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Fall Plant Sale

August 1, 2019 by bluebonnet

Washington County Horticulture Committee
2019 FALL Vegetable Plant Sale – Now Accepting Orders (Flyer & Order Form Attached)  

Order Here

Calling all gardening enthusiasts!  The Washington County Extension Horticulture Committee is pleased to share with you an opportunity to purchase fall garden plants and support local scholarship at the same time!

For the second year the committee will be offering a selection of cool season plants including, arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale (curly and flat leaf), green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, and swiss chard.  A brief description of each cool season plant being offered in this line up has been included with the plant sale flyer to help you make the best decisions when selecting plants for your fall garden.

If the great selection and confidence in knowing the offering are the best suited varieties for our area isn’t enough, we are also offering these plants at $2.50/pack of four!  Also, all proceeds from this sale benefit the youth of Washington County through scholarships offered by the Committee.  Each year the Horticulture Committee works to identify qualified graduating seniors pursuing a degree in agriculture and awards a scholarship of $500 or more in May at the respective school assemblies.

Order forms are available online at http://washington.agrilife.org/ or at the Washington County Extension Office located at 1305 E Blue Bell Road in Brenham.  All orders must be paid for when they are placed and no orders will be accepted without payment.

Online orders for the Fall Garden Plant Sale can be submitted and paid by PayPal or credit card online at https://washington.agrilife.org/plantsale/

Orders are due by September 13th so don’t delay; get your orders in today.  Plant pick-up will be on Tuesday October 8th from 10:00am-5:30pm at the Washington County Fairgrounds Sales Facility in Brenham!  All plants must be picked up at this time!

For additional information about the Fall Garden Plant Sale please call the Extension Office at (979) 277-6212.

Orders are due by September 13th!  – Don’t delay, order today!

Pick-Up will be on Tuesday October 8th from 10:00am-5:30pm at the

Washington County Fairgrounds Sales Facility in Brenham

 

Filed Under: Plant Sales Tagged With: Herbs, Produce, Vegetables

2020 Training Class

July 26, 2019 by bluebonnet

Our  2020 Master Gardener Certification Training Class is scheduled each Thursday from January 16th – April 23rd with the final graduation class on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.  Participants from Austin, Colorado, Fayette & Washington Counties are welcome. The 64 hours of classes will be held at the Washington County Extension Sales Facility at 1305 East Bell Road, Brenham, Texas 77833 (use the Independence Rd entrance) , plus some field trips to be announced in class.  The updated training manual compiled by the Texas Master Gardener Association, is included in the $175 registration fee.  You may register online below or contact the Washington County Extension office at (979) 277-6262 for more information.

 

Bluebonnet Master Gardener Volunteer Program Application

 

2020 Training Class Flyer

Map to Open House & Class Location

2020 Training Class Flyer

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: CertificationClass, Disease, Earth-Kind, Herbs, Irrigation, LandscapeDesign, Lawns, Pests, Propagation, RainwaterHarvesting, Trees, Vegetables

Vegetable Gardening for Health & Pleasure

May 31, 2019 by bluebonnet

by Faye Beery, Bluebonnet Master Gardener Assocation

Garden Photo

Broccoli in front of tomatoes

Let’s face it, fresh vegetables just taste better.  As more articles appear about the need for a slimmer and healthier America, more people are paying attention to eating fresh fruits and vegetables and wondering how they can improve on what they consume.  According to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension publication,  The Vegetable Growers Handbook, web edition, complied and edited by J. G. Masabni, F. J. Dainello & S. D. Cotner (aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu), in the past, Texas ranked third in vegetable production behind  California and Florida, however, Texas produce acreage has declined to sixth place due to problems with plant diseases, droughts, and insects and competition with growers from Mexico.  Texans are showing a renewed interest in home gardening as one in every three families does some sort of gardening.  Texas gardeners enjoy a year around growing season according Texas A&M AgriLife’s Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide, EHT-0077 6/14.

