My own gardens are my most immediate connection to the earth. It is through the creation and care of these gardens that my knowledge of ecology and biological systems has grown the most.
The sections below showcase gardens I have designed, planted, and tended.
My Backyard Organic Fruit and Vegetable Garden 2010 to Present
Overview
This garden is my fourth personal backyard garden. It consists of two raised beds with rectangular redwood frames. The wood for these frames was salvaged from the remains of a neighbor's fence. View photos and updates on the JSBlog.
My Backyard Organic Fruit and Vegetable Garden 2006 to 2008
Overview
In 2006 I started an edible landscaping business called Home Harvest Organics (HHO). Before use in the yards of my clients, most plants and plant combinations were first tested in the my Demonstration Organic Gardens and Edible Landscapes, which were also my personal gardens. Show me more information on this garden.
Garden Beds
Many bed shapes and plant combinations are possible. This section displays several images of the various bed layouts used in the HHO Demonstration Organic Gardens and Edible Landscapes.
The bed pictured above has a gently curving front edge with a limestone border.
This picture shows a curved "L"-shaped bed paired with a semi-circular bed on the left. On the right is an image of one of the sunflowers from the "L"-shaped bed.
Harvests
The images below show just a fraction of what one well-tended edible landscape is capable of producing.
Pictured above, clockwise from the top: yellow bulbing onions, Danvers and Scarlet Nantes carrots, a mix of heirloom slicing tomatoes, and Red Pontiac potatoes.
Pictured above, from the left to right: pepper (capsicum annuum) mix and poblano peppers.
Pictured above, from the left to right: cauliflower and scallions.
Pictured above, from the left to right: lettuce and kale.
Pictured above, from the left to right: zucchini and basil.
Pictured above, from the left to right: serrano chile and snap beans.
Pictured above, from the left to right: fancy leaf lettuce and chard.
Pictured above, from the left to right: calendulas and snap beans.
My Backyard Organic Fruit and Vegetable Garden 2005
Overview
I could have easily called this garden my worst horticultural failure ever and just moved on—but then what kind of gardener would I have been? Yes, a very foolish one! By most accounts, this garden was a complete flop, a dismal disaster. It was doomed from the start by my own ignorance. For you see, this was my very first attempt at gardening in Central Texas, and gardening in this unforgiving subtropical climate is almost nothing like growing in the near perfect climate of San Jose, California. I was rewarded for my stubbornness, though, with a bounty of knowledge. And this information has served me very well. Show me more information on this garden.
Most of the plants look pathetic in this picture, and that's pretty much the way they looked until they croaked at the end of the summer. On the plus side, most of the plants were organically grown from seed and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides were used.
Garden Map
The map below shows the layout of this garden and the sequence in which the beds were prepared and planted.
Map
Legend
Plants
- Herb and Ornamental
- Sweet Marjoram (Organum majorana)
- Genovese Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
- Lime Basil (Ocimum basilicum americanum)
- Tomato
- Arkansas Traveler (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- Red Calabash (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- Marvel Striped (Lycopersicon esculentum)
- Pepper
- Jalepeño Chile (Capsicum annuum)
- Serrano Chile (Capsicum annuum)
- Ancho/Poblano (Capsicum annuum)
- Ring-O-Fire Cayenne Chile (Capsicum annuum)
- Mulato Isleño Chile (Capsicum annuum)
- Bean
- Jacob’s Cattle Bush Shell Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Indian Woman Bush Shell Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
- Squash
- Round French Zucchini (Curcurbita pepo)
- Black Beauty Zucchini (Curcurbita pepo)
- Melon
- Moon & Stars Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
- Sugar Baby Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
Problems and Solutions
Late Start
Starting vegetable plants during late spring in Central Texas is risky business. This mistake alone did not kill my garden, but it ensured that I would have nothing but trouble with most of my plants. The heat and intense sunshine get to be almost unbearable by May, and any plants that are not well established by this point stress very easily. Like most other organisms (humans included), stress makes plants very vulnerable to diseases and other health problems. The solution to this problem is simple and obvious: start spring/summer gardens as early as possible. In most areas of Central Texas that means a gardener will need to have most plants in the ground and growing by the end of March (that's probably hard to imagine for anyone from a state as far north as Minnesota or Wisconsin).
Wild Animal Crop Damage
The damage from non-insect pests in this garden was minimal, but I suspect I had a few squirrels and possums nibbling on my nearly ripe tomatoes. The best way to protect against this kind of damage with tomatoes is to cage them with tall, homemade cages made from concrete wire. This forces the plant to grow vertically instead of allowing it to sprawl out in every direction on the ground. An additional benefit of caging is that it keeps maturing fruit from touching the ground, where it may begin to rot before harvest.
