Laughing Frog Farm
Planting calendar
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In Hempstead Texas we do not have a planting season nor a harvest season. Every week gives us the opportunity to harvest something and immediately replace it with a new seed or transplant. The winters tend to be mostly above freezing, cloudy and wet with a single arctic blast down as low at 14˚. The summers are very hot and often dry. Spring, usually a glorious time, can bring us an April freeze and it can be 90˚ by early May. Lately fall has disappeared with hot Octobers and freezes in November. Three recent years, 2015, 2016, 2017 we had over 100 inches of rain. Our temperatures recently have gone from a low of 14˚ F to a high of 108˚ F. So you have to go with the flow because the weather is not under our command. We try at Laughing Frog Farm to mimic nature using permaculture planting methods, keep a large variety of plants in at all times and be ready at any time to start over in an area.
This is the planting calendar recently revised (2018)
This list is a work in progress and always will be.This is not a complete list. We try something new every time we order seeds. We have seedlings growing to transplant 12 months a year so the items listed under greenhouse growing are time sensitive. The rest of the year you simply grow anything you want to transplant the next month in pots or trays.
(?) means that I am taking a risk planting and often have to replant due to cold weather. We take that risk and once in a while have to replant.
“greenhouse”means potting plants in a protected area.
“Seed” means direct seeding in the garden
“Transplant” means moving your potted plants from the greenhouse into the garden.
We will have a class on permaculture gardening on Feb. 24, 2019. It is a Sunday afternoon. We can also arrange classes for a group during the week, never on Saturday.
January
A bad growing month due to the lack of sunlight. Short days and cloudy. We once went 22 days without the sun coming out. Plants do not grow much without sun. We also get some hard freezes that will kill young plants, even cold hardy ones like broccoli. This is the month to prepare for spring and work in the greenhouse, though, usually, you can get a decent harvest despite the elements.
•Greenhouse:
Start tomato, pepper, eggplant seedlings in pots inside – It is best to start them in early December.
• Seed:
English or snap peas,
Lettuce, arugula, baby greens
• Seed or transplants:
Spinach, mustard, turnips, kale, kohlrabi, pac choi
• Transplants:
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower transplants(?)
Onion sets
Potato – seed potatoes – late in the month
Put tomatoes in the ground at the end of the month if you can protect them from freezes. Keep extra seedlings just in case.
February
Usually the busiest time of the year. We can plant every day, have to battle bad weather and lots of mud. We also have lambs being born.
•Greenhouse
Basil
• Seed:
Radish, Leaf lettuce, arugula, carrots, salad greens
• Seed or transplants:
Spinach, mustard, turnips, kale, kohlrabi, head lettuce, chard, beets
• Transplants:
Broccoli, cabbage
Potatoes – seed potatoes
Move tomato, pepper, eggplant seedlings to protected garden – i.e. hot beds or cold frames. Tomatoes need to go in the ground before March 1 to get good May, June production.
March
March continues February’s busy planting calendar. With decent spring weather we should have most of the spring plants in the ground by the end of the month
• Seed:
Radish, cucumbers(?), winter squash(?), watermelon(?), cantaloupe(?), lima, pinto & green beans(?), okra(?), corn – depends on type and soil temps.
Lettuce, arugula, baby greens
• Seed or transplants:
• Transplants:
pepper, eggplant
April
If the weather has been cooperating we should have most of the spring planting done. However, if it has been a cold March we will be very busy.
• Seed:
Radish, cucumbers, winter squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, lima, pinto & green beans, okra, corn, southern peas, summer squash, basil
Lettuce, arugula – salad greens
• Seed or transplants:
cucumber, basil
• Transplants:
pepper, eggplant
May
May is mostly about harvest. We have an abundance of vegetables, but there is still planting to do.
• Seed:
Summer squash, cucumbers, southern peas, winter squash, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, molokhia, malabar spinach, amaranth, okra, corn
Lettuce, arugula – baby greens
• Seed or transplants:
cucumber, basil
• Transplants or sets:
Sweet potatoes – slips
June
June is also mostly about harvest. The tomatoes will probably not survive July’s heat so this is your window.
• Seed:
Summer squash, cucumbers, southern peas, winter squash, arugula
July
•Greenhouse:
Get your fall transplants started in a shaded area – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts
This is difficult because you have to water often and that can lead to mildew and damping off. Good ventilation is necessary. A fan might be helpful.
• Seed:
Cucumbers, bush or pole green beans, summer squash, arugula
August
•Greenhouse:
Get your transplants started in a shaded area – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, celery, Brussel sprouts
This is difficult because you have to water often and that can lead to mildew and damping off. Good ventilation is necessary. A fan might be helpful.
This is a brutal month of picking okra and cucumbers, with minimal harvest and few customers at the market. It is the closest we get to a slow time.
• Seed:
cucumbers, summer squash, arugula, collards, mustard, turnips
• Seed or transplants:
• Transplants:
Late in the month you can transplant broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts
September
This is the second busiest planting time of the year, after February/March.
This is also the month we put in the winter hoop house tomatoes.
Seed:
Artichokes, cardoon
Onions, Carrots, Beets, Turnips, spinach, kale, lettuce, fennel,
Lettuce, arugula
• Seed or transplants:
Kale, mustard, lettuce, collards, chard, kohlrabi
• Transplants:
broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi
If you have a water feature, transplant the celery in rocks or pots on the edge of the water. Celery is perfect for aquaponics.
Potatoes – seed potatoes
October
October weather will almost definitely bring us a few days in the 90s and a few in the 40s. It is a busy planting month for anything that can survive the frost that will inevitable come before the plants mature.
Best month to transplant many herbs like oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary
• Seed:
Onions, beets, radishes, turnips, spinach, mustard, collards, kale, rutabaga
Lettuce, arugula
• Seed or transplants:
Celery – needs constant moisture
Transplants:
Strawberries
Asparagas
broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi
leeks
Garlic cloves
November
This month usually brings the first freeze to Hempstead, Tx. It seldom makes it all the way to Houston.
November through February are the best months to plant deciduous fruit trees.
• Seed:
Onions, beets, radishes, turnips, spinach, mustard, collards, kale, English or snap peas,
Lettuce, arugula
• Seed or transplants:
Rutabaga, kohlrabi,
Transplants:
Broccoli, cabbage
December
December is often a bad growing month due to the lack of sunlight. Keep in mind that growth rates in January are bad due to lack of photosynthesis and a hard freeze might take away your December efforts.
• Greenhouse:
Start tomato, pepper, eggplant seedlings in pots inside
• Seed:
Onions, turnips, spinach, mustard, collards, kale, English or snap peas,
Lettuce, arugula
Seed or transplants:
Rutabaga, kohlrabi
Transplants:
Cabbage, broccoli,
A few notes:
Every month seedlings are started in the greenhouse or shade area.
(?) means that I am taking a risk planting and often have to replant due to cold weather.
We plant cucumbers every warm month because they succumb to downy mildew. They only last a couple of months per planting.
We only plant winter squash from the cucurbita moschata family, due to its resistance to the squash vine borer.
We usually do not transplant squash or cucumbers, however we are now working with a grafted cucumber that shows great promise and has to be transplanted into the garden.
My grandparents, James and Myrtle Miracle (we knew them as Poppy and Monue) would have survived this lockdown in stride. They were farmers who produced their own meat, milk and vegetables. He drove her to town one Saturday a month. Town was five miles away. On that shopping day she would buy the flour, sugar, corn flakes and maybe some fabric if it caught her eye and the budget allowed.
Laughing Frog Farm 