Greetings from Austin

[GVGardens]

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

[worth1]

Greetings from Bastrop.
Welcome.

[bower]

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.

[MissS]

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.

[AKgardener]

Welcome from Alaska

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the forum!

[PlainJane]

Welcome from N. Florida!

[karstopography]

Howdy!

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Welcome from America's Dairyland.

The Gotch

[Whwoz]

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under

[Wildcat82]

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

[GoDawgs]

A big welcome from east central Georgia!

[FatBeeFarm]

Welcome from the White Mountains in New Hampshire!

[Shule]

Welcome, @GVGardens!

[Christinajomd]

Hello, from NE Texas!

[worth1]

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.

[GVGardens]

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.

[GVGardens]

Hello, from NE Texas!

Thanks! Grew up gardening in Hunt and Fannin counties.

[worth1]

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

[AZGardener]

Welcome to the Junction!