A Weekly Gardening Update
March 25
A cold start, but quickly warmed up to be a beautiful day at the gardens. Most of the routine gardeners were working at the Spring plant sale in Belton, but a few master gardeners remained behind to continue with maintenance and watering. The pecan trees are starting to leaf out, hopefully indicating the last of the frost is behind us. Tatume squash was planted on Friday in row zero, the newly added row to the gardens that was finally ready for planting. The frost early in the week burned a few potato plants, but it did not cause significant or long-lasting damage. The blue bonnets are still blooming, but fading quickly and beginning to form seed pods. Most of the fruit trees have completed their bloom cycle and getting ready to set fruit.
March 18
A cold and damp day at the garden today. It started off cold and remained cold and damp the entire morning. Fortunately, much maintenance was accomplished with weeding being achieved in both the vegetable garden and perennial beds. Two well-defined rows of potatoes were mounded with soil to help protect the growing potatoes from the anticipated heat coming in the next couple of weeks and providing loose soil for future growth and expansion. The zucchini and yellow squash planted earlier this month are beginning to show signs of growth and emerging nicely through the soil. Our small crop of blue bonnets continue to flourish, but the damp and cold weather kept the bees away today. The June Gold peach trees, donated by the Killeen Rotary Club last year are in full bloom and showing signs of excellent growth. Several herb plants were planted in the newly created herb bed and will provide a tasty addition to the other fresh vegetable grown for the shelters. Eleven pounds of carrots and eight pounds of radishes were harvested and delivered to the local shelter.
March 11
Warm and windy at the gardens today. The first two rows of La Soda potatoes planted in early February are fully emerged, minus a couple of laggards, and the Kennebec potatoes are starting to peek through the ground as well. We planted 16 tomato plants that were grown from seed started on December 22. We planted one-half of one row, betting and hoping the frost is behind us. The tomato varieties planted were the determinate type Celebrity (a Texas Superstar variety), and Early Pick, an indeterminate variety. Tomatoes were sited next to a cattle panel to support a Florida weave structure and were fertilized with a 15-15-15 fertilizer. Today was another big maintenance day, still cleaning up the dead growth from last year in all the perennial beds. In addition to bed maintenance, we also tested and discarded a truckload of leaky or broken soaker hoses. Our small crop of Bluebonnets continue to flourish and were visited by bees all morning. The redbud tree was still in bloom, but beginning to fade quickly. The Methley Plum tree has started its bloom cycle and the bees were busy pollinating there as well.
March 4
A beautiful start to the day this morning, temperatures were in the upper fifties, and it continued to warm to the mid-seventies. Truly a treat, compared to the last several Saturdays. The Red La Soda potatoes planted February 11 are beginning to emerge through the soil in abundance and the Kennebec potatoes planted February 4 are beginning to show signs of life, as well. The Kennebecs are always a little slower to emerge. Today was another maintenance day, especially in the perennial beds with much weeding being accomplished and the continued removal of dead growth from last year. We thinned our ‘Henry Duelberg’ Salvia (a Texas Superstar plant) from the Monarch Waystation bed, hoping to give our milkweed more room and better sun exposure. Our small crop of blue bonnets are in bloom always a reminder spring is near and warmer temperatures are ahead. We did manage to plant one row of zucchini and yellow squash in the vegetable garden, hopefully it won’t emerge until all danger of a late frost is behind us. The garden expansion area received another fifteen wheelbarrow loads of compost and it should be ready for planting in another two weeks. The Bruce Plum tree completed its bloom cycle and now leaves are peeking out from the branches. The ornamental red bud tree is in full bloom and showing off its bright pink flowers, hopefully the blooms will last another week.
February 25
A very cold start this Saturday and the winds and the overcast skies never provided a mid-morning warm-up. However, the final two rows of Red La Soda potatoes were planted along with twenty brussels sprout plants. The onions, carrots, radishes, and garlic were weeded, and the row of turnips was thinned. The clean-up of the perennial beds began with the removal of last year’s growth making room for new growth and providing greater exposure to sun and water. The garden expansion area that was tilled last week was raked to remove all the dead grass and received fifteen wheelbarrow loads of compost. Several new lengths of drip tape were added to the vegetable in preparation for squash planting that will begin in two weeks. The Bruce Plum tree is at peak bloom this week and the ornamental red bud tree is just beginning to shows signs of blooming and if the weather warms as forecasted, should be in full bloom next week.
February 18
Another February cold start this Saturday, but the temperatures began to warm slightly as the morning progressed. Luckily, the winds were tame. Today, a third row of potatoes was planted, again the Red La Soda potato. The potatoes received the same application of fertilizer a 10-20-10 mixture. The garden expansion area received a good tilling this morning and the soil is finally starting to loosen and resemble un-amended garden soil. All the fruit trees received a good watering today to aide their flowering process. The Bruce Plum tree is in full bloom with white flowers and Redskin Peach tree is close to reaching full bloom. These two varieties were originally selected because they will grow and be productive in Bell County conditions. Be sure you understand local conditions and prepare your planting site before purchasing trees for your home orchard. One factor to consider is the number of chill hours (those hours below 45 degrees) experienced between November and February each year. On average Bell County has between 550 and 850 – an average of 700 – chill hours per year. Texas A&M has much more information available for planting and caring for Peaches, Plums and other fruit crops.
