Food Deserts in North Texas

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

The image is a screenshot from the USDA website “Food Desert Locator“.  Go to the website for the interactive map, where each area is clickable to see the statistics.

From wikipedia.org:

A food desert is any area in the industrialised world where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain. It is prevalent in rural as well as urban areas and is most prevalent in low-socioeconomic minority communities, and is associated with a variety of diet-related health problems.[1] Food deserts are also linked with supermarket shortage.

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Citizen Gardener Class in Fort Worth – August 13, 2011

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

“Press Release” about the August 13 Citizen Gardener class in Fort Worth.

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Citizen Gardener Interview on Growing Your Grub Show

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

Steve Howard with the “Growing Your Grub” podcast interviewed me about community gardening and the Citizen Gardener program.  His podcast has been a great resource for vegetable gardening information.  He had to adapt his growing techniques when he moved the the hot arid Texas climate, and often shares great tips and tricks on his show.

We discussed a little bit about how the “North Texas Vegetable Gardeners” was started, and then got to talk about the DFW Citizen Gardener program.

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Ladybugs to the Rescue?

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I have an infestation of sticky gooey tiny bugs that I think are aphids.  Due to my laziness and aversion to working in the oppressive heat of north Texas summers, I’ve let things get out of hand in my backyard vegetable garden.  I was cleaning up today and was happy to see an army of ladybugs eating their way though the bad guys.  Now I’m wondering if I should hold off on spraying just to see how effective these armor-plated aphid eaters are.  (I just recently learned that the larva stage of the ladybug are the ones that eat all the bad bugs, not the pretty round flying beetles we usually think of)

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Squash Bug Devastation

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Brian Gallimore

I did a little experiment.  I noticed a bunch of squash bugs on my zucchini plant earlier this week.  I decided to NOT do anything about it, just to see if a natural predator would come along and clean up the mess for me.  Turns out these critters are lethal!  In a few short days my healthy cucubrit was dead.  Lesson learned!  Next time I’ll know to act quickly to save the plant.

Here is what remains of the zucchini plant:

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