Due To Rise In RSV Cases, Hospital Visitation Is Temporarily Limited
CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs has ONE mission: To Extend the Health Ministry of Jesus Christ.
Submitted by Holly Ragan, Senior Market Development, CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs, [email protected]
Attention: Hospital visitors, families, guests
Due to the recent rise in RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) cases in our community, we ask for your cooperation in limiting visitation at this time.
We highly discourage from visiting in our OB/Nursery area if you are:
- Children under the age of 3 years old
*Masks are still required within our facility.
We sincerely appreciate your cooperation in keeping our community and patients safe!
Sincerely,
Infection Prevention Department; Administration
Community Toiletry Drive
In partnership with CAN Help, and to support schools within Hopkins County, we invite you to drop off NEW toiletry items any of the drop sites including Alliance Bank Main Branch, or CAN Help between the dates of June 28 and July 11.
Items may include toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, combs and brushes, deodorant, lotion, sanitary napkins.
For more information, please contact Helena Martinez at [email protected] .
Safe Summer Measures
The July heat is here! With temperatures frequenting the triple digits this month, be aware that heat-related injuries are a real threat. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke result from prolonged exposure to high temperatures, usually in combination with dehydration, which leads to failure of the body’s temperature control system.
Common symptoms include nausea, seizures, confusion, disorientation, and sometimes loss of consciousness or coma. Symptoms that do not go away in a reasonable amount of time by going to a cool place, drinking water, or loosening clothing can indicate the onset of serious medical issues like heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
With the rise in temperatures, it is best practice to be prepared and seek medical help immediately when required. Summertime is fun – but the heat-related illness is nothing to joke about!
Please help us preserve our masks for clinical use, and BRING YOUR OWN MASK
We are asking that all visitors to the hospital bring their own mask, and continue to wear a mask while present inside the hospital at this time. Thank you for your continued support of the safety of our patients and associates.
Hospital Visitation
Please note the following guidelines:
- Visitors must acquire masks themselves prior to entering our facility; cloth masks are acceptable
- Masks must cover both the nose and the mouth
- Emergency Department entrance open 24/7
- Main Entrance open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday – Friday
- Gift Shop open
- Visiting hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- COVID Unit limited to (1) visitor (age 16 and over)
- ER and ICU limited to (2) visitors
- ALL hospital visitors are required to wear a mask. Visitors should bring their own mask; homemade cloth masks are acceptable.
Effective March 17, 2021
We will no longer restrict the number of visitors per patient, however, we strongly encourage to limit visitors to ONE essential support person and for all other visitors – continue utilizing virtual communication through mobile devices to monitor your loved ones in our care.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
We are needing volunteers to help in various different roles throughout our hospital. We are asking, if you are willing to give your time, so that together we can bring a smile to someone in our hospital! For more information, contact Meredith Caddell at 903.438.4678.
We love our patients, and it shows!
CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital Sulphur Springs strives to make sure every patient and their family feel like they are important and receiving the highest quality of care. This success is reflected in our Patient Experience Scores.
Every patient will receive a survey following their encounter in our hospital or clinics. Please take the time to let us know how we are doing, and how we might better serve you. We appreciate your feedback!
CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System includes CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospitals – Tyler, South Tyler, Jacksonville, Winnsboro and Sulphur Springs, the CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital – Tyler, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rehabilitation Hospital a partner of Encompass Health, Tyler Continue CARE Hospital at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital, a long-term acute care facility, and CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic. CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic is the area’s preferred multi-specialty medical group, with more than 400 Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers representing 36 specialties in 34 locations serving Northeast Texas across 41 counties. For more information on services available through CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System, visit christustmf.org
- Bed count – 402 – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Tyler
- Bed count – 8 – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – South Tyler
- Bed count – 25 – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Jacksonville
- Bed Count – 96 – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Sulphur Springs
- Bed count – 25 – CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Winnsboro
- Bed count – 94 – CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Rehabilitation Hospital
- Bed count – 96 – CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Louis and Peaches Owen Heart – Tyler
- Bed count – 51 – Tyler Continue CARE Hospital at CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital
CNB To Continue As SSISD Bank Depository, TSR/Health Special Risk As District Student Insurance Carrier
City National Bank will continue to serve as the depository bank, Texas Student Resources/Health Special Risk as student accident insurance carrier for Sulphur Springs ISD, school trustees determined during their regular meeting earlier this month. SSISD trustees also renewed service contracts with Region 8.
