A wheelbarrow of leeks, onions, garlic. Bush beans are growing in raised bed behind the harvest and our mulch piles are in the upper right corner.
Blackberry Pickings; these will make delicious jelly or cobblers.
This is a view of our raised beds brimming with healthy veggie plants and bordered by grapevines. You can see Dorothy and Syann measuring tomatoes in Bed #1.
Ann Lamb
Why would you measure tomatoes plants and weigh harvest?
Growing blackberries in Dallas
One of the concerns about edible landscaping is that if you eat your edibles, you’ll lose your landscape! That’s a valid concern. So here at the Edible Landscape of Raincatcher’s garden, we have pictorial proof to poof away your fears! We planted our circle of greens in our shade bed about two months ago from 6-inch transplants. The bunnies in our neighborhood really liked the swiss chard, so we added a little fence to discourage their visits.
Our bed of greens this morning when we arrived. Full and lush and beautiful. Can’t you see that gracing your front yard?
Our bed of greens this morning when we arrived. No, wait! This is After we harvested from it. Can you tell the difference? Maybe it looks even a little more neat and tidy. I guess maybe we didn’t harvest too much from it.
Our harvest. Really! How many people could you feed with all these lovely greens? We’ve got kale, mustard greens, French sorrel, parsley and spinach and we can use them raw in a salad or steamed, tossed in a little cream sauce over pasta, or chopped up and thrown into a soup. If you like a little challenge, how about juicing them and using the juice to make a green pasta? Or chopping and mixing with bread dough for rolls? If this was in your yard, you could harvest a little every day and no one would know you’ve been eating your landscape.
There’s going to be a talk on Edible Landscaping at 11001 Midway Road on Thursday, June 28 at the June Master Gardener meeting. Lecture starts at noon. Come join us and see our edible landscape in person. Or stop by any Tuesday morning, we’ll be out there, harvesting our greens.
Like the title of the book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, I could say all the plants I really need to know came from Master Gardeners. For example, these beautiful poppies.
They self seed all over my garden and at Raincatcher’s.
A close up tells the story: bees also love poppies!
This loaded honey bee is happy about the choice of flowers in my garden, which is something to consider! Note, bees prefer these single petal blooms rather than double.
Load up on information about poppies. Remember to sow seeds in the fall.
Ann Lamb
First of all, I need to confess this is not my farm and these are not my pictures or Starla’s.
Patti Brewer from the Master Gardener class of 2012 took these pictures and runs the family farm pictured below with her husband and family.
Patti, where is this crazy beautiful place?
The farm is in Lone Camp, Palo Pinto county, Texas. Palo Pinto county is the beginning of the northern hill country. I am not sure of our farm’s exact date of purchase but my mom who was born there would be 100 years old this year. Land was purchased at different times and some of it was owned by my great grandparents. Some of the land was partitioned to their sons and daughters including my grandfather.
Your farm is meaningful to your family but also important in terms of habitat. Who shares your farm?
Wild life on this farm include turkey, dove, deer, aoudad-or Barbary sheep, coyotes, cotton tail rabbits, roadrunners, hawks, buzzards and skunks. Of course, we have rattlesnakes and copperheads.We occasionally see horned toad lizards and have a decades old hill of red ants that stretches as wide as my outstretched arms reach. Red ants are #1 on the diet for horned toads. We have Texas spiny lizards too. Birds we see are hummers, house wrens, cardinals, blue jays,tufted titmouses, chickadees, meadowlarks, whippoorwills, and owls. We have once or twice seen painted buntings. In the area are habitats of golden cheeked warblers, an endangered bird.
What about the wildflowers. We are drinking them in!!! Just gorgeous!
These pictures are from March/April 2017, when we had a trifecta of blooms at one time.
Bluebonnets, we can’t get enough!
Indian Paintbrush blazing!
Patti Brewer
Our annual plant sale will be held in conjunction with the April 26, 2018 meeting of the Dallas
County Master Gardener Association. Before the meeting: 10:00 – 11:30 After the meeting:
1:00 – 2:00
Come shop the great variety of plants we have to offer!! We have divided our perennials,
potted volunteers, started seeds, taken cuttings, dug bulbs..
