Seed catalogs and garden planning

[desertcat]

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago, I was bemoaning the lack of seed catalogs and now I'm totally overwhelmed. Not just with the catalogs, but with too many choices...so come on my enablers and help me get a plan.

My garden is in a fenced area about 24x175. It has 5 raised beds (6x3) and 2 (6x1.5), 1 "strawberry pyramid" thingy (circular, about 4' in diameter), various single tubs and lots of empty ground. In the last few years, I tended to plant all one variety of something, swithching if it didn't do well. The results have been ok, but I want Phenomenal! I've been watering with a hose, but am talking to the nice folks at The Natural Gardening Co to design a drip system.

Anyway, I'm seriously thinking about ordering lots of different varieties of things and wanted some extra input. Not thinking about saving seeds this year. I've had good luck with various tomatoes and I can grow eggplant like crazy, but everything else has been hit or miss. So let me in on your favorites or things you probably won't do again. Oh, and for what it's worth, garden is in full sun (and wind) and summer temps are in the 90-100 range...and humidity is usually nonexistent.

 

[digitS']

And, there is DesertCat in Amarillo!

. . . talking to the nice folks at The Natural Gardening Co to design a drip system. . . .

One courageous gardener - I just learned that Amarillo was nearly the capital of the Dust Bowl during the 1930's. That drip system makes a whole lot more sense than you being out there holding the end of a hose !

Here's an idea and I don't even know if they have a print catalog: Native Seeds in Tucson (click) -- maybe Marshall can tell you about his relationship with them.

Desert plants . . . desert plants . . ? Do you suppose eggplant is a desert plant? You know, wild tomatoes live in just about the driest place in the world. Yeah. I guess that there is something like moisture from the nearby ocean that may condense on plants overnight and provide most of the moisture . . . but anyway, there is a huge number of tomato varieties to cover just about all the environments where we want to grow them. Still, maybe you should be looking closely at some of those tomatoes that Native Seeds list. And, peppers! Of course . . .

Also melons. Don't you think? Isn't your part of the world just about Watermelon Heaven?

Steve

 

[desertcat]

Only if I change my name to Gungadin! Some years I can get melons, most years they (like lots of other stuff) look around and decline to play!

Just checked out the suggested website. I think we may be on to something there!

 

[897tgigvib]

native seed search has desert adapted things. They have tepary beans that survive and tough out drought. They have melons that are from just west of ya. Oh, they also have ways to grow desert gardens!...the opposite of a raised bed...sunken.

Might want to grow okra...amarillo has, or had, some of it's very own heirloom okras, but ya may have to visit the nursing homes and ask some of them where they stashed their okra seeds. One might whisper, did y'all pass that hie-biscous in the parking lot? That'll be my cuzzin's Parish Okra or some such story.

 

[digitS']

Not quite as geriatric as Marshall's but I was talking with a friend a day or 2 ago. She knows a neighbor . . . The neighbor lives near our distant big veggie garden. Anyway, she say, "It is sooo rocky out there!" And, I'm telling her about expanding the garden . . . No, no seriously. There are 1 or 2 things that will grow. Sure! She had that tilt to her head and the look of disbelief . . .

Seems like whenever there is a survey of the "easiest crops" - the ones that do okay in my gardens are on the top of the list of the 10 easiest. Like beans. (I wouldn't even recognize a "tepary" bean!!)

I don't have much experience anywhere else. I could count the seasons that I've gardened elsewhere on the digits of 1 hand. So, maybe there is somewhere that a green bean won't grow. I'm sure that the plants do better some places and that they have unique problems elsewhere. I've even had seasons where beans haven't done well in my garden. Like, something went really wrong. Curly top! Red spider mites!! But, 11 times out of 12, they do okay. I sometimes can't keep the pole beans going for long. They seem willing to embarrass me but if a visitor show up at the right moment, he or she would never know .

Sweet corn will usually produce a fairly good crop. I can set myself up for failure by not paying attention to a variety's length of season or pretending that I don't need one that germinates easily at low soil temperatures. Variety choice . . . of course, going for short seasoned varieties means fewer days of risk! Yeah, it isn't really that I'm going for quick gratification. There are still all those long weeks of anxiety .

Look, it isn't just me -- did you know that the Early Girl tomato is the most popular variety just about everywhere in North America? Why would a gardener with a 10 month growing season go for a variety with 55 days-to-maturity? Darn near fool-proof - and I'm evidence of that!

Steve

 

[digitS']

. . . and, another thing.

People say, "I just can't grow those Asian greens! Bok Choy? It bolts to seed!"

Well, I sow the seed probably 4 times at the start of every season. Out of that, I get 1 "okay" crop. Two are "near" or "complete" failures! And, one does exceptionally well.

Nooobbuuddy needs to know that the 4 sowings are aaalll of the same Bok Choy variety. Those over there that look so miserable? Those are just an "experiment."

Now, I don't know if your arid and windy conditions would allow for any success with Asian greens but the same technique can be applied for most any crop.

S'

 

[catjac1975]

Select everything that you want and then add up the cost. It will be easier to edit the list when you see how much your choices cost. I also think that not all varieties grow well for everyone so stick close to the varieties that have performed well for you. Limit your new choices to a few each year.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

heh, i think i do that same thing Cat! i tend to copy over my list to a spreadsheet so i can look it over later. (sometimes the webpages don't always keep my list on their site for the next visit).

 

[desertcat]

With some advance planning, I HAVE grown several kinds of greens in this convection oven climate But it almost takes an engineering degree!

My biggest problem is that I really want to be garden-sufficient at some point, but I think that's more a matter of adapting my tastebuds to what will actually grow here. Zone 6 sounds soooo reasonable...at least until you factor in our proximity to the Rockies which accounts for much of our wind and lack of rain. Still, given the options, I think I'll stay here!

Right now I'm in the middle of doing what Catjac suggested and making lists. The truly deciding factor may not be cost, but how much room do I need. The garden always looks gigantic this time of year and by July, it's a postage stamp!

 

[897tgigvib]

The Mama Chicken would surely have something to say. Where the heck is she??? She has a blog if I remember right. Can someone sign on and comment for her to stop in and at least say a Texas howdy?