Garden Vegetables To Grow

This week, we will talk about what garden vegetables to grow before it gets too hot in your area. Spring veggies taste so fresh and many are easy to grow.

We will also mention some long term garden vegetables to grow. The sooner you start them, the quicker you can eat them...

Garden Vegetables To Grow - 2/27-3/5/2023

Monday, February 27, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

I planted some of my Greenstalk planter today.

Hello! It is 5:30pm and it has been a crazy, busy day! I did a lot of planting out in my greenhouse this morning. We have orders galore. In fact, our people are still here trying to fill them all.

So I started planting some seeds in my Garden Stalk planter. I plan on putting a lot of seedlings in there as well. I planted various mint seeds, basil seeds, and lemon balm as well as two kinds of peppers.

In the greenhouse, I planted melons, dipper gourds, peppers, and other things. I watered everything in the greenhouse

It is 84° and sunny but it started out all overcast again. We had several customers in the Farm Store today, but no big orders.

Today was payday and bill day so I had to write a lot of checks and pay bills. You know how much fun that is. Now I need to go take care of the animals and collect eggs.

This week, we are talking about garden vegetables to grow for spring. Speaking of garden vegetables to grow, I managed to write another page on planting asparagus. I know I wrote one but I cannot find it anywhere. It is the weirdest thing but it is gone. I checked both websites. David said my potato trench will be dug tomorrow which means I will be cutting my potatoes tomorrow so they can heal up in a few days. It looks like I will be planting potatoes for the very first time this Thursday! I am excited.

When I went out to collect eggs this afternoon, I only got three. What on earth is going on with these chickens?

I stopped by the asparagus patch and there were some Purple Passion shoots coming up. I picked and ate them right there in the garden. They were good. I also found a ripe strawberry but it was not very sweet.

Garden Vegetables To Grow

Delicious ears of sweet corn to eat.

In speaking of garden vegetables to grow, we should talk about my favorites first since I am the one writing this. My favorite vegetable is sweet corn. Sweet corn tastes like summer, don't you think? When I was a little girl, we would buy sweet corn from local gardeners and farmers selling it at little stands out in the country. We would get a baker's dozen, which is 13 ears of corn for one dollar! What a bargain. Now one ear is about $1.59 but back in the 1960s, yes, you could get 13 ears of farm fresh, large, sweet corn for just $1. It was always delicious.

Sweet corn takes about 75 to 110 days depending on the variety. Do not grow the corn stalks in one long row or they will not self pollinate. Corn needs to be grown in short rows that are close together. That way, you do not have to hand pollinate like I had to back in 1996, the first year I grew corn in Coleman, Texas.

When the silks of the corn go from light yellow to brown, the corn is ready for harvest. Every ear of corn that we harvest has a nasty green worm at the tapered end, eating up my corn. I cut that portion of the ear off and let my chickens enjoy the worms and the corn left on those parts of the cob. Do not throw away the whole ear. The worm has not been down the whole ear. He eats his way around and down so the rest of the ear of corn is still good and untouched by the nasty worm mouth!

Tuesday, February 28, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

Good morning! It got down to 53° which is not good. I should have had my greenhouse heater on for that. It is currently 9:35am and 65°. It will get up to 88°. My potato trench was supposed to get dug but Nacho is not coming out here until later in the week. My potatoes should have gone in the ground three weeks ago. I have to cut my potatoes for planting today. I also have to put on a roast with vegetables for tonight that I did not get to start this morning due to an interview at 10am.

It is completely overcast and it was foggy again this morning. I have more planting to do today as well but, again, I am out here in the Farm Store because of the interview.

The interviewee is here and David is giving him a tour. He is a nice young man who is homesteading out here, from San Antonio.

I just cleaned the fish pond and I will be filling it shortly. The first customers have arrived.

Now, it is 1:30pm. The fish pond has been filled. We are several customers later and there are helicopter and police cars swarming all over the place. Someone told us they are looking for illegals behind our property. There must be a bunch of them. Someone else said it was three gang members. I thought maybe it was some bad drug dealers or some escaped convicts the way they have been going back and forth. We hired the young man that we interviewed and he will start tomorrow.

Police chopper flying right by the moon above our farm.

Police chopper right by our farm. This is the sunrise tree that you've seen so often in my photos. Criminals were picked up right back there seconds after this was taken.

The chopper continued to buzz around, coming around our farm and some of our neighbors. I went to let the puppies out and while on the side porch, I snapped some photos. Then the chopper hovered and I heard the police siren. They picked up three alleged armed gang members from what we heard.

