Well, another year is nearly in the books, and the highs and (ahem) lows of the gardens (at least MY gardens) are fortunately, soon to be forgot... For now, I am content to have this small break from canning more Salsa Verde from the veritable unending supply of green tomatoes, just to sit here and peck out this post.
I sure hope you had many enjoyable moments from your gardening ventures this year, and if you’re like most of us, you learned a few things along the way.
Here at the Gonzales Master Gardeners, we had our Winter Social, which was a great success, and well attended despite the threat of poor weather. There was a wonderful spread of good food, as usual, and many smiling faces. I have to think we have a collection of some of the better cooks in the area, and we sure do benefit from them when it is time for a feast! After the meal, we had a meeting, and ironed out some of the plans for the 2018 Spring Plant Sale.
I was lucky enough to attend 2 classes recently, Drip Irrigation, and Practical Fruit at Home. They were captained by Jim and Gail Johnson, respectively, and both very informative, and judging by the attendance, very popular. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage veteran members to attend some of the classes when they can, since they do change from time to time, and the Fruit and Nut class was a good example of that. As part of the Drip Irrigation class, Jim also had some new planting calendars he put together that should be a great help.
Myself, I will be getting a few things started in the greenhouse this weekend already.. Some cuttings from tomatoes I might try to over-winter, some asparagus seeds, pepper seeds, and eggplant seeds for my spring garden. as well as some chives, onion, and leek seeds. (The seeds for the Spring Plant Sale need to wait a little still.) I will be planting some of my plants out in the garden before the sale, and I have to kinda shuffle seed flats since I have only one heat mat. In the garden, I'm planning on planting some kohlrabi, spinach, lettuce, chard, turnips, and rutabaga.. with row covers, I should be able to get some of them to produce before January is over. With the weather crazy and warm as it has been, they should sprout fine and if they are warm enough to sprout, they should be fine.
The 3rd grade Black Walnut Classes went off very well. Many happy 3rd graders passed through the PACE building, as they participated in their 3rd project with the Gonzales Master Gardeners in so many years. They learned a bit of history of the region and the Black Walnut trees. They learned about Natural Resources, Renewable, and Sustainable Resources, and they planted some Black Walnut trees. A lot of Black Walnut Trees. Congrats to the efforts of Donna Bell, and her team for a successful day with the kids. As far as I could tell, everyone enjoyed it, and the kids seemed interested and eager to learn.
I will sign off here for this post, and until next year.. Have a fun, Merry, and above all, safe, Christmas and New Years!
I sure hope you had many enjoyable moments from your gardening ventures this year, and if you’re like most of us, you learned a few things along the way.
Here at the Gonzales Master Gardeners, we had our Winter Social, which was a great success, and well attended despite the threat of poor weather. There was a wonderful spread of good food, as usual, and many smiling faces. I have to think we have a collection of some of the better cooks in the area, and we sure do benefit from them when it is time for a feast! After the meal, we had a meeting, and ironed out some of the plans for the 2018 Spring Plant Sale.
I was lucky enough to attend 2 classes recently, Drip Irrigation, and Practical Fruit at Home. They were captained by Jim and Gail Johnson, respectively, and both very informative, and judging by the attendance, very popular. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage veteran members to attend some of the classes when they can, since they do change from time to time, and the Fruit and Nut class was a good example of that. As part of the Drip Irrigation class, Jim also had some new planting calendars he put together that should be a great help.
Myself, I will be getting a few things started in the greenhouse this weekend already.. Some cuttings from tomatoes I might try to over-winter, some asparagus seeds, pepper seeds, and eggplant seeds for my spring garden. as well as some chives, onion, and leek seeds. (The seeds for the Spring Plant Sale need to wait a little still.) I will be planting some of my plants out in the garden before the sale, and I have to kinda shuffle seed flats since I have only one heat mat. In the garden, I'm planning on planting some kohlrabi, spinach, lettuce, chard, turnips, and rutabaga.. with row covers, I should be able to get some of them to produce before January is over. With the weather crazy and warm as it has been, they should sprout fine and if they are warm enough to sprout, they should be fine.
The 3rd grade Black Walnut Classes went off very well. Many happy 3rd graders passed through the PACE building, as they participated in their 3rd project with the Gonzales Master Gardeners in so many years. They learned a bit of history of the region and the Black Walnut trees. They learned about Natural Resources, Renewable, and Sustainable Resources, and they planted some Black Walnut trees. A lot of Black Walnut Trees. Congrats to the efforts of Donna Bell, and her team for a successful day with the kids. As far as I could tell, everyone enjoyed it, and the kids seemed interested and eager to learn.
I will sign off here for this post, and until next year.. Have a fun, Merry, and above all, safe, Christmas and New Years!