Gardening

Welcome to our Gardening Page! Here you’ll find tips, tricks and free printables to help backyard gardeners plan their space, make seed + variety selections and organically fertilize their plants using natural inputs.

Our chicken coop and garden in Magnolia, Texas zone 9a. Click HERE to learn how easy chickens are to keep!

Here is my secret recipe for absolutely explosive plant growth:

In a 2 to 2.5 gallon watering can (I use Behrens) combine 1 Tablespoon Trident’s Pride Fish Foliar Feed, 1 Tablespoon Organic Liquid Kelp and 1 teaspoon Cal-Mag. Exact measurements are not needed – just eyeball it as your pour it into the bottom of an empty watering can then fill with water to mix the solutions. Use this as a foliar feed by deliberately watering the leaves of your plants in the morning. Plants will absorb the nutrients within 15 minutes and an improvement in growth can be seen in 24-48 hours. It is truly an incredible combination! Works beautifully on all vegetable plants as well as onions, herbs, flowers, flowering shrubs and vines.

If you would like to qualify as 100% certified organic, opt for this organic Cal-Mag product.

You may have read online that it is not good to water the leaves of your plants. Using a foliar feed requires that you deliberately wet the leaves so the nutrients are absorbed quickly through the stomata in the leaves. Foliar feed in the morning, preferably before 10 am so the plant does not experience any sort of sun damage.

**Fish Foliar Feeds used by themselves or in a blend deter deer from eating your plants.** Deer do not like the low-tide, faint fishy smell on the leaves. Each foliar feed will give 48-72 hours of plant protection against the deer unless rain washes it off.

Here is how I “trick” tomato and pepper plants into producing fruit nearly a month sooner than starts planted directly into the ground. I start pepper seeds in January and tomato seeds in February then plant them into black grow bags the last week of February in zone 9a. By the time these starts go in the ground the last week of March, the tomatoes are often 3 feet tall and the bell peppers nearly a foot tall, both with flowers and sometimes already-set fruit.

Black fabric grow bags are made from a felt-like material that does not rot and is reusable for several years. I prefer the ones with handles.

Directions:

You need one 1-gallon size black grow bag for each plant start and 1 large bag of potting soil (64 quarts/70 liters/30 pounds) for every 12-15 grow bags you intend to fill. If you want to be certified organic, you must select organic potting soil with no fertilizers added. You will also need a wagon, garden cart, wheelbarrow, utility sled or some way to move your plants around your yard to the sunniest spot that can get wet and not be harmed by holding water.

Step 1: Plant your starts in each black grow bag. You will probably need a very shallow layer of dirt in the bottom on which you set the root ball. Tomatoes should be “planted up to their necks” with as much of the stem covered by dirt as possible. Pepper plants should be planted up to the first leaf set.

This Black Cherry Tomato is planted up to the first set of true leaves in a 1 gallon black grow bag. Around 3 inches of green stem is below the soil surface with the root ball sitting on about 1/2 inch of soil on the bottom.

Step 2: Arrange the grow bags in your wagon/garden cart. It is okay to crowd them in and to have the bags squish together a bit.

Four tomato starts in my garden cart on the day I potted them in the grow bags. Photo taken on Feb 26, 2023.

Step 3: Foliar Feed. Use the recipe above to foliar feed your starts. This will result in explosive growth. The fish foliar feed in the blend will also deter hungry, pregnant springtime deer from feasting on your tender young plant starts.

The same tomato starts exactly 14 days later on March 12, 2023. They have been given foliar feed regularly and their growth has been rapid. I drain the water in the bottom as needed. The white flower is a snapdragon.

Step 4: Move the wagon/cart to the sunniest spot of your yard each day. If you are able to move them twice a day to follow the sun, that is best. Wheel them back into your garage in the evenings to prevent any overnight frost damage. Foliar feed the starts every 72 hours for the best results and drain any standing water as needed.

