South Texas

[Pugnacious]

My family is moving to south texas in may. I didn't want to start a garden here because we'd get nothing out of it before we move. We'd probably just be moving starts outside. Will it be too late there to start one?

[Belfrybat]

Depends where in South Texas. Close to the coast and you'd still be able to plant hot weather things. Away from the coast, will be hitting 100 temps already, so you'd have to provide some shade. Remember in Texas, "planting in full sun" really means partial shade for most things.

[Pugnacious]

Corpus Christi. So that's coast. Can you pretty much garden year around down there?

[jcatblum]

You could maybe plant eggplant if you can find some seedlings that late, plant purple hulls, okra, melons & pumpkins. Then work on your fall plans. If you don't get anything in the ground until June then most plants won't last through the summer. On the plus side, you can have an amazing fall garden.

[Belfrybat]

In the Corpus area you can have a four season garden, as long as you realise you won't get much harvest during July/ August, but keep the plants alive and they really do well in the Fall. If your garden area is already prepared, you can still plant in May with transplants. Tomatoes and peppers might not set a crop until Fall due to the high night temps, but then they will go crazy.
Here's a link to a planting guide for Texas. I have it printed off and refer to it alot for the suggested planting dates (pg. 8 & 9). http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/v...able_guide.pdf

[BobbyB]

There is not that much difference in temps from Corpus to here. Its about 100 miles as the crow flies. Just outside of Corpus where the farming starts, maybe 5 miles it gets as hot and dry as anywhere. Right on the water it is cooler.

I have never had tomatoes make it thru Summer and do anything in the Fall. But peppers are another story. They will slow down to nothing when the heats gets bad( July, August and most of Sept as the rule ), but take off when it cools down some.

I always plant new tomatoes late July for a Fall crop.

Its not raining in the Corpus area either, so be prepared to water.

If I were you, Id plant a couple of peppers and tomatoes in a bed and get ready for a Fall garden. Chances are you'll get more from it than a Spring garden anyway.

[Belfrybat]

Interesting, Bobby. I live in Uvalde for 6-7 years and always babied my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants through the summer and had a bumper crop of all three in the Fall. Except for the year it decided to freeze in late October! I have problems finding Fall warm weather veggies in any part of Texas unless I grew my own. I've also occasionally taken cuttings of tomato plants in late July and planted the rooting for a Fall crop.

[BobbyB]

Originally Posted by Belfrybat

Interesting, Bobby. I live in Uvalde for 6-7 years and always babied my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants through the summer and had a bumper crop of all three in the Fall. Except for the year it decided to freeze in late October! I have problems finding Fall warm weather veggies in any part of Texas unless I grew my own. I've also occasionally taken cuttings of tomato plants in late July and planted the rooting for a Fall crop.

Im not arguing the point with you or any one else. That one word right there says it all.

I water and tend the garden until the returns do not make it worth the water and I get ready for the next round. Except my peppers. They go dormant and come around when it cools off and I start watering again.

I have been watering for the last 2 years with the exception of maybe 3 weeks when we caught a little rain. Thats 3 weeks out of 2 years total.

Im just telling it like it has been and is now.

I start a lot of my own plants for Fall, and there are a couple of good nurseries in SA that have a good selection of just about anything you could want for a Fall garden

[Grandmotherbear]

Try tropicals for your hot summers. Malabar spinch is a prolific vine, good cooked greens. Chaya trees for cooked greens. Lima beans will grow and bear for 3-5 years in hot climates-the vining sieve type. Yardlong or asparagus beans. Loofah for zuchinni substitute- young small fruit are edible and tender. Think about growing water chestnuts or lotus in tubs of water. Winged beans on an arbor- beans are edible, leaves edible, tuberous roots are edible. Sweet potatoes. Put a bucket under your a/c drip and use it to water your garden. Start reading now and also check with any local Extension agent in the area of Texas you're moving to.

[Pugnacious]

Thanks for all of the replies. The house we have an offer on is literally a stones throw from the corpus Christi bay. So I am guessing sandy soil. Maybe raised beds would be best?


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