It was busy in the Demo Garden this morning, as we had a few finishing touches to put on things in preparation for our grand opening on Thursday. We got the tomatoes and most of the other vegetables mulched with straw, which really makes things pop. We also refilled and planted the Smart Pot from the last couple of years and continued with some cleanup of the Quiet Garden area.

We are using the nice, bright gold wheat straw mulch that is so prevalent here in Kansas. We put about 2-3 inches of straw around the plants and in any open areas of the beds. As the plants grow, it will be nice to have full soil coverage to help keep things moist.

We put a thin layer of mulch under the trellises in the Vertical garden as well. We had some leaf mold compost under there already, but the straw looks so much cleaner.

While the Quiet Garden area wasn’t affected by the renovation, the Master Gardeners have put in a lot of work in the last couple weeks to whip it back into shape. With a new bench, some different containers, new pave stones, and some Prairie Star Annuals, it looks like a brand new garden as well! (And the hardy palm is still there too…in the bottom right of the picture. Yes it is winter hardy!)

Another activity that we completed this week that I happily have no pictures of is that we scouted all the squash for squash vine borer eggs and squash bug nymphs. Since we didn’t find any, I have no pictures to share! Hurray!