plantings

PLANTINGS
when we first moved to the country n i had visions
of grandeur to plant a large garden for us to eat from
and
for us to have extra to can freeze give away donate
then
reality set it
hail storms destroyed it sometimes
the drought made me make choices on what survived
and
what didnt survive
tomatoes always won of course
then
vacations we took in the summer happened during
crop time
if you dont pick things at the right time the outcome
is not good
potatoes will rotten sometimes if left in the ground too long
garlic will not do well either
onions wont either
a tomato crop can get wiped out while on vacation
a big fat tomato worm can wipe out a lot of a tomato plant
in a few days
if you arent there to pick them off the plant thats left
looks like a charlie brown christmas tree
insects all kind of insects that overwhelm the garden
sometimes if you arent watching things closely

so over time we learned our lesson
drought time insects weather pointed us to where
we are today

we have 400 square feet of garden space that has rich soil
in it
and
has at least 2-3 feet of soil depth
at the bottom are moisture holding cardboard newspapers twigs
tree branches several big logs and lots of leaves your leaves
thank you

each bed has a dripper system that has emitters every 6 inches
all of which is connected to my rainwater tanks that i use
for irrigation
total potential volume 6500 gallons
right now thanks to our droughty winter they are only
half full
which isnt good

i have put a lot of time and effort into this the last 2 years
and
think i have it all set up like i want it
i hope

we plant our gardens all year round
the summer there are fewer things than any other times
the fall and spring the most
the winter more than the summer

we plant only usually what we can eat directly from the
garden with the onions and garlic and potatoes being some things
we store and use for several months
it doesnt  take a lot of work to do that

the tomatoes we plant extra so we can freeze some for use
in soups sauces etc
sorry but those made from your own tomatoes are so much better

i dont till or even use any tools in my garden
just my hands
since the beds are raised and the soil is easily handled with
my two tools attached to my arms
there are no weeds in my soil
since i either made my soil or bought the ladybug hill country garden soil

then
over time ive developed a list of things we plant here at the
country n
so
here is the list of what i have planted now this spring

garlic 100 planted in november and will be pulled and stored in june
to be used all year
onions i use 1015 ones since they seem to do so well in our garden
planted then in  january and will pull them in june
and hang them in what i call onion chimes to be used for
several months
potatoes i used red lasotas
i dont cut them when i plant i just buy small ones and throw them
in a hole
we dig them in june and store them for future use

tomatoes
i plant them in early march or late february
you have to keep a close eye on them so the freezes wont get them
i use a deep hole planting method and 5 gallon buckets to cover them
and then row cover thick type on top when the cold comes
this way i can gain a month of growth before the heat starts

-we plant early girl since they the first to produce
-juliette and sweet 100s which are small and very productive
and will usually last until it freezes in the late fall
-celebrity it always does well
 -multiple different heirlooms since they taste so good
cherokee purple brandywine are the two we always plant
then i pick others some ive never heard of

this year have limited my tomatoes to just 10 plants
spaced them further apart hoping to increase production
boy that is sure hard to do just pick 10

squash we love zucchini and yellow squash but the squash vine
borer is such a problem here and there is really no way to stop it
some years it hits late and some years it hits early
so
ive changed to one called tatume
a heirloom that vines like pumpkin or melons
if picked small like a baseball size its like a round zucchini
if left on the vine it gets larger and is used like a winter squash



okra i plant clemson spineless and a german red okra i got from
malcolm becks garden via my rainwater brother via malcolms wife
they both seems to do well here



cucumbers i plant armenian cucumbers
its a long narrow one that is productive
it does well in my garden
we dont pickle or store cucumbers so these are easily
eaten raw without peeling etc

we plant sweet basal since we use it a lot in pesto cooking
salads
in the fall we just pull up the plants and my wife she puts them
in the freezer sometimes in pesto sometimes in ice cubes etc

we plant these peppers since its what we eat
bell pepper sweet banana pepper poblano pepper
and a mild jalapeno pepper
yes im a wuss when it comes to peppers



we plant egg plants usually the long narrow ones called ichiban
sometimes we plant a standard eggplant



we have malabar spinach that returns from seeds each spring
it runs on a vine up our fences in our garden
it gets a permanent place there
we eat it cook it just like the spinach we plant in the fall
so we have spinach 365 days a year

we have oregano rosemary sage bay thyme planted permanently
in beds
in fact we use them in place of shrubs



so this is what it has come down to
a smaller but more manageable garden that doesnt overwhelm you

