Vegetable Gardening Begins

Well, it’s time to get started with the garden again, here in the great state of Texas. I am so excited this year, as the garden has gotten bigger and that means (God willing) a bigger harvest, from a larger variety of plantings.

A lot has happened through the fall and winter months in my vegetable garden in regard to soil improvement. I try to bring in as many cubic yards of rotted horse manure as I can and either get it turned it into the garden, or I’ve composted it with a variety of other plant wastes and then turned it under as well. This type of diligent soil improvement is necessary in my Black Gumbo Clay soil.

Doing so has made a major difference in the structure and tilth of the soil. The red worms and night crawlers have exploded in quantity, and now they help do most of the hard work for me. Every time you take advantage of doing soil improvement in your garden it is always worth the effort. Planting a cover crop of some kind also helps. I also try to plant Annual Rye Grass or another as a cover crop in the fall and turn it under in January or February. This gives it enough time to decompose before my spring planting.

Every spring I plant the plants I consider "staples" like Bush variety Green Beans, Asparagus, Yellow Sweet Corn, Zucchini, Yellow and Red Onions, Red Potatoes, Yellow Crookneck Squash, Carrots, Sunflower, Pickling Cucumbers, Cilantro, Jalapeno Peppers and Pumpkin.

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I'd better get out to the garden this morning. Lots more work to do. I hope you'll follow me on Facebook, and "LIKE" my "Vegetable Gardening By Steven Coyne" page.