We have herbs, succulents,
bulbs, houseplants, Louisiana iris, annuals, perennials, natives and adapted plants as well as
ornamental plant markers and other garden items.
Don’t forget our tomato and pepper plants, ready to go home with you!
Cash or Check preferred….Credit Cards accepted
11001 Midway Road, Dallas, Texas
Raincatcher’s Garden Plots Spring 2018
Several weeks ago I was the fly on the wall listening to the greats of our garden map out future garden beds.
As you know from our last post, our 3 trial beds will have Celebrity tomatoes. One bed will be fertilized with chemical fertilizer, one with organic and one will receive compost. Tomatoes will be weighed and plants measured to determine which method of fertilization is best.
Jim has started Black Krim and Purple Cherokee Tomatoes by seed.
We will also grow San Marzano tomatoes at Linda’s suggestion. These are the only tomatoes we will grow without a cage. Linda had great success letting her San Marzano sprawl across her garden bed rather than being contained in a cage. Linda says the thick cover of the plant kept the squirrels away. Really, Linda? I am going to give that a try.
Pepper plants will be in #3. Poblano, Serranos, Hot Boss Big Man and Sweet Gypsy are on our list. Sue savored the Sweet Gypsy peppers. And yes, Hot Big Boss Man is the name of a hybrid pepper, a cross between an ancho and poblano. More info here.
Cucumbers and Eggplant to be planted later in bed #5 and notice long beans will also have a home there.
Contender and Goldmine beans will be planted April 1st.
Okra will be planted in 6 when the onions and garlic are pulled.
Blackeyed peas will grow on a trellis all summer says Dorothy.
We are out of room! What about pumpkins you say? Jim suggested planting them around the fig tree in the field.
If you need a vegetable planting guide, here are two we have relied on:
North Texas Planting Guide by TAMU
Be sure to tap our new Master Gardener website for a wealth of information.
Ann Lamb
Plot Plan by Dorothy Shockley
Every year at Raincatcher’s Garden we have had a bumper crop of tomatoes. Not so last year. Not enough water and too much fertilizer caused the problem. Well, we are not going to duplicate that this year.
Jeff Raska, our horticulture program assistant, has put the “R” back in our Research, Education, and Demo title. We are embarking on tomato trials with the goal of higher and better tomato production. Jeff reminds us that his tomato plants at his home produce 40 pounds of tomatoes per plant. Ok, Jeff! Game on!
Fertilization Comparison Study 2018
Week 1-March 20, 2018
Celebrity Tomatoes
Protocol:
Syann dutifully measuring tomato plants last year. She has agreed to help with our 2018 study.
Bed #9- Compost
Week 1 – 1 Tbsp Epsom salts, 1 cup Miracle-Gro Compost (1-0-0)
Week 2 – Plant tomatoes
Week 8 – 1 cup Miracle-Gro Compost (1-0-0)
Week 16 – 1 cup Miracle-Gro Compost (1-0-0)
Bed #1- Organic Fertilizer
Week 1 – 1 Tbsp Epsom salts, 1 Tbsp Blood Meal (12-0-0), 2 Tbsp Dr Earth (4-6-3)
Week 2 – Plant tomatoes
Week 8 – 1 Tbsp Bone Meal (6-9-0), 2 Tbsp Dr Earth (4-6-3)
Week 16 – 1 Tbsp Bone Meal (6-9-0), 2 Tbsp Dr Earth (4-6-3)
Bed #2- Chemical Fertilizer
Week 1 – 1 Tbsp Epsom salts, 1 Tbsp Vigoro, Tomato & Vegetable (12-10-5)
Week 2 – Plant tomatoes
Week 8 – 1 Tbsp Vigoro,Bold Flowers (15-30-15)
Week 16 – 1 Tbsp Vigoro, Bold Flowers (15-30-15)
Celebrity tomatoes characteristics: All-American Winner Selection, 7 oz, determinate, harvest 70 days. Tom Wilten calls Celebrity the preeminent mid-sized tomato.
Fertlization Comparison study write up by Jim Dempsey.
Picture by Starla Willis
Ann Lamb
Read up on tomatoes by using our search box. We have recipes, growing tips, and advice to produce tons of tomatoes.
