To Garden or Not To Garden?
My favorite time to garden is the fall. Late August is the optimum time to begin a fall garden in my area of Texas. Here it is on the 24th and I am still trying to decide whether or not I will plant. Usually it is a no-brainer. Plant a garden.
However, this is an extraordinary year. We are in the middle of the most severe drought that Texas has ever experienced in recorded history. My spring garden required watering every day, and we fared well. I had so much to harvest that I was overwhelmed.
It is much drier and hot now than this spring. Hardwood trees are dying in the fields. Ponds are drying up all around us. I have heard rumors that people’s water wells are drying up as well. We have had temperatures well over 1oo degrees seemingly every day for at least a month. The temperatures are not just high, they extend for most of the day. The sun is scorching the dry ground and evaporating what little moisture is there.
The drought has affected honey production. Nobody in my area has honey. I have a friend who started out the year with 20 hives, and now is struggling to keep his remaining six hives alive. As sad as this is, especially since my family is almost out of honey, it makes me wonder if there will be enough bees to pollinate my garden plants.
Each time I walk into the grocery store, I am amazed and honestly sickened by the prices. They seem to be constantly climbing higher and higher. Feeding seven members of my family, including four growing boys, and guests requires a lot of food. On the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, we rely heavily on fruit and vegetables. By growing our own produce, it certainly helps our pocketbook.
There are many factors to our decision, to garden or not to garden? In spite of all the cons, writing this article has helped convince me that I have to at the least try. So, to garden it is. Now, I had better get busy planning my fall garden.
What do you think? Are you planting a fall garden? Would you under these circumstances? I would love to hear from you so leave a comment or email me personally.
Hi There,
My thought for you, Lara, is to plant a garden. Maybe downsize it so it will not be a strain on the water supply and so much work for you and your family. I do not garden myself, many reasons for that but most of all…Lazyness! But if your family is having to be on a strict diet, and used to the taste of fresh vegitables, they will be sorely disappointed in the lack of flavor in the produce from the grocery and it may be a struggle for them to eat, and of course the prices are ridiculous.
Just my two cents!
Diane
You’re right–no brainer! Plant!!
Blackeyed peas love that hot, dry weather. You can eat them green-I like to sautee in garlic butter-or shell. If you keep harvesting them green they’ll go for another 8 weeks easy.
Those long asparagus beans love hot and dry weather, too and are fun and delicious, just cut them to green bean size and stir-fry(in case you haven’t guessed, we stir fry alot around here) or treat as green beans.
Peppers, too, like the hot.
Okra will do great, too.
To water, dig a trench about 6 inches deep around the bed, piling on top as you go. Plant and mulch with a couple of inches of hay or the mulch of your choice. Flood this trench thoroughly 1 time per week to save on watering time and on water itself.Also, this helps with moisture borne diseases.
I have plywood tacked to the perimeter of my garden to keep wind out as well.(Ugly, but effective) It also serves to keep stinkbugs and grasshoppers out. (You can hear them bouncing off of the outside!) I do organic and I have lots of wasps in the garden that I am sure help pollinate. Also some ants, which love okra and the yard long beans. If I get too many ants
I pour a 4lb bag of sugar in per 20 sq feet and they go away. Sugar is a fertilizer and feeds the parasites in the soil so they thrive and get rid of the ants. Ants hate it, though, so they’ll likely be gone overnight! Try it on an ant pile!
Adrienne,
As usual, you are right on. Sometimes I just need to be encouraged, too. Thanks for your advice.
Lara
It sound’s like gardening is in your blood, like mine.So plant all those great vegs.
I say yes plant a garden. You do use all you plant and it is so great as a family to garden together. Fall is the best time.I’m not looking forward to ripping up all my summer plants but they are done. It will cost more to buy than to plant.
Prayer helps, too. Wish I could pray away all the bermuda grass that’s in there right now!
Just found your website and sooo glad I did. Lara, you have encouraged me, so has Adrienne and the others. This has been the most challenging gardening year I’ve ever experienced. For the last month I have been staring at all these seed packets I have sitting next to me wondering whether to make the effort too. I just decided I am going to do it… and I’m coming back to check in with ya’ll to see how you are doing. Wishing all the best and praying too. By the way, I live in Central Texas near Round Top.