February 11
A very cold start and didn’t get much warmer as the morning progressed primarily due to the winds coming from the North. But that is the life of a gardener. Today another row of potatoes was planted, a Red La Soda potato. Excellent when eaten as a new potato, when they get to be about the size of a golf ball in roughly 60 days, weather dependent. At the Court Garden, our potatoes mature to full size and are harvested after approximately 90 days. The potatoes received the same application of fertilizer, a 10-20-10 mixture, as last week’s potatoes. A row of green cabbage was planted. The cabbage, Jersey Wakefield variety, was started from seed in a greenhouse on December 16. The cabbage received a balanced fertilizer of 13-13-13 around each plant. Plants will be treated with either a liquid or dust B.t. (bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki) mid-week to control cabbage loopers, the small green worms that can devastate a crop in just a few days. Typically, cabbage can withstand moderate freezes, temperatures of 24 -28 degrees, according to the horticulture specialist at SDSU. According to local weather forecasters our average low temperature is 36 degrees, so the risk of planting now is not too great. Compost spreading and weeding continued in both the vegetable garden and the flower beds. Our oldest peach tree started to have new a few blossoms earlier this week and should be in full bloom within the next two weeks.
February 4
The day started off cold, damp and somewhat foggy, but the sun came out within the first hour and the wind shifted from the South, so the day ended up being very pleasant. The first row of potatoes was planted today, a white Kennebec variety. Soil temperature yesterday registered 52 degrees, plenty warm enough for planting potatoes since the minimum temperature is 45 degrees. Potatoes were fertilized with 10-20-10 mixture as recommended by TAMU AgriLife. The fertilizer will support tuber development. Additional potato rows will be planted in the coming weeks in order to extend the harvest which starts in May. A layer of compost was added to unplanted areas of the vegetable garden and will be mixed into the soil next week. Compost was also added to the memorial garden followed by a top layer of mulch to aid in weed control and moisture retention. The garden entrance was weeded and mulch was added to the smaller flower beds. Work continued on the vegetable garden expansion area, but it is a slow process to organically kill Bermuda grass and KR Bluestem. Last summer the area was solarized with plastic for approximately 12 weeks, but the roots continue to block moisture from reaching the soil. Even with this week’s rain and ice, the soil remained dry under the tangled root masses. A pick-axe was used to create exposure areas in the soil and hopefully with additional rain this coming week moisture will reach deeper into the soil.
January 28
The day started off damp and chilly, but once we started moving around the morning warmed up nicely. We continued our fruit, nut, and ornamental tree pruning and we performed a detailed and up-close inspection for scale insects and luckily, none were present. We planted another round of radishes in the three-sisters bed and turnips in the vacant area between the newly moved tomato supports. We continue our quest to achieve as much intercropping as we can, in order to increase our production and provide more fresh produce to the local non-profits. We know the turnips are roughly a 50-day crop and the tomato transplants won’t go into the ground for another 30 days, so the 20 days of overlap, won’t be a concern. The same for radishes in the three-sisters bed, radishes are a 28-day crop, and the squash, corn, and beans won’t be planted for another 30-plus days, again no overlap concerns. The garden was also prepared for one row of potato planting next week, although a tad early, it’s worth the risk.
January 21
A beautiful day at the garden, today. The fruit trees received a much overdue pruning, along with a good helping of compost at their base. In two weeks, we will begin a dormant oil spray program to help combat scale and a few other early arriving insects. The tomato fence was moved to support a good crop rotation program and the center of the tomato rows were composted in preparation for the plantings of turnip seeds next week. Several of the large perennial beds were weeded and the bases of many nut trees were as well. The beets and radishes planted last week have begun to peek through the soil. Repairs to irrigation lines and soaker hoses continued in preparation for early spring planting. Spring planting season is getting close, but we must continue to be mindful of February cold spells yet to come.
January 14
A brisk, but beautiful day at the Municipal Court Garden today. Focus was winter maintenance, primarily consisting of weeding in preparation for future tilling and subsequent planting of potatoes. A lot of weeding was accomplished in many of the flower beds, as well. Besides weeding, one raised bed was planted with radishes and beets another raised bed received a good soil turnover and healthy addition of compost. Repairs to irrigation lines and soaker hoses was also completed.
January 7
Our first workday of the new year started with a light rain, but it did not dampen spirits. A lot of weeding was accomplished in the flower beds and raised vegetable garden beds. Although most of the herbaceous perennials above-ground growth died due to the hard freeze, their dead foliage remained in place to give non-migrating beneficial insects shelter from further freezes and high winds; pruning will begin in February. The garlic planted in November survived the hard freeze of December, unfortunately the brussels sprouts did not fare as well. The primary focus today was the planting of onions; we planted a total of five rows of onions with the two rows of variety 1015Y double planted to save space and the remaining rows consisted of yellow granex, red creole, and Texas legend. The Rotary Club of Killeen placed a sign adjacent to the peach trees they donated last year making a nice addition to the garden.
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