Just when you need it the most, Lonicera fragrantissima, also known as Winter Honeysuckle bursts on the scene with its powerful scent and dainty little creamy flowers.
The blooms provide pollen and nectar to bees who are foraging on a winter’s day.
When you plan your garden, get used to including other’s needs, especially our pollinators. Winter can be a bleak time for overwintering butterflies and bees.
Dr. William Welch suggests planting Winter Honeysuckle by a gate so when you brush by it you can enjoy the scent. It can be grown in partial shade or full sun. For a look at it in full sun, click here.
If you arrive early at the next *Texas Discovery Garden sale, you might be able to take home your own small start of this fast growing fragrant bush.
Ann Lamb
*Texas Discovery Garden Sale-April 6-8, 2018
More info about Lonicera fragrantissima right here on Dallas Garden Buzz!
Though curses aren’t usually the words usually associated with seeing beautiful butterflies soaring around your garden, if you are a home vegetable gardener or part of a community garden that donates produce to food pantries, there is one butterfly that you may dislike.
Large Cabbage White Butterfly on Cabbage
No, it is not the butterflies whose larval host plants are dill, parsley and fennel. Many people who have butterfly gardens purposely grow extras of these plants as host plants for the butterfly larva. By following the rule “one for me, and one for the birds and butterflies.” you can have your share and the butterflies/caterpillars can have theirs. However for vegetable gardeners, the sight of pretty white butterflies flitting around members of the brassica family (ex- kale, cabbage, mustard, turnips, etc) can mean only one thing: an invasion of hungry larva caterpillars that will soon damage their crops.
Large Cabbage White Butterfly Larvae, note larvae color is green not pink as this photo shows
Cabbage white butterflies, also known by butterfly-lovers as “summer snowflakes,” are found in two sizes, the Small Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae) and the Large Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae.) The small cabbage white butterfly, though still considered an agricultural pest, is not as voracious a feeder as the Large Cabbage White Butterfly and will be the focus of this article.
The Small Cabbage White Butterfly is found throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa. It was accidentally introduced to Quebec around 1860 and spread rapidly throughout North America. By 1898 it had spread to Hawaii and by 1929 to New Zealand. Often, one of the first butterflies to appear in the spring, it lays eggs on the underside of a leaf. The eggs are laid singly and are yellow making them difficult to spot. The eggs hatch after about five to fourteen days and then the damage to members of the mustard family begins. Using their powerful mandibles, the larva munch holes in the leaves. Sometimes they will even eat into the heart of a cabbage, leaving a shell in its place. The larva then pupate, to start the whole cycle again.
Cabbage Damage Due to White Butterfly Larvae
Thankfully there are safe biological and barrier controls for this pest butterfly. In the mid 19th century the Australian government introduced parasitic wasps to control the damage produced by both species of butterflies. However this approach is only suitable for large commercial growers. There are other insects however that can help. These include ladybird beetles, lacewings, and some species of insect-eating birds. A physical control might include covering the plants with mosquito netting or other barriers. Be sure to secure all the edges.
Perhaps the easiest organic method of control is to use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), a naturally occurring bacteria that kills a caterpillar but leaves beneficial insects unharmed. When the caterpillar eats a treated leaf, it will get an upset stomach, stop eating, and die within four days. Just be sure not to apply it in wet weather as the spray will wash off.
By using Bt or other methods of control, you should be able to “have your cabbage and eat it too.”
Carolyn Bush
Hopefully, you have taken a moment to watch Evelyn explain what our Vitex tree needed. Click here for the video if you missed it.
Vitex tree in need of a trim.
Here’s the before picture.
The dormant season is the recommended time for pruning, but sometimes your work force, needs, and timing come together in other seasons. Evelyn and Susan, experienced gardeners, took our large, unruly bush and gave it a comely shape.
Here’s the result:
Vitex tree after pruning
Read more about Vitex trees here and in Dallas you can see these trees growing outside the Nasher Museum in downtown Dallas and at the Dallas Arboretum.
Ann Lamb
Picture and video by Starla Willis
Pruning by Susan Swinson and Evelyn Womble
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 