Fruit in Austin

The following have been suggested as fruit production possibilities for the area:

• 'Wonderful' Pomegranate evidentally grow well in containers.
  
• Dwarf Satsumas in half whiskey barrels, preferably purchased at 3 or so years old. Natural Gardener had one in the ground that was covered in fruit but was only about a yard tall.
  
• Apples are listed by several sources as being good choices, but I've always heard that it's simply too hot here in the summer. Perhaps the right variety?
  
• And grapes? Why not! Muscadine would surely do well.
  

Good fences make good neighbors

Bailey and I planted 144 spinach this morning and within a few hours it was already disturbed by the cats. I dug out those sections and replanted, then I built simple frame chicken wire covers for the new bed. At first, the idea was to just use basic covers until the plants were established and we could mulch, but then we remembered that we have a few opossum who like to eat our plants. Now we have covers with longevity in mind.

I cut the cedar frames freehand in the driveway by the light of a clip-on floodlamp, so they're not perfect, but they're square and solid.

SFG bed

Completed the first of the SFG beds to be built, giving 16 square feet. This section will eventually be used for vertical growing, but this winter it shall mostly be for spinach. Other sections will produce carrots, radishes, and leafy greens. Maybe Grado onions if we're lucky.

Spinach and Strawberries

We're moving through October and into November, and we didn't get any snap peas into the ground. Today I ordered some spinach and radish seeds with the hopes of planting 3 Earth Boxes (EB) with spinach (3 x 10 plants) and 1 Earth Box Clone (EBC) with radishes.

I think we're a bit too late to plant strawberries, but if I can find a source for good plants I'll try. Here's an interesting method that allegedly can produce 50 pints from a single 55 gallon drum planting: http://tinyurl.com/2nmsoe (ufl.edu)

On the topic of strawberries, here is a nice guide to growing them for beginners: http://tinyurl.com/2zh84w (berrygrowingallyear.com)

New York Magazine article

I heard an interesting piece on NPR's ATC regarding a writer for New York Magazine who attempted to live one month eating only foods produced in his small Brooklyn backyard. It didn't go quite as well as he planned, but it altered his family's life in a positive way. Here's a link to the New Yorker article.

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/37273/

Earth Boxes

I picked up four Earth Boxes today via Craigslist. I've been tempted to try making my own based on the many designs available online (all likely to be infringing on patents). Now we'll see exactly how they do with my unknown indeterminate variety tomatoes and what's left of my okra plants from the city garden plot.

Crazy Carrots

Due to all the time spent dealing with finding and buying the new house, we didn't spend enough time caring for the garden.

This is what happens when carrots are left to their own devices: