Grow Early Vegetables

You can grow early vegetables in the spring so you have delicious fresh food right from the garden as soon as the season allows. If a seed variety has the word "Early" in it, you know it is good to start in early spring and you also know that it does not like heat. In Texas, you need to start planting early varieties now, some in the ground such as roots and brassicas and others can be started indoors under grow lights.

So what are some early vegetables? I have listed a bunch below that we will look at throughout the week.

Grow Early Vegetables - 2/12-2/18/2024

Monday, February 12, 2024

Some of the hundreds of Amazon orders we received over the weekend. They must all be filled and shipped today and tomorrow.

Happy birthday! Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. For all of you young folks, this great president set the slaves free and had a war torn country to deal with. Then an actor shot him. When I was a kid, this was a holiday and so was George Washington's birthday on February 22 but over the years, they decided to combine the birthdays of two great presidents into one holiday in February and just call it President's Day. That always happens on a Monday. This year it will be on February 19 and kids will have off from school. We never had off. We went to school on those days and learned about these great men and what they did to help shape our nation.

Okay, so much for the history lesson. I pulled website orders until 10pm last night so I have a ton to ship out this morning, plus there are many more that came in over night. Thank you all so much. What I did not even touch are approximately 300 or more orders in the huge stacks you see above. Those need to be pulled and mailed from our Amazon store.

This year, we have bluebonnet leaves all over the property. It is the first year since we moved here in 2019 that this has happened.

Right now at 7am, it is 43° and feels very chilly outside. I took Ethel out and did not put on a jacket. I regretted that immediately.

It was a very busy day. I closed seed orders all day long. So did everyone else. My friend came by to help stuff for a little while. I had hoped that one of our former employees would come by to help as I had invited her to come on busy Mondays but she did not. We had a few customers sprinkled in throughout the day.

The air remained chilly all day long, even though it got up into the 60s. The wind kept blowing. We gave the mailman three bags of orders. Then, David and I stayed out in Fulfillment fulfilling orders until 8pm. We finally went in and ate some leftover pizza for dinner. It was an exhausting day.

Here is a bit of good news! David's Garden Seeds® is now a member of the Better Business Bureau. We finally applied and got accepted.

Grow Early Vegetables

This is the Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage, perfect for early spring growing. It grows a beautiful head of cabbage!

When you are looking at vegetable seed packets to decide which ones to plant first, here is a clue. If the name of the variety has the word "Early" in it, it means it is for the beginning of spring. Let's say you want to grow early vegetables and there is no one around at the store. Just read all of the names and look for the seed packets that have the word "early" We have a lot of early varieties with the name early in the title such as:

Early Thoroughgreen Lima Bean
Dutch Early Round Cabbage
Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
Early Jalapeno
Short Day Texas Grano Early 502 Onion
Early Pink Popcorn
Early Scarlet Globe Radish
Early Prolific Straight Neck Summer Squash
Early White Summer Scallop Squash
Early Girl Slicing Tomato

You can take a look at the Early Seeds from David's Garden Seeds® here.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Pulling seeds and filling orders is a whole team event now.

Today is Mardi Gras down in New Orleans, aka Fat Tuesday, aka The Day Before Ash Wednesday...

This morning, another teen started here helping outside. He worked here last spring and part of the summer. A lady up in Devine has applied to help us inside so we will see if she is the type of employee we are looking for. We need someone who is detail oriented, wants to work, shows up on time ready to work, and actually cares about the work done, not just the paycheck. That type of employee is so hard to find these days.

David and I are leaving momentarily for a doctor appointment and to do some errands while in town. We won't be gone long. There is too much that needs to be done.

David's appointment with the doctor went well. Then we had to do several other things. We did not get back to the farm until close to 1pm. No, we did not go shopping.

We had three teens helping today. David hired one back from last spring to do outdoor work and he started this morning. We did not have any help with orders. The woman who was going to come for an interview tomorrow decided not to come after all. Maybe she will try again later in the week...

David and I will just keep plugging along and get the orders out. We like to get them out within a day or two of getting the orders. Sometimes that means working until 10pm to get that done. Other seed companies have on their websites that the order won't ship for two weeks. That is amazing to me. Who would wait that long? Apparently, quite a few people.

Matt had a dental visit so I had to take care of the animals this evening. I got another ton of eggs.

Grow Early Vegetables

Today's tip to grow early vegetables is to look for cool season veggies. Some of the spring veggies need to be planted way ahead of the game so they produce fruit before the weather gets too hot. That means starting the seeds before the danger of frost has passed. Early seeds can take a little cold.

Exactly what are the cold tolerant early spring veggies? Brassicas, greens, and roots like beets, turnips, onions, and carrots.

Broccoli seedlings in the greenhouse.

You can find our cold tolerant vegetable seeds here:

Brassicas
Greens
Roots

Brassicas include:

Arugula
Broccoli
Broccoli Raab
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chinese Cabbage
Collards
Cress
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mizuna
Mustard Greens
Pac Choi
Radish
Rutabaga
Tatsoi
Turnip

Roots include any vegetable that grows underground. The most popular ones are carrots, onions, beets, turnips, and radishes.