Home-Grown Vegetables are More Nutritious

photo of Selling produce from BMGA's Sens Center Garden

Selling produce from BMGA’s Sens Center Garden


A concern is the increasing loss of nutrients in mass produced fruit and vegetables.  Most produce, with the exception of the tomato and pumpkin, can lose much of their nutritional value in the large market growing, transport and canning process. Donald Davis, PhD, while a researcher with the Biochemical Institute at the University. of Texas, Austin, led a team which analyzed the nutritional value of 43 fruits and vegetables from 1950 to 1999. He found that foods had a reduction in minerals, vitamins and proteins in 1999 than in 1950. An example is broccoli, which had 130 mg of calcium in 1950, but only 48 mg of calcium in 1999.   One possible explanation is that commercial growers select varieties for yield, growth rate, pest resistance and other attributes but are seldom selected for nutrient content.  See Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999; Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 23, No 6, 669-682 (2004).  Dr. Davis further explained that intensive agricultural practices reduced the amount of nutrients in the soil which fruits and vegetables need to grow.

photo of spinach

Spinach in a container garden

Fruits and vegetables destined to be shipped are picked before they are ripe, depriving the vegetable or fruit of reaching maturity and their full nutritive value.   Buying local produce, or growing it yourself, allows the produce you eat to be grown for flavor and healthfulness rather than to remain sturdy for transport over long distances. Foods continue to breathe, or respirate, after they are picked. This also leads to flavor and nutritional loss as well as moisture loss. Eating and preserving fresh foods helps you get more nutritional value from those foods. By growing your own fresh foods, you can add compost to ensure that your soil is healthy and provide plants with adequate nutrition.  You decide on your own gardening philosophy as whether to use commercial feritizer and other commercial products, whether to grow strictly with organic methods or to use a yoru own combination of methods.  Whatever your philosophy, you know exactly what has gone into growing your food, and what has not.

How you cook your vegetables plays a part in the nutrients as well. Steamed vegetables are generally thought to be more nutritious than boiled ones, as the gentle heat softens cells making nutrients more available according to Sarah Burns in Prevention magazine. She also recommends pairing your vegetables. Food compounds can affect how we absorb their nutrients.  According to Steve Schwartz, PhD, a professor of food science at Ohio State University, a 2004 study of salsa and avocado found that these two foods up the body’s absorption of the tomato’s cancer fighting lycopene.

Gardening for Therapeutic Benefits
A search of gardening websites reveals a plethora of types of gardens, from square foot gardens to container gardens and large square gardens for large landowners.  Gardening also has therapeutic benefits, and according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Therapeutic benefits have been understood since ancient times.  In the 19th century, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and considered the father of American psychiatry, reported that garden settings held curative effects for people with mental illness.  The American Horticultural Therapy Association website gives techniques of therapeutic treatment benefits for a wide range of individuals with physical and mental disabilities. In today’s hectic world, gardening contributes to a slow down and stress reduction as well as being fun and producing healthy, delicious vegetables and fruits.  Looking forward to fresh produce for the table is exciting, and introducing children to gardening and eating vegetables they grow can encourage better health habits.

How to Begin Raising Vegetables
So just how does one go about raising vegetables?  A good first start is to think about what you like to eat.  It would be a good idea to start small, and increase the number of vegetables as one becomes more proficient in gardening to be sure that you have the time and physical ability to work in the garden.  Seed packets are available in many places these days, even in the grocery store.  Nurseries and hardware stores have seed packets, as well as small vegetables ready to transplant in your garden.   If you are starting with container gardening, you can grow most anything except maybe corn.  Your garden should have good soil, and a soil test can kit can be obtained from your local county extension office.

Compost will probably be needed for the soil to provide nutrients and aeration.   The garden should have a source of water, as rainfall is unpredictable.   Basic tools, such as a hoe, shovel, rake, spade forks, and probably a tiller will be necessary to work the soil for larger gardens in order to keep the weeds out.  Soil preparation is a must.  If your garden is small, vertical gardening, with supports for climbing plants, such as beans or cucumbers is a good way to save space.  You should also decide whether you will have a spring garden or a fall garden, and will need to know which vegetables are cool weather vegetables (such as lettuce and spinach) or hot weather plants such as corn or cucumbers and tomatoes.

Get gardening help from Master Gardeners and AgriLife Extension. As an example, most insects are not harmful to gardens, and it is important to know who the good guys are and how they can help you in the garden.  If you have a problem, or a question, get help! The Master Gardener Program has knowledgeable people who can help with questions about your garden.  There are websites and books that can help also. Your County Extension office has brochures and programs that can help with gardening questions and problems and they may refer to you to a local Master Gardener in your county. The Aggie website contains much information.  A good place to start is the Easy Gardening Series published online by Aggie Horticulture.   The Horticulture Committee of Austin County, Texas sponsors two seminars, spring and late summer/early fall, on vegetable gardening and other related topics. The next one is August 23, 2019 at the Liedertafel Hall in Sealy, Texas.  Visit the BMGA Calendar for more details on that seminar.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Fruit, Seminar, Vegetables

Local Master Gardeners Donate Cabbage Door Prizes

February 8, 2019 by bluebonnet

Malcomb Harding with his cabbage

Master Gardener Malcolm Harding and his Dutch Flat cabbage.

