Time for Planting

Late February through early March is time to plant a summer vegetable garden in the deep south Texas. We have a few carry-overs in our garden - like the tomatoes that went in last October. In spite of the neglect they received, there are some plum-sized fruits on a couple of plants. Asparagus is being harvested every other day - and hopefully we'll continue this for a couple of months. The asparagus roots were planted in March of 2006. Maintenance consists of spreading an inch or so of compost over the bed each spring, keeping the bed free of weeds, and watering.

My little assistant took over this year's planting. Here are Kentucky Wonder pole beans - after she puts the seed in she gives the dirt a nice pat to help make good contact between the seed and the dirt. She also planted mounds of squash - both yellow crookneck and zucchini. But she'll tell you they're all "blue" squash - since that was the color of the seeds.

Finally, a nice drink of water for everything in the garden. Once the seeds have sprouted, we'll "mulch" the bare dirt with hay. That'll help keep weed seeds from sprouting and tills nicely into the soil at the end of the growing season.

If you have herbs hanging on from last year, you may want to give them a nice haircut. My basils, tarragon, parsleys, and mints have responded well to heavy trimming. Cilantro is trying to go to seed - and the dill has self-seeded in all the empty garden beds. The dill can stay for a little while longer - just until we're ready to plant the black-eyed peas and okra.

This is the first year that we made enough compost for a generous application in all the vegetable beds! I hope you're composting, too!