Greetings from Austin

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GVGardens
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Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:34 am
Location: Central Texas

Greetings from Austin

#1

Post: # 115104Unread post GVGardens
Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:10 am

Hey y’all. Longtime lurker. Figured I should make an account! I love learning from other gardeners.
I’m a big nerd. Interests include:
-Selecting and growing seeds that are better adapted to our extreme, Texas climate. Not just selecting for traits like heat and drought tolerance but also playing around with stuff like melons with dense foliage so I can trellis them and shade my tomatoes.
-Soil. Allelopathy, biofumigants, cover crops and green mulches that change the rhizomicrobiota composition.
-Experimenting with fall tomatoes and planting early in spring to avoid our summer heat and diseases.

My biggest challenges are suppressing Bermuda grass organically and fusarium wilt in tomatoes (will post soon with what’s worked and what hasn’t — looking for more ideas and OP varieties that are resistant to race 3).


Texas Hill Country
Clay soil
Warm winters punctuated by a few days of 18F (-8C)
110F (43 C) in summer
Yearly precipitation 35.5 inches/900 mm
Clay soil in the Texas Hill Country, Zone 9b-ish
Yearly precipitation: 35 inches

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worth1
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:32 pm
Location: 25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#2

Post: # 115108Unread post worth1
Sun Feb 04, 2024 10:27 am

Greetings from Bastrop.
Welcome.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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bower
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:44 pm
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Re: Greetings from Austin

#3

Post: # 115113Unread post bower
Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:09 am

Welcome to the forum! Lots of nerds here. :) And Texans and others with the same or similar issues. When I started growing tomatoes I would never have guessed how much I would learn from southern gardeners.
In the end, we share more issues than you'd think. TIA for sharing.
AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm

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MissS
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Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:55 am
Location: SE Wisconsin Zone 5b

Re: Greetings from Austin

#4

Post: # 115126Unread post MissS
Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:50 pm

Hello and welcome to the Junction! I'm glad that you decided to join us.

I was hit with wilts last year, so I am interested in hearing more about your experience with it.
~ Patti ~
AKA ~ Hooper

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AKgardener
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Joined: Fri May 22, 2020 1:28 pm
Location: Alaska

Re: Greetings from Austin

#5

Post: # 115130Unread post AKgardener
Sun Feb 04, 2024 1:05 pm

Welcome from Alaska
Land of the midnight ☀️

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pepperhead212
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Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:07 am
Location: Woodbury, NJ

Re: Greetings from Austin

#6

Post: # 115148Unread post pepperhead212
Sun Feb 04, 2024 3:15 pm

Welcome to the forum!
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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PlainJane
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:12 pm
Location: N. FL Zone 9A

Re: Greetings from Austin

#7

Post: # 115151Unread post PlainJane
Sun Feb 04, 2024 3:37 pm

Welcome from N. Florida!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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karstopography
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Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:15 am
Location: Southeast Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#8

Post: # 115159Unread post karstopography
Sun Feb 04, 2024 4:22 pm

Howdy!
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Cornelius_Gotchberg
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Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2021 9:19 am
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Greetings from Austin

#9

Post: # 115162Unread post Cornelius_Gotchberg
Sun Feb 04, 2024 4:27 pm

Welcome from America's Dairyland.

The Gotch
Madison WESconsin/Growing Zone 5-A/Raised beds above the Midvale Heights spade-caking clay in the 77 Square Miles surrounded by A Sea Of Reality

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Whwoz
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Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:08 am
Location: Trafalgar, Victoria, Australia

Re: Greetings from Austin

#10

Post: # 115168Unread post Whwoz
Sun Feb 04, 2024 5:58 pm

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under

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Wildcat82
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Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:34 am
Location: San Antonio Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#11

Post: # 115181Unread post Wildcat82
Sun Feb 04, 2024 8:35 pm

Greetings from San Antonio! I'm thrilled to have some more people from central Texas here.

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GoDawgs
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: Greetings from Austin

#12

Post: # 115201Unread post GoDawgs
Mon Feb 05, 2024 6:09 am

A big welcome from east central Georgia!

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FatBeeFarm
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Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2023 7:10 am
Location: New Hampshire, Zone 5A

Re: Greetings from Austin

#13

Post: # 115311Unread post FatBeeFarm
Tue Feb 06, 2024 8:40 am

Welcome from the White Mountains in New Hampshire!
Bee happy and pollinate freely!

