welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Thursday, June 21, 2012

garden update

GARDEN UPDATE
as the longest day is past
and the dog days of summer will start today as
we start a run of 100+ degree temperature days
its reassessment and clean up time here at the country n

we have 10 acres with 9 acres of it being pasture land that
i have decided to let go back to nature a few years ago
i planted some native grasses and have selectively let cedars
hackberries and other trees grow back in them
i have also have planted some native trees such as oaks
and cedars to supplement as visual breaks and shade trees

since we had done this we have noticed a return of more animals
and birds and butterflies to the property
we also supply 3 watering troughs of water and two smaller
waterers for the animals to access

this year we had a showy display of different wildflowers
especially bluebonnets fire wheels and bee balms

the one acre in the middle of the property is where our
house sits and is fenced with a 7 ft fence to keep out
the deer

each spring i let the wildflowers grow until they go to seed
then i go in and mow them down and leave them on the ground
to provide seeds for birds and for next years crop of wildflowers

sometimes though like this year it can look like a jungle around
our house
real snake habitat
know my wife she worries about that a lot in the spring

now its mowing time
it takes me 2-3 days to mow weedeat and pick up
excessive clippings

this year i was given a new blade for my weedeater
dang wish i had used this before
















its dry here 
its especially noticeable when i mowed and can actually see
the ground

the 1/2 inch of rain yesterday just barely moistened the dust layer

now to the garden
its decision time as my water for irrigation is getting low
i will have to decide which things to continue to water and which
to just pull up and call it over with until the fall

remember the fall is the best time to garden here in central texas

this year i planted a 4 x 12 ft bed i call my summer garden
it has things that will grow in the heat and things that will last
until winter time
okra  malabar spinach  pursalane  christmas lima beans
sweet 100 tomato  juliet tomato  bell pepper
sweet banana pepper  jalapeno pepper  two different basils
swiss chard  and arugula

i now will only water this bed and let the rest of the garden go
then this fall will plant another 4 x 12 bed with my fall garden











here is some of my tomato produce for the year
the canned jars are tomatoes
the varieties of tomatoes are celebrities  cherokee purple  lemon boy
sweet 100  juliet  roma  porter  an unlabelled heirloom
and brandywine

the pumpkin is a sugar or minature pumpkin that we will cook and
can like winter squash
its part of the 3 sisters we planted-corn  beans  pumpkins

overall a good spring garden that
is coming to a end
its time to shut it down and compost whats left

the organicgreen doctor

2 comments:

  1. Your garden produced some wonderful things this year!
    Do you grow tomatoes in your fall garden? If so, when do you plant them?
    Home-grown tomatoes cheer me up in the extremely hot weather. Last year we had hardly any. I was quite demoralized. I planted Early Girls this year to try to make sure there would be some tomatoes before the heat set in. They have been great.

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    Replies
    1. mary
      yes i grow tomatoes in my fall garden
      the best crop ive ever grown was a few falls ago
      i usually plant them in mid july
      you have to protect them from the hot sun and keep them watered but the pay off is worth in in the fall

      this was the best tomato year in a while around here
      last year was one of the worst even the good farmers had a bad crop
      good luck
      togd

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