Why Does This Work? The black fabric grow bags, which hold little soil, heat up quickly in the sun. Warm soil sparks explosive root growth, especially in tomatoes. The portability allows you to give them bright daytime sun while protecting the plants from too-cool temperatures overnight. All of this produces early growth because it mimics April & May garden conditions (very warm soil temperatures) which encourages quicker flowering and fruiting.

This trick works for any variety in the pepper family or tomato family including ground cherries, tomatillos, huckleberry, wonderberry, and litchi tomato berries. Squash and most other herbs or veggie starts can also benefit from this trick if used about 2 weeks before planting out.

Continue to use the foliar feed recipe above on tomatoes twice per week until the first fruit begins to ripen. You will want to stop foliar feeding as the tomatoes ripen so you don’t have a fishy residue on the fruit. The Cal-Mag helps prevent blossom end rot. Foliar feed with only 1 tsp of Cal-Mag per gallon of water if blossom end rot becomes a problem later in the season.

Here are my notes on how much to plant if I want my summer garden to provide most of our produce for a family of 4:

Tomatoes: 2 beefsteak or large slicing varieties per 4 people. (This provides roughly 2 sandwich tomatoes and a 2 cup batch of sauce each week.)

Cherry Tomatoes: 2-3 cherry tomatoes per family of 4. (This provides snacking & salad tomatoes. Plant 1 per person if everyone snacks heavily on cherry tomatoes.)

Bell Peppers: 3 plants per person if you do not want to buy any from the grocery store during the gardening season and have enough to slice and freeze to use for months afterwards. All of them should be planted in the spring after the last frost date. They will have green fruit large enough to harvest the first week of June, colored peppers in mid to late June and will continue until frost kills them the next winter. Flowers may not set in 95+ degree heat but will resume as soon as temps drop for even just a day or two.

Cucumbers: 2 plants for a family of 4 is sufficient for snacking, salad slices and making one or two jars of fresh pickles each month when they are producing. If you want to can pickles, you will need 2 pickling variety vines per person and will need to pick them regularly while they are less than 3 inches. In Magnolia zone 9a: Cucumber vines may not produce until June if direct sown in late March. Buying a start from a local nursery that is planted in late March in full sun can provide cumbers in May.

Onions: 1 bundled set of starts will produce 40+ full size or “grocery store size” onions IF you foliar feed them twice weekly using the recipe above. I plant my starts the week before Thanksgiving and harvest in April and May when the tops have flopped over and the leafy tips begin to slightly yellow. This is enough onions to share, use fresh and dice + freeze for the whole year. Starts can be purchased at local feed stores and nurseries. If you do not foliar feed, 1 bundle of onion starts will produce around 30 golf ball to racquetball sized onions and another dozen or so “pearl” sized onions. In Magnolia zone 9a I use 1015Y onion starts purchased in November.

Green Onions: 1 packet of green onion seeds sprinkled over a 1 foot x 3 foot long bed area produces plenty for once weekly stir fry or salad use for a family of 4. Use half a packet of seeds if sowing in a rectangle planter shorter than 3 feet and plan to use 3-6 green onions every 2 weeks from the planter. These also benefit from weekly foliar feeding. In Magnolia zone 9a: Sow mid-March and foliar feed through May. Onions are large enough to harvest when they are as wide as a pencil, around June. Green tips can be harvested and used like chives before then, just wash any residual foliar feed off of them before use.

Summer Squash: 2-4 plants. The Magnolia area is infested with squash vine borers. Plant vine borer-resistant varieties (patty pan, lemon squash, Italian varieties). Plan on getting 1 or 2 squash per plant before they succumb to the vine borders. Common zucchini varieties often do not produce a single fruit before vine borers kill the plant so skip them.

Onion variety 1015Y grown in 2023. These were foliar fed to produce mostly grocery store sized bulbs. This group of 19 was about 1/3 of the total harvest.

