Dry gardening, from what I learned, is more than just knowing
certain techniques, although this is certainly part of it. It’s more
about a deep and intimate knowledge of your soil and land that
can only be obtained through long, arduous work and incredible
attention to detail observed over years.
As stated earlier, wood chips are very important to this operation.
You see them everywhere: Piles and piles in the front yard, wood
chips composing entire raised beds, mulching pathways, providing
much needed compost on the tops of virtually every bed.
This valuable resource requires foresight more than anything else.
Tim has piles delivered by various private companies that are look-
ing to off their wood chip byproducts on anyone. These piles sit
for years (the wood chips on the lettuce beds had been sitting stag-
nant for three years), and it’s only once time has taken its course
that this product is truly useable, at least as a source of nutrients.
Sunflowers are also omnipresent. They line virtually every field,
and are even interplanted among many of his crops. This deters
the deer population on his land, which is significant. Deer are irr-
itated by sunflower’s spiny skin, serving as an excellent repellent.
The sunflower is then used as a mulch directly on top of plants
(this works especially well on melons), where they keep weeds
down and the deer away.
At Millberg Farm, pests are deterred from eating precious fruits
and vegetables, rather than simply desiccated. Grasshoppers are
offered a lush patch of switchgrass towards the back of the farm,
where they are free to consume as much food as they’d like.
This switchgrass is then used as a mulch as needed, as it is volum-
inous and does well in dry weather. Birds are given the opportunity
to consume fruit and nut trees that line the farm, where they stay
put, diverting them from devouring the more valuable fruit trees
that lay deeper in the heart of Millberg Farm.
More than anything else, this farm tour was about how the entire
farm operates, rather than simply running a fine comb through dry
gardening. He informed us of all sorts of varieties that have proved
drought resistant on his land (and, subsequently, most farms in the
Austin area; although, Tim does have black land clay).
Tim informed us that 60% of the seed he uses is from his own saved
seed inventory. He sells some of this seed to Southern Exposure
Seed Exchange (his Egyptian Multiplying Onion and Harvey Wilson
Leeks are in seriously high demand, selling out before they are even
made officially available).
His green onions are clearly a point of pride for him, outlining the
story of how he provided two farmers on the east coast with his seed,
and how it has truly been a boon for their farming enterprises. The
Egyptian Green Onion developed on his farm has proven to be pop-
ular variety outside of Texas, where folks, incredibly, have water. In
fact, we use it at Green Gate Farms (where I work), and we’ve been
saving the seed and replanting it for the a few years now. It’s adapt-
ing to our land’s needs, and pleasing our CSA member’s palates.
Hooray!
We left the farm with a small burlap sack filled with his saved seed.
I’ll plant mine in my own garden, as well as give some to Skip and
Erin at Green Gate Farms, to propagate, consume, and save.
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The Texas Young Farmer Coalition seeks to build connections between
young farmers throughout the state in an effort to increase food aware-
ness, encourage the exchange of ideas, and create synergistic relation-
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