had grown to the top of the support and are starting to set cukes.
Finally, the week before I left (late Aug/early Sep), I planted bush beans (Royalty Purple Pod), pole beans (Stringless Blue Lake), carrots (Chantenay), chives, soybeans, marigolds and mammoth clover. Everything but the chives had germinated nicely by my return. I decided not to plant the cool weather crops, like broccoli and cauliflower, until my return. It was still pretty hot, and those things germinate better when it’s a touch cooler. Like now.
The mammoth clover is another experiment. I’m using it as a cover crop/green manure. I’ve seeded the half of the driveway bed that isn’t currently in okra. I’ll leave it until spring, then mow it down and till it under. If I can rotate this type of crop through the beds, then I can pull back on the amount of compost that I bring in from off-site. Another step in closing the loop on our little property.
