Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Okra—29.77 pounds
Hot peppers— 1.21 pounds
Eggplant— 5.11 pounds
Crowder peas—0.66 pounds
Yard long beans—0.55 pound
Golden crispy melon—0.42 pound
Butternut squash—2.02 pounds
Acorn squash—0.43 pound

A total of 40.17 pounds of produce was harvested this week. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place and the Round Rock Area Serving Center. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 3,227.535 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: no rainfall was measured the week ending 09/18/2016.

Summary of garden activities
General maintenance tasks this week included irrigation repairs, fire ant eradication, weeding, and resetting the rat traps. Compost temperature on Friday measured 110 degrees F. Chicken wire fencing from the west end of the trellis row was removed, the row was weeded, amended, then garden peas, snow peas and snap peas were planted in the first 3 sections. Spent butternut and acorn squash plants were removed. Their beds were amended and turned. Trenching for the cinder block border in the orchard area was started. Raised bed gardeners performed routine maintenance and heavy digging in the JMG beds. It took a pick ax to break up the compacted soil!

September Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for early fall planting:
Artichoke transplants
Asian greens (seeds or transplants)
Beans, snap and lima
Beets
Broccoli (transplants)
Brussels sprouts (transplants)
Cabbage (transplants)
Collards (seeds or transplants)
Carrots
Cauliflower (transplants)
Cool season greens
Garlic
Swiss Chard (seeds or transplants)
Kohlrabi (seeds or transplants)
Kale (seeds or transplants)
Lettuce (seeds or transplants)
Onions (bunching/multiplying)
Mustard (seeds or transplants)
Spinach (seeds or transplants)
Shallots
Peas (English, snap, snow)
Radish
Turnip

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes*:
Tomatoes— 0.99 pound
Okra—18.44 pounds
Hot peppers— 2.99 pounds
Sweet peppers—5.03 pounds
Eggplant—32.78 pounds
Crowder peas—2.76 pounds
Zephyr squash—4.28 pounds
Yard long beans—6.84 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—7.16 pounds
Golden crispy melon—0.9 pound
Butternut squash—6.5 pounds

*The 9/4/2016  harvest is included in the above figures

A total of 88.67 pounds of produce was harvested this week, including the Friday, 9/4, harvest.  These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place.  To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 3,187.365 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 0.7 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 09/11/2016

Summary of garden activities
Pests and critters have been plaguing the garden this week! Zephyr and zucchini squash sustained damage from squash vine borers. They were treated with BT then covered with compost (left pic). Tomato plants in row 9 were trimmed (right pic).

                               

Root knot nematodes (see description below) were discovered in two raised bed gardens. All plants were removed in those two beds and Elbon rye grass planted. Rat traps have been catching critters eating our veggies! And, we noticed a snake hole under one of the tomato plants in row 8!! It might be taking care of those rat trappings for us. Watch your step in row 8!!  Mulch was pulled back from tomato plants in rows 8 and 9 then cottonseed meal, cornmeal, fertilizer and Epsom salts were mixed into the surrounding soil. Sea Tea was watered in afterwords. Cucumbers in row 5 were thinned (left pic). Okra plants continue to flower (right pic).

                       

The irrigation system was tested. Two leaks were repaired in the raised bed area. The climbing rose vine over the arbor was trimmed back. Compost temperature measured 110 degrees F on Tuesday and Friday. New organic material was added to the pile.  The herb garden (left pic) thrives in warm, dry weather.   Colorful lantana enjoys it’s home in the drought tolerant garden (right pic).

Root-Knot Nematodes in the Garden
Earlier this week, master gardeners noticed root-knot growths while clearing spent veggies in their raised beds.

Pathogenic nematodes are microscopic roundworms that live in the soil and plant roots. Nematodes use their needle-type mouth parts to feed on roots. Root-knot nematodes attack a variety of veggies including tomatoes, okra, lima beans and others.  The above pic illustrates tomato plant roots with nematode damage.  Diseased plants may wilt easily in hot weather and appear to have nutrient deficiencies. Under the soil, roots develop swollen areas called knots or galls. Large and small roots may have swellings on them and the root system may be shallow or rotted. Definitive diagnosis can be confirmed by physically examining the roots, as the gardeners did, or by laboratory testing.

