Caring for Your Winter Garden
Winter gardening in Houston is wonderful. We get to garden in cooler temperatures (sometimes still in shorts), the bugs and pests are less, and the crops are smaller and more manageable. Plus, when we garden this time of year, we partake in a quiet break from the holiday hustle and bustle.
Here are Three Tips to Keep Your Garden Thriving
Turn Down Irrigation
Our days are cooler and we experience more rain in the Houston winter. So, now is a good time to check your irrigation system and see how often you are watering your garden. We love drip systems that water the roots slowly for deeper roots and more resilient plants. If your plants are established, we recommend watering a kitchen garden by drip 2 to 3 times a week for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. The timing will vary depending on how much sunlight your garden gets.
Fertilize Monthly
The veggies in our winter kitchen garden do not require as much fertilizer as spring and summer veggies. However, we want to keep our soil healthy and our plants fed. We recommend fertilizing monthly in the winter with one of the following: organic compost (great for mounding around base of larger plants like broccoli); cottonseed meal (sprinkle on soil and work in, great for greens); and liquid fertilizer containing fish emulsion (give the garden a good soak, it’s quickly absorbed by your plants).
Harvest and Sow
If you haven’t already, it is time to remove warm season crops from your garden. Peppers and Eggplant are biennial so if you have space in your garden and the plants look healthy, those veggies can stay. And, some Houston gardeners still have tomatoes that were planted in July/August that are slowly ripening. It’s okay to keep them and hope they ripen soon.
If you want to add veggies to your garden, lettuces are perfect to plant in December. When you are deciding what to plant, consider how long it will take before the plant is ready to harvest and pick something that will be ready to harvest in the next three months. Our guess is that you will want space in your garden in March for planting all the spring goodies like tomatoes and peppers.
If you choose to plant lettuce, plant transplants and seeds to give you a continuous crop of lettuce. Just imagine starting your new year with fresh greens from the garden!!
Let Yourself Grow
