Plant Guide

Variety: Cherokee Purple is an indeterminate heirloom — meaning vines (not a bush), continuous fruit set possible, needs strong support. Central Texas Gardener (PBS Austin) names it among their favorite indeterminate types.

Fruit: Large beefsteak tomatoes, dusky purple-red with dark "shoulders," classic rich heirloom flavor. Typically 8-12 oz each.

Harvest window: ~70-90 days from transplant (so first ripe tomatoes around late July if planted May 16-17).

The Pflugerville reality

Heirloom tomatoes like Cherokee Purple are sensitive to intense heat. The Texas A&M AgriLife guidance for blossom drop is clear: when overnight temperatures stay consistently above ~75°F, the flowers drop without setting fruit. In Pflugerville, that typically means:

• May 16 to mid-June: normal flowering + fruit set
• Mid-June to late August: the heat-pause. The plant stays alive but stops setting new fruit. Existing fruit continues ripening.
• September to first freeze (late November): the fall flush — new flowers and fruit again as nights cool.

Knowing this lets us plan: we cover the bed with shade cloth in June, keep mulch deep, and don't panic when fruit set pauses.

Spacing — what the evidence actually says

How we care for it

• Trellis: 16-foot cattle panel + T-posts. Cherokee Purple vines reach 6-8 feet. Tomato cages are not enough.
• Spacing: 18-22 inches between plants (3-4 plants along the long side of the bed; pruned to 2-3 main stems) — see "what the evidence actually says" discussion above.
• Water: Soaker hose under mulch. About 1 inch of water per week, increasing in summer heat. Consistent watering prevents blossom end rot.
• Feed: Organic Espoma Garden-Tone at planting. Sidedress again at first fruit set (~4-6 weeks later). See "On fertilizers" section below for why we chose Garden-Tone over blood meal.
• Shade cloth: Deploy when sustained 95°F+ arrives (typically mid-June).

Sources: Texas A&M AgriLife Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide + Central Texas Gardener + Cornell tomato growing guide + UMD Extension

Variety: Jumbo Jalapeño — larger fruit than standard jalapeños, classic medium-heat flavor.

Heat behavior: Peppers handle Texas heat much better than tomatoes. Expect continuous production through summer.

Harvest: 60-90 days from transplant. Pick when peppers are 3-4 inches long, still firm and shiny. Leave on the plant longer if you want them to turn red (sweeter + slightly hotter).

Why a dedicated container instead of the raised bed

Sam preferred to keep the jalapeño out of the planter box with the tomatoes — a sensible call. Tomato-pepper companion planting is conventional but not load-bearing; the tomato gets its main companion benefits from basil/marigold/parsley, not from jalapeño specifically. A dedicated container also means the jalapeño can move (to garage during freeze, to better sun if needed) — flexibility a bed can't match.

Container specs (per Texas A&M AgriLife pepper guidance)

• Container: 10-gallon fabric grow bag. AgriLife recommends 5-gallon minimum or a half-barrel; 10 gallons exceeds both. Fabric bags drain naturally so no manual drain holes needed.
• Soil: Same compost-amended mix as the raised bed (organic potting mix + cattle manure compost). AgriLife recommends well-draining mix with pH 6.0-7.5 — our compost-amended mix lands in that range.
• Placement: Adjacent to the raised bed, full sun. Jalapeños prefer hot days (85-95°F) with cool nights (65-70°F) — Pflugerville delivers.
• Water: Containers dry faster than the bed. Daily watering once heat sets in.
• Feed: Same Espoma Garden-Tone schedule, scaled down (~1/2 cup scratched into top inch at sidedress).
• Harvest gloves: Capsaicin is strong on hands. Wear gloves or wash hands well.

