Walker County Chief Gardeners Rhonda Hanks, Jill Warren and Lisa Howell provided a wealth of fall gardening information Monday at the Huntsville Public Library. Topics range from the plants that grow best in the region to soil research and the creation of different types of gardens. They also shared their experiences of raising good beetles and butterflies, planting stumbling blocks early, and using fewer pesticides.
One of Hanks' first recommendations was to test the soil in his garden and check the pH of the commercial soil he bought. Your local AgriLife representative office provides a bag and a form that anyone can use to send samples to test for nutritional deficiencies, toxic chemicals, and minerals. If you don't have enough space for a large garden, raised beds or containers can still produce impressive amounts of fresh vegetables and herbs.
According to the Texas Gardener's fall planting guidelines, it's time to plant Brussels sprouts, turnips, and potatoes. October is the window for beets, broccoli, cabbage, and Swiss chard. Lettuce seeds can be sown directly on flat ground from October 10, followed by spinach, carrots and radishes in November.
For those who don't have time to tend to the garden this fall, planting a ground cover will help replace nitrogen and prevent soil erosion. The accumulation of dead leaves, wood chips, grass clippings and pine needles on the property from last season will also help the soil maintain its balance and moisture during the winter months. Avoid plowing the soil in late summer and cover it with compost.
Warren explains in great detail how to rid your plants of damaging insects and how best to protect your plants during frost. He recommends removing aphids by cutting or crushing heavily infested leaves and plants. It's not always easy to tell the difference between good and bad insects, so keeping them in a water bottle or glass container can help you determine which ones will help your plants and which ones will destroy them.
When the first frost hits, wrapping the plants in blankets and ice blankets at dusk and pinning them in the corners will retain more warmth than tying a blanket around the base or roots. Exposing plants to daylight when temperatures exceed freezing, even for a few hours, increases their chances of survival. String lights with large bulbs can also help keep plants warm at night, as long as they don't touch them directly.
Lisa Howell closed the class with a presentation on growing pila, a low-maintenance loft bed that mimics nature. It requires no digging and is drought tolerant. The raised bed shape allows the gardener to care for it without bending over or building a perimeter. The base can be made of tree trunks, twigs and dead leaves, which hold water better than a few feet of soil. It also generates heat and slowly releases nutrients, making fertilizer unnecessary.
The next Master Gardeners Public Library event will include rainwater and other water conservation tips on Monday, September 19 at 10:30 am. They will have an annual fall crop sale from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. October 8 at 102 Tam Road in Huntsville, two miles north of the Pilot Truck Stop on Interstate 75 North.
To view the complete East Texas Fall Planting Guide in PDF format, use this link:
http://counties.agrilife.org/sanaugustin/files/2011/06/east_txplanting_guide_3.pdf
For a visual map, see https://www.ufseeds.com/texas-vegetable-planting-calendar.html
For a complete to-do list showing what needs to be done each month,
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening.
Use the calendar at https://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening for daily gardening tips based on the ancient practice of gardening on the moon.
For more information on Hugelkultur, see https://richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ and https://www.permaculturenews.org/?s=hugelkultur.
