Edible Gardening

Gardening Guide

Edible Gardening

Best Herbs for North Texas

Basil, African Blue Ocimum kilimandscharium

‘Afr. Blue’

O  Annual. 3′ Sun

Dark green leaves w/ purplish blue cast, dark purple stems, sweet camphor scent.

 

Basil, Aroma Ocimum basilicum

C/FR  Annual. 2-3′ Sun

Genovese type with heavenly fragrance. More disease resistance and more reluctant to flower…

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Creating an Herb Garden

Soil Preparation – Before planting your herbs, we recommend carefully accessing and preparing the soil so that it has proper drainage. In North Texas, our heavy, sticky clay soil needs to be amended before you plant a new bed. Plant roots don’t get enough oxygen in clay soils. Raised beds, compost and other amendments help. Back to Earth composted cotton burrs and expanded shale are two of the best soil amendments to ensure success in your raised beds and mixed borders. Expanded shale, a gravel-size rock that is pumped full of air, aerates clay soil, makes it easy to work…

Fall Vegetable Garden

Enjoying the Second Season in North Texas
 
What is the Fall Garden, and Why Plant One?
 
As summer rolls in, it’s time in North Texas to begin planting our second full garden turn of the year! We’re blessed with an exceptionally long season for growing all kinds of tasty vegetables, but most of the plants we love to eat don’t produce well throughout the entire growing year. Older plants don’t always produce well, plants wear out and stop producing altogether, or simply die outright – or you’ve harvested the first crop of many of…

Fruit, Nut, and Berry Guide

This guide is written to help you, the homeowner, grow your very own fruit trees and berries from initial transplant stages to maturity and harvest in the Metroplex area of North Texas. Read below and then find edibles here in our Online Shopping.

 

Selecting Your Fruiting Plants

The first thing to do is decide what fruits you like enough to eat a LOT of.  One or two mature fruit trees will provide enough fruit in most cases that you’re likely to learn how to can, preserve, jar, or dry the fruits of your choice – that, or have…

Garden Soils and Vegetable Selection in North Texas

A vegetable garden can be one of the most rewarding landscape projects you’ve ever taken on! More and more people are taking an interest in vegetable gardening, not only from a hobbyist’s interest, but also from finding a home garden to be a very practical and cost-effective way to bring home the very freshest possible produce. The organic food movement is also responsible for encouraging more interest in the home garden – after all, you’ll know everything that’s been done to your home garden’s vegetables the whole time you care for them.

Now comes the question from many a new…

How to Create an Easy, Fast and Economical Raised Garden Bed

Materials for a 4’ x 8′ prepared and raised bed for flowers, vegetables, and other beautiful plants:
20 Cinder blocks (8″ x 8” x 16″)
1 yd. (1 scoop) Covington’s Premium Bed Mix – $90 per scoop
(Possibly) 1 grey-print newspaper (no slick paper)
1.5 lbs. Greensand
Happy Frog Tomato & Vegetable Fertilizer – 4 lbs. @ $19.99
2 lbs. dry molasses – 4 lb. jug @ $14.99
(As Needed)  Ready to Spray Hi-Yield Kill-Zall – 32 oz. @ $7.99 OR 20% Vinegar…

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PECAN & FRUIT SPRAY SCHEDULE

Pecan Spray Schedule:

Dormant Season: Apply Hi-Yield Dormant Oil to prevent scale and phylloxera. Spray trunks and branches thoroughly.

Budbreak: Apply Hi-Yield Zinc Sulfate as a spray to prevent nutritional deficiencies (rosette). Spray buds and foliage directly as they begin to break open. Use Bonide Fruit Tree Spray after the Zinc Sulfate spray has dried to prevent pecan scab and webworms.

Pre-pollination (mid-April): When leaves are one-third grown and before pollen sheds, repeat the Zinc Sulfate spray for rosette and the Bonide Fruit Tree Spray one more time.

Pollination (early May): Apply Zinc Sulfate spray and Bonide Fruit Tree spray…

Secret Soil Recipe for Great Tomatoes

Secret Soil Recipe for Great Tomatoes in Your Garden

(Works great for Peppers, Eggplant and Potatoes too!)

Based on a raised bed with 4 ft. x 8 ft. dimensions

To prepare bed, dig out existing clay soil to a depth of 6 inches, removing any undesirable vegetation or weeds. Next, add the following amendments in order to build up the level of the bed to 8 inches.

• Expanded Shale- 40 lb bag – 3 bags
• Composted Cow Manure 10-20 lbs. Or 10-20 lbs. Poultry litter
• Back to Earth Composted Cotton Burrs – 10 bags

Mix…

SUCCESSFUL ASPARAGUS PLANTING

Need:
Rich, well-drained soil–Covington’s Soil Builder w/Shale
Asparagus crowns
Ferti-lome Gardener’s Special (11-15-11)
Hi-Yield Ammonium Sulfate (21-0-0)

A few basic facts about asparagus:
• An asparagus planting can last for ten to twenty years in North Texas – possibly more!
• Asparagus is planted in January or February from 1-year old “root crowns”
• It requires three years from the time asparagus crowns are planted until the bed is in full production. Limit prior harvesting until the bed has matured.

Soil Preparation:
Asparagus does best in a deep, well-drained soil with full…

SUCCESSFUL ONION & LEEK PLANTING

Need:

Rich, well-drained soil–Covington’s Soil Builder w/shale
Onion sets and/or leeks
Hi-Yield Ammonium Sulfate (21-0-0) and Ferti-lome Gardener’s Special (11-15-11)
OR
For Organic Gardens: Hi-Yield Blood Meal (12-0-0) and Happy Frog Organic Fertilizer

Plant onions and leeks in January – Leeks and onion transplants can grow very well in northeast Texas soils and are hardy in cool temperatures well below freezing.

Preparing the Soil:
Onions and leeks are best grown in full sun (minimum 6 hours) in well amended beds that have good drainage. Raised beds at least 8″ high work well. One way to…