Texas Winter Garden

We are fortunate to be able to grown almost year round her in Texas.  We have been harvesting broccoli and cauliflower, as well as spinach and lettuce.

We just put out our spring crops, which include beets, more spinach and lettuce, some spring tomatoes (nestled inside a water tower), onions, kale, potatoes and few other goodies.

When it does get cold outside, we use these to make a cold frame.  In the winter, we cover the plants with a frost blanket and in the summer, we cover them with some uv blankets to protect them from the extreme heat.  As you can see from the back, we have tried hoops also, but because of our windy springs, the squares seem to hold up better for us.  They are made with pvc pipes and put on the outside of each square using metal brakcets.

We love raised bed gardening because it allows us to control the fertilizers and water levels much more precisely.  Each bed has a drip hose that we can shut off individually.  That way if we aren't growing anything in a square, we can shut it off and conserve water.

Most people think we can't grow crops in the winter, but here in Central Texas, it is not only possible, but quite easy to do.  It's the dead heat of summer that makes growing crops a chore.

Another huge bonus is that my children all help in the garden and love to go out and pick things and eat them.  Since we garden organically, it only takes a quick rinse with the hose to make them ready to eat.  My girls will decimate a spinach crop before it's even ready to pick because they love raw spinach.  I can always tell when they come in the house with green teeth that they have been snacking.  This past years snap pea crop never made it in the house.  Every single bean got eating standing right there in the back yard.  I think this year we might need to plant another square of those!