The Learning Curve!

I grew up in the Midwest.  A land so fertile that it seems possible to stick a seed in the ground and have it almost guaranteed to grow.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are of helping Mom can produce from the garden, and working in the garden.  In truth, I probably didn’t help much but I remember it very clearly.  (And I was very normal and complained about it a little bit, especially when I wanted to do something other than hoeing out weeds and standing cornstalks back up after a terrible storm flattened every row!)  We had a big family and a big garden, as was appropriate.  Corn, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, onions, peas, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, and more.  MMmmm!! Nothing in the world tastes as good as food you picked from your own garden.  We all learned a lot from these experiences, too.  

At my dad’s place, he would feed the horses in a wide run between the pastures over the winter, and of course where they ate they left nutrient rich deposits too. ;-)  In the spring, that section would be closed off and the garden would be put in.  No kidding, we had tomatoes the size of small cantaloupe out of that area!  And the flavor was incredible! 

I think this is why children today are more fussy eaters – the food from the supermarket does not have the richness and depth of flavor that home grown quality produce provides, and the textures are bland and frankly often unappetizing.

That said, I am still learning to garden in Texas.  The brutal Texas sun and 100 plus degree days are an absolute beating on plants.  The one little pepper plant that currently enjoys filtered sun is the only one really surviving right now.  However, the lettuce bed produced like mad this year!  We took our barnyard organic matter (isn’t that a nice delicate way of putting it!) that the chickens have composted down for us, and added their own organic matter to, and worked that into the soil – which is heavy clay – and added some healthy doses of sand to keep the soil more permeable and it is really helping.  (We planted that in late February and covered the raised bed with a glass door that needed a job.  It let in sun, and kept in warmth during the cold!) 

Tomatoes… poor things burned up.  Peppers – all but one burned to a crisp.  Etc…  BUT, I have been inspired by that lucky little pepper that is in filtered sun.  It seems that a lattice providing some afternoon / evening filtered light would help tremendously, plus it would give climbing plants a handy place to grow.  I *have* successfully used blue lake green beans (bush style) as a border around the house serving as food and incentive to water the foundation.  (Digression here: This is Texas - you have to water your concrete foundation so it doesn't crack from the heat and shifting soil.  15 years in this state and that's still weird to me!!!)

Fall planting here I come!  Thank goodness Texas has enough warm weather to get away with two planting seasons a year!!!  Better for me and my learning curve!