The experience of Don Finley at the Westbury Community Garden Don Finley has a 25’ x 4.5’ garden bed with a border of 8” square concrete blocks. Prior to the late December 2022 freeze, he mulched around each vegetable with a thick layer of pine needles. He then covered the bed with sheets and sealed…
The experience at Westbury Community Garden and at Ray Sher and Gary Edmondson’s yard. Our method for protecting the citrus trees in the February 2021 freeze had minimal success. That year we piled leaves against the citrus tree trunks surrounding a 5-gallon bucket of water and wrapped the whole thing with a blanket. Most trees…
It is possible to recover many vegetables after this freeze. Do not be too hasty in pulling out plants because they do not look healthy. Begin by removing the completely dead portion of a plant, especially those that look mushy. Do not pull out the roots! Sometimes parts of the plant in the soil can…
The fall seed packs are ready to go! They are $18 per pack for WCG gardeners, $20 for non-WCG gardeners (friends, neighbors, whoever). There are 30 varieties of seeds in each pack, and there are 60 complete packs. There are limited quantities of two specialty items available for purchase separately: kohlrabi for $1.50/pkt and golden beets…
The Teach For America Volunteer Group joined our WCG members in preparing the orchard beds for planting replacement fruit trees at the March, 2022, workday. The remaining roots of the frozen trees from 2/15/2021 Winter Storm Uri were removed, weeds were removed, most of the bed’s diameters were extended, a grass barrier was installed and…
We gardeners are all plagued to a varying extent by blood sucking, disease-spreading, itchy Mosquitoes in the Houston area. Currently they’re not especially annoying at WCG until dusk. But this will likely change with heavy rains & absent lovely summer breezes. I’ve read that rubbing native American Beautyberry leaves on your skin is a natural…
Weeding is not hard. It is easy and is an integral and necessary part of gardening. Make them your friends – they type of friends you want to never see again. How to Keep the Weeds Away 1. For the areas where Astroturf is not used and the areas where Astroturf will be removed, a…
Garden beds need to be mulched with leaves, alfalfa hay or pine needles by mid-March, or as quickly after that to keep weeds down and more importantly to retain moisture in the soil after watering. In early June, there are usually a few fall/winter crops that are hanging on for dear life, fighting disease…
With one or two garden beds, or even a large multi-bed garden, a little bit of planning can lead to bountiful harvests of veggies you prefer to eat. This is a guide to help gardeners decide what to grow and how much of it to grow. Planning Make a list of the fall veggies you…
To avoid pests and diseases, we harvest tomatoes and peppers (both sweet and hot) at the first sign of blush (red, yellow, gold, purple, black). They are then put on our kitchen counter or other surface (not necessary to be in sunlight) to ripen. In this way, we prevent damage that would have happened between…