Growing Vegetables in Central Texas: Seed Varieties That Work
In my previous post in this series, I detailed the things we’ve learned that have seemed to make the biggest difference in our ability to grow vegetables in this harsh climate. Included in that list, is choosing the correct varieties, specifically shorter season varieties and those that can tolerate extremes in climate.
This is a list of the vegetables that have, outside of being eaten by rodents or starved of water by drought, grown predictably well over and over again. They have all grown better and better every year as we continue to build the topsoil that was completely nonexistent when we first moved here.
We usually order seeds from the following heirloom seed companies:
Nearly all of the varieties below can be found on those websites.
Red Potatoes
- De La Soda
Summer Squash
- Desi
- Tatume
Melons
- Kazhak (musk)
- Desert King (watermelon)
Winter Squash
- Hopi Grey
- Butternut
Lettuce
- Grandpa Admire’s
- Bronze Arrow
Swiss Chard
- All Varieties
Carrots (that grow in clay soil)
- Nantes
- Danvers
Okra
- Burgundy
Tomatillo
- Everona Large Green
Beets
- Detroit Dark Red
- Bulls Blood
- Early Wonder Tall Top
Collards
- Georgia Southern (survived spring, summer, and now in fall)
Cowpeas
- Red Ripper
- California Cream
- Tohono D’odham
Turnips
- White Globe
- Purple Top
Cabbage
- Early Jersey Wakefield
Sweet Potatoes
- Pretty much every variety we have chosen
Mustard Greens
- Tatsoi for Fall/Winter (hardy down to 15 degrees F)
Herbs of all kinds
Garlic
Fava Beans
You’ll notice things like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are not on this list. Some years these have worked okay, other years not at all. For that reason, they are not something we focus as much on, though we do like these vegetables very much.
Happy growing!
Just wondering, how and where do you store your sweet potatoes? Even after curing, ours go bad quickly in the cold room (high humidity, 5 degrees celcius.) So glad you got such a nice harvest this year!
I love this post and your whole blog actually. I have been following you for several years now. We are also in Texas – on the gulf coast and we are growing in heavy gumbo clay – so this issue is very important to me aswell! We only have only two years under our belt on our little homestead – before that I was growing smaller gardens in loamier soils or further north – so I am still learning what works HERE and of course working to build up the soil! I will certainly be trying some of your suggested varieties with excitement. I would like to also suggest to you Malabar Spinach if you haven’t tried it. Not a true spinach (though we treat it the same in the kitchen) it’s a heat loving Asian Vine that is really nutritious, self sows readily and tolerates the extreme summer heat of south Texas. In the late part of the summer when the only thing thriving in our garden would typically be okra and perhaps some sunflowers the Malabar will be thriving and lush and green for the picking. As a bonus it’s really attractive and the bees love it. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had poor luck with cucumbers- in my experience the grow pretty easily given the quality of the seeds is good i.e. From one of the reliable suppliers you listed. I encourage you to keep trying since just a few healthy plants can bring such an abundance! I assume you have direct down in the garden? I know they don’t transplant well as with other large seeded crops. This year I grew Boston picking variety and made delicious cold brine pickles we are still eating and I have also grown burpless varieties successfully (I learned early on with abundant cuc crops that I can’t eat so many otherwise hah). Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences! You are such an inspiration and encouragement! I also enjoy seeing your beautiful family. Our third child is 7 weeks and I’m just starting to feel like I might get my head back above water soon! 😉