After working every morning for weeks to get ready for the tour, I’m trying to maintain that pace. If I can, I figure that my twice-yearly marathon gardening sessions (spring and fall) will be mitigated. We shall see.

Useful local references:
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.

eggplant (thru 15th)
tomatoes* (I’ve been told that North Haven Gardens has transplants for fall. I’ll let you know.)
melons (watermelons are already in)
peppers (have plenty that are still producing like champs – and will until first freeze)
potatoes, Irish (after the 15th)*
pumpkins*
summer and winter squash

Homegrown tomatoes. I pick them right when they start to turn, to protect them from the mockingbirds. Yes, they still taste divine!

I was asked to talk more about the varieties of veggies that do well for me, so here’s a start. I walked through the tomatoes last week and made notes on size, production, vigor, and health. Here’s what I’m seeing in this very difficult season (really wet spring followed by really hot, dry weather).

All of these tomato starts came from the Collin County Feed and Seed. I bought one of pretty much each variety they sold.

Sunmaster: short, bushy, tons of tomatoes, slight mite damage
Celebrity: mid-height, bushy, tons of tomatoes, mite damage
Sunpride: short, full, decent tomato production, still setting in heat, flea beetle damage
Super Fantastic: tall, decent tomato production, super-blighty
Better Boy: tall, so-so production, blighty and blossom end rot (I won’t be growing blighty-boy again)
Cherokee Purple (heirloom): short, spindly, very low production

All in all, I’d say the Sunmaster, Celebrity, and maybe Sunpride (jury’s still out) would be worth growing again. I’m getting the most high-quality tomatoes from the first two. And given that they’re both determinate, they’re much better behaved.

Of course, the downside is that they’re both hybrids. I’m not a fan of the big seed companies, so I would prefer to grow varieties that produce viable seed. I just haven’t made that a priority yet. I will someday. So many things to think about!

We’re eating tomatoes 3 meals a day now, and Jan canned one gallon of whole tomatoes last weekend. As you can see from the photo taken this morning, the toms are piling up again, so he’ll probably can again think weekend.

The mites are rough this year. I’m not sure how long these plants will last. But I’ll be heading over to North Haven nursery, in Dallas, to buy more transplants in July. I haven’t tried that before, so I’ll report back.

Oh, and I bartered two tomatoes for a bunch of firewood and wood chips this week (from an arborist working next door). I’m making this garden pay!

Honestly, I was terribly intimidated going into the whole process. When reading the irrigation web sites, the quantity and variety of bits and pieces made my head spin. Never mind the calculations they were wanting me to make. My head doesn’t enjoy working that way. So I finally went to Lowe’s and bought a “vegetable garden” drip kit, by Mister Landscaper. For some reason, the kit isn’t listed on their web site. But it was about $37, and included the parts to attach at the faucet (filter, pressure regulator, etc), the hoses needed to get around the garden (1/2″ and 1/4″), the bits to connect said hoses, and the drip line to deliver the water to the veggies.

I have about 450 square feet of garden up front, and I had to go back to the store to get more 1/2″ hose, more drip line, and more bits. All in, I spent about $90, and I have stuff left over when I get to the back garden. As this system will last me for years, perhaps with a few minor modifications from year to year, it seems well worth the expense to me.

Here’s the setup at the faucet. I bought a splitter (brass – don’t waste your money on anything else; trust me)  so I can still use my hose.:

Here’s the setup coming off of the main 1/2″ hose to a given type of veggie. The brown at the top is the dripline. The black bit attaching the dripline and black 1/4″ tubing is an on/off valve, so you can turn off water to that area once you harvest:

And here’s what one zone looks like:

Easy, cheesy. I’m really glad I started with a kit, rather than trying to build from scratch. I’ll probably get a “landscape” kit to set up the back garden, which is trees and perennials, then add on specific pieces as I did in the front.

The dripline puts out 1/2 gallon per hour. So I figure I’ll be watering the veggies about 2 hours/day, twice per week. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Jan is firing up the oven at 6 am and will be serving bread from about 11 am, as long as it lasts. His oven has gotten a lot of attention during this process, so I expect he’ll be mobbed tomorrow.

Ella is acting as docent of her own garden, which she has gussied up with a sign and a couple of little statues. I’ll get a photo. I love it. She got so much attention today from the garden club women. I thought it was adorable, but I think Ella was a little overwhelmed. I’ll be lucky if both of my family members don’t run inside and hide at some point today!

Anyway, I wrote up a little handout that gives a quick run-down of our garden and thought I’d post it here:

406 Heard St (Oriental-style craftsman – built approximately 1917)

Ours is a relatively new garden. We’ve been focusing on the front vegetable garden since we moved in three years ago, and have just recently expanded into the back garden. The entire garden centers around food, as do our lives, frankly. Many of the herbs and vegetables end up on pizza and in bread that is cooked in our backyard brick oven.

 

We use 100% organic cultivation methods, based strongly on good soil culture as opposed to organic pest treatments, of which we use almost none. As you’ll notice, I tolerate a certain amount of pest damage as long as the plant is still relatively healthy and producing well. If the pest overwhelms the plant, I consider my run with the plant to be done rather than trying to save it using heroic methods. That keeps my small garden producing well.

