Herself’s Houston Garden

As sea levels rise coastal farming areas are being exposed to more salt water.  On top of that irrigation is the major cause of salinization of water and salted waste water from farms is dumped into local streams and ponds, causing damage to those biosystems. A use for this saline water can slow down the dumping. A food crop that grows in this water can help feed a hungry planet.

One option is to investigate halophytes as food sources.  Halophytes are plants that prefer or will only grow in saline water.  Many grow rapidly producing much more plant material per sqft of land than traditional land grown crops.  One plant under consideration is Saltwort ( aka beachwort aka Batis maritima ) which produces nutritional seeds providing both protein and oil.

Another option is to replace land biofuel crops with halophytes, and save the farm land for growing food crops.

Yet another possibility is to adapt our favorite foods to grow in saline water.  Tomatoes grown in salt water ( about 10% salt sea water, 90% fresh water ) produced more antioxdants than tomatoes grown in fresh water.

If we start farming in saltwater areas we can increase the world’s farming areas by as much as 50%.

See also:
Saline agriculture may be the future of farming
Tomatoes grow well in diluted seawater and produce more antioxidents ( news article )
Irrigation with Diluted Seawater Improves the Nutritional Value of Cherry Tomatoes ( paper )
Genera of Halophytes
Food vs Fuel: Saltwater crops may be key to solving Earth’s land crunch

This is one of those things every knows but no one can tell you why. Everyone will tell you rain makes a garden grow. But I had to find out why.

There was no information to be found on rain water in Houston. If you are from another city you may or may not find some useful information online. I purchased an aquarium water test kit at the local per store and used it on the water.

Here in The Woodlands, and I imagine most of Houston, our tap water has a high kH. kH is the carbonate hardness of water. The higher the kH the more difficult it is to change the pH of the water and the more difficult it is to absorb or neutralize acid. Water kH can be increased by adding baking soda or reduced by adding CO2 ( you can purchase tabs to drop in water at the pet store ).

For your aquarium and pond plants a high kH is good. Over time this releases CO2 to the water which benefits the plants. When I switched from tap water to bottled in the aquarium the plants all died.

The pH of the tap water was 8.5 when I measured it, and the rain water was 6.5, which is where the bottled water I tested came in. pH is very important to plants. pH is a measure of the hydrogen in your soil. The scale runs from 0 to 14, 0-7 being acidic, 7 is neutral, and 7-14 is basic. You really want your garden soil and water pH to be between 5 and 7. More or less than that and most plants will have trouble getting the nutrients that are in the ground. This is why everything greens up after a rain. It is much easier for the plant to use the nutrients that are in the ground at that pH. At the pH of our tap water it is difficult for plants to get there nutrients. The nutrients may be there, but they can’t get in.

So is rain or tap water better for your plants? Both are, at least locally.

Some plants may be extremely sensitive to the fluoride and chlorine in tap water. You’ll know by the edges of the leaves or tips turning brown. Usually just a very thin brown edge and usually just on houseplants. If you have a plant that is sensitive to chemicals, cut your tap water with some bottled water when you water it.

You can help your soil pH by adding peat moss to your soil each year ( see article below ), but you are not likely to change it long term. You’ll see your plants leaves turn yellow while the veins stay green when the plant is unable to take up nutrients. Adding fertilizer, especially one you can spray onto the plant will help. Iron added to the soil around the plant also will help.

Though I am sure there are many other interesting differences between rain and tap water here in Houston, I’m still looking for information. Everything else I’ve been able to test came out the same for both.

More information:
pH soil and plants

These grow in water, along the edges of ponds, in bogs, I have them in my swale garden.

They can be invasive use appropriate cautions. Do not plant them unless you are sure you want them. They are extremely difficult to remove once established.

They are used in sewage treatment to remove metals from waste waters.

They grow in full sun and part shade with no trouble here. If it is wet, they will grow.

They bloom early-mid March and are just now winding down the middle of April.

Yellow flag iris can be found wild in bogs from Scandinavia to Siberia and as far south as North Africa. Clovis I, King of the Franks made it his family flower.  On a campaign from Germany they found their way through the swamp by following the flag irises.  Since they will not grow in deep water, he knew the swamps would be shallow enough to march his army through where ever they found this flower.

Mulching your garden helps in many ways:
-Mulch protects the soil from eroding
-Mulch reduces soil compaction
-Mulch conserves water
-Mulch keeps soil temperature more level
-Mulch improves soil as it decomposes
-Mulch prevents weeds
-Mulch keeps you from sinking in the mud
-Mulch looks nice

In the vegetable garden:
Try using grass clippings, newspaper, leaves, hay or straw.

In the flower beds:
Try bark, pine needles which also increase acidity of the soil, and leaves.

Mulches are best applied late spring after soil has had a chance to warm up. They should be 2″-4″ deep, excepting for newspaper which should be no more than a few sheets thick.

Pine bark mulch is a much better choice than hardwood mulches, at least in the Houston area.  The hardwood mulches are made from native oaks and scrub brush.  Over time they get a white fungus on the chips.  This fungus is hard, which makes it hard for the mulch to absorb and hold water.  It is also steals nutrients from the soil that should be going to your plants.   You can usually identify hardwood from softwood mulches just by looking for the white mold on the chips.

Backyard Conservation