Once pathogenic nematodes are identified in the garden, there are several remedies that can be undertaken. First, remove all diseased plants and their roots as soon as harvest is completed. Working the soil thoroughly and aerating the soil will help expose roundworms to the surface. Planting Elbon rye (cereal rye) in the fall months in those diseased areas will diminish nematode damage. Approximately ¾ to 1 pound of seed per 100 square feet of garden area will provide adequate coverage and growth. Once nematodes enter the Elbon rye roots, they become trapped and die. When cereal rye decomposes, organic acids are released stimulating healthy microorganisms to populate the soil. Rye can be mowed during the winter months then turned under 4-6 weeks before planting spring veggies. Some research has also shown that French dwarf-type marigolds planted in affected soils may also prevent nematodes from feeding on the roots of veggies. Marigolds should be solid plantings placed about 6 inches apart in the diseased areas. Nematodes will then snack on the marigold roots and leave the veggies alone! Of course, beneficial nematodes can also be applied to affected areas as described in our June 12, 2016 blog.

Other recommended treatments include moving the garden to a new location, rotating crops, removing all spent veggie plants immediately after harvest, and planting nematode-resistant plant varieties. This link will provide more information about pathogenic nematodes. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden26.html

September Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for late summer planting:
Artichoke transplants
Asian greens (seeds or transplants)
Beans, snap and lima
Beets
Broccoli (transplants)
Brussels sprouts (transplants)
Cabbage (transplants)
Collards (seeds or transplants)
Carrots
Cauliflower (transplants)
Swiss Chard (seeds or transplants)
Kohlrabi (seeds or transplants)
Kale (seeds or transplants)
Lettuce (seeds or transplants)
Onions (bunching/multiplying)
Mustard (seeds or transplants)
Spinach (seeds or transplants)
Shallots
Peas (English, snap, snow)
Radish
Turnip

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

Tuesday’s harvest includes*
Tomatoes— 0.6 pound
Okra—8.69 pounds
Hot peppers— 0.38 pounds
Eggplant—10.17 pounds
Crowder peas—0.61 pound
Zephyr squash—3.77 pounds
Yard long beans—1.09 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—3.84 pounds
Sweet potato leaves—3.6 pounds
*Friday’s harvest numbers will be included in next week’s blog.

A total of 32.75 pounds of produce was harvested on Tuesday.  Tuesday and Friday harvests were donated to the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 3,098.695 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 0.1 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 09/04/2016

Summary of garden activities
Another new raised bed was set and leveled on Tuesday. The new raised beds were filled with a mixture of half garden soil and half compost. Expanded shale was mixed in on Friday. Irrigation trenches were filled in. The irrigation system was then tested in the new beds, trial bed, and row garden areas. Repairs were made in trial bed B, row 5 and in the trellis row. General clean up of the keyhole garden, tomato plants in rows 8 and 9, and the wheelchair garden was accomplished. Additional soil and compost were added to the keyhole and wheelchair gardens. Row 4 was cleared of existing tomato plants, weeded then broad forked. Rat and mouse traps were cleared of their trappings and reset in row 5, where the critters have been dining on our delicious melons!! On Friday the compost pile temperature measured 110 degrees F. More plant material was chopped into the pile.

Colorful hot peppers are harvested in the left pic.  And, very TALL okra plants are harvested in the right pic!

A cluster of leaf footed bug nymphs crawling on southern pea plants–YIKES!

How it all begins….
All of our nutritious vegetables are started from seed. Our fall vegetables were started from seed on August 11. A total of 12 flats (240 plants) were sown. On August 25, the seedlings were potted up, fertilized and placed in filtered sunlight. Our veggies include rutabaga, turnips, 2 varieties of beets, 3 varieties of cabbage, 2 varieties of brussels sprouts, and radicchio.

There is still time to start veggie seedlings for fall planting in your home garden!

September Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for late summer planting:
Warm season greens
Beans–snap and lima
Beets
Broccoli (transplants)
Brussels sprouts (transplants)
Cabbage (transplants)
Collards (seeds or transplants)
Carrots
Cauliflower (transplants)
Swiss Chard (seeds or transplants)
Kohlrabi (seeds or transplants)
Kale
Onions (bunching/multiplying)
Mustard (seeds or transplants)
Summer squash
Peas (English, snap, snow)
Radish
Turnip

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!

Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes— 0.94 pound
Okra—12.44 pounds
Cucumbers—0.57 pound
Armenian cucumbers—2.18 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—0.8 pound
Sweet peppers— 0.43 pound
Hot peppers— 3.56 pounds
Eggplant—4.79 pounds
Butternut squash—21.04 pounds
Crowder peas—1.0 pound
Zephyr squash— 7.77 pounds
Yard long beans—1.83 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—3.64 pounds
Golden crispy melon—3.41 pounds

A total of 64.4 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place and  the Round Rock Area Serving Center. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 3,065.945  pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 3.0 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 08/28/2016

Summary of garden activities
General garden clean up occurred this week. Dead tomato plants from row 4 were removed. Sweet potato vines were cut back to allow foot traffic in the garden walkways. Spent plants were removed from the trellis row. Nutgrass was excavated from row 3. The orchard area was tidied up. Rat traps set between beds 5 and 6 were activated and those varmints took the bait! The compost pile was turned, green material and manure added. Temperature recorded on Friday was 110 degrees F. New raised beds are being set up for a new class. Preparation includes removing grass from the planned site, leveling the site, moving the raised bed frame to the new site, digging trenches for in-ground irrigation pipe to the beds, designing and connecting the irrigation pipe, then using soil and compost to fill the beds. Covering the in ground irrigation system with soil is the final step.  By Friday, many of these tasks had been completed. Some of the grass and soil removed from the new site was relocated to fill the trench on the south side of the herb garden. General maintenance and upkeep of the area continued over the week.

Hot peppers (left pic) and eggplant (right pic) thrive in the August heat!

Burgundy okra (left pic) is a prolific producer in hot summers.  Roses love a full day’s sun!  Caldwell pink rose is in full bloom (right pic).

August Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for late summer planting:
Warm season greens
Beans, snap and lima
Beets
Broccoli (transplants)
Brussels sprouts (transplants)
Cabbage (transplants)
Collards (seeds or transplants)
Carrots
Cauliflower (transplants)
Swiss Chard (seeds or transplants)
Cucumber
Kohlrabi (seeds or transplants)
Mustard (seeds or transplants)
Summer squash
Turnip

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes— 10.47 pounds
Okra—11.48 pounds
Cucumbers— 8.62 pounds
Armenian cucumbers—0.5 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—1.8 pounds
Sweet peppers—1.3 pounds
Hot peppers— 2.6 pounds
Eggplant—9 pounds
Butternut squash—76.44 pounds
Acorn squash—7.5 pounds
Zephyr squash—1.8 pounds
Yard long beans—0.5 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—5.6 pounds
Sweet potato leaves—2.4 pounds

A total of 140 pounds of produce was harvested on Friday. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 3,001.54 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 4.85 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 08/21/2016

Summary of garden activities
Activities in the garden were limited due to heavy rainfall over the week. Although we measured 4.85 inches of rain, this amount probably underestimates the actual rainfall hitting the ground. On Friday, gardeners cleared weeds in the orchard and removed spent cucumber and tomato plants from the trial beds. Sweet potato vines and butternut squash vines were cut back from the pepper row and walkways between rows 5 and 6. Rat traps were set in the walkway between rows 5 and 6 as well as in the melon row. Tendergreen and Straight 8 cucumbers were planted in row 5, caged and watered in with SeaTea. The compost pile temperature measured 93 degrees F. Additional vegetable and green matter were added. Raised bed gardeners harvested their veggies and performed general maintenance.

A monarch cluster is taking a rest stop on Greggs bluemist flower (left pic).  Belinda’s Dream is part of the rose garden family at the gardens (right pic).

August Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for late summer planting:
Warm season greens
Beans, snap and lima
Beets
Broccoli (transplants)
Brussels sprouts (transplants)
Cabbage (transplants)
Collards (seeds or transplants)
Carrots
Cauliflower (transplants)
Swiss Chard (seeds or transplants)
Cucumber
Kohlrabi (seeds or transplants)
Mustard (seeds or transplants)
Summer squash
Turnip

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes—11.82 pounds
Okra—16.85 pounds
Cucumbers— 19.81 pounds
Armenian cucumbers—0.3 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—16.3 pounds
Sweet peppers—4.3 pounds
Hot peppers— 13.3 pounds
Eggplant—2.7 pounds
Crowder peas— 0.5 pounds
Butternut squash— 28.2 pounds
Acorn squash—1.4 pounds
Yard long beans—3.9 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—5 pounds
Herbs—2.1 pounds
Golden Crispy melon—7.19 pounds
Yellow squash—5.3 pounds
Sweet potato vines—9.2 pounds

A total of 148.17 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 2,861.535 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: no rainfall was measured the week ending 08/14/2016

Summary of garden activities
Routine maintenance activities and harvesting encompassed most of the week’s activities. The demo garden continues to yield a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables!   Herb gardeners contributed rosemary and sage harvests to the weekly vegetable donation.  The compost bin temperature measured 95 degrees F on Tuesday.  The pile was turned and more waste material added to it.  Dead and dying plant material from the tomatoes in row 9 were cleared.  Three new tomato plants were placed in row 9 and the surrounding soil treated with diatomaceous earth. The west end of row 5 (where the beans used to live) was broad forked. Several leaks were identified in the irrigation system including the supply pipe going to trial bed D and in row 5. Rodents may be burrowing into the irrigation system as a water source during the dry summer season causing these leaks. More irrigation leaks were repaired on Friday in the drought tolerant garden. The orchard was weeded, composted, and mulched. Raised bed gardeners performed their usual harvesting and maintenance.