 

I applied expanded shale once to all of the front beds to break up the clay, and I incorporate compost into each bed before plating a new crop – which works out to about twice a year. Then I mulch to conserve water. When I fertilize, which is sporadically, I use an organic slow-release 7-2-2 that can be purchased at the Collin County Feed & Seed on Chestnut Street.

 

The ongoing harvest includes:

tomatoes

purple pole beans

peppers

 

This spring, we’ve already completed harvest of:

garlic

shallots

onions

peas

lettuce

 

Immediately after the tour, we will harvest:

soybeans

carrots

corn

 

In July we will start planting the fall garden, which may include eggplants, potatoes, pumpkins, and a second planting of tomatoes and peppers.

 

Upcoming projects include:

drip irrigation, front and back

hardscaping, including a patio around the brick oven

 

There is a chance that we’ll be relocating early next year, but we’re hoping we can find someone to pass the house to who will continue with the vision of an urban food oasis.

Shallots, garlic, and onions in bags, ready for storage.

Before I forget, I wanted to document this year’s harvest of garlic, shallots, and onions. It was a rough year for these guys, with the exceedingly wet winter and spring. I lost about 20 heads of garlic to mold and rot. Even so, I brought in 67 nice heads, which beats last year’s 57 total.

I’m not sure how well the shallots will keep, but I’ll let you know. If they keep well, we shouldn’t have to buy any onions or garlic this coming year. I love that.

The front veggie garden. The big empty spot on the left is where the garlic just came out, and the okra just went it. The empty spot on the bottom right is where the onions came out and the okra went in.

Well, whaddya know, Make McKinney Weird is two years old. And things are hopping in real life, garden-wise. I’ve been out every morning and evening trying to whip this homestead into shape for the McKinney Garden Club Garden Tour. They’ve never had a vegetable garden on the tour before, so I’m trying to make a good impression. Of course, my harvest schedule isn’t cooperating, so there are pretty bare spots in places. (sigh) We’re going to distract them with wine and bread from the oven. That should do it.

Useful local references:
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.

okra*
pumpkin
squash

I usually plant my okra wherever I pull out the garlic or peas. The timing works perfectly. It’s the late end of okra-planting season, but it’s worked every year for me. This time I started the okra seeds in little pots in the back yard. Then popped them into the space where the garlics were. Voila. Okra is amazing. The little seedlings didn’t even wilt in today’s 100 degree heat.

I pulled up the garlic, onions, and shallots about a week ago. This is our first year with shallots, at the cook’s request. They’re crazy easy to grow. We may just ditch the onions and grow shallots only. With the wet, windy spring and the cats digging in the garden, the onions were less-than inspiring again this year.

Oh, and this was my first year to plant garlic from my own previous year’s harvest. Worked like a charm! So I’ll be doing that again, as well as with the shallots.

The tomatoes are rolling in strong. We’ve gotten about a dozen so far, maybe a few more. Jan made me promise to plant fewer small tomatoes this year, so I have just one yellow pear for munching in the garden. The rest are big, beefy varieties for cooking and canning. Let’s see if we can beat last year’s 7-gallon canning fest. We made it well into the spring with those canned tomatoes.

I’ve had a request for more information about what varieties that are working for me. I’ll work on that shortly.

Johnson's Blue Geranium flower

Useful local references:
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.

okra* (thru 1 Jun.)
peas, southern (thru 20 May)
sweet potato slips (thru 15 May)

I planted sweet potatoes last year, and they grew well and tasted good. But I’m the only one who eats them much, so I won’t be doing it again. They take up so much room in the garden that it’s just not a good use of space for us.

And I usually plant my okra in May, rather than April. By May, I’m pulling up the cool season stuff like peas and lettuce, which gives me room to place the okra. With about twice the square footage, I could avoid these compromises, and would even have room to let more plants go to seed for my seed stockpiles. Such is life.

To make myself feel better, I made a purse for the fairer half of the couple. She had admired one I made, so I decided to send her off with one like it. I hope she really did like it, and wasn’t just being nice! Whatever. She doesn’t have to use it. But it felt good pouring my energy into it for a bit, to send as a memento of our friendship.

It’s a simple design, about 6″ x 9″. I’ve tweaked this design for a couple of years now, and it’s just perfect for me for day-to-day use. Plus she’s an “autumn”, so the colors are perfect for her. And come on; who doesn’t like vinyl?

Tomato blossom.

• Not enough sun. When they say that tomatoes need full sun, they don’t mean that they need direct sunlight in the middle of the day. Or all day before noon. Or all afternoon. FULL SUN. Trimming the trees back a little to make room for the tomatoes won’t work.
• Actually, that’s it.

I thought about making something else up to give you a list. But really, that’s the most common problem I see when people ask me for advice.

And you know what? They don’t believe me. They say, “No, I came out her yesterday in the middle of the day and it was fully in the sun.” But I look up and it’s surrounded by trees on all sides, with a window to the sky directly above.

Not good enough.

But I’m not here to beat people up with my opinions. So I nod and say, “OK. Maybe it’s something else.”

And they get crappy tomatoes.

Full sun.

And compost.

I like it. It’s the color of dirt. Mmm.

Actually, I think it’s a continuation of my fascination with brown that stems from my mother’s refusal to buy me brown stuff when I was growing up. It was the 70s. That’s just not right.

Whaddya think?