Jeff Ray's Gardening 101

Gardening 101: More Cool Season Gardening Tips

February 21, 2022 / 2:02 PM CST / CBS Texas

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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - In last week's story, I wrote about the gift of North Texas and our three growing seasons around here.

I grow my okra, melons and squash in the summer heat. Just about every other annual edible I grow on both sides of summer.

Here are the planting guides I follow for spring and for fall.

February is time to put in greens like kale, chard, spinach, parsley and lettuce.

But even before those go in, you can plant by seed beets and carrots.

Watch the story. Daniel has all sorts of tips on how to get a successful crop every spring.

You should know that I'm not a big fan of cooked beets. This goes back to my elementary school days in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee when a heaping of turnip greens and canned beets were about the only vegetable spooned out on your plate.

Steaming the root is not how I use beets. I juice them for smoothies and put the greens in my salads and smoothies.

You can harvest about half the greens off a growing beet several times as it grows out.

Growing carrots can be frustrating.

They (for me at least) have low germination rates and come out of the ground very slowly. Make sure to pick varieties that are short and stumpy, long root carrots that you see in the grocery store don't like our clay-dominated soil. I also prune off some of greens of the plant as it grows, using in a staple drink in the Ray household: SUPERGREEN.

This is Viti-Mix blend of greens from the garden, olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and turmeric.

Believe it or not, my sons drink a couple of shots of this stuff with me on a routine basis. It is equal to their daily requirement of leafy greens but in concentrated form (about 4-5 ounces).

A few of my brave (and somewhat sorry that they be-friended me) co-workers also on occasion pare take in a few shots of the stuff.

As a gardener, I love this time of year and the spring planting season. It seems like you get an early start getting winter behind you.

When those raised beds of mine start showing little slivers of green so early in the season it fills my heart. The shorter the drab of winter hangs around in my backyard the better.