Planting varies greatly by growing zones. The Arbor Gate nursery in Tomball, Tx provides a zone 8b & 9a planting timeline that is incredibly useful. They also have a zone 8a and 8b timeline as well. A sliding-scale Garden Planner that works for any growing zone can be purchased from Baker Creek.

Know Your Frost Dates:

Magnolia, Texas Risk of Frost: November 23 – March 4. Historically Frost-Free Dates (data taken from the worst frost years): March 26 – November 2. I use the historically frost-free dates to ensure I don’t plant out too early, especially if we are having a cooler than normal spring which may happen during La Niña years.

Here are some additional planting season dates I use for Magnolia, TX zone 9a:

Late December & Early January:

Sugar Snap Peas, Snow Peas & English or Shelling Peas: Sow just after Christmas or around New Year’s Day in a spot that gets lots of bright sun and provide a trellis of some sort. Seed should be purchased in the fall or on sale the summer before since local stores may not yet have pea seeds for sale in December. Pea vines can handle a freeze. Begin harvesting 8 weeks after planting. Pea vines will begin to fizzle out in April so it is fine to crowd late March tomato starts in where the pea vines are dying back. Simply cut the withering pea vines off at the soil surface to avoid disturbing the tomato plant’s roots.

Try Carrots in Grow Bags: In Magnolia zone 9a there is a very short window around January 1 (and no later than Jan 15) where you can sow carrot seeds in a grow bag that is kept warm indoors (70°F or higher) so the seeds will germinate and begin growing. Once the seedlings have their first real leaves, the grow bag can be moved around outside to the sunniest spots and brought in the garage during freezes. Carrots will be ready to harvest in 100 days, around April 15. The primary carrot-growing time is September so you may want to take advantage of this tiny seasonal window of opportunity. (Scroll down to September to see carrot grow bag growing tips.)

Potatoes: Seed potatoes should be purchased as soon as they are available in early January from one of the local feed stores and immediately planted in pots/buckets in early January. Red varieties tend to perform slightly better than white, gold or blue varieties. Potatoes MUST have cool temperatures to form tubers. Foliage can handle light frosts but cover if a hard freeze is expected. Harvest around 90 days after planting: harvest in April if planted in January or harvest in early May if planted in early February. Potatoes planted at Valentine’s Day (late) will produce around 4-5 spuds and around a dozen marble sized ones that did not develop well for each 1 seed potato planted. Potatoes planted in the ground are often turned to mush by heavy spring rains (they need good drainage) or are tunneled into by bugs. Plant them in extra large plastic pots or buckets with drainage holes and do NOT water them if we are getting frequent rains. Light foliar feeding once a week is fine.

Bell Peppers, Sweet Peppers & Hot Peppers: Begin seed indoors in mid-January using a seedling heat mat. Peppers will need 7-14 days on a heat mat in a warm room to germinate. Start plenty of extra seeds; they tend to have lower germination rate and seedlings die easily. They need a full 8 weeks of warm indoor growing with a grow light to be large enough to plant up into black grow bags in late Feb or transplant outdoors in late March. Plant into garden beds after all risk of frost has passed, typically after March 26. If buying started peppers, you will find the best selection the last week of February through mid-March. Orange, purple and yellow bell pepper starts always sell out first so buy them when you see them.

Asparagus: Buy bare root asparagus crowns from local nurseries, feed stores or Tractor Supply in early to mid-January for the best selection. Plant them February 1 – March 1.

February:

Tomatoes (All Varieties): Begin seed indoors in early to mid-February. Do NOT use a heat mat once the tomato seed germinates or the seedling will get excessively leggy. Since tomato seedlings all seem to go leggy any ways, plan on carefully “pricking out and planting up” the thin little seedling, burying it up to its neck in a Solo cup or 4 inch pot. I use a seedling dibber to prick out my tomato seedlings but a pencil also works. If buying tomato starts, you will find the best selection during the very last week of February and the first week of March but you will need to baby them for a few weeks before they can go in the ground.

