I've grown vegetables in backyard gardens since I bought my first house way back in 1983. Over the years, I've grown strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, carrots, broccoli, spinach and squash.
But my favorite vegetables are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce which are pictured below.
But my favorite vegetables are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce which are pictured below.
Tomatoes - I planted in two 4 ft by 12 ft raised beds 8 Early Girl, 4 Beefmaster & 2 Summerset Set tomatoes on 02-26-23. I then added 4 Summer Set tomatoes on 03-14-23. So each bed had 10 tomato plants.
In addition, Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes came up on their own from the 2022 crop droppings. I ended up with 18 Sweet 100 tomato plants which I distributed throughout another 4 ft by 12 ft bed.
The tomatoes began ripening in Mid May and produced through mid June. By early July, most of the tomato plants had died in the summer heat. But about half the Sweet 100 plants and one Early Girl survived the summer and began to produce tomatoes again in late October. This is very unusual. I've grown fall tomatoes in the past with varying results. It sure was nice to pick tomatoes on 01-03-24 from the garden before the first winter freeze!
In addition, Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes came up on their own from the 2022 crop droppings. I ended up with 18 Sweet 100 tomato plants which I distributed throughout another 4 ft by 12 ft bed.
The tomatoes began ripening in Mid May and produced through mid June. By early July, most of the tomato plants had died in the summer heat. But about half the Sweet 100 plants and one Early Girl survived the summer and began to produce tomatoes again in late October. This is very unusual. I've grown fall tomatoes in the past with varying results. It sure was nice to pick tomatoes on 01-03-24 from the garden before the first winter freeze!
Peppers - All my pepper plants came up from droppings from the 2022 crop. I ended up with 1 California Wonder, 2 Purple Beauty, 9 Sweet Banana and 2 Jalapeno pepper plants! The Purple Beauty bell peppers were spicier and smaller than the prior year. The banana peppers tasted the same as in 2022. Peppers unlike tomatoes will set in the summer heat. Not bad considering I didn't buy a single pepper plant in 2023!
Cucumbers - I planted 18 Ferry Morse Muncher cucumber seeds on 02-27-23. The seeds begin sprouting in 5 to 7 days. On the Mar 14 picture you can see the seedlings are starting to produce a third leaf after sprouting. By late May we were swimming in cucumbers ... giving them away to our neighbors ... anyone who would take them. By early July, cucumber production had thankfully declined. Cucumbers will set in the summer heat so we could have planted another round. Cucumbers are so productive that one planting a year is more than sufficient.
Lettuce - We started Four Season, Burgundy Delight, Salad Bowl & Yugoslavian Red seeds indoors on 11-19-22 under grow lights. The seedlings were transplanted into the garden on 01-11-23 into three 4 ft by 12 ft raised beds. You will note tomato plants among the lettuce in the 03-08-23 pictures. The lettuce was picked shortly thereafter and given to neighbors and taken to church. Lettuce is very easy to grow in Houston during the winter. It only requires average soil so no fertilizer is needed. And I've had bug problems only once in almost 40 years of growing lettuce!
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