Local Master Gardeners Malcolm Harding and Susan Yancey donated to the Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association cabbages they grew and harvested from their gardens in Washington and Austin Counties, respectively.  The cabbages, all the Dutch Flat variety and planted in the Fall of 2018, were given away as door prizes at the Washington County Lunch-N-Learn program on Tuesday, February 6, 2019 in Brenham.  The Lunch-N-Learn programs are open to the public. Dr. Kevin Crosby of Texas A&M was the featured speaker about growing tomatoes in our area. A lunch time crowd of 60+ attended the session.  After each Lunch-N-Learn program in Brenham, Texas A&M AgriLife Agricultural Extension Agent Kara Matheney conducts a drawing for horticultural related door prizes.

Susan Yancey with cabbage

Master Gardener Susan Yancey and her Dutch Flat cabbage.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: LunchandLearn, Vegetables

Donate Extra Garden Produce to Help Those in Need

January 18, 2019 by bluebonnet

Did you know that one out of six Americans does not know from where their next meal will come?  There are people in our communities and surrounding areas that are experiencing hunger. Food pantries help fill in the gaps but often lack healthy, fresh produce.

AmpleHarvest.org  is a non-profit organization that uses the power of the internet to connect 8,387 registered local food pantries spread across all 50 states with gardeners willing to donate their excess produce.  AmpleHarvest.org reminds Master Gardeners and all home gardeners that they can help by planting just a little extra to donate and improve the health of their neighbors and community. When you donate your excess garden bounty, you are helping to relieve hunger, reduce food waste and making an impact on obesity and other food-related diseases.  If your good gardening skills provide you with extra bounty, more than your family can eat,  don’t let it go to waste! Even a small donation of freash vegetables and fruit will help increase food security in your area.

Unfortuantly, not all food pantries can accept fresh produce.  AmpleHarvest.org connects gardeners to food pantries near them that can accept fresh produce.  To find a food pantry near you to donate your fresh harvest visit  www.AmpleHarvest.org/find-pantry

Today, AmpleHarvest.org is reaching out to gardeners in Southern states, like Texas, fortunate enough to have an active gardening season this time of year to remind them of the need for donations.  Winter months are usually a lean time of year for donations and this year other circumstances have placed added pressures on the food pantries.   Regardless of anyone’s politics,  federal employees who are impacted by the government shutdown as well as those working for businesses in the community that are also affected still need to eat fresh healthy food.

The AmpleHarvest.org issued  a press release at www.AmpleHarvest.org/shutdown  encouraging Southern gardeners to help.

Some of the food pantries in BMGA’s area that accept fresh produce now, or anytime, are:

Christian Community Services Center
Pantry #3864
814 N. LaSalle St.
Navasota, TX 77868Contact: Patricia Gaston
Phone: 936-825-7454
Fax: 936-825-7454
Email: pgaston2008@yahoo.com

Lighthouse
Pantry #4057
929 Silliman St.
Sealy, TX 77474
Phone: 979-398-9591
Email: lighthousepcg.sealy@yahoo.com

Schulenburg Area Food Pantry
Pantry #4531
1835 Oakland Rd
Schulenburg, TX 78956
Contact: betty ohnheiser
Phone: 979 561 6439

Smithville Food Pantry
Pantry #5317
107 SW 2nd Street
Smithville, TX 78957
Contact: S.A. Martin
Phone: 512-237-2322
Email: smithvillefoodpantry@gmail.com

 

 

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Fruit, Vegetables

2019 Tomato & Pepper Sale-Order by March 15, 2019

January 9, 2019 by bluebonnet

Flier for Tomato & Plant SaleThe Washington County Horticulture Committee kicked off its popluar Tomato & Pepper Plant Sale on January 7, 2019.  Orders can be placed through March 15th, and are now also accepted online.  All proceeds from the sale benefit the AgriLife Extension Horticulture Committee’s Scholarship Fund.  Scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors in Brenham and Burton who are pursuing a degree in agrculture related fields.

In addition to hardy tomato and pepper plants, the sale includes eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, cilantro, parsley & dill plants all arriving in time for Spring planting.

Plant pick-up is Tuesday, March 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Washington County Fairgrounds Sales Facility.

Order Online Here

2019 Order From for Cash or Check

Tomato Variety Descriptions

Filed Under: Plant Sales Tagged With: Herbs, Vegetables

FALL Garden Plant Sale – Order Forms

August 16, 2018 by bluebonnet

Flier for Fall Vegetable Sale

Calling all gardening enthusiasts!  The Washington County Extension Horticulture Committee is pleased to share with you an opportunity to purchase fall garden plants and support local scholarship at the same time!

