Vegetable Demonstration Garden
Last period’s harvest included:
Potatoes—81 pounds
Eggplant—0.41 pound
Yellow Squash—14.37 pounds
Patty Pan Squash—1.25 pounds
Zucchini Squash—1.5 pounds
Leeks—38.7 pounds
Swiss chard—1.69 pounds
Hot peppers—0.88 pound
Sweet peppers—0.19 pound
Tomatoes—43.15 pounds
Onions—314.46 pounds
Cucumbers—1.19 pounds
Rosemary—1.80 pounds
Sage—0.3 pound
Oregano—0.75 pound
WOW—over 501 pounds of produce were harvested over the last 2 weeks! These veggies were donated to the Caring Place and the Annunciation Maternity Home. To date, Williamson county master gardeners have donated a total of 1,147.562 pounds of demonstration garden produce and canned goods to local charities.
Weekly rainfall: 0.18 inch of rainfall was measured the period ending 05/21/2017.
Summary of garden activities
Master gardeners harvested an assortment of spring veggies fit for a gourmet chef! Check out those potatoes (left pic) and onions (right pic)!
Just think what you could do with 300 pounds of onions…French onion soup, fried onion rings, onion souffle. YUM! It’s amazing to see how successful the gardeners are in raising a wide variety of tomatoes–even purple ones!
Besides harvesting all these great fresh vegetables, gardeners continued to clear the rows, amend (left pic) and broad fork them, then plant the next crops. Tomatoes under inspection (right pic).
Crook neck and straight neck squash were planted, interspersed with marigolds. Okra was planted in the trial beds. Growing vegetables were mulched, as depicted below, in anticipation of more hot weather!
Raised bed gardeners planted green beans, crowder peas, basil, and peas. Potatoes even grow in raised beds in the left pic. The raised beds are yielding lots of leafy veggies in the right pic.
Cucumbers and green beans were harvested from the round trellis area. Garlic was finally harvested after 7 months of prolific growth. It takes 2-3 weeks for garlic to “cure” or dry before it’s ready to eat. The entire irrigation system was tested for leaks (pic below) and none were identified.
The drought tolerant garden area (both images) is maturing and enjoying the heat!
Warm Season Greens
So, what are warm weather greens? After some research, these are some warm season greens that may do well in our hardiness zone.
Red Leaf Amaranth—also known as Chinese spinach.
Perpetual Spinach
Malabar Spinach
New Zealand Spinach
Vulcan Chard
Crawford lettuce—grows right next to okra in the garden!
Komatsuna—a Japanese leaf vegetable–also called mustard spinach.
Tokyo Bekana—a Japanese version of Chinese cabbage.
Yukina Savoy—a mustard green, part of the Chinese cabbage family.
Bloody Dock—a member of the sorrel family.
Its challenging to grow greens in hot weather. It might be worthwhile to give them a try, if you’re a fan of greens.
May Gardening in Central Texas
The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension vegetable garden planting guide suggests the following vegetables for early summer planting:
Cantaloupe
Warm season greens
Okra
Pepper (transplants)
Pumpkin
Sweet potato slips
Southern peas
Winter squash
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