I am glad it is over. It was a bit scary. I had some customers come in and tell me about it all. I heard the chopper but did not have time to go see what it was all about until later.

This afternoon, a customer came into the store wearing a large, grey pouch. It had a little bunny in there which she took out. She was wearing her pet bunny like Paris Hilton used to wear her miniature dogs! I have never seen a thing like it before.

Nacho showed up late this afternoon with his helper. They did several things but did not dig my potato trench. Maybe tomorrow...

Garden Vegetables To Grow

Heirloom tomatoes are so much more tasty!

Sliced Shishito peppers to go into the dehydrator.

Tomatoes and peppers, all kinds of both, are wonderful spring garden vegetables to grow in your garden. Keep in mind that if you are in Texas, you should have started your tomatoes back in January from seed.

Tomatoes are delicious eaten plain, made into sauces and salsa, sauteed in dishes, and raw with salt and pepper in tomato sandwiches. A homegrown tomato is incredible. Sungold cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes are my favorites.The Sungolds are prolific and sweet. They keep putting out fruits until November. My favorite beefsteak tomato is the Rose.

Bell peppers, jalapenos, and specialty sweet peppers are my favorite peppers to grow and eat.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy First Day of March. Can you believe it already? It is overcast but not quite foggy, just a bit hazy. I will be cutting my seed potatoes for sure today and hope that the trench gets dug.

Seven years ago today (actually it was a Leap Year and February 29, 2016) I quit my day job and went to David's Garden Seeds® full time. I am still happy that I finally quit. I should have quit much sooner. That probably would have saved David thousands of dollars hiring wrong people. I am thrilled that I said goodbye to the corporate world and I now live on a farm.

The newest guy starts today as a mostly outdoor person.

It is 9:35am and 73°. It should be 91° this afternoon. Nooooo! Not this early.

I just finished cutting up my seed potatoes. Mostly, the chits grew on one end of the potatoes. Strange, huh? Now they have to harden off for a day or two and then they get planted! I am excited but the trench has still not been dug. I could go do it but I don't have time since I am in the store six days a week. I sneak off and then I have to run back to wait on folks.

Since today starts a new month, why not check out our March Garden Chores page to see what you should be doing in the garden.

I cut up all of my seed potatoes this morning, leaving at least one chit on each piece. Now they have to "heal" before they go in the ground.

I have 5 dish towels filled with cut seed potatoes this morning. We should get a nice harvest with 6 varieties of potatoes.

Garden Vegetables To Grow

I am growing Boston pickling cucumbers this year. They are our number 1 pickling cucumbers.

What is a spring/summer garden without cucumbers? All of them are good. I really like the Asian cucumbers and the Mexican Sour Gherkin cucumbers. They are fun to eat. If you want to make pickles, you will need to pick up some seeds for pickling cukes. My favorite is the Boston Pickling Cucumber. The Diva is everyone's favorite slicing cucumber, perfect for salads or straight eating with some salt and pepper.

You will need a lot of space for the vining plants because they really spread out and go outside of the row, into the next row. Cucumbers can grow up trellises, fences, or cattle panels.

Thursday, March 2, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

Potatoes are in the trench. Time to cover with a few inches of dirt.

Some Purple Majestic potatoes in the trench. Aren't they beautiful? I cannot wait for them to grow!

Hello and Happy Thursday! It rained off and on all night complete with thunder and lightning, starting around 11pm. I was up and down all night long. This morning, it was around 65° and wet. I sorted all of my potatoes into bowls by variety, got markers and added the names and started for the potato trench.

I began planting the Purple Majesty and soon Crystal, one of our new team mates joined me. I went to the opposite end and started planting both of my grocery store varieties and soon she met me. All six varieties are planted and then we put a few inches of dirt over each potato. I am excited and so grateful to have the help. Honestly, I hurt all over. I walked a lot though, carrying out bowls of six varieties of cut up seed potatoes and then getting down on knees and up and down again took a lot out of me. Of course, I am in horrible shape.

Now we are getting ready for some new baby chicks, making sure the equipment works. I ordered a second brooder but, hopefully, the first brooder is fine. Yesterday, I ordered some chicks online but they won't be delivered until the end of May. I am hoping to snag a few at Tractor Supply or Jupe Mills. We will see but I want everything set up first.

The pond has a ton of algae. I added more algae cleaner yesterday so I just went out and cleaned the filter, letting out gallons of dirty water again after doing it on Tuesday. I had trouble turning the knob back to turn the water back on, as I always do. Some days, I can finally get it. Today I could not. Thank God for Matthew being able to help me. He got it back on. I put some de-chlorinator in the pond and in 30 minutes, I will put some fresh water in it again. I cannot believe how filthy the water was.

