I know we do not eat much kohlrabi. So why should I take up the space to plant a lot of kohlrabi when we will only eat a small amount during the year. On the other hand, I know we eat lots of carrots, so I will plant enough carrots to get us through the winter months and into the spring months.

The second factor to consider is the amount of time you have until your first killing frost. Remember most plants will not survive a hard frost. Look on the seed packet, and if it tells you the plants are supposed to mature in 60 days, count back from your first frost date at least 70 days and plant at that time.

A tip on getting seeds to germinate during the summer months. After planting the seeds, cover them with cardboard or plywood. This will keep the area cool, moist, and soft so the tiny plants can emerge from the ground. Watch closely though. When the first seedlings begin to emerge from the ground, remove the cover and from then on they should do just fine. Another tip is to keep mulch around the plants to keep the ground cool and moist.

I have found that most plants we set out in the spring time will grow just fine from seed planted directly in the garden soil in the fall. You have to allow the extra time for them to grow from seed. Here in South Texas, we can now plant the same things we planted during the spring months. In fact right now on the farm we have watermelons, cantaloupe, squash, and pumpkin growing and starting to bloom. In the next few weeks we will plant more tomato plants, egg plants, peppers (especially Jalapeno) and other warm weather crops. We do have more of an insect problem in the fall months than we do in the spring months. It takes a little extra time to take care of the insects, but the rewards are worth the extra effort. Since we may go for several years without a killing frost, we are pretty safe on most plants. Potatoes do better here in the fall than they do in the spring.

The only thing we will not replant is Okra. Even though it does well here in the fall, we get such an abundance of it in the summer months, there is no need for us to use the ground to replant it. I do however plant a special okra we are developing. It is a white okra, and I try to get enough plants in the ground twice a year to develop the white tendency faster. We only plant enough of it to gather seed from.

One of the things I really strive for every year is to be able to have vine ripe tomatoes on Christmas day. I do not get them every year, but most years our vines will live well into December and some times, with special care, all the way into the spring months. Since we plant in raised beds, it is easy to add compost and calcium to our soil and plant seeds.

We have been in a dry period here, and just in the past three days the rains are starting to come again. After the hurricane, we did not get anymore rain until last Monday. It is very important to keep the soil moist during times like that until the rain comes again. I use the soaker hoses which I wind in and around the beds so all of the area is soaked deeply.

Our chickens are doing great at this time. They came through the storm without any loss. Their egg production did not even slow down. We have got our hen population down from 100 to 30 now. With the deep freeze full of dressed chickens ready for the winter times.

I have also been busy pickling, and freezing okra. I put up 50 quarts of sliced okra in the freezer and canned 20 quarts for pickles. We have 53 quarts of cream peas, 45 quarts of black eye peas, and 30 quarts of purple hull peas in the freezers. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to go to the freezer and get out your evening meal and know that it was raised in the proper way. You do not have to worry about any chemicals in your food.

Homesteading is the only way of life to live.

Happy Gardening,

Byron Tumlinson

T-N-T Farm