Hey guys,
Is it time in Houston, TX Zone 9A, to start preparing my garden for the spring season? Currently in one of my raised beds, I have Garlic, Onion, Cabbage, Winter-Squash, Carrots and Cauliflower growing. I have a good area left where I planted in the last season. The problem is that it has been heavily weeded now.
Help required on what needs to be done and how?
Regards,
Kitabi
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Here's a couple calendars for when to plant things. This one is for Austin, TX:
https://www.main.org/aog/plantcal.htm
this is for zones 9-10 (but can be reset for whatever zone you are in):
[url=https://www.thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones9-10-planting-schedule]planting schedules zones 9-10[/url]
Start a compost pile to make your own compost! The best thing a gardener can do. Read our Compost Forum for how to do it. Check with local stables/ dairy farms for free manure for the hauling. But it needs to be composted too, not spread on fresh. In the meantime for right now to get started you can buy compost and composted manure at the local big box store. Not too expensive if you don't have acres of land to cover.
Rent a tiller. You can rent it by the day or half day. Unless you have a lot of acres to till, a day should be plenty. It's a great tool, but really no reason to own something that you are going to use once or twice a year.
https://www.main.org/aog/plantcal.htm
this is for zones 9-10 (but can be reset for whatever zone you are in):
[url=https://www.thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones9-10-planting-schedule]planting schedules zones 9-10[/url]
Start a compost pile to make your own compost! The best thing a gardener can do. Read our Compost Forum for how to do it. Check with local stables/ dairy farms for free manure for the hauling. But it needs to be composted too, not spread on fresh. In the meantime for right now to get started you can buy compost and composted manure at the local big box store. Not too expensive if you don't have acres of land to cover.
Rent a tiller. You can rent it by the day or half day. Unless you have a lot of acres to till, a day should be plenty. It's a great tool, but really no reason to own something that you are going to use once or twice a year.
Go to a horse (or other animal)farm -most stables store their manure/shavings until the end of the year and the spread over their pastures. Or go to a dumpster company some high dollar stables will dumpster their manure and send it away to bulk plants to mix in. I get 10 tons a week for 50 bucks. That may be too much for you but they will probably give you a few buckets for nothing. Tater
(sorry I missed that part of the above post)
(sorry I missed that part of the above post)
-
zone9garden.com
- Full Member
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:41 pm
- Location: Central Florida
It is a great time to get started for next season!
In Central Florida we have quite a few resources to get cow manure for either free or almost free and I am going to guess Texas has the same resources as well. With a little research you should be able to find out all you need to know!
Also, here are a few resources of what to plant in the spring:
[url=https://thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones-9-10-planting-schedule]Zone 9-10 schedule[/url]
[url=https://www.zone9garden.com/zone-9-spring-planting-guide]Zone 9 Spring Planting Guide[/url]
In Central Florida we have quite a few resources to get cow manure for either free or almost free and I am going to guess Texas has the same resources as well. With a little research you should be able to find out all you need to know!
Also, here are a few resources of what to plant in the spring:
[url=https://thevegetablegarden.info/resources/planting-schedules/zones-9-10-planting-schedule]Zone 9-10 schedule[/url]
[url=https://www.zone9garden.com/zone-9-spring-planting-guide]Zone 9 Spring Planting Guide[/url]
I have a small garden, maybe 80 sq ft. I just bought some composted manure from Home Depot. It was $1.39 for 40 lbs. I put two bags on my beds and just finished working it in about an hour ago. I figure I can keep adding to it and turning it every few weeks and it should be ready to go by mid-Feb.
The soil was very clay like to start off so I've been working stuff in as much as I can the past year. Hopefully this year it will pay off. The soil today was much lighter and more airy, so at least it's not completely hard packed. (I actually may be doing something right after all
)
And Home Depot had giant racks of seeds out too! I got some new stuff to try out. Okra, spinach and dill. And I'll do some tomatos from seeds this year instead of buying them already started.
The new year has me fired up for my garden again.
The soil was very clay like to start off so I've been working stuff in as much as I can the past year. Hopefully this year it will pay off. The soil today was much lighter and more airy, so at least it's not completely hard packed. (I actually may be doing something right after all
)And Home Depot had giant racks of seeds out too! I got some new stuff to try out. Okra, spinach and dill. And I'll do some tomatos from seeds this year instead of buying them already started.
The new year has me fired up for my garden again.