Gardeners harvest southern peas (left pic) and hand water the orchard in the right pic.

Turning the compost is hard work in the left pic.  Harvesting herbs and watering in the herb garden (right pic).

Minnesota midgets are personal-sized melons, which are YUMMY (left pic).  And the prettiest flowers in the garden belong to the luffah (right pic).

August Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for summer planting:
Warm season greens
Beans, snap and lima
Cucumber
Corn
Summer squash
Eggplant transplants
Pepper transplants
Irish potatoes

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes—22.83 pounds
Okra—9.68 pounds
Cucumbers—35.38 pounds
Armenian cucumbers—11.2 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—5.46 pounds
Sweet peppers— 4.09 pounds
Hot peppers—1.6 pounds
Eggplant— 4.99 pounds
Crowder peas—2.38 pounds
Butternut squash—52.5 pounds
Yard long beans— 0.37 pounds
Mexican sour gherkins—5.65 pounds
Melon—2.1 pounds
Golden Crispy melon—5.3 pounds
Yellow squash—1.85 pounds

A total of 165.38 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place and the Round Rock Area Serving Center. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 2,713.365 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: no rainfall was measured the week ending 08/07/2016

Summary of garden activities
What a huge assortment of veggies in this week’s harvest! Let’s get the compost metrics first thing:

Compost pile readings:           Tuesday     Friday
Old pile                                            92               95   (in degrees F)
New pile                                         103              110   (in degrees F)

On Tuesday, the old pile was screened and used to amend the east end of row 9.  The new pile was turned and more material chopped into it. On Friday, the old pile was screened again, down the the last 2 inches, and compost added to row 5. More green material, kitchen scraps and alpaca droppings were added to the new pile. Mulch was added to the tomatoes in row 10. Some of the tomatoes appeared heat stressed so the drip tape and row cover were rearranged for better irrigation coverage! The east end of row 9 was broad forked, weeded, and compost added. Then, four tomato plants were planted, mulched, caged and row covered. On Friday, one of the distressed tomato plants from Tuesday’s observation died and was replaced. Two additional tomato plants were placed in the east end of row 9. Rabbit fencing was removed from row 5 and transferred to cover squash plants in row 3. Irrigation zones 20-23 were tested for leaks and none were identified. The irrigation repair to zone 23 was successful so the area was filled in. Raised bed gardeners performed their general maintenance including weeding and hand watering the beds. Weeds were successfully sprayed out in the Peach orchard.

Butternut squash (left pic) and southern peas (right pic) are flourishing in the summer heat!

Master gardeners harvest beans (left pic) and hand water plants (right pic).

August Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for summer planting:
Warm season greens
Beans, snap and lima
Cucumber
Corn
Summer squash
Winter squash
Eggplant transplants
Tomato transplants
Pepper transplants
Irish potatoes

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes— 16.75 pounds
Okra—4.72 pounds
Cucumbers—49.73 pounds
Armenian cucumbers—0.84 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—5.3 pounds
Sweet peppers—1.4 pounds
Hot peppers—0.86 pounds
Eggplant—8.1 pounds
Crowder peas—0.4 pounds
Acorn squash—1.98 pounds
Mexican Mint Marigold—0.5 pounds (from the Drought Tolerant Garden)
Green beans—0.5 pounds

A total of 91.08 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 2,547.985 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 3.35 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 07/31/2016

Summary of garden activities
Looks like those “hit-or-miss” summer showers hit the demo garden last week giving the veggies an extra drink! Several leaks were identified in the irrigation system during the week. The leaking backflow preventer was repaired on Wednesday and zones 21-23 tested. More leaks were noted and fixed. Irrigation leaks were also identified in the drought tolerant garden. The peach orchard was weeded, composted and mulched. Rabbit fencing was removed from the okra row. On Tuesday, the old compost pile measured 95 degrees whereas the newer pile read 98 degrees F. The piles were turned and green material added to the bins. An “icky” disease on the Contender green bean stems was observed. Those diseased plants were pulled out and disposed. On Friday, peppers and okra in row 6 were fertilized with 6-2-2 and watered in. Fall tomatoes were planted in row 10. Varieties include Tycoon, Phoenix and Marzan Red. Humates were added in the south section of row 10 and left out in the north section. One of each tomato variety was planted in both sections. Let’s see if humates make a difference. As always, harvesting, weeding and general maintenance continues in the row garden and raised beds!  Master gardeners are harvesting veggies in the left pic.  Fall tomatoes are planted in the container garden in the right pic.