Asian Tiger Mosquito
While not a threat to plants, this insect is an absolute nightmare for anyone who is a strong mosquito attractor (and worse still for someone who has a strong adverse reaction to mosquito saliva). The mosquito problem in this yard was especially bad because it backed up to a creek full of stagnant water. For anyone not familiar with the Asian Tiger Mosquito, imagine a mosquito that is unrelenting in its attack, biting rapidly and repeatedly—oh, and did I mention it is out on the prowl 24-7? Yes, that's right. This little mother will attack you just as readily in the sweltering heat of a summer day as it will in the morning or evening of a warm spring day. With this sickening creature, the best cure is prevention, and that means taking away all standing water, the breeding medium of this pest. Unfortunately, eliminating all standing water in one's own yard has little effect on the breeding rates of mosquitos if one's neighbors are not as enlightened as he is regarding the reproductive cycles of this abominable pest. In the end, I just had to get used to wearing clothing that covered most of my body (long sleeve shirt, pants, etc.).
Extreme Heat
Although most warm season plants do not like extremely high temperatures, they will tolerate them. Some plants will even thrive so long as they get plenty of water and some shade during the hottest part of the afternoon. That may sound like a difficult situation to create, but it is usually not that tricky if one has a mature shade tree (or two) that covers only part of the garden. The key is to situate your garden so that it receives at least a few hours of direct morning sunlight, and filtered sun or shade for the remainder of the day. This means building the bed under or just beyond the eastern edge of a tree's canopy. I know, I know, planting a vegetable garden in the shade seems to run counter to everything you've ever been told about planting a vegetable garden, but in the South, a few hours of direct sunlight is all most plants need to achieve maximum photosynthesis levels. Moreover, the plants transpire less because they stay cooler, as does the soil beneath them.
Squash Vine Borer
This destructive pest is the larval stage of a rather attractive moth. I quickly learned that the best way to ward off this pain in the neck is to choose squash varieties that will tolerate the presence of the larva in its stems. That translates to fast-growing squashes with thicker, denser stems.
Stink Bugs
Stink bugs suck—literally, that is how they feed. They insert a long, syringe-like mouthpart into fruits in order to suck out the juices within. On red tomatoes, their damage appears as many small yellow spots on top of hard, unripened patches. Fruit victimized by these pests has a drastically reduced shelf life and often has an unpleasant taste if the damage is severe. On peppers, another favorite target for stink bugs, the blemishes look more like irregular snow flakes, ranging in color from bright white to yellow-green. The best remedy for these bugs is to hand pick them and their eggs early in the season and squish them.
Lessons Learned
Protecting Seedlings
Vulnerable young seedlings need protection from inclement weather in any climate. If a late freeze or frost is expected, seedlings should be taken to a sheltered area or kept in a cold frame. In Central Texas, scorching spring heat is even more of a concern than chilly weather during the planting season. All plants need to be monitored carefully and the gardener must keep a wary eye on the thermometer in his greenhouse or cold frame. It takes only a few hours on a warm March afternoon to cook a batch of young seedlings.
Knowing Your Climate
As I mentioned before, an intimate knowledge of one's climate is crucial to the proper timing of garden activities. If I had been able to plant in March, I likely would have had more success with this garden. Knowing your climate is also crucial in selecting varieties that will do relatively well your area.
Not Rushing
Quality always takes time, and gardens are no different. There is no rushing nature. She will take care of things in her own time.
Planting in Season
In Central Texas, fall is often the best time to plant vegetables that don't like the heat. That means one must start his seedlings in late August so they will be ready for planting in late September. The same is true for plants intended for summer gardens. They need to be started early enough so that they will be large enough to transplant by the middle of April.
Proper Preparation of Soils and Beds
Soils used to grow most food plants need to be rich, loamy, and friable. Very few natural soils are found in this condition, which means they need to be improved for optimal plant growth. A summarizing article found at http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/loam.html gives a good introduction to common problems with the basic soil types and the general approaches used to ameliorate these conditions.
My Backyard Organic Fruit and Vegetable Garden 2004
Overview
This garden resulted from the realization of my longstanding dream to design, plant, and tend my own organic garden. For years I have been making compost from vegetable scraps and leaf litter collected from areas around the rental units in which Lizzette and I have lived, but I'd never really had much space to plant anything. In July of 2004 we finally moved into a place with a backyard that had some unused patches of earth. I immediately wanted to take advantage of the loose, rich topsoil in the beds surrounding the lawn in the backyard of our new duplex and started planning my organic garden before we even moved in. The yard is rectangular with a detached garage occupying about four hundred square feet of the area. Grass and gravel cover most of the remaining area, but there is a narrow strip of dirt bordering the lawn. Show me more information on this garden.