This afternoon, I have a lot of computer work to do, adding new products and sending out newsletters. Then I need to set up everything for baby chicks just in case we find some locally this week.

Garden Vegetables To Grow

The Provider bush bean is a favorite.

There is nothing like a bush bean. I am talking about green beans that don't need to climb up a trellis. These prolific short bushes grow a lot of beans in the cooler seasons, early spring and later fall. You will find yourself harvesting every single day once they start flowering. Of all the garden vegetables to grow in the fall, bush beans are my favorite. We grow them in green, yellow, and purple. They all taste about the same and most of the purple ones turn green when you cook them.

Friday, March 3, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

Our grapevines are putting out leaves and tiny clusters of grapes.

What a night we had! The wind started blowing super hard somewhere around 9pm last night and the blowing got worse and worse. The stupid doorbell connected to the store sensor started ringing around 1am every few minutes. I guess every time a leaf or a grain of sand was blown by, that thing went off. Finally, at 4am, I found it in the dark and pulled the plug so the doorbell stopped. The wind was really rough. It is still going on but not quite as bad as in the night.

Well, happy Friday. I am in the store getting things done. It is chilly. The temperature got down to 51°. We were going to pull plants out of the greenhouses and bring them up front today so people could buy the plants without having to go out back, but the wind is still crazy blowing so it will just destroy the plants. Maybe next week...

My housekeeper is here with a new helper. All of our employees are here today getting orders out. It is not a good day to work outside. I am glad we did not get new chicks yet as it is chilly.

One of our dogs is having tummy issues. I think it is Lucy. She hit the living room in two places last night so I found them and got the carpet cleaner out. I thought that was it. The housekeeper came out to the store and got me. There were some more piles of nastiness in the den over in a corner so I got to clean those all up. Now I want to be sick...

I just put out both newsletters for David's Garden Seeds® and for Mrs. David's Garden Seeds®. If you are not signed up, please go to the home pages of both websites and sign up.

Garden Vegetables To Grow

Our beautiful Black Nebula carrots grown here in our garden. They have a white circle when sliced. It disappears when cooked. They are the sweetest carrots I have ever eaten.

The nice thing about carrots is that they are a root vegetable that can be grown year round. Plant them in early spring, early fall, and late fall. The cooler weather in fall and winter add sweetness to the flavor of carrots and any root that you plant in late fall.

Carrots come in a variety of colors and sizes. My new favorite carrot to grow and eat is the purple, sweet Black Nebula carrot. It is so good. Don't be afraid of carrots that are not orange. They still taste like carrots and are fun to eat. Gardening should be fun. These carrots are heirlooms which means God made them that way. The grocery store just doesn't carry all of the good things He made for us to enjoy.

Saturday, March 4, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

We have 2 rose bushes in our parking lot and they are both blooming already.

Today was a whirlwind of activity so busy that I never got a chance to sit down and write until now. I woke up early and got dressed. We had breakfast and I fed the indoor animals. I was trying to work on my computer stuff and then I got up to go feed the chickens. Ding dong! It was already 8:30 when the store doorbell went off. But, wait a minute. We don't open the store until 10am on Saturdays to give me a little more time to do tasks and such. So a customer was there at 8:30am. David said I had to go wait on him. So I did. The closed sign was up but that did not stop him. He bought seeds and then went out back to buy plants. This was really cutting into my time. When he finally left, I ran back and took care of the outdoor animals.

Then at 9:30am, a lady came in. By that time, I was in the store stocking it for today. The closed sign was up but she waltzed on in. So I had to stop and wait on her. She also wanted to go out to the greenhouse. I opened the store and three families came in right after 10am. Now keep in mind that we love having customers, but they should be coming during our normal business hours. So we had a lot of customers and just like last week, they stopped coming at 1pm. At this point, I still have not had lunch. I waited because as soon as I go to get lunch, they come.

I had four dozen eggs in the Farm Store for sale. Two dozen were bought so I still have two dozen left if you would like to get some on Monday morning.

Finally at 1:40pm, I ran over to the house to heat up some mac & cheese in the fridge. I started eating it. Ding dong. I had to run back leaving my lunch. I waited on them and closed the store at 2:05pm. I finished eating my lunch and started doing chores. At 2:30pm, more people came and I had to run back. Interestingly, no one came after that. Last Saturday, we had three sets of customers who came after closing. I think we should just open at 8am and let them go for it and not close until our gates close automatically at 4pm. I will just stay in the house until someone comes. We will have to think it over.

