November doesn't mean gardening season is over, especially here in Southeast Texas! In fact, cooler temperatures make this one of the most enjoyable times of year to grow. But as the seasons change, so should the way we care for our gardens.

In Season 2, Episode 2 of The Compost Pile, David Pool breaks down what gardeners in Zone 9a and 9b should be doing in November to keep their gardens productive and prepare for the cooler months ahead.

In this episode, we cover:

• What you can still plant in November, including carrots, radishes, turnips, leafy greens, and more
• Why broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and other fall crops thrive in cooler temperatures
• When to plant short-day onions in Southeast Texas
• How cooler weather changes watering, soil biology, and nutrient availability
• Why shorter days and shifting sunlight matter in your garden
• Managing caterpillars, fungal diseases, and other fall garden pests
• Preparing plants for frost and freezing temperatures
• The benefits of fall mulching, cover crops, and planting trees and shrubs
• What's happening in our demonstration garden, from fall vegetables to tomatoes, basil, and loofah

We also discuss the difference between planting windows and harvest windows, along with practical tips for getting better germination and growth from root crops like carrots.

The biggest takeaway? Successful gardening isn't about following the same routine all year. It's about observing your plants, understanding how changing conditions affect them, and adjusting your practices along the way.

Whether you're growing your first fall garden or have been gardening in Southeast Texas for years, there's still plenty of growing season ahead!

About The Compost Pile

The Compost Pile is a gardening and homesteading podcast focused on helping growers succeed in Southeast Texas and USDA Zones 9a and 9b. Join David Pool and Aaron Barnhill as we break down gardening techniques, soil health, seasonal growing, and practical homesteading knowledge.

Subscribe for more gardening education, seasonal tips, and real-world experiences from the garden.

#NovemberGardening #TexasGardening #Zone9Gardening #FallGardening #TheCompostPile

Are you planning your garden, or are you just planting whatever catches your eye at the garden center?

As we kick off year two of The Compost Pile, David Pool and Aaron Barnhill discuss one of the most overlooked keys to successful gardening: planning ahead.

Gardening in Southeast Texas and USDA Zones 9a and 9b gives us an incredibly long growing season, but without a plan, it's easy to miss planting windows, waste valuable garden space, and repeat the same mistakes year after year.

In this episode, we're breaking down how to create a year-round garden plan that helps you grow more efficiently, stay organized, and learn from your successes and failures.

PLUS, we're introducing our FREE downloadable Year-Round Garden Planner!

Download Your FREE Garden Planner:

The Compost Pile – Year-Round Garden Planner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QnxmcRWm3hstDU0EISUu643pX6RrsdEk/view?usp=sharing

Our printable planner is designed with Southeast Texas gardeners in mind and includes planting calendars, garden layout grids, seed inventory and planting logs, soil amendment tracking, weather observations, and space to document your garden's progress throughout the year.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why planning is especially important in our long Zone 9 growing season.
• How to identify planting windows and prepare for upcoming seasons.
• Setting realistic gardening goals based on what you actually want to grow and harvest.
• Designing garden layouts for succession planting and crop rotation.
• Keeping track of seeds, varieties, planting dates, and harvest results.
• Documenting soil amendments, fertilizers, and weather patterns.
• Learning from previous growing seasons to make better decisions.
• How small, intentional improvements can lead to greater gardening success.

Whether you're growing in raised beds, containers, or a large backyard garden, our goal is to help you make the most of your growing space without making gardening unnecessarily complicated.

We also want your feedback! Download the planner, customize it to fit your needs, and let us know what you'd like to see added in future versions. We'd love to turn this into a resource that grows alongside The Compost Pile community.

Subscribe to The Compost Pile for practical gardening advice, homesteading discussions, and educational content focused on growing successfully in Southeast Texas and beyond.

The Compost Pile — Breaking Down How to Grow in Zone 9.

#GardenPlanning #Zone9Gardening #SoutheastTexasGardening #VegetableGardening #GardenPlanner #TheCompostPile #GardeningTips

We've officially made it ONE YEAR!