I had hoped to utilize the entire area around the lawn, but several circumstances prevented me from doing so. I did plant in the sunniest portion, though. For most of the summer, the plants in this garden received about ten hours of full sun each day.
Most of the plants were organically grown from seed and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides were used.
Garden Map
Plants
For me, selecting plants has always been one of the most enjoyable steps in the garden creation process. The plants chosen for this garden reflect my personal tastes as well my curiosity about certain botanical species. This section discusses the general characteristics of each plant type and reviews its overall performance in this garden.
Beans
Common beans, including all black bean varieties, belong to the collection of species known as Phaseolus vulgaris. There are literally dozens of varieties of black bean, each with its own subtle idiosyncrasies. Like most of the other common bean types, black bean plants have dark-green, trifoliate leaves. Each of the three leaflets is shaped like a spear, with the outer two curving a bit towards the middle. Black bean plants typically exhibit dense, upright growth, but they do best when they have a stake or trellis on which to lean. The flowers are tiny and, at first glance, almost look like certain small orchid flowers. The bean pods are light green and hold six to eight beans. These beans are ready for harvest when the pod dries to a light-brown or tan color and has a papery texture.
I was not able to identify the variety I obtained for planting in this garden, but these plants exhibited determinate growth and were compact and bushy with relatively large leaves in the healthiest individuals. The plants were germinated indoors in June and transplanted two weeks after germination. From this point they took approximately four weeks to mature. The bean pods ranged in size from two to six inches long. Mature pods contained as many as seven full-size beans. A total yield amount was not calculated.
Herbs
For this garden I opted to plant only one type of herb in significant numbers. Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a wonderfully aromatic herb with shiny yellow-green leaves and small cream-colored flowers. It can be bushy or leggy depending on how it is pruned. The leaves can be used fresh, frozen, or dried in soups, fish dishes, omelets, dressings, stuffing, pasta dishes, on pizza, and with vegetables such as artichoke, broccoli, carrots, eggplant, cabbage, squash, and zucchini.
I purchased two sweet basil plants at a local organic food market in July and planted them as soon as I got home. They began growing vigorously within a week and soon my wife and I were making angel hair pasta with tomato, garlic, and basil at least once a week.
Peppers
Capsicum annuum is one representative group of what are commonly and collectively known as peppers. This species has both hot and sweet varieties, including jalapeño, serrano, poblano, new mexico, pasilla, anaheim, cayenne, and green bell. For this garden, I chose two very popular varieties: jalapeño and serrano. Both have dark green leaves, but those of jalapeño are large and smooth while those of serrano are fuzzy and relatively small. Both have a shrubby appearance when mature and are indeterminate in their growth. The fruit of the jalapeño is usually four to five times larger in volume than the serrano, but the serrano is about twice as hot.
Both varieties performed well in this garden, exceeding several of my expectations. In fact, these plants—two jalapeño and four serrano—produced so much fruit that I had to start giving it away. The only disappointment was the inconsistency in the heat of the jalapeño fruits on one of the plants. Most of the serrano fruits were smaller than those one would find in the produce section at a local grocery store, but they were consistently hot and had a wonderful flavor.
Potatoes
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are hardy plants that produce edible tubers and are grown around the world as a staple crop. Most soils will grow potatoes, but they prefer moist, acidic soil (pH slightly less than 6). Potatoes are perennial and, left in the ground, they will come up year after year. The leaves of potato plants are dark green, broad, and have compound leaves with oval or spear-shaped leaflets.
I decided to plant potatoes in this garden as an experiment to see how much effort is required to cultivate them. As it turned out, the two potato plants in this garden required little maintenance, except for the removal of an occasional moth or beetle larva. The exact variety of potato used in this garden is not known, but it was most likely a Russet Burbank.
Tomatoes
Lycopersicon esculentum, more commonly known as the tomato plant, makes a wonderful addition to any garden. The two varieties selected for this garden—Ace and Early Girl—are disease resistant varieties. The leaves of all tomato varieties are deeply divided, but color can range from light to dark green. The Ace variety grows as a compact bush and, like many other tomato varieties, performs best when caged. The leaves are dark green with very little space between leaflets. The fruits are relatively large and have a somewhat flattened appearance. They have a tough skin and are best used in sauces. The Early Girl variety is tall and sometimes leggy. Its leaves are relatively large and the fruits range in size from about that of a golf ball to that of a tennis ball. The fruits of early girl have a very edible skin which hides a tender, juicy flesh that is perfect for salads, salsas, and sandwiches.