I got the brooder all set for baby chicks. The old one works and a brand new one was delivered yesterday. The feed dish and waterers are all washed and clean. Wood shavings are in the washed galvanized tub. Matt looked around and no one has any baby chicks right now. Tractor Supply had bantams but they are small and should not be mixed in with adult regular chickens as they will peck them to death, etc., so we did not get those. I have chicks coming through the mail, but they won't be here until the end of May. I thought we would start a few now. I got just three eggs today from my chickens.

I have been putting some whole grain scratch together for the chickens. They have been enjoying it. The bunnies have been loving eating fresh hay in addition to the rabbit feed.

Svengoolie was a weird werewolf movie that we saw before. I don't remember how it ends and, of course, I fell asleep. I woke up around 11:30pm and went to bed.

The dumpster has knocked the timbers and spikes out of place again. Just look at the mess.

One tiny foot is on top of the timbers and the timbers were knocked out of the ground, spikes and all. What is with this guy? He lifted up the dumpster, why couldn't he set it back down in the same place?

One tiny foot is on top of the timbers and the timbers were knocked out of the ground, spikes and all. He lifted up the dumpster, why couldn't he set it back down in the same place?

The trash man came today instead of yesterday. I was busy with customers but heard him. Who could miss all of that noise? As I made my way back to the house, I saw that the trashman did not set the dumpster down right again! He missed, moved our timbers, and set the dumpster on top on the timbers on one side. Unbelievable!

Garden Vegetables To Grow

A huge Texas 1015Y onion in my hand. We grow them every year.

Onions are good garden vegetables to grow in the spring and in the late fall. There are many to choose from including red, yellow, and white. There are also bunching onions, shallots, and leeks for that delicious onion flavor we all love in our dishes, burgers, salads, and sandwiches. Don't be afraid to grow onion from seeds. We do it every year and have never had a problem. Here is an article on planting and growing onions that David wrote. It should help with any questions you may have. Getting garden vegetables to grow in your backyard does not have to be difficult. With a little know how, you can do it!

Sunday, March 5, 2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

We woke up to thick fog this morning, thicker than I have seen it before.

Can you believe this crazy, thick fog. We are looking at the chicken coop but you can't see much beyond it.

Good Sunday to you. It is almost 3:30pm. It was so foggy this morning, pretty thick. David made waffles for breakfast. I fed all of the indoor animals and then went out and took care of the outdoor ones. It was in the 40s then. It is now 81° and bright and sunny.

We went to church and got back. Matt was here taking some display units apart for David to give to his sister. His sister got here and they loaded them up and she was gone.

Since then I have been dealing with the singing group coming to our church in Leakey three weeks from today. I have been posting it in groups on social media and sending it to various church members to advertise and put in the paper.

Happily on Sundays, our gates stay closed the whole day. I know people come because several customers have told me they have come to shop on Sundays and can't get in.

Garden Vegetables To Grow

Some Black Beauty zucchini growing in our garden.

Zucchini is a delicious spring vegetable. We also grow zucchini in the warm fall. Zucchini comes in yellow, white, and green. It can grow in the familiar cucumber-like shape as well as round ball zucchini. You can steam it, cook it in water, saute it, or roast it in the oven with olive oil.

Likewise, summer and winter squash can be grown in the spring. Do not wait until winter to grow winter squash because it needs to be grown in the summer. It can take up to 1020 days to grow winter squash but it needs to be planted in the spring/summer season. Winter squash is called winter squash because the rind is thick. Therefore, it will store well over the winter instead of spoiling quickly like summer squash does because the rind is thin. So many folks come into the store and when I suggest a nice winter squash for their spring planting, they say they will come back in the fall for those seeds. Then I have to explain about winter squash. Don't let the name fool you.

Let's Talk About Asparagus

Close up of Purple Passion asparagus growing in my asparagus patch.

Do you enjoy ordering steamed asparagus at a restaurant. Forget that and grow your own asparagus. The thing is, you need to wait two to three years after planting your asparagus seeds before you can harvest and eat them. If you plant asparagus crowns, you can starting eating it the second year. Asparagus needs to be well established before you can pick and eat it. So leave it alone for the first two years and every spring after for the next 15 to 20 years, you will get fresh, delicious, tender asparagus in your backyard. If you take care of it right, your asparagus patch can last up to 20 years. Yes, you read that right. Plant once and enjoy for 20 years...Here is more info about asparagus.

Return from Garden Vegetables To Grow to Our Fourth Year

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