Does anyone have garden experiments going this year? Every year I try a few new plants, in a few new areas, and set an observation for the season. This year I planted birdsfoot trefoil and lacy phacelia with my sunflowers to see how well they grow in second-season hardwood mulch over a clay base. Most of my experiments revolve around families that have limited time to invest, although they still want to build family time in the yard. I am always asking what can be simple, useful, and worth repeating. My main experiment this year is measured water. I plan to water one row of tomatoes less than another row during the hot summer so I can watch for differences in growth, plant stress, and yield. For some families, water is sparse or expensive, so understanding actual water need may help them decide whether it is cheaper and more practical to grow certain crops at home or purchase them from local farms (better alternative to the grocery store). My pre-research found general recommendations of about 1/4 inch to 1 inch of water per week. For my tomato beds, that works out to roughly 10 to 40 gallons per row each week. One bed will receive about 10 gallons, and the other will receive about 40 gallons. Without counting rain or rainwater retention, this will cost me about $0.15 to $0.60 per watering, or roughly $3 to $12 for the season in a 60-square-foot garden bed. I will use a soil moisture meter to decide whether to give the water all at once or split it between two days each week. My goal is to moisten the sponge layer, not push water past the active root zone and down into the clay base. I will be watching soil moisture, leaf stress, fruit set, and yield. I am also wondering about a brief morning mist on hotter weeks. I know that adds another variable, although I am curious whether it helps reduce heat stress, affects leaf condition, or changes pest pressure. Florida often gets morning showers and gardens can flourish, although I also understand there is a difference between a brief 15 minute mist and keeping plants constantly wet. This will add another 5 gallons per bed when misted. Might be best to mist in coordination with the ground watering. Deep watering is better than constant shallow watering because roots need to stretch.

Good morning, I just wanted to hop on and wish everyone a great weekend. This is supposed to be a beautiful weekend for us here in Texas. I hope it stays that way. Hoping to get a little work done in the garden. Hurting a little but I'm going to get out there while I can.

This is my second year, attempting to grow my own vegetables. Last year I attempted gardening in 5 gallon buckets I got a few cherry tomatoes, but my other tomatoes did not do well at all the deer got my beans, cucumbers, and squash. I did well with my herbs and lettuce. This year I have upgraded to raised beds for my plants. Today was my first harvest of spinach, lettuce, and radishes. I’m also attempting tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, kale, peppers, snow, peas, sugar, snap, peas, and herbs so far my plants are looking much better than last year Gardening isn’t really new to me as my parents had large gardens when I was growing up however we were not taught the science behind growing a garden, just helping with planting weeding harvesting and preserving. I have learned so much over the last year and a half as I’ve watched many gardening in homesteading videos, taking notes and. Putting that into effect. I have also worked on making my own bone meal by dehydrating chicken bones I’ve attempted my own compost in making homemade fertilizers with kitchen scraps I look forward to Tips and tricks from this community. Picture below is my first harvest of the 2026 season.