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Shule
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:29 pm
Location: SW Idaho, USA

Re: Greetings from Austin

#14

Post: # 115372Unread post Shule
Wed Feb 07, 2024 1:46 am

Welcome, @GVGardens! :)
Location: SW Idaho, USA
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Elevation: 2,260 feet

Christinajomd
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Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2023 3:28 pm
Location: NE Texas, Zone 8b

Re: Greetings from Austin

#15

Post: # 115397Unread post Christinajomd
Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:05 am

Hello, from NE Texas!

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worth1
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Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:32 pm
Location: 25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#16

Post: # 115402Unread post worth1
Wed Feb 07, 2024 11:03 am

Depending of where you're at in Austin the soil can vary greatly.
Anything from a nice black soil sandy loam to hard limestone.
Even packed red clay with gravel in it.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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GVGardens
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Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:34 am
Location: Central Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#17

Post: # 115410Unread post GVGardens
Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:16 pm

worth1 wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 11:03 am Depending of where you're at in Austin the soil can vary greatly.
Anything from a nice black soil sandy loam to hard limestone.
Even packed red clay with gravel in it.
Yep it’s wild! What are you on?
Other than all being alkaline, our 3 main soils are very different. I’m on Blackland Prairie with black clay. I-35 is the geological dividing line between the Edwards Plateau and Blackland Prairie, so 2 miles to the west of me is rocky limestone and limited soil. It’s interesting to see how the tree species change as you drive east-west! And then southeast, in the river bottoms, there’s the Post Oak Savannah which is more sandy loam. Great soil. All getting developed, though.

A few years ago, I was house sitting and all their 1 year old trees and shrubs died overnight. Turns out, their landscaper had just jackhammered holes into the limestone, plopped water-needy plants in, and covered with 1" of mulch. Nowhere for the roots to go and they died as soon as summer hit.
Clay soil in the Texas Hill Country, Zone 9b-ish
Yearly precipitation: 35 inches

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GVGardens
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Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2024 12:34 am
Location: Central Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#18

Post: # 115411Unread post GVGardens
Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:28 pm

Christinajomd wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 10:05 am Hello, from NE Texas!
Thanks! Grew up gardening in Hunt and Fannin counties.
Clay soil in the Texas Hill Country, Zone 9b-ish
Yearly precipitation: 35 inches

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worth1
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Posts: 16482
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:32 pm
Location: 25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas

Re: Greetings from Austin

#19

Post: # 115413Unread post worth1
Wed Feb 07, 2024 4:04 pm

GVGardens wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:16 pm
worth1 wrote: Wed Feb 07, 2024 11:03 am Depending of where you're at in Austin the soil can vary greatly.
Anything from a nice black soil sandy loam to hard limestone.
Even packed red clay with gravel in it.
Yep it’s wild! What are you on?
Other than all being alkaline, our 3 main soils are very different. I’m on Blackland Prairie with black clay. I-35 is the geological dividing line between the Edwards Plateau and Blackland Prairie, so 2 miles to the west of me is rocky limestone and limited soil. It’s interesting to see how the tree species change as you drive east-west! And then southeast, in the river bottoms, there’s the Post Oak Savannah which is more sandy loam. Great soil. All getting developed, though.

A few years ago, I was house sitting and all their 1 year old trees and shrubs died overnight. Turns out, their landscaper had just jackhammered holes into the limestone, plopped water-needy plants in, and covered with 1" of mulch. Nowhere for the roots to go and they died as soon as summer hit.
I'm on the ridge right east of Bastrop next to the Lost Pines.
The geology here is pretty complicated.
I've looked into why we have river rocks on top of hills and sand in other areas and was told by a geologist it was from glacial outflow on a huge scale.

Here is the soil right down the street from me along the ridge.
At the bottom of the ridge is wonderful soil.
You can see the layers it took millions of years to lay down.
I read your question and stopped to take a couple of pictures.
IMG_20240207_154553361_HDR.jpg
IMG_20240207_154616756_HDR.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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AZGardener
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Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:12 am
Location: Arizona, USA

Re: Greetings from Austin

#20

Post: # 115424Unread post AZGardener
Wed Feb 07, 2024 7:24 pm

Welcome to the Junction!
USDA Zone 9b, Sunset Zone 13
Average Rainfall 9.5 inches
Climate: Sonoran Desert

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