Sweet Potatoes: Buy an organic sweet potato from the grocery store in late February and place one end in water. Slips will form 6-8 weeks later, by mid-April. Pluck these leafy green shoots when they are 3+ inches tall and place them in water to root. Takes 7-14 days to develop roots. These rooted shoots are called “slips”. Sweet potato slips should be planted around Mother’s Day in May. They will vine and spread throughout the garden. Sweet potatoes need heat to develop and a deep weekly summer watering will help the tubers to grow large. Harvest 90 to 120 days after planting the slips, around mid to late September.

Asparagus: Bare root asparagus crowns purchased from feed stores, nurseries or Tractor Supply in January should ideally be planted February 1 through March 1 in zone 9a.

March:

Cucumbers: They like warm temps but hate having their roots disturbed! Start indoors in early March and transplant the last week of March, jostling the sensitive roots as little as possible. Store bought starts may also be planted the very last week of March, after the historically frost free date of March 26 has passed. Seed can be sown directly into the garden soil after March 26. Foliar feed for rapid growth. Should begin producing in May from purchased starts or June from direct-sown seed.

Bush Green Beans: Sow seed March 15 through April 15. Contender is a fantastic variety for Magnolia zone 9a that seems to produce the most reliably. It sells out so quickly at local stores that ordering online is typically required. Seeds can be planted again in August for a fall crop so make sure you buy enough seeds!

Late March Planting: Time to plant all of the starts you have been babying for weeks into the raised garden beds! Bell Peppers and beefsteak tomato varieties need the sunniest spots. Cherry tomatoes can produce in beds that get lightly filtered sunlight.

Begin Weeding: The weeds are up and running. Try to stay on top of them by using a stirrup hoe, which makes the job faster. Rain which falls during lightning storms contains nitrates, which boosts both weed and plant growth so be sure to weed quickly after storms.

April:

Plant Sunflowers: Sow sunflower seed March 15 through May 31 with April 1 through May 1 believed to be the best time for Magnolia 9a.

Harvest Potatoes: Your January planted potatoes are ready to harvest sometime in April. Make sure spuds near the surface are covered with soil. Harvest on a dry day, a few days after the last rain storm and before more storms are expected. February planted potatoes will be ready in early to mid-May.

Plant Sweet Corn: Sweet corn varieties can be planted April 1-15 and should ripen in around 60 days. Popcorn varieties can be planted March 15 through April 30.

Foliar Feed Regularly: The spring garden is all planted and should be receiving foliar feeds every 48 to 72 hours (twice weekly foliar feedings). Onions should begin having tops that flop over and turn a bit yellow. Bell peppers need very generous, frequent foliar feeds in order to produce large fruits in June. Pull small weeds because they will get big fast.

May:

Last Call to Plant Peppers: This is your last chance to plant pepper starts of all types. They need to be in the ground by May 31 to set fruit before the hottest summer temps cause them to temporarily pause until the fall. May flowers will set and then ripen over the next month or two.

June:

Begin Fall Tomatoes: Start fall tomato seeds near the end of June and plant out the last week of July through mid-August. Large varieties that require 85 days or longer to mature should be started June 1 and in the ground July 1. You can also take sucker cuttings from existing tomato plants in July, root them in water indoors and plant them out in mid-August. Stores will not have near the fall garden selection as they did in the spring so your fall tomato garden depends on work done now.

July:

Baby Your Pepper Plants: Give peppers a deep watering at least twice weekly; they will perk up and begin producing more in October but they need the weeds removed from around them right now. It is too late to plant new peppers and have them produce much before a November frost so you need to care for these in the ground. Chopped weeds or dead vines make a great mulch for them. They may also appreciate some shade cloth if possible. Temps close to 100°F may have caused the flowers to drop off instead of setting fruit but they will resume later.