the country n organic garden

the organicgreen doctor

garden stuff, bunny ears

GARDEN STUFF
you know you can garden wherever you live
and raise vegetables if you have 6 hours of sunlight
me i got way too much sunlight on my garden
in fact here pretty soon ill be putting up shade cloth
over some of my stuff to block some of the late
afternoon sun

this photo is from a friend who lives in chicago
she along with a young neighborhood friend planted
this garden at their condo

its real easy to do
they took 5 gallon buckets in this case as you can see
they are visually attractive to the eye
you would want to cut holes in the bottom for drainage
in central texas you would want to put some screening
material like window screen in the bottom to keep
fire ants out
you then add a good potting soil
in this area the best is lady bug vortex potting soil
which has everything in it already
i would also add a small layer of good compost on the top
if the potting soil you use doesnt have it

then add a layer of mulch to hold in moisture
then twice a month use a good liquid organic fertilizer
not that miracle grow stuff fertilizer at the recommended
concentration
i use johns formula since it has seaweed molasses humates and
fish emulsion in it

then regularly i would check one of two finger methods of
watering
first stick the index finger down to the first knuckle
if its wet dont water
if tis dry water it
its that simple
sometimes in the hot summer it may need watering every day
remember over watering will kill the plants just as fast as
not watering it

then the second method is using the middle finger
if none of this works just raise that finger and say heck with it

usually like i said not watering it enough or watering it too much
or not having 6 hours of sun is the reason this doesnt work

after the bucket is all ready
just plant the plant
water it in
and take good care of it and enjoy the crops

they should have a good crop from their 3 different
tomatoes and eggplant and peppers
good luck

last week i wrote about the tatume squash that
was used to replace the yellow squash and the
zucchini squash that gets wiped out by that old
squash borer
here is the first two that i harvested
you pick them at baseball size
they are just as good as the yellow or zucchini
i expect any day now to see those two plants
collapsed and dead from the boerer
but im ready this year since ive got plenty of these
tatume squash that are growing

BUNNY EARS
i was known for my duct tape and my donald duck talking for
the kids when i was in practice
in fact im researching a duct tape coffin to use when i die
black of course or maybe donald duck yellow and blue

also those of you who know me very well know that ive ruined
many a photo op with my bunny ears
in fact my sweet daughterinlaw forbid me to do any bunny ears
for their wedding pictures
well thats not true she did allow me one picture where i did
bunny ears
except for some reason it didnt come through when all the pictures
were produced

my niece thanks at
sent me this  picture and wondered if i had drawn it

the organicgreen doctor

wiped out, wiped out

WIPED OUT
for someone who is a doctor i really havent been following
doctors orders very well
yes were bad patients
when he called me my mri result i was walking around a habitat
site planning the landscaping for the next day
you know he said you are suppose to be at home not doing
very much right now
hes the one that gave me the vicodin that took the pain away

then the next day we worked 6 hours doing the landscaping project
ill try to post a picture later when we finish up some touch up on
this wednesday
(dont worry he doesnt read my blog but his wife does and she wont
tell on me)
was i ever beat that night
it felt like someone put an airpump in that disc thing and blew it
up however
it still was not like it was when it started
since that pain ranks number one always in my mind
and a pain scale of 1-10 was not high enough for when this all
started
so saturday night was a 7 and the bad night was a 20

then sunday my nurse who worked for me when i suddenly
retired came with her hubby to visit us for lunch and gave me a
fathers days gift
now i dont look that old and shes not getting younger with two
girls in college
i may have accidentally deleted the picture but if i can find it ill
post it another day
there was a book called vegetable literacy by deborah madison
(she is the author of the book vegetarian cooking for everyone)
i had read about the new book and saw an interview
i said to myself i want that book and i would love to get her to sign it
when she is at the boggy creek farm farmers market

i guess my nurse and i had worked together too long

there she laid on the table a book
wrapped in brown paper like a paper bag
the ribbon was a tied piece of the old brown string
the flower was two fresh picked onions and two fresh picked
carrots
if you know me well i loved the wrapping job

yesterday i made myself take the day off and not do anything
but to take it easy
i spent all day catching up on things with my blog email the upcoming
walks to end alzheimers habitat landscape planning and setting up
an interview with someone who is doing a documentary on alzheimers
disease etc etc

so about 600 pm when i was suppose to be taking my evening dose of drugs
lyrica and hydrocodone and omeprazole
however i opted for this instead
i
remember im a doctor patient
took a nice cool adult beverage my wife had left
over from some friends the other night called a peach fuzz instead
(warning dont mix these drugs and alcohol)
sat on my couch and read my new book
as i plan to try cooking beans the way she recommended it
and
here is what happened when my wife came home last night
finding me all wiped out

