plant science guy said:

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How much traffic does this area get?

The reason I ask is that my St Augustine in the front yard under the trees are looking great while all of it in the back yard has been trampled by my dogs. I can't even get weeds to grow there.

If this area is a high traffic area, resodding might be a very expensive and futile affair.

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Yup, our active Border Collie has worn out the yard. We did thin out the trees a couple years ago to no avail and the trampoline isn't helping anything.

we are building new garden beds for the spring, so excited!

I garden for pollinators.

Wildseed Farms is my source for high quality seed.

I will be adding landscapers mix to my beds and getting ready to plant seed in the coming weeks.

i'm ready for Spring.

Anyone successfully grow Brandywine tomatoes around here? I think David Wolff briefly had some at the farm market years ago. Dang I wish I could get a crop.

I need some ideas of what to plant this year. Last year we built a small box. Probably 4'x8'. We did one big tomato plant, one cherry, onions and bell peppers. Bell peppers did ok, onions stunk and tomatoes did well so long as we could keep my lab off them. We also did strawberries in a separate area.

I'm open to try anything new this year. Wife wants at least one tomato plant. It was mainly just something for my wife and son to do every day last year so it served a purpose.

4x8 Is sometimes a issue but that is just my opinion

A 8x2 is better next time for ability to reach and plant

One tomotoe at one end
One cucumber at other end. Plant two seeds I have seeds if you dont want to buy for just a plant
Jalepenoes
Bell
Squash takes alot of room. 1-2 sqft
Zuchinni takes alot of room. Same

Green beans pinto beans and peas after the beans are picked. You can put on the esge so you can pick

This year. Buy a bundle of onions in november and plant or any kind of lettuce cabbage broccoli cauliflower type stuff

Remember onions take freaking forever to grow I will be picking my onions in april may. Planted in november

Forgot we did jalepenos too last year. They did really well. We just don't eat a lot of them.

We may try cucumbers this year because we'd eat them along with pickles.

Producers Co-Op "bulk" seeds are typically a tremendous bargain, versus the pre-packaged seeds.Selection is quite good, they do often run out of the common, higher demand seeds. Sold by the pound, truly a great deal.
They also have a large selection of pre-packaged seeds, plus the Garden Center, to help you spend gardening $$.

Yes the coop does and you cannbuy as much or less as you want .40cents can get 5 to 10 seeds sometimes

If anybody cares I plant Seeds
Squash
Zucchin
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers
Okra
Peas
Beans
Corn
Lettuce
Spinach
Kale
Snow peas

I buy planta
Tomotoes
Jalepenoes
Bell
Onions

Because I suck at trying to growthese from seeds for some reason. I buy plants also

Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower

David Wolff said he'll likely have the seedlings of the incredible paste tomatoes he grows soon. I think they are Hungarian Oxheart. They've become my kitchen workhorse tomato and at the risk of starting a fight, I think are better than San Marzano. Got a pallet of "rejects" from him once and had more sauce then I knew what to do with. Would love to grow them myself.

Planted potatoes yesterday. First time trying to grow them….
We're in B/CS

Producers Coop had a good tomato seedling selection yesterday. Lowes in CS has more 4" pots of Cherokee Purple than I have ever seen. I am going 50% CP this year. Flavor is very nice.

Re tomatoes be aware that the heat here is not our friend. Large and long season tomatoes are super tough to grow here…very tough. My best results have been with cherry tomatoes, some paste tomatoes, and various kinds that get about golf ball sized. The most resilient and productive one in that category which I strongly recommend is a dark brown one called "Piglet Willie's." Grow it for the name alone lol.

Garden Thread Link crosspost in Food & Spirits

https://texags.com/forums/67/topics/3597137

The Brazos Kid said:

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A more lawn-specific question: Who is a go-to person/business to re-sod my yard with St. Augustine? I'm certain some soil rework needs to be done as well so it doesn't just die off. This was lush and solid St. Augustine 5 years ago. The green you do see is nothing but weeds.

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Need to thin out that tree so your lawn receives more light. Due to high traffic, St. Augustine may not be your best choice for the backyard. I have had good success with Celebration Bermuda.

oklaunion said:

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Producers Coop had a good tomato seedling selection yesterday. Lowes in CS has more 4" pots of Cherokee Purple than I have ever seen. I am going 50% CP this year. Flavor is very nice.

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2nd on the Cherokee Purple Tomatoes! Love them

This may be counter to most here, but my CP crops have been heavy on seeds & watery. Flavor has been good, especially when ripe. I prefer slicers that are meatier, less seeds, not watery.

Grew my own peppers from seed this year. Still not 100% ready to put them in the ground they went to 4" pots in my greenhouse.

Have some of those Hungarian Oxhearts in my greenhouse as well. They are in fabric pots so looking to move them outside this weekend for the room. Need to set up a tpost/electrical conduit frame to attached the spools to.

Tried some of those Italian storage tomatoes this last fall didn't grow great till now in the greenhouse. There is a guy on instagram that has been working on some traditional plant breeding to improve the storage tomatoes and if I can get some of those seeds, might try them but most likely a fall planting since they should already be started right now for Texas growing.

