What to plant?

Originally Posted by mdvpc

Eggplant

Michale,

I'm growing three varieties of oriental eggplant and they thrive in the heat.

Ted

[BucksCountyGirl]

I second the swiss chard...we had a really hot summer last year with several weeks of 90-100 degree weather. My swiss chard was one of the only things that didn't take a beating from the heat. It never bolted, but I finally ripped it out in the fall to make room for my beets. YMMV. Cheers!

Originally Posted by BucksCountyGirl

I second the swiss chard...we had a really hot summer last year with several weeks of 90-100 degree weather. My swiss chard was one of the only things that didn't take a beating from the heat. It never bolted, but I finally ripped it out in the fall to make room for my beets. YMMV. Cheers!

I don't have a taste for the chard as a green, but my dog and the chickens like it. My big dog loves the crunchy stems and the chickens like the leaves. The nice thing about chard is it doesn't care if it is summer or winter, it keeps on producing. The base or stem of the Giant Fordhook gets really large in a couple of years and takes a lot of space. I usually replant it after two years.

Ted

[DavidP]

Try Perpetual spinach.

http://www.rareseeds.com/perpetual-s...tual%20spinach

Its really chard and grows as such, but is a fairly decent spinach substitute, especially when cooked, not really suitable as a fresh spinach substitute but cooked its pretty much the same.

Also I've had luck with lacinato kale and red russian thru the summer here and use that raw in tacos etc and find them good thru summer. Theres also portuguese kale "Tronchuda"
http://www.rareseeds.com/tronchuda-kale/.
Had s small plant thru summer here last year but didn't use much as had plenty of other types but did use lots of it in fall/winter,

[mdvpc]

Ted

Good. I love eggplant, and they sure do well in the heat.

[tlintx]

This will be my first year planting them, but I've heard komatsuna, tokyo bekana, and mizuna are supposed to be heat tolerant.

http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_komatsuna.html

And Baker Creek has a stir-fry mix that's supposed to be great picked small for salads or bigger for greens, and heat tolerant.

I'm starting amaranth and quinoa too. Roselle is pretty, has edible leaves, but it's probably too late to start to get fruit from what I've read.


Tl

"I'm starting amaranth and quinoa too. Roselle is pretty, has edible leaves, but it's probably too late to start to get fruit from what I've read."

I've never grown either. I don't know why, but I've never had an interest in growing Amaranth. I know in the northern and eastern climates they have contests to see who can grow the largest Amaranth plant, but I'm not aware of uses for it except using the seed as a grain. I wasn't aware the Texas climate was suitable for growing Quinoa. I've always thought of it as a grain more suitable to the Andes of south America. I have seen it for sale in grocery stores in recent years, but I have no idea how to prepare it to eat.

I'm not familiar with Roselle so I looked it up on wiki. Apparently it is the same as or is confused with Sorrel. Many people from the mid 1800's have attempted to commercialize it as a food (fruit) plant. In one description from the 1950's the following statement was interesting.

"In 1954, roselle was still being grown by individuals in the Midwest for its edible herbage. By 1959 and 1960, when there was widespread alarm concerning coal-tar food dyes, it was easy to arouse interest in roselle as a coloring source but difficult to obtain seeds in Florida. At that time, I purchased them from Gleckler's Seedsmen in Metamora, Ohio."

The original Gleckler's went out of business but Gleckler's Seedmen was restarted in the past few years and the owner (Adam Gleckler and his wife) are often on this forum. They are a very reputable supplier of open pollinated tomato seed and possibly other seed as well.

Ted

[emcd124]

This isnt a green (sorry) but when I lived in TN I thought sweet potatoes were perfect. I planted the tiny 25 cent slips between plants after last frost, and they just kept growing and growing, filling in all the space I vacated as other plants came out. They form a natural mulch shading the ground and improving water retention, and boy were they productive! As they crawl along the ground they will put down new potato roots along their vine. From two slips I got about 13 lbs of sweet potatoes out of my two 4x4 beds (one slip in each), including at least two potatoes that were larger than size 13 men's shoes! We pulled them out before frost just before thanksgiving and cooked them up for thanksgiving.

(and they LOVE heat)

[emcd124]

{face palm} and I should have suggested collards, kale's heat loving southern-climate cousin. I have some seeds that I've grown for a few years that I got from a farmer in nashville who told me it was kale but I've since had others identify it as collards. You can use them any way you'd use kale. I've used them raw in green smoothies, sauteed as a veg side, or cooked in soup. You can even eat them raw as salad, although I prefer to only mix them in with lettuces rather than have a salad of only the collards leaves. I think the leaves are more tender than kale, and I prefer them. They are also trouble free plants IMO, much less bothered by pests. The seeds germinated great for me in last July's 95+ degree heat so shouldnt be a problem even in TX. PM me your address if you are interested and I'll send you some seeds to try.

[tlintx]

That I can speak for personal experience! You eat the quinoa grain a lot like bulgar or couscous. I make this soup with it:

http://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/o...d-speck-soup-1

I don't think I'd grow either for the grain, though, since I think you don't get much return per plant. From what I've read, the leaves are edible, fresh when small, cooked like greens when larger. And they are ornamental, so I can utilize some of the space in the front yard.

Although reading some more, it looks like amaranth would be better for the summer and quinoa better for the fall. It's hard to find good information sometimes for where I live because people often say "hot" online and don't mean "I live in a greenhouse". And yet we get freezes sometimes!

I just discovered roselle the other day, at Baker Creek. I really don't have many edible flowering plants -- just nasturtium -- and since I'm looking for greens that'll grow here, I'm willing to try it. I think they suggest starting it in May for fruit in December in Florida. And you can cut it several times for the leaves over the growing period.

The blog that got me thinking along the asian greens line:

http://vegetablematter.blogspot.com/...n-houston.html

There's also a long thread on growing greens for summer salad mixes at the farmers market on gardenweb.

Obviously, reading online is no substitute for experience, but I think it's worth a shot.

"It's hard to find good information sometimes for where I live because people often say "hot" online and don't mean "I live in a greenhouse". And yet we get freezes sometimes!"

We lived on the Angelina river below Sam Rayburn reservoir in the Angelina national forest for many years. I do know what your talking about when you say it's hard to describe the weather in SE Texas.

Ted

emcd124,

Sweet potatoes are a good idea if I can locate some slips this late in the year. I also have collard green seeds, but thanks for the offer. Collards are a southern tradition, but I've never grown them to maturity. I always thought they were intended for a cool weather crop so when I planted them, I usually removed them to plant onions or something else. I've always heard they like heat, but I didn't know if they would germinate in the heat.

Ted

[feldon30]

Your profile says you live in North Texas. Can you specify which county? There might be a useful planting calendar.

Here are planting calendars for Travis and Harris Counties as well as one by Dr. Bob Randall for the Houston area:

Vegetable Gardening Calendars

Travis County/Austin area (zone 8b)

Harris County/Houston area (zone 9a-9b)

Houston/Bob Randall Guidelines

[ArthurDent004]

I saw Burpees had an new Corn plant that can grow in a container. Don't know if it's still available or not but thought that would be interesting to grow.

[Deborah]

I saw that corn too, and next year I'm getting it. What fun for a container gardener !