There are only four weeks left until the big Garden Fair and Plant Sale! So we have been working twice a week in an effort to get the garden ready for the big day.
The wind has continued to bedevil us this week. The high winds last Tuesday ripped some of the row covers to shreds so we will have to replace them. They also made it impossible for us to plant. So we spent much of that day doing bed maintenance and weeding the row garden and perennial areas. We hand-watered many of the beds, especially those that have been recently planted with seeds. The wind has been so strong that we may have lost some of the seeds and may need to replant.
We did harvest a good bit of lettuce from the row garden this week so we were able to make a delivery to The Caring Place. We also pulled some radicchio out of the planting table. There wasn’t enough to donate, so we divided it up among the folks who were hardy enough to brave the 40 mph wind gusts.
The weather was better later in the week and we got a lot more done. We harvested some radishes, lettuce and other salad greens from the raised beds and planting table. In the row garden we cultivated and weeded all the rows and added more drip line to the irrigation system.
With the wind at a more normal level we were able to amend several of the raised beds and to plant seeds that would have blown away earlier in the week. We put a heavy layer of compost as well as molasses and cottonseed meal on the beds where most of the nightshade plants (tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) will live this summer. We try to rotate the nightshade plants between the beds each year to make it more difficult for the crawling insects and nematodes that like nightshade plants to attack them.
Last week we had divided and transplanted several herbs in the culinary bed. This week we gave the herb beds a dose of compost, molasses and cottonseed meal as well.
We planted beets, mustard, radishes, Asian greens, beans, squash, cucumbers and watermelon from seed. We also put in some tomato transplants. We had planted several veggies from seed over the last two weeks. Some of them seem to be making it and some not so much. We have seedlings of turnips, Asian greens, chard, beets and kohlrabi poking through the ground now. However, some of the chard as well as the mache and kale have failed to make an appearance. These plants have small seeds and it is possible that the high winds over the last week and a half have blown them away.
After planting we fed everything with liquid fertilizer containing fish oil and seaweed extract and then hand-watered the seeds and transplants.
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 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.
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