Red lima bean blossoms are showing on the vine in the left pic.  Golden crispy melons (right pic) are going to yield a HUGE harvest!

July Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for summer planting:
Warm season greens
Corn
Summer squash
Winter squash
Eggplant transplants
Tomato transplants
Pepper transplants

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!

Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes—53.62 pounds
Okra—4.61 pounds
Cucumbers—61.41 pounds
Green beans— 0.63 pounds
Armenian cucumbers—18.8 pounds
Lemon cucumbers—10.7 pounds
Sweet peppers— 1.5 pounds
Hot peppers—3.92 pounds
Eggplant—2.79 pounds
Sweet potato leaves— 3.8 pounds
Acorn squash— 2.5 pounds
Summer squash—2.41 pounds

A total of 166.69 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Annunciation Maternity Home and the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 2,456.905 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities!

Weekly rainfall: no rainfall was measured the week ending 07/24/2016

Summary of garden activities
Compost bin temperatures were measured as 95 degrees F in the new bin and 92 degrees in the old bin. Row 10 was weeded, amended and broad forked in preparation for fall tomato planting (left pic). The perimeter of the gardens and orchard were trimmed with the weed wacker (right pic).

The irrigation system was tested and a leak repaired in bed 6. Summer squash in row 3 was hand watered and zone 21 supplying the southern peas was turned on for extra watering.  A number of pests were observed in the okra row. Hordes of cucumber beetles along with another chewing insect pest were identified. Pest eggs were noted on leaf undersides and sprayed with water. Raised bed gardeners performed their usual garden maintenance and weeding (left pic).  The lesion on the pear (right pic) looks like bitter rot.

July Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for summer planting:
Warm season greens
Corn
Summer squash
Winter squash
Eggplant transplants
Tomato transplants
Pepper transplants

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps

Vegetable Demonstration Garden

This week’s harvest includes:
Tomatoes—112.06 pounds
Okra—3.61 pounds
Cucumbers—41.81 pounds
Green beans—5.5 pounds
Crowder peas— 0.61 pounds
Sweet peppers—1.08 pounds
Hot peppers—0.74 pounds
Eggplant—2 pounds
Potatoes—6.34 pounds
Lima beans—1.1 pounds
Barese melon—5.24 pounds
Summer squash—2.4 pounds

A total of 182.49 pounds of produce was harvested last week. These vegetables were donated to the Annunciation Maternity Home, the Caring Place and the Round Rock Area Serving Center. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 2,290.215 pounds of demonstration garden produce to local charities.

Weekly rainfall: 0.5 inches of rainfall were measured the week ending 07/17/2016

Summary of garden activities
Most of the week’s work centered around harvesting a wide variety of veggies.  The west end of row 3 was weeded and we found more potatoes in the process!    The area around the pear tree, in the right pic, was also weeded.

Row 3 (left pic) was then amended and broad forked. Humates were added to the far west end of row 3. Metal markers now divide the prepared soil in row 3 into two equal sections. Zucchini and zephyr squash seeds were planted, in equal numbers, in each section. The objective of this exercise is to examine the effect of humates on squash crops. Irrigation leaks were identified in zone 23 and attempts were made to repair them. Raised bed gardeners harvested and maintained their beds.  More garden material was added to the compost bins.  Raised beds (left pic) and the herb garden (right pic) were hand watered.

Cantaloupe and watermelon were harvested from the raised bed area then sampled during a work break (left pic)!  Watermelons are ready to harvest when the closest tendril to the fruit turns brown.   Okra is flowering and developing pods in the right pic.

July Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for summer planting:
Warm season greens
Cantaloupe (muskmelon)
Corn
Summer squash
Winter squash
Southern peas
Eggplant transplants
Tomato transplants
Pepper transplants

Come and visit us!
Our demonstration garden is located beside the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Inner Loop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 8:30 AM to noon, weather permitting. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners!
Click here for location on Google Maps