Both varieties performed adequately in this garden, but due to less than optimal soil conditions they failed to produce the kind of fruit yield I was expecting. The Early Girl grew rapidly following its transplantation, but then failed to set fruit for almost the entire first month it was in the ground. The Ace plant went into shock following transplantation and took nearly five weeks to recover. After stabilizing, the Ace plant produced a good amount of healthy foliage, but very little fruit. Like the Early Girl, it frequently suffered from blossom drop.
Watermelons
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is native to Africa and needs a great deal of sunlight to thrive. Watermelon plants do prefer warmer climates, but they do not require stifling heat—a popularly held notion—in order to produce high quality fruit. Watermelon plants are annuals with long (up to 35 feet) stems that lie or creep on the ground, often clinging to each other with curly tendrils. The hairy leaves of watermelon plants range in color from yellow-green to a silvery dark-green and are deeply palmate with three to five lobes. The flowers are small and yellow with ruffled petals. The fruit of the Sugar Baby variety is subglobose with a striped, dark-green rind and deep red flesh. It is only about as big as a ten-pound bowling ball when mature—this and other smaller melon varieties are known as icebox melons.
The Sugar Baby watermelon plants in this garden were purchased as seedlings from a local nursery. They took over two months to mature and start producing fruit. Once mature, though, the four plants produced several full-size fruits.
Zucchinis
The plant species Curcurbita pepo includes all members of the group of plants known as summer squash, some varieties of winter squash, certain gourds, and pumpkins. All zucchini varieties are summer squash and, therefore, belong to this species. Zucchini plants, like most other squash types, have broad, dark green leaves and bright yellow to orange trumpet-shaped flowers. The zucchini selected for this garden is a French heirloom variety (Baby Round) that produces fruit with strikingly variegated skin and tender, creamy flesh. The fruits range in shape from nearly spherical to oblong and can grow as large as jack-o-lantern pumpkins if left on the plant. They are best eaten when they are under five inches in diameter, though.
The Baby Round zucchini plants outperformed almost every other plant in this garden in terms of fruit production and foliage development. The zucchinis were delicious and the plants were prolific until they began to succumb to powdery mildew.
Problems and Solutions
Late Start
Most vegetable gardens are started in early spring. This garden was not even planned until early July, but there was not much I could have done before then. I did not even know I was going to have a patch of earth to cultivate until the end of June. Had I tried to grow all of the plants from seed, I likely would not have had much production from this fruit and vegetable garden.
In order to ensure that I would get some fruit from the slower growing plant varieties, I chose to purchase some of the plants in their mature states. This allowed me to begin harvesting tomatoes, jalapeños, serranos, and basil within a few weeks of planting.
Limited Space
As with most other limited resources, you simply do the best with what you have. In this case I still had unplanted space after the final phase of the garden was finished, but it was much less desirable than the area that I did use.
My solution for this problem was to maximally utilize every square foot of suitable earth. This required me to disregard the suggested separation distance for most of the plants. I also had to come up with some creative ways to provide plants with the room they needed to grow while preventing them from encroaching on the lawn—this was critical as the gardeners hired by the landlord to care for the lawn showed no regard for my plants. The technique I relied on most was vertical training. For the black beans, I used bamboo stakes and twist ties to keep the plants upright. The tomatoes were already in cages when I bought them, but as the tomato plants grew heavier they began to lean, so I had to string them up to the fence using old copper wire and twine. The zucchini plants required the most effort to control; I had to use stakes and twine to construct a crude trellis onto which I could train the fast growing main stems. This setup worked and I was able to keep the plants from being butchered by the gardener's mower and weed whacker.
Limited Tool Selection
When I started to prepare the soil for this garden I had only two shovels, a plastic watering can, a pair of work gloves, and some small pruning shears—all were borrowed from family members except for the shears.
Despite having only a few tools, I was able to do all of the work necessary to get the garden underway and perform all subsequent maintenance. The simplest tools—shovels, hammers, buckets, and rope—are usually the most versatile. I can accomplish more with a shovel than any other single tool. I have since acquired a few additional tools, but I still mostly rely on the same aforementioned basic implements.
Poor Soil
The bed I selected for the garden did have some spots that were covered with a rich humus (courtesy of the previous tenant and his wood chipper), but it was generally nutrient-deficient; most of the soil was very rocky and contained little organic material.
