I just found your channel this morning and enjoying your content. I just responded to a comment from another viewer. Hope this info helps maybe give you some ideas as to your issue. Thank you for all the videos. We are in zone 8a/8b, right on the border of the two zones. This heat has been brutal this year but using shade cloth and mulching had helped us grow some things successfully. We are now able to start planting our fall garden due to hot temps and also completing our project of converting our wood raised beds to metal. We are praying that we have success before the first frosts. I’m leaning that gardening in the fall/winter/spring may be our best seasons as the summers here are becoming brutally hot.
We have not had rain in weeks. We finally cooled down today. The shade cloth is a great way to go. I want to use it on my tomatoes next year. I and slowly going to all raised beds. Good luck with the fall garden. Thanks for watching.
The compost quality… I hear ya! Most of what I buy here in Central Texas that is labeled “compost” has a lot of sand in it (what sand has to do with compost, I have no idea) AND wood chips that might break down, if left for a couple of years. But definitely, not what you picture when you think “compost”. I’ve had trouble growing stuff for years in this stuff and really don’t know what to do about it much. I only have a couple of raised beds and then one of the trendy (this year) metal raised beds. I didn’t use much compost in that metal bad; I mostly used bagged container soil mix, and things were happier growing in that than anything else I’ve tried so far. I can put transplants in the beds in early spring, care for them through the summer, and this time of year, the plants are still green and healthy looking, but not producing and not much bigger than they were when I put them in the ground in early spring. It seems like I spend hundreds of dollars on bagged soil each year that I TRY to garden and have very little luck. I have a couple of extremely happy bell pepper plants in containers and honest to God, don’t know why they’ve done so well, in comparison with everything else I try to grow. It may be something inherent in the “dirt” on this property (small yard) that I don’t understand, because in all the years I’ve lived here, I have only seen MAYBE two earth worms. That in itself says something huh? I found your channel because I’m fixing to plant a lot of greens… Not turnip greens, because I have no hope of root vegetables doing anything here, but collards,spinach, lettuce,etc. I say no root vegetables, but my plan is to take a different approach on conditioning the soil, so I bought a pound of daikon radish seeds to try to break up the clay in unused flower beds so I’ll have different spaces for growing next season…we’ll see. LOL As far as your sugar daddy peas, I haven’t tried to grow those, but I have tried to grow the sugar Ann peas and sugar baby peas, and they don’t generally even germinate, so I commiserate your frustration. The main thing I’ve learned about growing here is that file is ultimately the best time of year to grow anything in Central Texas; our heat is just off the charts for spring/summer growing. The only plants that produced anything were growing under what most people would consider too heavy of a shade cloth. I’m going to try to plant some sugar baby peas today, so I’ll hold my breath on those. Enjoy your turnip greens; they’re looking good!😊
See if you can get wood chips from a tree company. I did that 2 years ago and it changed everything in my garden. Use it as a mulch. Don’t plow or turn it in the soil. I have modeling clay. I pull the much back put down compost and plant. I grow sweet potatoes in a raised bed and the did great. Before that I could not grow them. I have a video on wood chip and sweet potatoes that explains it better. Just keep trying things and you will get it going the way you want it. Also wood chips holds moisture amd will with with that Texas heat. He get a lot of that here in north Alabama. If I can help you with something I am doing just let me know. Thank you so much. Thanks for watch and commenting. I enjoy talking with people to see how they garden and learn for them as well.
