GARDENING CALENDAR

TEXAS AGRILIFE EXTENSION SERVICE

BEXAR COUNTY BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ

November 22, 2008

Give special thanks this holiday season for the bounty and selection of food choices that farmers provide for us and our families on a yearly basis.

Make plans this spring to add on, improve or learn to do something new or different in your home gardens.

The first planting of September transplants of Green Magic broccoli should be ready for the Thanksgiving feast. Do not discard the plant after harvesting. Lightly fertilize the remaining plants and an extra reward is soon to follow with young side florets. These florets will dress up and compliment any salad or dish.

Plant another role of spinach transplants for an abundant harvest in the coming months, especially after you enjoy that fresh from the garden taste of Coho spinach this week.

Have you planted your first batch of onion transplants yet? If not, visit http://www.dixondalefarms.com/ or your favorite nursery at this time. Look for yellow varieties such as candy, 1015 Y Texas Super Sweet, yellow Granex and try the newest large bulbing white Contessa. Also, Southern Belle red is a great red-purplish selection and the white Bermuda makes a great green salad onion. Multiple plantings of transplants should be spread out from mid-November through mid-January.

To significantly increase onion bulb formation, place a band of either super phosphate or colloidial phosphate two inches below the planting zone. Cover with soil. Then plant the onion transplants.

David Rodriguez is the County Extension Agent-Horticulture with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Bexar County. For more information, call the Master Gardener “Hotline” (210) 467-6575 or visit our County Extension website at http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu.