Calling all Gardeners! Time for Veggies

Spring is the time to begin planning snap beans, butter beans, collards, cucumbers, eggplants, cantaloupes, okra, Southern peas or field peas, peanuts, pumpkins, winter squash, summer squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes in late April, tomato transplants, pepper transplants, and watermelons.

Now is the perfect time to begin planting Cucurbits especially for transplants, which you should start in pots two or three weeks before transplanting. All members of the cucurbit family can be planted in May, but yields of squash and cucumbers may be lower than normal with the late plantings.


Mila Berhane, Southern University Ag Center senior research associate, sustainable agricultural systems, reminds gardeners to plant cucurbits outside well after the danger of frost is over.

Learn about more gardening tips for these spring crops and others at www.suagcenter.com under the Garden Tips topic.

Corn, soybean production among presentations to Morehouse GROUP

The Morehouse Black Farmers’ Association and Southern University Ag Center held a meeting for growers on Friday, February 20, at the agricultural auditorium in Bastrop. Shane Bray presented information on corn and soybean production while Mila Berhane, Southern University Ag Center’s senior research associate, talked about vegetable production.

The importance and opportunities in agriculture were discussed by April Hardie, Nathan Crisp and Nicole Woods. Lester Scott gave the overview on soybeans while Dewayne Goldmon talked about the National Black Growers Council. More than 117 individuals were in attendance.

Several school children attended the meeting as well. At the end of the meeting, the group enjoyed lunch during which Tim Daniels told the group about biofuel. He showed the students plastic car parts and explained to them that agricultural products were used in making the parts. One example of an agricultural product that can be used to make plastic is sweet potato starch.

SU Ag Center Odis Hill serves as extension agent in Morehouse Parish.

The event was covered by the Bastrop Daily Enterprise on February 21: http://www.bastropenterprise.com/archive/x426337905/Farmers-meeting