Hello, neighbor! I also live in Central Texas on the west side of IH35. We have maybe 1/2” of soil and then layers of limestone. We have used raised beds for gardening for years that was filled with our native clay soil (found in other areas than ours 😂) and amended with compost. We’ve been tearing out wood beds and the clay soil for over a year and replacing with metal raised beds. It’s been costly but we are getting too old to be replacing wood beds every few years. We’ve been filling them with our homemade compost but we just couldn’t make enough for all our beds…we eventually will have 20 beds that are approximately 3 1/2’ x 8’. That’s a lot of compost! We found Happy Frog on a major sale so have purchased pallet loads of that to help. I share all this to say that we know the struggle. We have been researching the problem with composts that have been contaminated with herbicides. It has destroyed many farms across the nation and it is heartbreaking to see small farmers and home gardeners have their hard work destroyed from these. Some are made by Dow, Picloram and Propyralid. They are used on the hay that is fed to horses and cows. The manure is then contaminated and it isn’t broken down in compost. It can last in our soils for YEARS! Just horrible! I suspicion that that compost was contaminated. As you probably know, beans and peas are the most sensitive to herbicides and are a good plant to use the test for contamination. Some plants are good to grow to uptake the herbicides and then must be completely removed from your property to avoid re-contamination and never composted. Hope this info gives some insight into a possible reason for your issues. These herbicides need to be banned!! You can google it and find a lot of info regarding these herbicides.
Try them from a different supplier. I started with the exact ones you had, Baker Creek, and got the same results. Switched to a different supplier with a certified germination tag on the seed bag and have had 90 to 95% germ. You're definitely doing it right on your end.
I cannot get this sugar daddy variety of dwarf snap pea to grow well for me here in Michigan zone 6A. I tried growing it indoors over the winter The plants were lethargic & got sickly right as they were ready to start producing pods, so I pulled them out. Then back in early spring I sowed 12 seeds in a 17 gallon bucket & only 3 germinated, one died off right away leaving only 2. Today I harvested my 1st pod & it was just so so. My other pea varieties at the same time grew huge, & set a lot of pods on them. Peas are a crop we can easily have good success with here, so I don't know if it comes down to the source of the seed or the variety. I only bought the seeds to begin with because I was curious to see if there was a dwarf snap pea that is even more productive & tasty than the sugar Ann has been for us. The sugar Ann grows vigorously, flowers weeks before the sugar daddy, & the pods are sweeter. I plan to sow all of the sugar daddy seeds I have left for fall & won't be looking to grow it again. Then this coming winter I plan to grow some of the sugar Ann peas & save seeds.
I just found your channel this morning and enjoying your content. I just responded to a comment from another viewer. Hope this info helps maybe give you some ideas as to your issue.
Thank you for all the videos. We are in zone 8a/8b, right on the border of the two zones. This heat has been brutal this year but using shade cloth and mulching had helped us grow some things successfully. We are now able to start planting our fall garden due to hot temps and also completing our project of converting our wood raised beds to metal. We are praying that we have success before the first frosts. I’m leaning that gardening in the fall/winter/spring may be our best seasons as the summers here are becoming brutally hot.
We have not had rain in weeks. We finally cooled down today. The shade cloth is a great way to go. I want to use it on my tomatoes next year. I and slowly going to all raised beds. Good luck with the fall garden. Thanks for watching.
The compost quality… I hear ya! Most of what I buy here in Central Texas that is labeled “compost” has a lot of sand in it (what sand has to do with compost, I have no idea) AND wood chips that might break down, if left for a couple of years. But definitely, not what you picture when you think “compost”. I’ve had trouble growing stuff for years in this stuff and really don’t know what to do about it much. I only have a couple of raised beds and then one of the trendy (this year) metal raised beds. I didn’t use much compost in that metal bad; I mostly used bagged container soil mix, and things were happier growing in that than anything else I’ve tried so far. I can put transplants in the beds in early spring, care for them through the summer, and this time of year, the plants are still green and healthy looking, but not producing and not much bigger than they were when I put them in the ground in early spring. It seems like I spend hundreds of dollars on bagged soil each year that I TRY to garden and have very little luck. I have a couple of extremely happy bell pepper plants in containers and honest to God, don’t know why they’ve done so well, in comparison with everything else I try to