August wraps up summer and prepares for the fall. The farmers must roll up their sleeves and prepare for a long chore list while the heat bears down. ...
Welcome, to our zone 8a garden!
This is where we play and practice. A 1,000 square foot garden on black gumbo clay in North Texas with one goal in mind: abundance. Every year, and each season, we see the goal grow closer as hard work and good practices are layered in place. In the spring, it is home to plastic diggers, dumpers and fresh loads of compost. The peas spring up, and the chill comes and goes. Summer brings warmth, and the plans jump in size and production. This is when we sweat; a lot. Midsummer here is quite like winter, and we pause. Come fall, we take to action again, prepping for the tunnels that will hold things all winter.
Each season, we share the new seeds, techniques and ideas we are preparing for the next. Reflection on new obstacles and successes intertwined with next year's lofty plans. Join us as we share the realities of new gardens in a non-gardening state, suburban neighborhood during the early years of child rearing.
Our vegetables and flowers are grown on a 1,000 sq. ft. raised bed plot on black gumbo clay soil in North Texas (Zone 8a). We broke ground in the spring of 2021 shortly after we moved out of the "big city", as our toddler calls it.
The goal? Abundance. Fresh eating, enough to store, and plenty to share. But even though our book knowledge (and YouTube knowledge!) is abundant, there is no teacher quite like experience. She's a young garden, and the reality is that our land is old cattle pasture turned residential neighborhood. Growing good dirt is our first step. We've been lucky to grow a few veggies and flowers, and life lessons along the way.
In 2024, we completed our first rotation of all our main crops. So far, the added compost, natural supplementation (fish emulsion, blood meal, chicken poop) and rotation of crops has caused the garden harvests to multiply each year. We are still organic, no dig.
This was also the year we created a three foot mulch border around the garden to reduce the push mowing and bermuda grass problem that plagued us. We also invested in our first perennial fruits and vegetables, which we added to raised beds where we had previously rotated onions and garlic. These included: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and asparagus. There's a blackberry patch in our front yard due to the amount of flooding our non-bordered garden area experiences each spring.
As of the fall, we have a tilled area we tested with sunflowers (no success) that we have tarped. Goal is to have a separate area for sunflowers, pumpkin and watermelons during the summer.
Here's What's Been Growing:
Zone 8a Winter Garden: Cold, Windy Work
Winter work; it is the planning and foundational grunt work of the year and now is the time to begin! Our first ice storm is descending upon us ...
Zone 8a Summer Garden: Too Many Tomatoes
Summer came and went, the most exciting time in the garden, and there was not one update. Common excuses of a mom of two who gardens, reads a lot and ...
Zone 8a Summer Garden: The June of No Rain
The August Garden Here, the garden has only thrived for the very heat loving and heat tolerant - gardeners included. The months between May and ...
Zone 8a Fall Garden: Autumn in August
It's August, but it is time to think about autumn in Zone 8a, and our lovely fall garden season! Sweat through the seeding and prepare for the year's ...
Create & Preserve: Braiding Garlic in the Spring
Spring is coming to a close, and the harvest has begun - hello garlic! Now is the time for gathering the fruits of late winter planting that have ...
Mom’s Best: Jam Bars (+ 2022 Garden Prep)
Spring, my goodness, she is a tease. In the south, she wakes up from her winter slumber with moody weather swings while releasing the fire ants from ...
Zone 8a Spring Garden: 2022 Update
Follow along with our early spring garden journey as we establish our 1,000 square foot garden in Zone 8a! Early Spring in the Zone 8a ...
Zone 8a Garden: Growing Factors for 2022
A fresh new season is bursting into the gray, reminding us it is time for transplanting and sowing our 2022 Zone 8a garden. North Texas has one of the ...
Zone 8a Garden: Onions
If you are looking for how to grow onions, garden in Zone 8a and want a hands off vegetable, you're in the right spot. Spring is the time to grow ...