Source: Texas A&M AgriLife — Jalapeño & Other Hot Peppers (Masabni)

The blackberry plan grew. We started with one Prime-Ark Freedom and ended up with four plants across three varieties — all thornless, which keeps them friendly around Lulee and Rowan:

• Prime-Ark Freedom (two plants) — the world's first thornless, primocane-fruiting blackberry: it can fruit on first-year canes, so we may see berries within months of planting. Texas-adapted, heat and humidity tolerant.
• Ouachita (one plant) — a University of Arkansas thornless variety (2003) with erect, self-supporting canes. Floricane-fruiting (fruits on second-year wood), early-season, ripening over about a five-week window. It needs only 300–500 chill hours — a comfortable fit for Central Texas — and is resistant to rosette disease. Well documented by university extension.
• Big Daddy (one plant) — a nursery variety. Unlike Ouachita and Prime-Ark Freedom, there isn't published university research on "Big Daddy" specifically, so we treat it as a standard thornless, floricane-fruiting blackberry and give it the general care below. (Worth keeping its nursery tag — it may list a documented cultivar name.) Ours came from the nursery already carrying berries, so it has a head start.

Primocane vs. floricane — why it matters

Every blackberry cane lives two years: it grows one year (a "primocane"), fruits the next year (a "floricane"), then dies. Floricane varieties — Ouachita and Big Daddy — fruit only on that second-year wood. Primocane varieties — Prime-Ark Freedom — can fruit on first-year canes too. Texas A&M AgriLife notes floricane types generally handle Central Texas heat well, so Ouachita and Big Daddy are a good fit here.

So expect Big Daddy to fruit this summer (it already is), Ouachita possibly this June-July if it has overwintered canes, and the two Prime-Ark Freedoms in late summer/fall on their new canes.

How we care for them

• Containers: one plant per 25-gallon fabric grow bag — four bags. Don't crowd two plants into one bag.
• Soil: potting mix with only a light amount of compost, acidified with Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier (elemental sulfur + gypsum). Mix it through at the product's "Potted Plants" rate — 1 tablespoon per 4 inches of bag diameter, so roughly 5-6 tablespoons per 25-gallon bag. That nudges the mix toward the slightly acidic 5.5-6.5 range blackberries like. Sulfur works slowly over weeks, and the product won't burn the plant.
• Sun: full sun, with afternoon shade welcome in Pflugerville summer.
• Water: consistent moisture — grow bags dry faster than the ground; daily in peak heat.
• Feed: Espoma Berry-tone (or Garden-tone) every 6-8 weeks during the growing season.
• Support: even the erect varieties carry heavy fruit and fabric bags can tip — a stake or a simple trellis line behind the bags helps.

Pruning — it depends on the variety

• Floricane types (Ouachita, Big Daddy): once a cane finishes fruiting, cut that spent floricane back to the crown and remove it. New primocanes grow each year to become next year's fruiting wood.
• Prime-Ark Freedom: pinch the primocane tips when they top the trellis to encourage branching. It can be run for a simple once-a-year crop or double-cropped.
• All of them: keep a ~3-inch gap between mulch and the crown so new canes can push up and the crown doesn't rot.

(A longer-term thought: Sam has mentioned wanting a dedicated blackberry raised bed on the west side of the yard with a trellis line. The grow bags are the interim home — moving plants into a bed later is best done in winter dormancy.)

One Texas note: snakes — including copperheads — like to shelter in blackberry plants. Wear closed-toe shoes and gloves when working around them, and keep half an eye out with Rowan and Lulee nearby.

Sources: Texas A&M AgriLife — How to Prune Blackberries, University of Maryland Extension, LSU AgCenter, and Ohio State University (blackberry cultivars); ASPCA (companion-plant safety).

Sam suggested planting sunflowers to distract leaf-footed bugs from the tomatoes. The reasoning checks out: leaf-footed bugs are strongly attracted to sunflowers, so a sunflower stand can pull pest pressure away from the tomato bed — if we actively monitor and manage the sunflowers.

How the trap crop works

• Placement: Opposite side of the yard from the raised bed — pull pests AWAY from tomatoes, not toward them.
• Variety: Single-stem mammoth sunflowers (Mammoth Russian or American Giant). Tall single-stem varieties are easy to monitor — you can see the whole stalk at once.
• Timing: Plant seeds at the same time as the tomato transplant. Sunflowers flower in 60-80 days, hitting peak pest-attraction during the worst of leaf-footed bug season (June-August).
• Critical maintenance: Scout the sunflowers every 2-3 days during pest season. If leaf-footed bug nymphs appear on the sunflowers, eliminate them there (alcohol-tray method — see Care Calendar) BEFORE they migrate to tomatoes.