Root Tomato Sucker Cuttings: Clip a few suckers from your favorite tomato varieties that are currently growing in your (or a neighbor’s!) garden. Place them in a clean glass jar of water and refresh the water every 48 hours until roots form in 7-14 days. Once roots are around 2 inches, they can be planted in the garden no later than mid-August.

Replant Corn: A second crop of sweet corn or popcorn can be planted July 1-31. Sweet Corn should be ready to harvest in about 60 days if you can keep raccoons and squirrels away from it.

Garden Clean Out: The growing season will end for some plants that have produced and are burning to a crisp under the Texas sun in late July. Clear out any plants and vines that have died. Summer squash has usually succumbed to vine borers and is no longer producing. Cucumbers may be struggling. Remove and compost any plants that are dead or dying. Weed the garden, which may be overrun with grasses, as best as you can in the heat using a weed eater to chop and drop if necessary or cover with a thick later of mulch if weeds are growing in the garden paths. Tomatoes that have flopped over and look awful can have the fruit tresses cut to finish ripening indoors while the rest of the plant is composted. Working in the late evening at twilight may be more bearable than in the morning sun.

August:

Fall Garden Begins: Tomatoes planted by mid-August will fruit in late October and continue until they are killed in a freeze.

Bush Green Beans: A second planting of bush green bean varieties can be planted from seed August 1 through September 15. Contender is a fantastic variety for Magnolia zone 9a that seems to produce the most reliably. It sells out so quickly at local stores that ordering online is typically required.

Celery Time: Celery can be started from seed indoors, seed sown outdoors or planted as celery starts any time from August 1 through 30. This is our only celery growing window. The variety “Tango” is believed to be best for zones 8 & 9.

50 Day Summer Squash: Another round of fast-maturing, 50 Day Summer Squash varieties can be planted August 1 through 30 if you would like one more crop. These are often yellow squash varieties that may be labeled as “Early”.

Start Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts & Brassicas: Start seed indoors August 1-15 for planting out in mid-September or buy starts from a nursery in September for planting September 15 through October 1.

Buy Carrot Seeds: Order carrot seeds online if you didn’t buy a pack in the spring so you have them to sow next month. Scarlet Nantes is the most popular heirloom variety because it grows well. Red, yellow, purple and color seed mixes are also available.

September:

In Magnolia zone 9a many veggies that are typically grown in February or March elsewhere make their appearance in our fall gardens because our winters are so mild. September heat makes seeds germinate quickly and starts thrive in the warm soil, producing a crop in December. You can trust the planting guide provided by The Arbor Gate for zone 8b & 9a. November or December cold snaps won’t harm frost-tolerant plants; only peppers and tomatoes will succumb to a freeze.

Carrots: Carrot seeds can be planted September 1 through 30. Carrots like extremely loose, lightweight, sandy soil. In Magnolia zone 9a it is suggested that you fill a 5 gallon bucket or 7 gallon (or larger) fabric grow bag with 1/2 play sand and 1/2 good quality screened compost. (Literally shake all the compost through a soil sifter or kitchen colander to remove everything but the finest pieces.) The entire bucket must be full of loose, sandy compost blend and you may want more than one bucket of carrots. Water the soil first and then sprinkle the carrot seeds on top. This way the water won’t wash the tiny seeds down the sides of the bucket. The carrots will germinate within 7 days in our warm September weather. They prefer filtered light on hot days and bright sunlight when temps are in the low 70’s and cooler. Thin them until there are 1-2 inches between each one. Carrots need consistent moisture and calcium for good root development so water regularly and foliar feed with organic cal-mag 1 tsp per gallon of water. Carrots are ready to harvest in 75 to 100 days after sowing seed, around Thanksgiving through early January.

Plant Broccoli, Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts: Store bought starts can be planted September 15 to October 1 in a spot that gets good sun. Cabbage moth will attack all the brassica family plants so foliar feed for strong growth and use whatever preventatives you prefer.

