TXCG 2016

After a couple years without a garden I'm really looking forward to having stuff growing again. We're getting the community garden started back up at work & since we had a few members give up their plots I now have doubled my space and have two 4'x8' plots to work with. The new plot is in pretty sad shape compared to my original one so I have a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks to get things ready for planting out at the end of March.
 
 
Don't really have any pictures yet since I didn't start seeds this year but ordered 24 plants from Cross Country Nurseries. I had really good luck with the plants I bought from them back in 2013 so I'm hoping this year turns out at as well. I've never had plants get anywhere near as big in this raised bed as they do when I grow them in containers so going to try and make up for size with volume.
 
 
Plants on order (arriving week of 3/28):
Texas Chiltepin (4)
Chupetinho (2)
Cumari (2)
Datil (2)
Sweet Datil (2)
Devil's Tongue (2)
Fatalii (2) 
Orange Jalapeno (2)
Lemon Drop (2)
PA 353 Red (2)
Shishito (2)

 
Now I just have to figure out how I want to space these things out. I'm thinking about putting 16 in my one good 4x8 bed and picking 8 to stick in a 4x4 section of my not so good bed leaving me a 4x4 space to plant some other things. After seeing Joyner's 16 plant 4x4 square foot garden I'm even kinda considering cramming all 24 into the one 8x8 bed especially because my plants never get more than about 2 feet tall here.

 

[TXCG]

To help decide how to space these things out here are some pics from previous years growing in the raised bed to give an idea of approx size I can expect unless things drastically change
 
2013 Community Garden
Plant spacing, 5 peppers + 3 basil plants in about a 3x4' area. The basil got much larger than any of the pepper plants
 

 
Toward end of season in late August this is what it looked like:  
 

 
 
And some closeups showing plant size:
 
Red Fatalli:

 
Lemon Drop  
 

 
 
I figure with things only getting that big I can easily fit 16 in one 4x8 plot and may even be able to squeeze in all 24. We never really have an issue with disease out here since it tends to stay hot and dry but airflow may be a concern. Although having plants provide shade for each other may actually beneficial in the middle of summer here. 
 
Now if things got as big in the raised bed as they do when I grow them in pots there is no way I could fit more than about 8-10 plants in a bed. For comparison this is a lemon drop I grew in the back yard 
 
This is in a 25 gallon pot and thats a 5 gallon bucket it's next to for size comparison. I wish I had this kind of growth in my raised bed but I've always had much better luck with soilless mix & liquid nutrients than I have with actual soil 
 

 
 
So lots of work and lots of decisions to make between now and the end of March. 

 

[mpicante]

Good luck on your grow! Are you buying plants from a nursery or ordering on line from somewhere like ccn?

 

[TXCG]

Good luck on your grow! Are you buying plants from a nursery or ordering on line from somewhere like ccn?

 
Online from ccn. Also kinda considering picking up another 8 from Juanitos and doing two full beds of 16 plants each but I also kinda want to keep a 4x4 space open for growing some basil and stuff. I might just set up an indoor hydro garden for growing herbs instead though. Really can't make up my mind. Wonder if I can talk my way into getting a third 4x8 plot...

 

[TXCG]

Talked my dad into driving his truck down here March 5th so I can go pick up a metric crapload of compost at Natural Gardener nursery way down south of Austin. Thinking about renting a small rototiller that day too to speed this process up a bit since I'll have a good 1.5-2 cu yards of compost to mix in. Also going to pick up a bit of composted turkey manure and work an inch or two into the top of both beds.
 
I have one question though: Should I remove the layer of cedar mulch I put on back in 2013 or till that in to the soil?
 
I know wood mulch can drop nitrogen availability while it breaks down & cedar mulch is a type of redwood mulch that tends to break down slowly but this soil is in serious need of some coarse organic material to make it drain a bit better. 

 

[Chewi]

Hey thats pretty cool that CCN is shipping in March. I've had good luck with them too, only problem was getting the plants so late. Moster Lemon Drop btw!!!!
Happy 2016 to you

 

[TXCG]

Got a bit of work done on the raised beds this weekend.
 
Beds were in pretty rough shape. The one with the hog fence trellis things is my new bed for this season, the one to the right of that is the one I've had since we built this garden.
 

 
Friday after work I pulled a bunch of weeds, raked off my old cedar mulch, hoed the rest of the smaller weeds and gave it a good turning over with a spading fork.
 