WIPED OUT

i posted this on facebook but will repost it on my blog
since a former patients squash just got wiped out by
the squash borer
i expect my yellow neck and zucchini to be overcome
any day now

this year i added these to my garden
they are tatume which you can read about on the above
picture
you can order them from the heirloom seed company
victory seeds

these tatume squash have a good resistance to the
squash borer which is otherwise almost impossible to
prevent from killing the other squash even with the toxic
non organic stuff that i would never ever use
since it would not work and would just end up in my
fat tissues blood stream bladder and brain
ive got enough to worry about with all of that as it is

the now awake organicgreen doctor

landscaper and gardener

LANDSCAPER AND GARDENER
thats what i have become
well i was already both before i retired

as you know if youve read this blog much i volunteer for the
habitat for humanity helping build houses in this area
i have worked on my seventh house thats been built in the last 12+ months

on the previous house i became actively involved with the landscaping
trying to eliminate as much grass as possible in the landscape
so the homeowner wouldnt have to water and fertilize and care
for so much lawn
they were being committed to years of expense watering it and
caring for it
70% of municipal water is used in landscapes
folk were running low on water around here

the first house i did we eliminated 75% of the grass in the front yard
and left a nice patch of grass in the front for them to enjoy

in the latest house we were able to eliminate 40% of the front yard
grass by utilizing rock along the yard on one side of the driveway and
along that strip replacing grass between the sidewalk and the street
that no mans land thats hard to keep watered and mowed

we also were able to use mulch to eliminate planting grass around the
new monterey oak we planted in the front yard
the tree wont have to compete with the grass for water and
nutrition

we also were able to utilize the rocks from the rocking of the house
in the landscape making large beds across the back fence covering
it with mulch and along the driveway

here you can see that i was teaching a group of high school kids from
one of the habitat clubs at their high school how to properly plant
a tree
-only as deep as the container
-make sure the root flare is above ground level
-dont pile the mulch around the tree trunk
-mulch the area around the tree and avoid grass under the tree if possible
-use the native soil from the hole to fill the hole around the tree
-add some good garden soil or compost to top it off with
 then cover with mulch
-remove any post holding the tree in place
 i leave the tree free standing without those metal rods or wire ties

in the background in the picture you can see the 1" rocks that were
put in the no man area by the street
several rustic large rocks were placed on top of these rocks

we also planted a spineless cactus salvia greggii dwarf youpon holly and
a prostrate rosemary in the front and a red oak in the back

ive also started to utilize some rain garden techniques in the landscapes
to slow down water runoff from the property which will decrease
the amount of supplemental water thats used

a 2 x 6 ft raised garden bed made from the rock left over from the house
was built that the homeowner will use for herb growth or veggies

they are given the austin grow green book with the list of xeric plants
for the area and a handout on how to care for the yard and plants

overall a successful landscape plan on a limited budget utilizing donated
plants and supplies

now we have to figure out how to collect rainwater on a no budget

twice in the last two weeks the threat of a freeze has occurred
last week it did occur here at the country n
its these freezes that usually sneak up on me and wipe out my
tomatoes
so last week i redid all my row covers over my maters and taters
and peppers and beans and cucumber and eggplants and basil
sure glad i did as they all survived the frost and freeze without
significant damage

then that cold front came through yesterday that dropped the temps from
70 to 40 in a matter of a few minutes
no freeze warning was given for where the country n is but just
west there was freeze warnings
the weatherman said no worry if you are not in that area
herard that before

so i covered up my two keyhole gardens and my tomatoes in
their 5 ft cages and my squash beans cukes cantilope and beans

i knew if i didnt do it that there would definitely be a freeze
and i would have to go to my knees and start crying
as i had put so much effort into growing those maters by
planting them in early february and nursing them along

looks like i am going to be successful since i survived
those two late freezes


i am about to plant a tatume squash thats has some resistance to
that damn squash boerer that will wipe out my zucchini and yellow
squash after the first couple of pickings
hope its successful
its an heirloom one that grows on runners like pumpkins

here is the link to the tamu ag websites article on the tatume

i am sure glad i dont farm for a living
there are so many things that can go wrong to wipe out your crops

the organicgreen doctor