Harvested from the garden this week.
Tomatoes 9.2 lbs (green tomatoes that were ripened at home),
Kohlrabi 9.5 lbs.,
Rutabaga 3 lbs.,
Broccoli .5,
Collards 3.5,
Bok Choy 9lbs.

Donations of our garden produce this week was made to…
The Caring Place in Georgetown – 19lbs of produce.

This week we continued amending the soil in the garden by adding compost and cottonseed meal to two rows in the row garden. After we raked the compost and cottonseed meal together, we used a broad fork to mix it into the garden soil. 

 

Digging and locating buried irrigation pipes and valves continues.  There is lots of work needed to finish the irrigation retrofit. Because of roots and buried irrigation electrical lines around the valves and pipes, the digging is done mostly with small hand tools. Volunteers are welcome to help with this project!  Green thumbs are not necessary.

 

Some of the seeds planted last week have germinated and they received a good watering. Watering is critical during the germination stage so the seedlings don’t dry out. This week we also planted spinach plants and sowed lettuce seeds in two of the raised beds as well as beets, radishes and turnips seeds.  We continue to spray the brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts ) with BT (an organic insecticide product) as protective maintenance against cabbage looper caterpillars.

Come and see us!

The demonstration garden is located north of the Williamson County Extension Office driveway at 3151 SE Innerloop Road, Georgetown, Texas. Master gardeners are usually at work in the vegetable garden on Tuesday, and sometimes Friday, mornings from 9:00 to 11:00. Anyone is welcome to stop by to see the garden or to ask questions of the master gardeners.

December Gardening:
Here in central Texas we can still plant vegetables in the garden during December. Asian greens can be planted from seed or transplants though the end of February. Lettuce, mesclun and other cool season greens such as mache, arugula or endive can be planted through March, either from seeds or transplants. Spinach can be planted from transplants or seeds through the end of February and radishes can be planted from seed through the end of March.

Although most of these crops can take a frost, it is best to cover them with row cover during the coldest winter weather. Most of these winter vegetables are heavy users of nitrogen. So it is best to fertilize them once or twice a month during the growing season. All of the brassicas in your winter veggie garden, and many of the leafy crops too, are subject to damage from cabbage loopers or other insects until the first really hard freeze kills them. They can usually be controlled by application of BT (bacillus thuringiensis) or some other organic insecticide such as spinosad.

Useful Links

Williamson County AgriLife

Agrilife insect identification page

Texas A&M plant disease diagnostic lab

Texas A&M tomato problem solver

Texas A&M agriLife extension service soil, water and forage testing laboratory