grow. It may be something inherent in the “dirt” on this property (small yard) that I don’t understand, because in all the years I’ve lived here, I have only seen MAYBE two earth worms. That in itself says something huh? I found your channel because I’m fixing to plant a lot of greens… Not turnip greens, because I have no hope of root vegetables doing anything here, but collards,spinach, lettuce,etc. I say no root vegetables, but my plan is to take a different approach on conditioning the soil, so I bought a pound of daikon radish seeds to try to break up the clay in unused flower beds so I’ll have different spaces for growing next season…we’ll see. LOL As far as your sugar daddy peas, I haven’t tried to grow those, but I have tried to grow the sugar Ann peas and sugar baby peas, and they don’t generally even germinate, so I commiserate your frustration. The main thing I’ve learned about growing here is that file is ultimately the best time of year to grow anything in Central Texas; our heat is just off the charts for spring/summer growing. The only plants that produced anything were growing under what most people would consider too heavy of a shade cloth. I’m going to try to plant some sugar baby peas today, so I’ll hold my breath on those. Enjoy your turnip greens; they’re looking good!😊
See if you can get wood chips from a tree company. I did that 2 years ago and it changed everything in my garden. Use it as a mulch. Don’t plow or turn it in the soil. I have modeling clay. I pull the much back put down compost and plant. I grow sweet potatoes in a raised bed and the did great. Before that I could not grow them. I have a video on wood chip and sweet potatoes that explains it better. Just keep trying things and you will get it going the way you want it. Also wood chips holds moisture amd will with with that Texas heat. He get a lot of that here in north Alabama. If I can help you with something I am doing just let me know.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for watch and commenting. I enjoy talking with people to see how they garden and learn for them as well.
Hello, neighbor! I also live in Central Texas on the west side of IH35. We have maybe 1/2” of soil and then layers of limestone. We have used raised beds for gardening for years that was filled with our native clay soil (found in other areas than ours 😂) and amended with compost. We’ve been tearing out wood beds and the clay soil for over a year and replacing with metal raised beds. It’s been costly but we are getting too old to be replacing wood beds every few years. We’ve been filling them with our homemade compost but we just couldn’t make enough for all our beds…we eventually will have 20 beds that are approximately 3 1/2’ x 8’. That’s a lot of compost! We found Happy Frog on a major sale so have purchased pallet loads of that to help.
I share all this to say that we know the struggle. We have been researching the problem with composts that have been contaminated with herbicides. It has destroyed many farms across the nation and it is heartbreaking to see small farmers and home gardeners have their hard work destroyed from these. Some are made by Dow, Picloram and Propyralid. They are used on the hay that is fed to horses and cows. The manure is then contaminated and it isn’t broken down in compost. It can last in our soils for YEARS! Just horrible! I suspicion that that compost was contaminated. As you probably know, beans and peas are the most sensitive to herbicides and are a good plant to use the test for contamination. Some plants are good to grow to uptake the herbicides and then must be completely removed from your property to avoid re-contamination and never composted.
Hope this info gives some insight into a possible reason for your issues. These herbicides need to be banned!! You can google it and find a lot of info regarding these herbicides.
Try them from a different supplier. I started with the exact ones you had, Baker Creek, and got the same results. Switched to a different supplier with a certified germination tag on the seed bag and have had 90 to 95% germ. You're definitely doing it right on your end.
Thank you. I will look for a different supplier
I cannot get this sugar daddy variety of dwarf snap pea to grow well for me here in Michigan zone 6A. I tried growing it indoors over the winter The plants were lethargic & got sickly right as they were ready to start producing pods, so I pulled them out. Then back in early spring I sowed 12 seeds in a 17 gallon bucket & only 3 germinated, one died off right away leaving only 2. Today I harvested my 1st pod & it was just so so. My other pea varieties at the same time grew huge, & set a lot of pods on them. Peas are a crop we can easily have good success with here, so I don't know if it comes down to the source of the seed or the variety. I only bought the seeds to begin with because I was curious to see if there was a dwarf snap pea that is even more productive & tasty than the sugar Ann has been for us. The sugar Ann grows vigorously, flowers weeks before the sugar daddy, & the pods are sweeter. I plan to sow all of the sugar daddy seeds I have left for fall & won't be looking to grow it again. Then this coming winter I plan to grow some of the sugar Ann peas & save seeds.