Greens include any green leafy vegetable that you eat. You know, the kind of green veggies that your mom and grandma always told you were good for you...

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

David ordered these for me and they were delivered yesterday afternoon to the Farm Store when I was not there. I went up there looking for seeds and got surprised!

Good morning! Happy Valentine's Day! Today is also Ash Wednesday. I have an egg casserole as well as a German pancake in the oven right now for David for Valentine's Day. He sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers that I received yesterday afternoon.

Today will be another day of filling orders. We have some super large orders to fill and we are grateful as always. This is our bread and butter.

Even David, the CEO, is pitching in and helping to pull the hundreds of orders we got this past weekend.

We have had a number of customers today. It is windy and a bit chilly with an overcast sky. Alexa says it will not rain but it sure looks like it could. I am still filling orders and it is almost 3pm. We had grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup for lunch. It fit the day very well.

David is smoking a chicken for dinner. I hope it comes out good. I think I will bake some potatoes to go with it.

The chicken was delicious. Also, I learned a new way to boil eggs that allows them to easily peel. Having farm fresh eggs all the time means fresh eggs. Fresh eggs are harder to peel than older eggs. According to a story I read today, if you cook eggs in the Instant Pot with a small amount of water and the steam basket, they will cook nicely and easily peel. I tried it tonight and, sure enough, they cooked up easily and they peel well. All of the water has completely vanished in the Instant Pot.

The trick is to set the eggs on the Rice setting. When I hit the Rice setting on my Instant Pot, it said Low, 12 minutes. I turned it on and it did a great job.

The sun goes down on Valentine's Day.

Grow Early Vegetables

This is the Bright Lights Swiss Chard. We have several varieties and they all look so pretty in addition to being good for you.

Grow early vegetables in early spring. You can also grow peas, spinach, arugula, kale, and radishes. Don't forget the rutabaga and Swiss chard. I know, Swiss chard does well in the fall in Texas but it will also do well in early spring. As long as it is cool, it will grow beautifully!

Thursday, February 15, 2024

It is very cloudy this morning. The building is one of our storage sheds and the non-working cell tower can be seen in the distance.

Good morning! It is already Thursday. The weeks just fly by.It is warm out at 60° and a bit foggy.

Nacho is here working outside again. Not sure what projects David has him and his crew doing.

I noticed an off white cow above our new property line.

From my back deck, I noticed an off white cow right next to the back fence of the new property.

I have been trying to figure out how to get the Better Business Bureau information up on both websites. I truly don't like Shopify as it is hard to build. However, it is user friendly for the customers which is more important.

It is time for me to get dressed and get to work filling more orders.

I filled orders and dealt with customers all day long.

Comfort Commander came by to check on our air conditioner for a routine prepaid checkup.

I got another flower delivery today from David. This one was smaller but also included a candle and Wildflower caramels. The caramels cost $18 for a bag of 12. They are large and super delicious. I know the cost because I looked the company up on the website. They are so good.

Pretty flowers, coconut candle, and the best caramels ever!

Grow Early Vegetables

If you are in Texas, tomato seedlings should be good sized by January or you won't get tomatoes in the spring. Summer is too hot for them.

You should always start early tomatoes indoors under grow lights while it is still winter. In fact, if you are in Texas or in a similar climate, you will want to start your tomatoes in December or in January so that when it is time to plant the tomatoes outside in the ground in March, the tomato plants will be big and beautiful. If you do not start them early, you won't get tomatoes in Texas once the heat hits. The heat hits hard in Texas, usually much earlier than you think it will.

Friday, February 16, 2024

Good Friday morning! It has been raining all night long. Everything, even on the covered deck is so wet. I took Ethel out in it at 6am. It is 63° out. I don't know if it will stop any time soon.

The rain did stop and I opened the store, not expecting much in the way of traffic. The temperature stayed in the 60s all day long but it was overcast. I cleaned out the pond and started on the online orders.

Soon, our first customer showed up, followed by our second, then our third, and, amazingly, our fourth, all in a row. Matt had to take them all out to the greenhouse to see the plants. Almost all of them bought plants and seeds. A few also bought coffee and pecan candies. No one bought any eggs. They all had chickens. What?

They finally all left and I got a few orders closed before customer five came. We got to have lunch which I was eating when my friend from down the road came to help for a bit. Then customer six came. After that, in the late afternoon, there was black smoke across the road. We watched a few fire engines go by. We jumped in the truck, trying to see what was going on. We went down some unfamiliar dirt roads and saw a lot of property for sale. We never could find the fire. We later heard that it was a brush fire that no one called in. The fire department successfully put it out.

We got back and found that the new Shopify hardware for the cash register came in. I put it together and I hope it works. I did not test it because it was almost 6pm when I was finished so I just let it charge.

