Market Garden Twilight Tour

In July 2021, the Christian and Todd County Extension Offices partnered to host a Market Garden Twilight Tour.  This program targeted small scale commercial vegetable growers with information on using woven ground covers for weed control as well as drip irrigation system design and operation.  Sixteen producers participated in the tour.

UK Extension specialist Daniel Becker presented the Todd County segment of the program at Frank and Tammy Amaro’s garden in Trenton.  Mr. Becker, Christian County Horticulture Agent Kelly Jackson, and I had assisted Mr. Amaro in installing woven ground covers in the spring as a demonstration project.  By the date of the tour, the benefit of the ground covers in controlling weeds was clearly evident.  There were no weeds anywhere that the ground cover was in place.

Mr. Becker also gave a detailed demonstration of how to set up drip irrigation for a small commercial garden.  Participants were allowed to assemble components of a drip system so that they could experience the actual work and learned the nuances of drip system components and their assembly.  Finally, Mr. Becker demonstrated how to adapt a drip irrigation system for applying fertilizer in the water, which is the most efficient method of fertilizing a garden or commercial produce field.