For the second year the committee will be offering a selection of cool season plants including, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, and swiss chard.  A brief description of each cool season plant being offered in this line up has been included with the plant sale flyer to help you make the best decisions when selecting plants for your fall garden.

If the great selection and confidence in knowing the offering are the best suited varieties for our area isn’t enough, we are also offering these plants at $2.25/pack of four!  Also, all proceeds from this sale benefit the youth of Washington County through scholarships offered by the Committee.  Each year the Horticulture Committee works to identify qualified graduating seniors pursuing a degree in agriculture and awards a scholarship of $500 or more in May at the respective school assemblies.

2018 Fall Plant Sale Order Packet.

Order forms are available at the above link, online at http://washington.agrilife.org/ or at the Washington County Extension Office located at 1305 E Blue Bell Road in Brenham.  All orders must be paid for when they are placed and no orders will be accepted without payment.

**NEW for 2018, online orders for the Fall Garden Plant Sale can be submitted and paid by PayPal or credit card online at https://washington.agrilife.org/plantsale/

Orders are due by September 14th so don’t delay, get your orders in today.  Plant pick-up will be on Tuesday October 9th from 10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the
Washington County Fairgrounds Sales Facility in Brenham!  All plants must be picked up at this time!

Filed Under: Plant Sales Tagged With: Vegetables

Bellville Town & Country Garden Club’s Annual Arbor Day Award

May 31, 2018 by bluebonnet

Award to Garry Kroeger

Harold Pieratt (BMGA President), Cathi Pendergrast, Garry Kroeger

 

Annually, the Bellville Town and Country Garden Club awards a person or place in Bellville in honor of Arbor Day.  The first Friday in November in Texas is the state’s Arbor Day.  National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April.  This April the garden club purchased a Meyer lemon tree from the BMGA Plant Sale held in Sealy and chose BMGA member Garry Kroeger as their Arbor Day Award recipient.  Garden club and BMGA member Cathi Pendergraft presented Garry with the tree at BMGA’s May 29, 2018 monthly meeting in Sealy.

Mr. Kroeger is the project leader for BMGA’s thriving Sens Center Vegetable Demonstration Garden, with the help of BMGA member Pete Smith and a team of other BMGA volunteers.  The garden is located behind the Sens Community Center in Bellville and is used for educational purposes including at the 2017 BMGA Kids Kamp last summer.  The garden provides produce to local non-profits, Austin County residents in need and Mr. Kroeger and his dedicated team of Master Gardener volunteers sell excess produce at the Farmer’s Market in Bellville.  As Ms. Pendergraft says, “He has done this for years so who better to award it to?”

BMGA is very proud of Garry Kroeger, an Austin County resident who supports the efforts of BMGA’s four-county community (Austin, Colorado, Fayette and Washington) to increase the knowledge of gardening to the general public.

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Vegetables

Farmer’s Market at Washington on the Brazos State Park

March 22, 2018 by bluebonnet

Photo of historical housesWashington on the Brazos State Park is hosting a Farmer’s Market on the 3rd Saturday of April-July, 2018.   Master Gardeners interested in selling their bumper crop of produce may set up in a 10’ x 10’  space under the live oaks in front of the park Visitor’s Center for $10.00 per Saturday.  Or, come out and shop an supported our local farmers and gardeners.

All vendors must sell products made, grown or produced by the vendor within surrounding counties of Washington or no further than 50 miles.
Farmer's Market Vendor App

Farmer's Market Vendor App 2

 

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Fruit, Vegetables

Bellville Farmers’ Markets

February 15, 2018 by bluebonnet

The Bellville Chamber of Commerce sponsors its Bellville Farmers Markets’ on the 1st Saturday of every month, rain or shine. BMGA Master Gardeners Garry Kroeger and Pete Smith  sell produce on occasion from the Bluebonnet Master Gardeners’ Sens Center Demonstration Garden (a.k.a Garry’s Garden in honor of Garry’s hard work and dedication in making this garden a huge success).  Any Master Gardener with excess produce from their home or BMGA sponsored gardens are invited to either donate their produce to Garry & Pete to sell  along with the Sens Center Garden produce or, you may bring and set up your own table for $10 under the Bishop Pavilion in Bellville and sell your produce.  You may also bring your canned and prepared products; however beautiful fresh  locally grown produce is preferred.  For more information contact Garry Kroeger or Tammy Bond with the Bellville Chamber of Commerce.

Flyer Bellvile Farmers Markets

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: Fruit, Produce, Vegetables

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