Horticulture Notes
Recently, I attended a training and thought I’d pass along some noteworthy points of interest. The material below is a summary of information shared by Dr. Joe Masabni, Extension Horticulturist in College Station.
The best raised bed material is a 50% sand 50% organic matter material. If you want to just purchase a good topsoil mixture that works also, just higher in price. Cardboard works great as an insulator or good weed barrier. You need at least 4 inches of mulch to have any benefit from seeds germinating. Anything less than 4 inches is merely decorative.
Organic fertilizers such as alfalfa meal, bone meal, corn gluten meal, fish meal, plant or manure based compost can work well. They add organic matter to the soil, contain micronutrients and are slow release. The down side is most are low in nutrient levels, have high application rates and you run the risk of excess phosphorus. A good general fertilizer recommendation is 1 cup of high N fertilizer (21-0-0) or 2-3 cups of organic (8-2-4) per 25 foot of row space.
Under the vegetable link in Aggie Horticulture http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu there is a vegetable variety selector that has common vegetable varieties and recommendations for Bandera County. There is also a Tomato Problem Solver application that can be very helpful in diagnosing problems with tomatoes and includes colored pictures.
At the Soil Testing website http://soiltesting.tamu.edu there is a fertilizer calculator application. It is used to match up the soil test results to a commercially available fertilizer blend. It was recommended to soil test every 3-4 years. Lastly, when you submit a soil sample for a garden, please be sure to specify that you need the data in 1,000 square feet. This makes interpreting the results from the lab much easier. In addition, it was suggested to specify the vegetable varieties you plan to be growing such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, ect…
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