Back to School, Back to Garden
The lazy days of summer are soon over, August brings the packing of school lunches and more rigorous schedules. Garden Girls enjoyed their travels and family time. We are reinvigorated to continue transforming outdoor spaces with kitchen gardens and pollinator gardens. Our recent project with A Lighted Path is a perfect example of creating a space that is beautiful, productive, educational and peaceful.
Garden and Pollinator Space for A Lighted Path
A Lighted Path Project
In the Spring, we had the opportunity to design and install a space at the Depelchin Children’s Center main campus for the non-profit, A Lighted Path and its Adults in Training program. The Adults in Training program focuses on young adults aging out of foster care. The kitchen garden and pollinator space that we created is a space for these young adults to engage with nature, linger, and learn about gardening and growing food. We are excited to continue our work with A Lighted Path and educate others about gardening. If you are interested in learning more about A Lighted Path, please contact Lori Gobillot at lgobillot@alightedpath.org.
Garden To-Dos
As much as we love creating gardens, we also love educating you about gardening. Here are a few to dos to get your garden ready for Fall.
Remove Expired Plants- Remove tomatoes and cucumbers leftover from Spring and any diseased plants.
Add Fresh Soil or Compost- Before your plant for Fall, add a layer of compost or soil and amend with Bone Meal, Cottonseed Meal or another fertilizer high in nitrogen.
Check Irrigation- Take a minute to manually run your irrigation and verify that all the drip lines are working properly. It is still HOT so there is no need to adjust the irrigation timing until temperatures start to dip.
Make a Planting Plan for Fall- Fall is one of the best times to have a kitchen garden. It is the time of year to plant broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, swiss chard, kale, snap beans and so much more. Make a list of everything you want to plant, inventory the seeds you need, and make a preliminary drawing of your fall garden. When planning your fall garden, consider which items take up more space or need a trellis and plot those first. You can always squeeze in smaller items like lettuce seeds.
Example of a planting plan
Garden Connection
We love the connection that gardens bring to neighbors and families. Please continue to tell your neighbors, family and friends about gardening and Garden Girls. We want every Houstonian to be a gardener.