Then I got an email from the group we were supposed to go to Israel with this coming November. We made the reservation a year ago. I suspected this was coming due to the war. Our trip to Israel has been canceled. So on Monday, I need to call and ask for my money back. I figured this would happen but they kept saying that we were still going. Honestly, if there is a war going on somewhere, I do not want to go. I am sad but at the same time glad. I sure don't want to be a prisoner of a war I have nothing to do with. It turns out that no airlines are flying into Israel now and they probably won't be in November.

Grow Early Vegetables

Black Beauty eggplant growing in our garden.

Eggplant and pepper plants should be started from seed indoors about eight weeks before they can be put outside. Make sure you use grow lights to grow early vegetables indoors. The light that your plants will get from a windowsill is definitely not enough.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

I got up early this morning at 6am. Turns out David was already up. By the time I got out to the kitchen, David had called Bob Webster who was live on the radio and they had a 20 minute conversation and spoke about our website so that was awesome!

A cold front blew in overnight and it is currently 7am and 47° Fahrenheit. The wind is up pretty high. It was quite uncomfortable when I took Ethel out almost an hour ago.

I just checked Facebook and overnight, apparently, people in the area were feeling earthquakes. I was sleeping and did not feel anything. I looked it up and went to a site called Earthquaketrack.com. Here is what they show:

Recent Earthquakes Near Poteet, Texas, United States

Poteet has had: (M1.5 or greater)

5 earthquakes in the past 24 hours
21 earthquakes in the past 7 days
33 earthquakes in the past 30 days
191 earthquakes in the past 365 days

The largest earthquake in Poteet:

today: 4.7 in Karnes City, Texas, United States
this week: 4.7 in Karnes City, Texas, United States
this month: 4.7 in Karnes City, Texas, United States
this year: 4.7 in Karnes City, Texas, United States

I had no idea that we have had so many earthquakes out here. I am shocked and a bit scared. I wonder if we are having them because of so much fracking in the area. The sand mine is right down the road from us.

It was so cold feeding and watering the chickens and rabbits. I got it all done, got the dishes done, started a wash, started a loaf of sourdough bread, boxed up eggs for the Farm Store and was over there at 9:50am but not before the first customer of the day pulled up to shop. I finished installing the new hardware for Shopify. After more than an hour, I got to check the first customer out and the new hardware works.

Matt brought us Mexican food for lunch. A few more customers braved the cold and came to shop. The mailman made it right before the gate closed. In between customers, I filled orders.

The gate is now closed and I finished pulling orders. It is time for me to go in the house and do more laundry, cook dinner, and clean up. My feet are killing me so it is good. By the way, it is almost 3pm and it is still very cold.

I made a delicious meatloaf this evening with hard boiled egg in every slice. I also made sourdough bread, roasted sweet potato slices and roasted green beans with ranch seasoning. It was a good meal. The Svengoolie movie was a replay so we watched Forrest Gump. We enjoyed it a lot. It's been years since we have watched it.

Grow Early Vegetables

A watermelon growing in our garden. They love the sandy soil that we have.

Let's talk about melons. If you want to grow watermelons, cantaloupes, and other melons, you will need to direct sow them. That means, you have to wait for the danger of frost to be over. Just as soon as it is over, get melon seeds in the ground. Make sure you mix some sand in with your soil because all melons love sandy soil that drains well.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

My only sister, Norma. She visited at the end of November and worked here at David's Garden Seeds while she was here.

Happy birthday to my sister, Norma! We had such a fun visit this past November when she came to see me for the very first time since we left El Paso years ago.

So I sent her a few gifts from Amazon which she got during the week. I picked her out some more things and she would have gotten them on time but a card on our personal account was stolen last Sunday and the thief overdrafted my account by about $1200.00. So my account was in the red big time all week long until Friday.

On Friday evening, I reordered her more gifts. Some should have been delivered today to her. Boy, was I shocked when I went outside to feed the fish late this afternoon and there were my sisters gifts on the ground here. Ooops. I forgot to change the delivery address to Norma's when I ordered them. So I need to mail them out to her on Tuesday since tomorrow is a holiday.

Good Sunday morning. It got down to 34° and I am freezing here at my desk. David is still asleep. I've got my cup of coffee. I was out with the dogs and it is so cold out there. I dread having to go out and feed the animals soon.

We spent the evening pulling and printing orders. I went in the house after 8pm with my feet in pain from pulling. David came in at 9pm. Fun times but it is real life when you own a business and can't get good help during the busiest time of year!

Grow Early Vegetables

On the left are bush beans and the climbers are some of the pole beans we enjoy growing.

When you grow early vegetables, consider planting bush bean seeds. Bush beans tend to grow very quickly. You should always direct sow beans. They do not like to be transplanted. Snap Bush Beans tend to grow quicker than other bush beans like the Contender and Provider varieties, both of which we carry at David's Garden Seeds®. We actually grow these two varieties each year and they are both very tasty and don't have strings which is a nice bonus.

Return from Grow Early Vegetables to Year Five On The Farm

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