Spring has sprung and it is gardening time in North Texas! This is the weekend to find needed plants and raised bed structures at the Coppell Farmers Market to get personal home spring gardening off to a great start. All of these plants were raised for the Coppell area and the attending vendors can answer all of your questions so that you can be successful this year in your own garden.
The highly anticipated Coppell Community Garden one day only plant sale will feature a plethora of Coppell grown plant starts with a wide choice of perennials, herbs, berry plants, vegetables, and other selections grown right in Coppell and garden ready. A purchase at this booth is a win-win for the home garden and community. Funds garnered help defray some of the CCG expenses to keep those two garden centers operating fiscally. The Coppell Community Garden donates thousands of pounds of organically grown produce for the food bank at Metrocrest Services.
Jill Holden with Sundance Farm has returned early for the regular market season because she has plants ready to go into the ground. We expect her to have herbs, vegetables and fruit plants plus early season annual color like petunias, dianthus, marigolds, and Dahlberg daisies in flats. From Paradise, Texas right to Coppell, see what she has to offer.
Chris Buckalew with Weathertop Farm returns each spring after his fall semester teaching at Cal Poly Tech. He spends the winter months on his farm making thousands of soil blocks and germinating seeds in some for growing and sale, plus making extra soil blocks for customers who want to sprout their own seedlings. Buckalew describes soil blocks as “a compressed organic mixture of peat moss, compost, garden soil, sand, blood meal (for nitrogen), rock phosphate (for phosphorus), greensand (for potassium and trace minerals) and lime (to balance the peat moss acidity).” He learned about them in Eliot Coleman’s book The New Organic Grower. He uses Coleman’s recipe and soil block method because he says they work much better than any other alternative he has used.
Do you need help with a planting bed in your yard? Find assistance from Liberty Urban Agriculture, a vendor from nearby Irving selling garden bed wooden frames and soil. They can explain the benefits and ease of the often touted raised bed gardening technique. Eliminate the need to prepare the existing soil by building a frame on top of the ground and then filling with soil so it is immediately ready for planting.
Did you know that plants grown for food production may be purchased with Lone Star Benefit Card funds? Use the Lone Star card at the Farmers Market booth to buy tokens for use on plants or food items at the market.
Easter arrives next weekend. Now is the time to reserve lamb or other specialty pastured beef, pork, or chicken cuts for holiday dinners. All vendors appreciate orders placed in advance so customers aren’t disappointed. That includes eggs for dying next Easter Saturday. Since the weather has just warmed up, chickens aren’t into full egg production yet. Although available, supply is still a bit limited.