Proud Daddy

They made it! After several days of subfreezing weather, I was sure that my little winter garden was done for. Not so fast! With some care and a touch of warmer weather, my little leeks are back and full of life.

I'm really proud of them. I mean, not proud like "Look at my prize winning leeks", but more like "I'm so happy I didn't kill my plants." I did the research to make sure I was taking proper care of them (this is my first winter garden), but somehow I just wasn't sure if they would make it through last week's arctic breezes. So here are a few tips to make sure that you keep your winter plants alive:

1) Water them. I know this may sound counterintuitive when it's freezing outside, but a thin layer of ice can actually help protect winter plants. Also, when the wind blows it requires much more energy for plants to stay strong. So if it's freezing and windy and you don't water, your little plants may well die from starvation, not from the cold.

2) Move your warmer plants (lime trees, potted plants, etc.) inside or at least in the garage. Even a few degrees makes a huge difference to plants.

3) If the weather gets really bad you can use a cardboard box to cover your plants. Put a string of Christmas lights inside to provide some warmth. The heat from the lights will provide just enough heat to keep your plants alive and well. Just be careful about the lights being on the wet ground.

Still gathering for the spring garden. I'm just such a proud Daddy today!

Garden Supplies

Not a whole lot to report on the garden front for the weekend. I was a little under the weather and it was freezing outside, so not much got done other than some requisite watering.

I have, however, been planning my spring garden for some time now and I have a pretty good idea of what it's going to look like. I'm no landscape architect, but here goes nothing...

There will be four main beds (maybe a fifth if I get really ambitous!) this year. I like fresh tomatoes a lot and am looking to get extras to can this year. I will plant two full beds of tomatoes and maybe a third. However you want to do your garden, be sure to take some time to envision how it all will look.

There is a ton of work to do before things start warming up. This week will be dedicated to gathering all the supplies I need to make this year's garden a success. Timbers or old railroad ties, extra compost, new shovel, wheelbarrow, elbow grease (I can't find anyone that stocks this), more pine straw, chicken wire, cardboard...

Looks like I'm going to be busy!

Organic Gardening

It's freezing here in Dallas. And not like normal, when it's 55 degrees outside and you hear one of us pansy Texans say, "Man, it's freezing out here." No, it's really freezing. Twenty-five degrees, to be exact.

So instead of preparing the soil in some of my vegetable gardens I have decided to take this time to do a little R&D. I have been digging up some really good information about organic gardening. I guess I haven't mentioned it as of yet, but my garden is going to be organic. In my humble opinion, this is the only way to go. Pouring chemicals into my garden seems to be a contradiction in so many ways.

At any rate, I sent off my soil sample to Texas A&M yesterday and now need to await the results. I have, however, determined that my soil is a very rich, black clay. This will be good as it supports an ample amount of plantlife.

I have also been doing some thinking about what type of plants I would like to grow, which will determine what type and how much preparation my garden will need. I will be attempting to grow some tomatoes, peppers, squash, blueberries, and a few ornamentals as well.

More on what my garden will need for all this tomorrow. Until then, happy gardening!

Garden Journal

After letting my soil sample air dry for several hours yesterday it was all good to go. I packed it up in the requisite envelope and sent it off to Texas A&M for testing this afternoon. Now we wait.

Meanwhile we can be gathering the other necessities for our little journey. One of the most important of these is a garden journal. I was lucky enough to receive one of these for Christmas. I would recommend a high quality, leather-bound blank journal. As my mom told me, "You're going to want a good one because you will be keeping it for a long time."

Gardening is one of those hobbies that seems to turn into a lifelong obsession for a lot of people. Being able to chronicle your successes and failures will eventually give you more successes than failures...that's the idea anyway.

Dallas County soil

As we move into January I have a checklist of things I need to get completed in order to be on schedule for my spring garden. I'm going to stick to the baby plants in the nursery this year. As much as I would love to plant everything from seed, I should probably tackle all the basics first.

One of the basics is knowing what type of soil your babies will be growing in. There are many resources for this information, but a good start is the County Agricultural Extension Office. I gave them a call and found out that most of Dallas lies on a fertile, black clay (as does my yard). For more detailed information she sent me to my local nursery.

Being that I live next to the lake, my local nursery informed me that the soil type, pH, etc. varies widely from block to block and that my best bet would be to send in a soil sample to Texas A&M University.

Their website (soiltesting.tamu.edu) gives very detailed information on how to take a soil sample and where to send it. Today I went digging and got the requisite sample. As stated in the directions, I need to air dry my soil sample since it was wet to the touch. I will drop it in the mail tomorrow.

Soil sample. Check.

A Journey Through the Garden

Well, folks, it's about that time. Time to start preparing the garden for the spring. A good spring garden requires some planning, so let's get to work. If you'd like to join me along my journey, I would love to have you. All you need is a little time, a few supplies, and a lot of love.

First, and foremost, you will need the help of experts. I highly recommend one (or both) of the following texts as an all-purpose reference. Doug Welsh's Texas Garden Almanac and/or Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening. Both are chock full of information that will be extremely helpful along the way.

I have just recently drawn up a plan of my garden for this spring. It's always good to dream for a little while and then layout a plan. You'll never get anywhere if you don't know where you're going. I'm also working on getting the soil tested. This is a must in Texas, as the soils differ greatly from place to place.

More on that tomorrow, but for now, keep dreaming about that beautiful garden!