The Winter Garden Region is an agricultural area in
South Texas
South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...
(
USA) located north of
Laredo and southwest of
San Antonio. The region is centered on four "core" counties -
Dimmit,
Frio,
La Salle, and
Zavala,
but also includes parts of
Atascosa,
Maverick, and
McMullen
McMullen is a surname with predominantly Irish origins but also with some Scottish history. It derives from root forenames such as: Maolain, Maelan "Hillock" and Meallain "Pleasant". All of these forenames have over time evolved to the collater ...
counties.
Bexar,
Medina,
Uvalde, and
Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
People
* Wilson (name)
** List of people with given name Wilson
** List of people with surname Wilson
* Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender
* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
counties all have small or small portions that lie within the defined area, but they are typically not considered part of the Winter Garden region.
The region is noted for its year-round production of vegetables through
irrigation.
History
The area is part of the
Tamaulipan mezquital ecoregion.
Before the introduction of large-scale irrigation, the region was arid and covered in short
grasses and
mesquite trees.
Onion crop production began near
Cotulla
Cotulla ( ) is a city in and the county seat of La Salle County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,718 as of the 2020 census.
History
Immigrant Joseph Cotulla, who was reared in Silesia, then a part of Prussia, migrated to the Unite ...
(La Salle County) in 1896. At the same time,
Dimmit County farmers began to use
artesian aquifers and
dams to provide water for irrigated crops.
The arrival of
rail transportation in the early 1900s led to a major
land boom
A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real-estate markets, and typically follow a land boom. A land boom is the rapid increase ...
in the region. Between 1900 and 1920, the number of farms in La Salle County almost tripled and the value of an acre of farmland in Dimmit County rose from $1.80 in 1900 to $24.60 in 1910 and more than $40 by 1920.
The number of farms in Zavala County tripled between 1900 and 1930 due largely to the division of the Cross S Ranch into plots. Although cotton production dominated in Frio County, the region's most important crops were onions,
cabbage
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...
,
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...
,
beets, and
strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
. Other crops such as
citrus fruits,
melons, and nuts were also harvested.
By 1930, the Winter Garden region was home to 36,816 people (up from 8,401 in 1900). A combination of increased irrigation costs and the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
led to a decrease in the number of small farms. Many were returned to
ranchland while irrigation farming became a large-scale enterprise in other areas.
Corporate ownership of large farms became increasingly common after
World War II, with major companies such as
Del Monte establishing
canneries close to the fields.
Today, the Winter Garden region is still among the leading producers of winter vegetables through irrigation in the country.
Core county population statistics
References
{{reflist
Geography of Texas
Geography of Dimmit County, Texas
Geography of Frio County, Texas
Geography of La Salle County, Texas
Geography of Zavala County, Texas