Today is March 3rd, Sunday, March 3rd. And it’s a beautiful sunny day. And we are done, I think, with freezes so I’m ready for spring planting! I live in zone 9A. In Houston, Texas, actually Cypress which is a suburb northwest of Houston. A lot of people’s zones changed this year in the Houston area.
So Houston is now split between zone 9a and 9b. I think we’re done with freezes so I want to get some of my transplants out because something has been chewing on some of my seedlings that I’ve been hardening off outside for quite some time.
Watch the video below or over on YoutTube to see what’s going on in my backyard garden today. If you don’t prefer video, keep reading below.
I had some really good germination on all my plants. So I’m going to get out here today and try to at least get my Roma tomatoes out. The reason I’m focusing on those today is because I’m trying to do more companion planting and more interplanting and the tomatoes always have hornworms.
Well, I learned that if you till the soil where the are growing, you might be able to find pupa that was in the soil. So that’s what I’m doing because I know I’m not going to get to the rest of the stuff today. Well, I have a shishito pepper over there and I might get that planted today as well.
I have a ton of marigolds planted all over the garden because when we had that last freeze, I just took seed heads that had died and just crumbled it all over the place, all over the garden because I knew that I was going to want to use marigolds everywhere to help deter pests.
I also have some tomatillos in my self watering planter surrounded by marigolds. So about the tomatoes… I have three romas to plant that I started from seed indoors & I’m going to plant them in a pot because they’re determinate so they won’t grow so big.
I’m going to try to do three in a pot, just in case one doesn’t make it or something. They did really well for me last year, so we’re going to see how this goes this year. And I’m going to do three marigolds. I’m going to space them alternating a tomato, a marigold, a tomato, a marigold, a tomato, a marigold.
I am pulling the marigolds from around the garden & in pots to use in this planter. Even though these are all growing already, it’s not really a big deal to pull them up. I literally just kind of dug around them a little bit, tried not to disturb the roots too much, and just pulled it right out. And that’s my little marigold transplant.
I’m trying to teach myself not to overthink things too much because I’ve done that in the past and it hurt me. I didn’t have as much yield on my veggies because I was thinking too much, sometimes you don’t need to think, just do.
After potting up my marigolds, they’re looking a little sad of course, because they’re going to need a good drink. Also, it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I want to take full advantage of that.
God’s living water is the best water. So, I really want to make sure that anything that I want to plant out, I do it before the rain. And, it’s a little bit of time to get out and soothe my soul. Um, last year, I used this pot to grow some Campari tomatoes literally with seed from grocery store tomatoes. Actually, that’s how I started the romas as well. They grew really well but I did find one hornworm, which where there’s one, there could be plenty.
I do no till in the rest of the garden, but in pots I don’t mind turning the soil. So that’s what I wanted to be able to do with my romas this year, since they had a few hornworms last year, even though they still did really, really well. I wanted to be able to dig in here three or four inches just to see if there was any signs of the hornworm overwintering in the soil. And I don’t see anything.
So that’s great news. You have probably seen people plant tomatoes a million times. I’m going to dig a little bit of a deep hole. Normally with any other seedling, I wouldn’t do this because you want them to be at the same level that they were in the container.
But with tomatoes you want to dig a hole as deep as to the first true set of leaves. All of the little hairs that are on that stem will send out roots. So, instead of burying it at the same level that it is in my starter cell, I’m going to bury it up to the first set of leaves after removing the “seed leaves” – those first 2 leaves that grow when seeds germinate.
Now once that’s done, because I’m giving them a totally new environment they’re going to need a ton of water. No fertilizer. I don’t usually fertilize, I just never have and everything has grown just fine. I use compost from my backyard bin and that’s it.
This year I may try some of the things that people are always talking about, but we’ll play that by ear & see how it goes. I’m really scared because I don’t want to burn my plants, number one. And, number two, I’m really notorious for giving things too much of what they need. Too much water, a little bit too much love. Sometimes you just gotta leave things alone.
By the way, these Roma tomatoes, like I said, were from the grocery store tomatoes. When they grew really well last year, I saved some of my own seeds & then those are what I’m using for this year.And like I said, last year everything did really, really well without fertilizing. So, I don’t know. I’ll consider it. Maybe do an experiment and see how it goes.
But that’s pretty much it, that’s my roma tomatoes and my marigolds together. And if I end up needing to thin anything out, I will come back and do that later on. But I would rather have too much than too little planted. Also, I still put a stake in pot because the romas, even though they’re determinate, they still get pretty tall, so they’re gonna need some support at least.
Do you have something specific that you want to see in the garden, in the kitchen, in terms of design? Please let me know. I do have some things planned but would love to hear from you.
I’m very happy to have been able to come out and talk to y’all about companion planting and no till versus till a little bit and just visit with y’all. Happy to have been able to do that, but if there’s something specific that you want to see discussed, hear discussed, just let me know. It can be about anything, as long as it’s all things home.
