Gardening for an Autumn Harvest

In discovering the joy of canning (doesn’t that sound like a book?  Hmm… it probably is, and if it isn’t yet it should be) as an adult, instead of helping Mom when I was a kid, my fervor to have a successful garden is renewed.  I’ve been doing even more research on gardening in Texas, and feel ready to take another crack at it with planting for a fall harvest.  The plantings will be limited to just five things:  Tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, chard, and carrots. 

Let me say first that the preparation of this area for a new garden was partially accidental, but I’ll take it.  With the drought in Texas last year, and hay at an all-time premium it wasn’t uncommon to hear that people were having their hay stolen.  As a result, we had several round bales stored in our back yard and covered under a gigantic tarp, so that anyone who wanted to try to steal it would have to go through not only locked gates but a pack of dogs through one gate or a barnyard and pasture with guard donkeys in it through the other.  No one stole our hay J

Since we peeled flakes off the hay, and fed those in order to moderate control over consumption, one of the results of this particular storage place was the fallout hay on the ground, and the bottom layer that got wet.  It was winter.  Ground water seeped up.  We had other projects going on.  Blah, Blah, Blah!  Excuses.  Anyway, we left a several inch thick layer on the ground right where the new garden will grow, then this spring sometimes we let the chickens in to scratch around.  Guess what?  We have a well mulched and well broken down area that we’re topping with more composted barnyard waste.  (There we go again with polite phrasing!)

We have some step in posts which we will couple with some light weight fence that should keep the dogs out.  In addition, one of the recommendations is to give the plants some FILTERED sun so they aren’t so bedraggled by the beating that our Texas sun provides.  This is probably the hardest thing for my brain to accept.  Being from Illinois I know that you put the garden out where it gets full sun all day long.  Not so here in Texas.  Quite possibly we will use lattice along the side to filter the late afternoon and evening sun.  

Let’s see how this goes … Cross your fingers for us!