Bank Depository
SSISD Business Manager Sherry McGraw explained that the district has the opportunity to extend a contract for bank depository for two years but after a certain period, the district is required to go out for bids again. That’s this year. SSISD advertised for bids. Packets were given to five local banks and one out-of-town bank. City National Bank and Guaranty Bond Bank were the only two financial institutions the district received responses from, and Alliance submitted a letter declining to submit a bid for a two-year period beginning Sept. 1, 2021, to serve as a depository bank for the school district.
“We will be fine with either bank because everything is so in line. They would both do us a good job. Based on that it makes sense to stay with City [National Bank] that we’re with because all of our checks and any of our wires and things are all set up,” McGraw told the school board. “So, it’s my recommendation that we stay with City National Bank.
She provided a bid comparison sheet for both banks, with only a little difference in annual interest yield. CNB’s interest bearing and money market accounts would yield a return a little bit higher.
SSISD has banked with CNB for nearly 40 years, are easy to work with and very supportive of the district. Switching banks would be time consuming and costly for SSISD, especially for the business office personnel who are working to begin the new budget year in September, and make sure the current fiscal year is closed, McGraw pointed out.
SSISD Board of Trustees Secretary Jason Dietze made a motion, which was seconded by Leesa Toliver, to approve McGraw’s recommendation of CNB for SSISD’s depository for the next 2 years. Board Vice President Craig Roberts abstained from voting as doing so would be a conflict of interest; he is executive vice president of GBB.
Student Accident Insurance
McGraw also recommended the district continue using the current student accident insurance carrier, Texas Student Resources/Health Special Risk, Inc. The district has the option to extend the bid with the company for one or more years.
TSR bid $39,025 for 2021-22, the same amount quoted in 2019 and 2020. In fact, in 2020, the district only paid $33,171 of the $39,025. SSISD received a 15 percent discount, with no change in benefits, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced the number of sporting events played in 2020.
McGraw noted that a Region 8 survey conducted recently showed approximately 90-95 percent of districts that responded use Health Special Risk, which she believes is a good sign.
She recommended continuing to use TSR/Health Special Risk for student insurance based on the carrier’s past service, low cost and great customer service.
Roberts made a motion that was seconded by Robbin Vaughn to stay with TSR/HSR. The rest of the board agreed.
Region 8 ESC Contracts
SSISD will also be contracting with Region 8 Education Service Center for the 2021-22 school year for certain services.
“This is the same spreadsheet I give you every year with the cost of different coops by year to see how prices change,” said Assistant Superintendent Josh Williams when asking the school board to approve entering into contracted services with Region 8. “The bottom line is basically the same. It goes up by a couple of thousand dollars. . . . Nothing of change here. We use these programs and cooperatives a lot.
The main change this year is that the forms are all online, Williams noted.
The school board gave unanimous approval to the contracted services, proposed on motions from Jason Dietze and Robert Cody, during the regular June school board meeting.
Wildcats Football Continuously Improving As Edge Concludes Week 4
It’s business as usual for the Wildcats football team as they wrap up their fourth week of the six week run of the Edge.
After another Tribe test drill earlier today, July 1, Coach Casey Jeter, DL coach for the Wildcats football team, sees continuous improvement from not only his athletes that he coaches on the defensive line, but all around.
The DL coach said the squad just finished their isometric or “pause” phase, and that it was great to see some kids return after being away from the team.
Coach Jeter said it helps that so many kids are buying-in to what the Wildcats football staff has been preaching over the course of the past four weeks.
One of the many changes to the Edge this year, beyond a number of coach departures, is a shift in how the Edge is run.
“You gotta keep changing what you’re doing, and staying on the cutting edge,” Coach Jeter said, adding that this is something the team has really done and embraced over the four weeks Edge has occurred.
The DL coach said that everyday the team is testing something different with speed, every time the student-athletes are in the weight room the coaching staff tests what those same athletes have gotten stronger or what they’ve gotten better in.
