Vegetable Demonstration Garden
The last period’s harvest includes:
Leaf lettuce—34.5 pounds
Chinese lettuce—4 pounds
Flashy Trout lettuce—32 pounds
Turnips—13 pounds
Cabbage—6.7 pounds
Beets—20.3 pounds
A total of 110.5 pounds of fresh produce was harvested last week. This produce was donated to Heaven’s Harvest Food Bank and the Caring Place. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 428.928 pounds of demonstration garden produce and canned goods to local charities.
Weekly rainfall: 1.05 inches of rainfall were measured the period ending 04/09/2017.
Summary of garden activities
Spring crops were planted over the past 2 weeks. Row 3 was composted, leveled and 38 pepper plants were planted then caged as depicted here. 
Three eggplants were also added to row 3. Chives, parsley, sage, basil and tomatillos were planted in the round trellis area as illustrated below.
Chicken wire was placed to protect the salad bar from hungry rabbits! Soil was added to the straw bales (left pic) and beans, peppers and cucumbers were planted, watered in and fertilized with fish emulsion. Cukes are already emerging in the right pic!!
Trial beds were prepared with compost, leveled then Sweet Slice, Long Green Improved and Market More cucumber seed were planted. Irrigation lines in the trial beds were straightened to align with the cukes. Lemon Boy tomatoes, Contender beans, Dragon Tongue beans, Sugar Baby watermelon and cukes were planted in the front garden area. Raised beds were cleared of spent plants, composted and planted with a variety of veggies including peppers, beans, beets, radish, spinach, kohlrabi, Romaine lettuce, and Black Cherry tomatoes. Cosmos and marigolds were also planted in raised beds. How colorful!!
All plantings including the arbor and container garden were fertilized with fish emulsion. Trees in the orchard were pruned and the area weeded. 
African Blue Basil and watermelon were planted in the space in between the trees. The keyhole garden was cleared of dead plant material which was added to the compost bins. Garlic and onion rows were weeded (left pic). Lettuce is being harvested in the right pic.
The arbor area (pic below) and JMG beds were also weeded.
Carrots in row 4 were thinned. Potato plants like their home in the dirt pot depicted below!
Active compost piles were mixed with vegetable clippings and peels, egg shells, green grass and bread in an attempt to heat them up. Bin 3 reached a temperature of 104 degrees F at the end of the week.
Please visit our website for the next blog post scheduled April 24!
April Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for early spring planting:
Beans, snap and lima
Cantaloupe
Swiss chard (seeds or transplants)
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant (transplants)
Warm season greens
Okra
Pepper (transplants)
Pumpkin
Sweet potato slips
Southern peas
Summer squash
Winter squash
Tomatoes (transplants)
Watermelon
Come 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 9:00 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