The trap only works with active monitoring. Unmonitored sunflowers become a leaf-footed bug nursery — increasing pressure on tomatoes instead of relieving it. The work of the trap crop is the scouting, not the planting.

Source: AgriLife Today — Protect your garden from leaf-footed bugs (Molly Keck, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension IPM specialist, 2025)

Role: Disease-indicator + pollinator attractor. Masabni notes basil shows powdery mildew and other diseases before they show on the tomato plant — making basil our early-warning system. (Despite the folk wisdom, AgriLife research found basil does not change tomato flavor — but it's still worth growing.)

Use: Pesto, caprese salad, tomato sauces. Pinch flowering tops to keep leaf production going.

Safety: Dog-safe per ASPCA.

Role: The strong scent deters the hawk moth that lays hornworm eggs. Marigold roots also release a compound toxic to soil nematodes (microscopic pests).

Placement: Around the tomato plants, established at the same time so they're ready when pests arrive.

Safety: Generally safe for dogs — mild GI upset only if eaten in large quantity.

Role: Classic tomato companion. Attracts beneficial insects. Use the flat-leaf variety — more flavor than curly.

Note: Parsley does best in cool weather in Central Texas — it'll thrive April-June, slow down in peak summer, and rebound in fall.

Safety: Dog-safe per ASPCA.

Role: Aphid trap (aphids prefer nasturtium to tomato — they sacrifice themselves). Bright orange/yellow flowers attract pollinators. Edible peppery leaves and flowers — great in salads.

Placement: Edge of the bed where the trailing habit can spill over.

Safety: Dog-safe.

If the nasturtium is slow: the seeds can take a couple of weeks to sprout, so a few quiet days is normal — don't worry yet. The best backup is sweet alyssum: a low, carpeting plant like nasturtium that, per University of Illinois Extension, draws in hoverflies and ladybugs — beneficial insects whose appetite for aphids makes alyssum a good border plant for aphid control. It's confirmed non-toxic to dogs by the ASPCA. Calendula (pot marigold) is also ASPCA dog-safe if you'd like a second flower. (Heads up: the dog-safe "Garden Marigold" is Calendula — a different plant from the French marigolds already in the bed.)

Sam asked about mixing about 1/3 compost into the potting soil rather than using straight bagged mix. The University of Maryland Extension confirms this approach explicitly: "Add a mixture of compost and purchased topsoil in a 1:2 or 1:1 ratio, to the top of the bed." The 1:2 ratio is exactly what Sam suggested — and it's the more conservative of the two extension-sanctioned options.

UMD also notes the target: "The organic matter content in a raised bed ... should be 25%-50% by volume." Adding 1/3 compost lands us at the lower end of that range, which is ideal for a first-year bed.

Cattle manure compost or mushroom compost?

At Round Rock Sam saw both options. For our transplant scenario, cattle manure compost (Back to Nature, $18/cubic foot, "low in moisture/salts") is the better choice. Mushroom compost is high in soluble salts that can stress germinating seedlings and salt-sensitive plants — fine later as a top-dress, but not ideal at transplant.

Our bed recipe

• 2/3 organic potting mix — Kellogg Organic Raised Bed mix (OMRI certified) and/or Landscapers Pride 40lb (Texas-local, family-owned). Both work; Sam can choose by preference. (Honest note: Kellogg is third-party OMRI-certified organic; Landscapers Pride is labeled "naturally organic" but not OMRI-certified. For a home garden the difference is mostly about supply-chain certification, not garden performance.)
• 1/3 Back to Nature composted cattle manure — adds organic matter, slow-release nutrients, and beneficial soil microbes.
• Total volume: ~17.5 cubic feet for the 72"×28"×15" bed.

Sources: UMD Extension — Soil to Fill Raised Beds + OSU Extension — What is mushroom compost?