Spring Gardening- Planting Time
It’s March and that means it’s go time in the Houston kitchen garden. After our December freeze and rainy January, we are ready for the great gardening show of Spring. Here are the Garden Girls tips on how to get your garden ready and our favorite veggies and flowers to plant.
Take a Minute and Set-up Your Garden for Success
Before you rush to your local nursery to buy plants, do a few garden chores to give your plants the best environment to thrive. We recommend topping off your garden with soil and compost, checking your irrigation to make sure it is properly working and cleaning your garden tools with a bleach solution (1 part bleach, 9 parts water). Also, remove any plants that are expired or diseased, but that is probably minimal this year given our December freeze. If you have brassicas, swiss chard, lettuce and herbs that are healthy, keep them and enjoy the harvests!
Three Favorite Seeds to Plant in Spring
Arugula- Arugula is a staple in the Houston garden as you can plant it pretty much anytime of the year. It easily germinates from seed and is versatile in so many meals from salad to a taco topping.
Bush Bean- Plant Bush Bean seeds along the border of your raised bed and they will drape over the sides giving you beauty and production. Each seed will produce a plant that gives you 15 to 20 bean pods so plant plenty along the border of your gardens. Our go to varieties are contender and blue lake. It take about 2 months from seed to harvest.
Cucumber- Who doesn’t love a homegrown cucumber? We often eat them straight from the vine. Make sure you plant the seeds next to a trellis and give them plenty of room- the plants go crazy. Our favorite varieties are Marketmore and Straight 8.
Three Favorite Transplants
Basil- There are so many varieties of basil that you can add to your garden- Genovese, Thai, Cinnamon, Lemon, Holy, African Blue Basil. If you have never planted African Blue Basil, you must try it this year as it will attract more bees than you can imagine. We plant it in our gardens for the bees and pollination!!
Peppers- Are you sweet or spicy? You can be both with peppers in your kitchen garden. If you are feeling sweet, try California Wonder and if you are on the spicy side, plant Shishito or Jalapenos.
Tomatoes- Plant those tomatoes now!! Tomatoes are finicky when the weather gets hot and will stop producing, so the earlier you plant the better production you should have. We like to stick with the smaller varieties like Juliet, Sungold and Sweet 100.
Three Favorite Flowers
Gomphrena- These gumball looking cutting flowers make us smile. We most often see the purple variety, but they come in white and pink too. Our luck has been mixed when planting them by seed, so grab them if you see them at your local nursery.
Sunflower- Big or small- sunflowers are amazing. Make sure you read the seed packet to know what size you are planting. If you want a smaller sunflower for your raised bed, try the Teddy Bear variety.
Zinnia- Zinnias are the perfect bloomers for our sunny, warm Houston days. You can use them as a cut flower and they come in short, tall and spreading varieties. Make sure to plant Zinnias as the days get warmer and give them plenty of space to shine.
Ready to Have a Garden Sanctuary?
We hope you are as excited about Spring gardening as the Garden Girls. If you need help designing a garden of your dreams, let us know. We will work with you on a design and you can sit back and relax during our turn-key install.