Lettuce & Greens: Lettuce can be started from seed in late September. Purchased lettuce starts should be planted in late September through late October when 100°F days have passed.

October:

Lettuce & Greens: Lettuce can be started from seed in late September. Purchased lettuce starts should be planted in late September through late October when 100°F days have passed.

Strawberries: Plant starts in October or November in Magnolia zone 9a; they need our cooler winter weather. Starts are usually available for purchase at local nurseries in October but they quickly sell out. They can be planted next to onions, which will go in shortly after them. Fall planted strawberries will begin to produce in December, if given foliar feed, and continue to bear through early March. Paint small rocks to look like strawberries and place near the plants before the berries ripen to attempt to deter birds and squirrels. Best Strawberry Varieties for Houston: Sequoia, Douglas & Chandler. Texas gardeners should avoid ever-bearing and day-neutral varieties. Buy thyme plants to border the strawberries.

Cilantro: Direct sow cilantro seed in a part of the garden that gets filtered sunlight October 1 through Nov 15. Will produce most of the winter and then bolt in the very early spring.

Garlic: Whole bulb heads of garlic purchased from the grocery store can be broken into individual cloves and planted October 15 through November 15. It will be ready to harvest in 8 to 9 months, around June-July in Magnolia zone 9a.

Lovage: This herb is called “cutting celery” because it grows leafy celery-like stalks that can be used just like celery in soups, salads or dishes but is easier to grow. Start seed October 1-31. Lovage will germinate in warm soil but prefers 60°F weather so it is best grown as a fall herb in Texas. Appreciates filtered afternoon sunlight during hot months and it does fine in a pot where it can be moved into full sun during the winter months.

November:

Onions: Purchase 1 bundled set in November from local feed stores or nurseries, which typically contain 50 to 60 onion starts. Plant the week before Thanksgiving. (I usually plant the weekend before Thanksgiving.) If you want to grow two varieties, plan to split the sets with a neighbor or plant leftovers in a pot to use as “green” onions while they are still small. Foliar feed twice weekly all winter and spring, until the tops flop over and begin to yellow. Onions can handle a freeze but cover lightly if a hard freeze below 28°F is expected. If you want to grow from seed, you must purchase a Short Day variety and sow them in mid-October, before Halloween.

December:

Buy Seed Potatoes: Begin watching for seed potatoes to arrive at the local nurseries and feed stores the week after Christmas and buy the varieties you want early as they sell out quickly.

This is a Cutworm, which will do a LOT of damage to your newly planted starts in March and April. The whitish colored stripes on their back will appear yellow-green like a glow stick under a blacklight flashlight at night.

Bacillus Thuringiensis, abbreviated as BT, is a naturally occurring soil-borne bacteria that is harmless to humans but is selectively toxic to caterpillars, lethally disrupting their digestive process, resulting in death within 48-72 hours. This is an organic way to protect your newly planted starts from being killed by caterpillars, cutworms and tomato hornworms.

BT comes as a blue-green liquid concentrate. Pour 4 teaspoons per gallon into any size or kind of garden sprayer and shake to combine. Thoroughly wet both the top and undersides of your plant’s leaves in the evening when the sun is not overhead every 72 hours. The caterpillars, which are typically active at night, must ingest some of the BT but will quickly stop eating after a few leaf nibbles, return to the soil and die within 72 hours. BT sprayed on plants in very bright sunlight can scald the leaves so an evening application is advised. March and April in Magnolia are our worst cutworm months so apply it every 72 hours until you stop seeing caterpillar damage on your leaves in late April. BT is an organic solution and its use is allowed in certified organic gardens.

Cutworms and Hornworms also glow under a blacklight flashlight. If you would prefer a non-chemical way to remove caterpillars from your plants, hunt for them just after dark and use long handled tweezers to pluck and kill them or place them in a glass jar with a lid to feed to chickens the next morning!