 
Saturday my dad came down and helped me pick up 1 cubic yard of compost. Also picked up seven 6 gallon bags of composted turkey manure. Came out to about 6" of compost & 1-2" of turkey manure per bed. 
Little bro came down to lean on a shovel and supervise:
 

 
After we got everything unloaded I spent a good 20-30 min turning it all in with the spade fork & raking it flat. Turns out I perfectly estimated how much I needed to pick up, filled beds right to the brim with nothing left over. I was going to water it in to settle it a bit but it's supposed to rain all week so I'll let nature take care of that part.
 

 
 
Now all that's left to do til end of March when plants arrive is to pick up some materials to set up netting around my plot to keep the deer out. 
 
Also holy crap I'm sore from all that shoveling.

 

[TXCG]

Built a deer resistant net cage out of 1 1/2" PVC pipe and rigged up a drip irrigation system with soaker hose. Not sure how well its gonna work but hopefully it will save me a bit of pain watering. Theoretically rated at 1/2 to 1 gal per foot of hose per hour, each hose piece is about 16'-ish feet long so about 16-32 gal per hour per plot if it lives up to its rating. 
 

 
 
 
Plants from CCN came in early last week and got them all hardened off. While definitely not cheap CCN always delivers beautiful plants and the packaging is top tier. Not a single bit of damage after shipping all the way from New Jersey to Texas.: 
 

\\
 
 
 
I wanted to plant out Monday or Tuesday but unfortunately the water at the garden was not working. As of lunch today it appears to have been restored but still isn't quite up to as high pressure as it was before it went out. Ran the soaker hoses for a 30 min test and so far so good. Looks like the ones in the right plot put out a bit more water than the ones on the left so I'll have to keep an eye on that.  Also weeded the plot next to mine since it was getting pretty ridiculous and pretty much no one else in the community garden is doing anything this year.
 

 
Finally got all 24 plants in the ground this evening. Got eaten alive by mosquitos & the damn deer netting kept catching on everything but finally finished about 30 min after sundown. Sorry for the crappy pic I'll snap a better one in the morning.  Got the rows semi straight except the one in the bottom left corner but I think I'll survive. I think left plot is all C. Chinense & the right plot is mostly C. Annuum with 2 C. Baccatums mixed in. I'll get a proper list of what is what in the morning too.  
 

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

Nice 

 
 

 

[GhostPepperz]

daanngg

 

[Chilima]

Go TX , you assembled whole workforce there gg!, Hows your back and arms?

 

[capsidadburn]

Looks great TXCG!

 

[TXCG]

Thanks everybody. Here's a slightly better pic as promised + a list of what is what.
 
Each bed has 2 identical rows with  2 plants of each variety except the Texas Chiltepins which I have 4 of.
 
Listed front to back:
 
Left bed: Fatalii, Devil's Tongue, Datil, Sweet Datil, Chupetinho, Cumari
 
Right bed: Shishito, Orange Jalpeno, Lemon Drop, PA 353 Red, Texas Chiltepin x2
 

 
 
 
 
 
Some bonus pics of wildflowers around campus at work (click for full size)
 
Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) in front of some Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri)

 
 
Indian Blankets (Gaillardia pulchella) & more Bluebonnets

 
 
Loads of Bluebonnets with a few Indian Blankets

 

[TXCG]

Oh yeah forgot to post this pic. This is why I had to build the net cage: 
 

 
Kinda hard to see but there are 2 whitetail deer in that pic. There was actually a herd of 5 of them but 3 are hiding. I see them by the pond every day when I leave work. 

 

[Chilima]

damn that zoom plants looking good!

 

[Maligator]

Great work

Can't wait to see how they turn out...and holy crap: that Lemon Drop in the 25 gallon bucket!!! That's phenomenal...with a history like that I would stick to pots and the soil less mediums

 

[calchilihead]

Just hide a few Scorpion pods in some deer feed near the edge of the plot....see what happens

 

[FiresOfNil]

The deer around here will attempt to break through evn metal wire fences and eat everything regardless of flavor or toxicity. Reapers and monkshood are two notable examples. Good luck keeping yours out and with your season!

 

[millworkman]

Looking like a good start TX.

 

[Chewi]

Hell yeah! Killer job fixing up the plot. That campus Austin Community College?