Garden Thursday: RIP Avocado Tree

in Garden

Green Bean Seedling

Last weekend, I spent a little quality time in the backyard, de”winter”izing the garden. Because it was 80+ outside and minus one more late season cold snap that I know is coming, Texas is surely finished with “winter.” But in true Texas fashion, that last cold snap will be during Spring Break. (Sorry, kids.)

February Garden

Our garden is composed of four 4×4 raised beds, 3 large fruit trees planted against the back fence (plum, white peach, something else peach), and a collection of in-ground and potted plants (citrus do well in pots, if you’re short on real estate) around the pool: blueberries, key lime, lime, meyer lemon, lemon, pomegranate, Rio Star grapefruit, and fig. The avocado tree, it did not survive transplanting after The Great Back Patio Dig of 2012.

February Garden

This is our 3rd spring here and our 3rd spring garden so we don’t have any big changes planned… except I’d like to add a 5th raised bed. We had such awesome production out of a beast mode San Marzano tomato plant last year that I want to squeeze in another two. Those tomatoes make the world’s very best marinara sauce. And I would like an entire freezer full of it. Forever and ever.

February Garden

What are you guys planting this year? This is what we have for our boxes:
Last Year’s Leftover Plants
Serrano (quite possibly the most prolific pepper plant in the history of the world)
Jalapeno
Strawberries (we have an entire box devoted to strawberries… and 2 large planters devoted to the runner plants I transplanted for giving away)
Chives
Green Onions
Oregano

February Garden

This Year’s Seedlings
Broccoli
Zucchini
Tomatoes (yellow pear, cherry, beef steak, and San Marzano)
Green beans
Basil
Cilantro

8 comments… add one
  • Aw sad! My avocado plant that I tried to grow up didn’t last more than about a foot and a half high before I managed to kill it. I cannot wait to not live in an apartment and have a real garden.

  • My homeowners association doesn’t allow garden beds, so I was thinking about buying some large pots and planting seeds in them instead. I might try to grow some Chinese chives. What else should I consider?

    • You can pot tomatoes – There’s a hybrid “container tomato” specifically for patios (it has a stronger stem and isn’t supposed to get as tall and gangly. What do you use a lot? We go through lots of zucchini, green beans, and basil in the spring summer so that’s how we tailor our garden plan.

  • I’m so jealous (and sorry about your avocado tree) but we are expecting snow tomorrow into Saturday and I really can’t wait for spring planting. Sigh. A few more months.

  • At this time last year I had my whole garden planned out (it was so unseasonably warm in Ohio). But we have snow on the ground right now, so I haven’t really thought about Spring planting. I got a Meyer lemon tree for Christmas and am swapping in some new herb plants into my indoor herb garden. I’ll probably stick to the staples in my garden this year (tomatoes, peppers, green beans, zucchini, spinach), although I would love to add pineberries.

  • I’m so impressed with all this variety, and your gardening skills. I’ve had trouble keeping even the most basic of green plants alive in our little apartment, but I keep hoping that when we graduate to a house with a yard I’ll miraculously develop a green thumb. Here’s hoping. For now, I can’t wait to see what you grow this summer. Bummer it won’t be avocados though…

  • AHHH one of the downsides to living in NYC is the inability to have a serious garden. I’m super jealous!

  • Bri

    Yesterday it got into the 40’s and people were talking about the nice spring weather. 🙂 We still have snow and wind chills in the forecast so planning can wait a bit. I know we’ll have basil, cilantro and parsley. I think I’ll skip the tomatoes; I’m so tired of the pests. And we’ll have some new peppers that I received from someone who collected seeds in the Balkans. Lettuce in containers so the slugs can’t get them!

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