I am a little behind due to lambing season (2 more born last night) so getting all the squash seeds planted today and in the greenhouse to germinate, plus starting the Roselle and Cranberry Hibiscus. This time of year is always a rush between animals being born and trying to get stuff in the ground.

I have different varieties of tomatoes that I just transferred over to some 4 inch pots. Every seed germinated so have some extras.
Maybe we could do some trading?

Tomato Varieties that I have: Cherokee Purple, Ace 55, Beefsteak, Steak Sandwich, Sweetie Cherry

Also have different varieties of basil and looks like we will have some extra Red Potatoes and some Yukon Golds.

Looking for some Beauregard Sweet Potatoes and Purple Potatoes

Corn goes in Saturday. Maybe a bit behind.

I put my tomatoes in the ground last week, but I've got one 4x8 bed and a tarp big enough to cover them, so I'm trying not to waste any of this weather.

C ROC N said:

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I have different varieties of tomatoes that I just transferred over to some 4 inch pots. Every seed germinated so have some extras.
Maybe we could do some trading?

Tomato Varieties that I have: Cherokee Purple, Ace 55, Beefsteak, Steak Sandwich, Sweetie Cherry

Also have different varieties of basil and looks like we will have some extra Red Potatoes and some Yukon Golds.

Looking for some Beauregard Sweet Potatoes and Purple Potatoes

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Beefsteak did really well for us last year. First time planting them. Early Girls disappointed for the 2nd straight year. Gave up on them.

The Brazos Kid said:

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plant science guy said:

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How much traffic does this area get?

The reason I ask is that my St Augustine in the front yard under the trees are looking great while all of it in the back yard has been trampled by my dogs. I can't even get weeds to grow there.

If this area is a high traffic area, resodding might be a very expensive and futile affair.

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Yup, our active Border Collie has worn out the yard. We did thin out the trees a couple years ago to no avail and the trampoline isn't helping anything.

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Take a soil sample and submit it to agrilife. There could be several fixable reasons for this. Rule those out before you give up. Sometimes it is as simple as pH.

plant science guy said:

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How much traffic does this area get?

The reason I ask is that my St Augustine in the front yard under the trees are looking great while all of it in the back yard has been trampled by my dogs. I can't even get weeds to grow there.

If this area is a high traffic area, resodding might be a very expensive and futile affair.

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So how much of a 'Plant Science Guy ' are you?

Have you ever done tissue cultures in a lab?

Where's everyone getting their soil/compost in town? I'm going to need to fill 30-40 grow bags ranging from 7 to 15-gallons and would rather buy locally in bulk then a pallet of bags from a big box. Thank you!

studioone said:

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plant science guy said:

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How much traffic does this area get?

The reason I ask is that my St Augustine in the front yard under the trees are looking great while all of it in the back yard has been trampled by my dogs. I can't even get weeds to grow there.

If this area is a high traffic area, resodding might be a very expensive and futile affair.

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So how much of a 'Plant Science Guy ' are you?

Have you ever done tissue cultures in a lab?

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I have done tissue culture in a lab, but most of my time has been spent in 10+ acre fields doing phenotypic evaluation of different species and genotypes within species and extrapolating insights from those data. Right now, I work for a company evaluating different molecular patterns within a genome and figuring out how that translates to more resilient and productive crop varieties so we can make more informed breeding decisions without gene editing.

"Plant science" is a broad discipline. I chose this handle because "Amateur Gene Ecologist" got flagged for some reason.

Is there a specific topic you would like to explore? I used to be a county agent so I enjoy helping people.

Believe it or not, Aggieland Grass and Stone has some really good compost/mulch mix. We've had 2 truckloads dumped at our place last year and used it for almost everything. Getting a fresh load delivered later this week. Shows up hot and steaming.

https://www.aggielandgrassandstone.com/#Materials

Yes, their stuff is great. they have many different mixes, and are pretty knowledgeable. tell them what you are doing and ask what they recommend.

I think the city of Bryan might have a service for this, or used to.

AggieChef214 said:

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Where's everyone getting their soil/compost in town? I'm going to need to fill 30-40 grow bags ranging from 7 to 15-gallons and would rather buy locally in bulk then a pallet of bags from a big box. Thank you!

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Monterrey Mushroom Plant has spent compost available to the public for $25 per load if you have a small trailer or an 8ft. Truck bed.

pH is around 6.6 , I mix it 40% compost, 40% topsoil, 20% peat moss plus some organic biochar, humic acid, and others depending on what I need for the specific plants. I almost forgot the worm castings!

Makes a great mix for my raised beds. Also add a handful of Composting worms to the bed.

Just have to add layers of compost ever so often as the plants grow and in the fall to rejuvenate the soil for the next spring.

Eliminates the need every year to go buy expensive bags of mix.

Burn-It said:

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This may be counter to most here, but my CP crops have been heavy on seeds & watery. Flavor has been good, especially when ripe. I prefer slicers that are meatier, less seeds, not watery.

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Maybe try a few others of the black varieties? Two I've had really good luck with are Black Krim and Paul Robeson, and either Farm patch or Producers will probably have them.

40.00 now

Where do you get your composting worms locally? Or do you mail order? Would love to get started on this!