Organic Vegetable gardening (San Antonio, Webster, Cooper: house, living, garden)

[Kristibatt]

We just moved to San Antonio last year and I would love to plant an organic vegetable garden in my backyard. I have heard that the soil is not so great for planting a veggie garden and the bugs will pretty much take everything. I was wondering if any one could give me any tips/advice on how to make a good garden without my veggies dying in the heat and poor soil.

[Drzy]

Spray lots of chemicals on it.

[Midorigreen]

Originally Posted by Drzy

Spray lots of chemicals on it.

haha......


I used a nifty little thing called "The Garden Patch" this past summer and was able to get a decent amount of tomatoes off of it. Not sure how to do it organically as it comes with a special fertilizer patch...... Even so, I found that I was constantly doing battle with ants etc. that were attracted to it. you might want to try container gardening on your back patio or deck to avoid the bugs. We have a huge greenspace behind our house and it really is "wild"! I think I'd only do veggies or flowers right next to the house (too afraid of snakes to venture any further!)

Good luck! Hope someone else can answer your question a bit better....

[CelesteDF]

First check out the Texas Extension Service and the Bexar County Extension Service websites Plant Answers and Texas Cooperative Extension, Bexar County - Welcome to our Site! Both sites have a search function and you can google for articles/archives on organic gardening issues.

You can also consult with Garden Ville, a largely organic nursery and garden product store. They have several stores, most in the NE and far NE parts of SA. Premium Organic Garden Products

This page lists some of the best plants and planting times in Bexar County/South Texas: Bexar County's Best Plants - Texas Cooperative Extension (http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/BexarBestindex.htm - broken link)

Hope this gets you started and welcome to SA!

[Bo]

The best way to learn about organic gardening in South Texas is to listen to Bob Webster's garden show Saturday and Sunday mornings on 550 KTSA. There are at least two other radio gardening shows in town, but Bob's is the only one that is strictly organic.

FWIW, Bob doesn't have much use for the Extension Service. He says "those A&M boys just want to throw chemicals on everything."

In general, you'll need to select heat-tolerant varieties of veggie plants and plant them early enough to get your harvest done before the hot part of the summer.

[SnappyBob]

A lot of yards around the north part of 1604 consist of a few inches of top soil over solid lime stone. If that is the case I would consider a raised garden. It will take a little $$ to get started and a little more water to keep it from drying out but you should be able to grow good veggies in it. Just do your home work before building it. There are a lot of good instructional sites for building raised beds for gardening.


PS
If your planning on growing your tomatoes from seed, now is the time to start them indoors in this part of Texas. You need to get them into the ground around March 1st and prepare for a late freeze.

[nikip]

I would also like to know about gardening I have no experience at all. What is container gardening and do I have to worry about snakes because I seen one before in my back yard I am near a canal. Would it be best to put one on my padio also I want to grow tomatos, some fruit also where do I start

[tops]

The Bexar Land Trust is a great resource in town, especially in directing people towards organic options. Bexar Land Trust - Home Angela Hartsell from BLT has helped me and many others set up a community gardens around town in addition to setting up a few educational conferences on garening in our area.

Also, you might be interested in this. [SIZE=2]http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?lat=29.43178&lon=-98.49353&scale=5&ty=-1[/SIZE]

[swu]

it also depends what part of sa you live in, we are downtown and last summer we had a great harvest tomatoes, okra, green beans, limes, squash, cucumber, chile and used no chemicals on our garden!

[chipsndip]

Howard Garrett (Natural Organic Gardening and Living for Plants Pets Trees Lawns Crops Insects Flowers and Home - DirtDoctor.com - Howard Garrett - The Dirt Doctor) is another Texan who promotes organic gardening - lots of good information there.

To get started, here's what I recommend. You're going to want to till the soil, and add in some compost. You'll find out quickly if you have clay 4 inches down -- if you do, your best bet is to either get a container like an earthbox, or build a wooden frame to hold another 4-8 inches of soil.

Gardening in Texas is a different animal from gardening further north - you plant earlier, and race the heat. The growing season extends from March - November for what are essentially "summer" crops elsewhere, with the exception that you've got to water a lot and/or provide some shade if the temperature in the summer hits the high 90s.

For tomatoes get heat-resistant varieties. I've found that cherry tomatoes survive better and produce more (plus, if a bird or bug gets one there's plenty to share). If you like okra or squash, those are near fool-proof to grow in this region. Jalapenos don't even like to grow until it's 95 degrees, so they are a good choice for summertime.