Herbs to Grow on Texas Gulf Coast
Answered by: Richard Alan Miller
Question from: Blake Lauder
Posted on: November 27, 2006

I am in a part of Texas along the gulf coast with much farm land. Mainly, crops grown here are cotton, corn, milo, soy bean. The area is about 3 hours drive west of Houston. Winters here tend to be very warm with a few frosts in the mornings.

Do you have any herb crop suggestions?

I’ve done a number of Farm Plans for that region of Texas. It has a fine history of alternative agriculture, mostly a non-shatter variety of Sesame Seed. That’s probably what you need now, a business plan to start this journey. This year alone, there will a need for 60,000 new farms for North America, but who is going to train them?

The markets exist, and can be addressed competitively. But the skills and savvy - like when to turn your crop so it does over-dry and burn. Even the best alfalfa farmers blow it once in a while, cutting the crop just before a rain. Don’t get me wrong. I was just like you, wanting to go back to the earth and grow things for myself. I did it, so you probably can also. But just realize it is going to very difficult, more so now than ever before.

Let’s start with my paper Mid-West Crop Recommendations, at

http://www.nwbotanicals.org/nwb/midwest/midwest_crops.htm

I have been doing this for so long I have probably written a booklet on every State and Province within North America. You should also read my book "The Potential Of Herbs As A Cash Crop. That will give you a good overview of specifics, to include marketing and cottage industries.

Over the years, I have posted a number of good articles at

http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/altagri/a_a_index.htm

and then go to www.herbfarminfo.com and read my booklet "Getting Started." This will help you develop a budget and overall game plan. That’s enough to get you started.

Then, if you want me further, I could build you a basic farm plan, based on specific resources and skills you might have. I haven’t done these for almost two years, but I have done them for more than 25 years. I did so many of them I got to boilerplate parts of the plan, like the "Mid-West Crop Recommendations" paper.

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