I was able to partially remedy this problem by working homemade compost into the dirt before planting and also by placing mulch around the base of the squash and tomato plants. Unfortunately I ran out of finished compost during the third phase of development and had to resort to simply burying partially decayed vegetable matter around the roots of the plants as I placed them in the ground. To further ensure the success of this garden, I put those plants requiring relatively high levels of nitrogen next to patches of bean plants (these plants actually enrich the soil as they grow by fixing inorganic nitrogen from the air). All of the plants in this garden eventually thrived.
Top-Heavy Plants
Not all of the plants in the garden became top-heavy, but many of them did. When terminal branches become too heavy for main stems, large branches may bend so far that they touch the ground or even break off completely.
To prevent and correct this problem, plants were staked, tied to the fence, or both.
Powdery Mildew
Powdery mildew is a fungus that attacks and weakens susceptible plants. The disease is so named because the leaves and stems of afflicted plants appear to be covered with a fine white dust. Powdery mildew can result in reduced growth, yield, and fruit quality.
Fortunately the zucchinis were the only plants affected by the powdery mildew fungus. Most squash varieties are prone to this disease so it can be very difficult to prevent and control. For this garden I decided to avoid antifungal treatments and just let the plants grow as long as they could using only their own defenses. I simply removed infected leaves and tried to keep the plants from crowding one another. The plants produced delicious fruit for nearly three months.
Fusarium Wilt
Fusarium wilt in tomatoes is caused by Fusarium oxysporum. It is a soil-born fungus that is found throughout the United States, especially in warm regions of the country. The organism is specific for tomato and is very long-lived in all regions of the United States.
I was never able to confirm that the tomato plants in this garden were infected with Fusarium wilt, but they showed many of the symptoms of the disease. Since there were only two tomato plants and both continued to grow after showing signs of being infected, I simply left the plants in the ground.
Lessons Learned
Planting from Seeds or Cuttings
For the cost-conscious do-it-yourselfer, planting from seed is preferable as it is often much less expensive and affords the gardener an opportunity to see every stage of a plant's lifecycle. I had some doubts and concerns about growing from seed when I started this garden, but after watching the bean, potato, and zucchini plants thrive, I feel very confident about growing my own seedlings. The seeds of some species require painstaking preparation and care in order to germinate, but many garden favorites are not this particular. For most plant varieties, the cost of seed seems paltry compared to the price of seedlings or mature plants. In future gardens I plan to grow from seed or cuttings, except in cases where it is much more practical to purchase young or mature plants.
Saving and Scavenging Used Items
I knew I would have to scrounge for resources to get this garden going and was pleased to discover how much can be obtained for little or no money. My family was especially helpful as they gave or loaned to me several of the tools I used to get the garden started. Since I was a newcomer to my neighborhood at the time this garden was planted I felt that it was inappropriate to ask my neighbors for assistance. In most circumstances, however, I would encourage people to go to their neighbors when they are in need and to make their neighbors feel welcome to do the same.
Another way to acquire materials inexpensively is to look for items at garage sales, in the classified sections of newspapers, and on the World Wide Web. I ended up not buying any resources for this garden through these channels, but I did perform several searches on websites in which I found things I needed. I even found people who had old tools they were willing to give away in exchange for a little help cleaning up their shed or garage.
Working with Limited Budgets
I am, by nature, a thrifty person, but with this garden I really had to stretch each dollar. I set my spending limit at $40 and realized after buying the tomato and jalapeño plants from a nursery that I would have to be even more frugal than usual as these four plants alone cost $15—that price included a fifty percent discount on each plant. From that point on I tried to only buy items that were marked at clearance prices. As I mentioned above, I also saved money by growing four of the plant types from seeds (or other plant parts, as was the case with the potato and basil plants). I also saved money by not buying expensive fertilizers and just using compost and a small quantity of fish emulsion.
Not Waiting for Tomorrow
With this garden I realized the importance of not hesitating when following dreams or pursuing goals. I often make excuses not to start or continue projects I have planned, which is probably due to fear of failure. With this garden I finally accepted the idea that things only get done when I plow headlong into tasks, not allowing myself to get frustrated or distracted to the point where I just want to quit.
Trying New Things and Taking Risks
Perhaps the most important lesson learned from this experience was that the only way to succeed is to chance failure. One cannot become a master or expert in any field without trying to do the tasks by which those of the profession are measured. To put it another way, one has to start somewhere. This garden was one of my first steps toward becoming a master gardener and expert permaculturist.