52 episodes, four seasons, and countless conversations about gardening, homesteading, soil health, and everything in between.

In this special anniversary episode of The Compost Pile, David and Aaron reflect on their first year behind the microphones. We revisit some of our favorite conversations, share what we've learned along the way, and talk about how this podcast has helped us grow as gardeners, educators, and individuals.

From soil health and invasive species to battery-powered equipment and growing peppers, we've covered a lot of ground. But we're just getting started!

We're also looking ahead to Year Two, with plans for more guests, hands-on demonstrations, homesteading projects, food preservation, and episodes filmed outside the studio.

Most importantly, we want to thank everyone who has watched, listened, shared an episode, or joined us for a class. This project has always been about learning together and building a community of more knowledgeable, successful growers.

Here's to another year of breaking down how to grow in Southeast Texas and beyond!

Subscribe and join us for Year Two!

Visit Mid County Farm & Feed in Nederland, Texas, for gardening supplies and advice.

Join us for our free Saturday gardening classes, livestreamed right here on The Compost Pile YouTube channel.

#TheCompostPile #GardeningPodcast #Homesteading #Zone9a #SoutheastTexasGardening #SoilHealth #GardeningTips

Think spring is the best time to plant trees and shrubs? Think again!

Fall is one of the BEST times to plant trees, shrubs, and many fruit trees, especially here in Southeast Texas and USDA Zone 9a. As temperatures cool and above-ground growth slows, plants have an opportunity to establish stronger root systems without the intense stress of summer heat.

In Episode 51 of The Compost Pile, David Pool and Aaron Barnhill break down why fall planting can give your landscape a head start and what you need to know before putting new trees and shrubs in the ground.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• Why fall is an excellent time to plant trees and shrubs
• How dormancy and seasonal changes affect root development
• Why establishing roots before summer makes a difference
• Planting fruit trees and citrus in Southeast Texas
• Understanding cold tolerance and winter protection
• How beneficial microbes, compost, and mulch support healthy roots
• Preventing air pockets and improving root-to-soil contact
• Identifying and correcting circling roots in container-grown plants
• Why planting too deep can cause long-term problems
• Common mistakes that lead to struggling or dying trees

Whether you're planting a shade tree, adding fruit trees to your backyard, or building a new landscape, understanding when and how to plant can make a tremendous difference in long-term success.

The takeaway: Don't assume cooler weather means planting season is over. For many trees and shrubs, fall is when the opportunity begins!

Gardening in Southeast Texas | USDA Zone 9a

The Compost Pile — Breaking down gardening, homesteading, and more so you can be more successful in the garden.

Like, subscribe, and share your experiences! Have you had better success planting trees in fall or spring? Let us know in the comments.

#FallPlanting #Zone9aGardening #TreePlanting #SoutheastTexasGardening #FruitTrees #GardeningTips #TheCompostPile

October may finally bring cooler mornings to Southeast Texas, but that doesn’t mean the garden can go on autopilot.

In this shorter episode of The Compost Pile, David heads into the demo garden to talk about what Zone 9 gardeners should be paying attention to right now. As temperatures change and rainfall becomes more frequent, our watering habits need to change too. Instead of watering just because it’s part of the routine, it’s time to check the soil, watch the plants, and respond to what the garden actually needs.

We also cover what you can still plant in October, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, mustard, collards, carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, and herbs. Plus, we look ahead to short-day onion season and why you need to start planning space for upcoming crops now.

We’ll also share a simple old-school trick for improving carrot germination by keeping the seedbed consistently moist.

Fall gardening may be easier than fighting the peak of a Southeast Texas summer, but there’s still plenty to do. Get outside, put your hands in the soil, and let the garden tell you what it needs.

The Compost Pile — breaking down gardening, homesteading, and more so you can be more successful in the garden.

When is it actually time to reach for a pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide in the garden?

In this episode of The Compost Pile, David and Aaron take a closer look at Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and why treating a problem should rarely be your first step.

