Northern gardens

[baymule]

i can send you a few billion oxalis and purselane seeds... those things seem to survive anything. and that crimon clover seems to be doing really really well too in those pictures. wait for it to go to seed and then harvest and spread it around before your next rainy season. eventually it will improve. may have to fence it off from the critters for a while to get it going and then keep an eye on it to rotationally graze it to not reset it back to sand again... p.s. include some alfalfa for deep rooting and nutrient mining. i've been impressed by how well it has worked here even with the rather shallow water table we have at times. after a few years the roots were an inch or more across and it was pretty tough to remove/dig up. could be mowed a few times a growing season if i had time for it and it always was a good refuge plant for various good bugs.

Won't plant alfalfa here, we have blister beetles here that emit a nasty toxin as they crawl across the alfalfa. It kills horses in a painful way. don't want any oxalis either, had it at our old house. I planted purslane here several times......no luck.

 

[Collector]

@thistlebloom , looks like your NYers are loaded also maybe a new toaster in your future. Your perennial gardens are looking awesome right now. How often do you water.

 

[Nyboy]

weeds in my garden are called wildflowers

 

[flowerbug]

Mom just picked tomatoes for the first time. i haven't looked yet. wanted to get some fresh beans picked today and have worms to feed too so gotta run.

hard to imagine purselane not able to grow, but that is likely sand vs. clay. around here it's a super easy ground cover once the weather gets warm enough. and i'm not talking about the decorative moss roses, i'm talking about the wilder version which has yellow flowers and much wider leaves.

too bad about alfalfa too. that's such a well mannered green manure plant.

howabout birdsfoot trefoil?

 

[thistlebloom]

@thistlebloom , looks like your NYers are loaded also maybe a new toaster in your future. Your perennial gardens are looking awesome right now. How often do you water.

The perennial beds get deep watered probably every 5 or 6 days. They are growing so close together that the soil is shaded.

The veg garden probably every other day, if it's not blazing hot every 3rd day.

 

[baymule]

birds foot trefoil.….I've read about it, doesn't it like cooler temps?

 

[flowerbug]

birds foot trefoil.….I've read about it, doesn't it like cooler temps?

grows here all summer, can be cut several times, lower N content than alfalfa and doesn't cause bloat. they'll graze it in preference over grasses. i'm gradually taking it out here because the plant gets too big and flops all over the pathways and drops so many seeds it's hard to control. the bees love it and it always seems happy to host the lady beetles and many other bugs too. i'm not sure what SE Texas would do to it, i'm sure you wouldn't get very far with it planting it in the spring, but you may do ok trying to seed some in the fall and then see how far it gets. i think it would take a few seasons to get it firmly established before grazing. the roots go down a few feet in solid clay, i'm not sure what they'd do in sand. perhaps it wouldn't do as well.

i've not really ever regretted planting it even if i am now gradually thinning it back and removing it from some areas. i love the flowers.

it's a reliable green manure plant for me. the root structure really helps break up this clay and that it's a nitrogen fixer gets the soil community built up.