We break down the process of identifying a problem, observing how serious it really is, looking for ways to change or manage the environment, and deciding when intervention is actually justified. We also discuss why two gardeners dealing with the exact same pest may reasonably make completely different decisions.

Along the way, we talk about beneficial insects, leaf miners, herbicides in the lawn, pesticide resistance, pre-harvest intervals, environmental impacts, and why simply seeing damage on a plant doesn't necessarily mean something needs to be sprayed.

The goal isn't to say that all chemicals are bad. It's to understand when they're necessary, how to use them responsibly, and when the best choice may be to do nothing at all.

Whether you're growing vegetables, maintaining a lawn, caring for ornamentals, or just trying to keep a few backyard plants alive, learning to identify, observe, mitigate, and then act can help you make better decisions in the garden.

The Compost Pile — breaking down gardening, homesteading, and more so you can be more successful in the garden.

Battery-powered lawn equipment has come a LONG way—but does that mean it’s time to give up your gas-powered tools?

In this episode of The Compost Pile, David and Aaron take a practical look at battery vs. gas lawn equipment for homeowners, gardeners, and homesteaders. From string trimmers and leaf blowers to push mowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, and some surprisingly useful battery-powered tools, we discuss where electric equipment shines—and where gas power still makes a lot of sense.

We dig into the advantages and drawbacks of both, including maintenance, runtime, power, noise, battery compatibility, accessibility, repairability, long-term ownership, and the rapidly changing technology behind outdoor power equipment.

We also talk about one of the biggest considerations when buying battery tools: choosing a battery platform. Once you own several batteries and tools from one manufacturer, switching brands isn't always as simple as buying a different tool.

And despite all the advances in battery equipment, there are still situations where we would absolutely want gas-powered equipment around—especially when storms, acreage, heavy cutting, or extended runtime enter the picture.

In this episode:

• Battery vs. gas lawn equipment

• Pros and cons of battery-powered tools

• Maintenance differences between gas and electric equipment

• Battery platforms and compatibility

• Noise and ease of use

• Tool longevity and repairability

• Battery-powered mowers, blowers, trimmers, pruners, and chainsaws

• Where gas equipment still makes sense

• Choosing tools based on your property and how you actually use them

There isn't necessarily one right answer. The goal is to choose equipment that fits your property, workload, budget, and willingness to maintain it.

What are you using? Have you made the switch to battery-powered lawn equipment, are you sticking with gas, or are you using a combination of both? Tell us in the comments.

The Compost Pile breaks down gardening, homesteading, lawn care, and outdoor living to help you become more successful around your home and garden.

#BatteryTools #LawnCare #GasVsElectric #LawnEquipment #Homesteading #Gardening #OutdoorPowerEquipment #BatteryPowered #TheCompostPile

Invasive plants are a hot topic—but what actually makes a plant invasive? And does being non-native automatically make a plant bad?

In this episode of The Compost Pile, David and Aaron dig into the difference between native, non-native, aggressive, and truly invasive plants, especially from the perspective of gardeners and homeowners in Southeast Texas and the Gulf Coast.

We talk about plants like Chinese tallow, Bradford pear, vitex, honeysuckle, torpedo grass, and more, along with some better alternatives for the landscape. We also explore a more complicated question: what happens when an invasive plant provides a benefit, such as Chinese tallow providing a major nectar source for honeybees?

The goal isn't simply to label every non-native plant as “bad.” It's to understand how plants interact with the surrounding ecosystem, whether they spread beyond the landscape, what they compete with, and what benefits—or problems—they create.

Before adding something new to your yard, know what you're planting, understand how it behaves in your area, and choose plants responsibly.

In this episode:

• Native vs. non-native vs. invasive plants
• What actually makes a plant invasive
• Chinese tallow trees in Southeast Texas
• Bradford pears and storm damage
• Vitex and the importance of cultivar selection
• Invasive vines and grasses
• Native alternatives for common landscape plants
• Pollinators, wildlife, and ecological impact
• How to make better plant choices for your own landscape

The Compost Pile — breaking down gardening, homesteading, and more to help you become more successful in the garden.