Coach Jeter then said that everything the team does in the weight room transitions into what happens on the field.
“So we’re putting kids and getting kids ready for real-world situations outside of the weight room,” Coach Jeter said, and “more so for the game-time.”
The DL coach said that kids have bought in to the changes implemented and have already seen true, real results.
This is huge, according to Coach Jeter, because in years past by about week four the Edge began to drag, in that players would begin going through the motions as opposed to pushing to improve themselves.
“This week you really see [athletes] pushing,” Coach Jeter said, and reported that those same football players have been excited about the changes that they’ve seen.
As stated earlier, the Wildcats football team completed another “Tribe test” drill, which is done every two weeks.
The drill is composed of 12 consecutive runs, where athletes will run for five seconds, will run down the field and back, and are tested on the distance that football players are able to run back.
Players have five seconds to get down and back before having a 25-second break before jumping into the next run before they have done it 12 times.
Players will sprint 20 yards before reaching the goal line, turn around, and see how far they can run in the opposite direction all in a 5-second timespan.
Coach Jeter said one player, Williams, struggled to get back the one to two yards that the coaching staff were hoping for their larger players. This week, Williams was in the positives every single time. The DL coach called this a great result and reported that same player was thrilled with his output.
“Across the board, the guys that have consistently been here have been consistently getting better,” Coach Jeter said, and took it one step further by saying the progress witnessed is much more so than the coaching staff has seen in years past through the first four weeks of the Edge.
The Wildcats football team will have to keep improving if they wish to keep the Edge on their opponents when scrimmages roll around in August.
The Edge for football runs Monday through Friday at the Multi Purpose Building from 8 to 10 A.M. for students entering the tenth through twelfth grades, and 10 A.M. until noon for students entering the seventh through ninth grades.
The Edge concludes for Coach Owens’s squad on Thursday, July 15.
KSST is proud to be the official Wildcat and Lady Cat Station. We broadcast Sulphur Springs ISD games year round live on radio. When allowed, we also broadcast games via our YouTube channel.
Paxton Joins Multistate Coalition Demanding Protection Of The Right To Bear Arms
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a multistate amicus brief demanding that the U.S. Supreme Court uphold Hawaiians’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms outside their homes.
In a 2020 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the State of Hawaii’s refusal to allow its citizens the right to carry firearms outside of their homes. But the Second Amendment protects both the rights to keep and to bear arms, not just the right to keep them. The amicus brief also asks the Supreme Court to resolve a split among the federal circuit courts of appeals, several of which have resisted the Court’s clear and ringing affirmation of Americans’ Second Amendment rights in its landmark 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, a press release from Paxton’s office stated.
“The blatant misinterpretation of the Second Amendment by the Ninth Circuit must be remedied,” Attorney General Paxton said. “We are asking for the Court to simply uphold the Second Amendment as it is written. The lower courts have flagrantly disregarded the Supreme Court’s instructions in Heller, leaving the right to bear arms in jeopardy. We must have a clear and concise ruling that protects the Second Amendment from lower courts’ hostility to gun rights to prevent this type of infringement from happening yet again.”
The full amicus brief may be read here.
HCHD Breaks Ground On New Headquarters, EMS Station
Hopkins County Hospital District and EMS broke ground Thursday morning at the site of what will become a new HCHD headquarters and EMS Station, marking what HCHD COO and EMS Director Brent Smith calls a milestone for Hopkins County EMS.
Approximately 30-40 attended the HCHD groundbreaking, including city and county fire department officials, EMS officers and personnel, HCHD board members and officers, elected city and county officials, Chamber of Commerce representatives, CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital Sulphur Springs officials and associates, representatives from REES architecture, and Scott and Reed contractors.
The groundbreaking ceremony began at 9:30 a.m. on a humid Thursday, July 1, 2021, at 114 Airport Road, with an introduction by HCHD CEO/CFO Ron Folwell. HCHD Board Chair Kerry Law the recognized the many individuals who took part in the 16-month planning process for the new EMS station/hospital district headquarters.
Law expressed appreciation to HCHD COO/EMS Director Brent Smith for a “great job” on the project from ideas to design. The project, Law said, would not have happened without Smith.
“We’ve been needing a new EMS facility for a long time. What we have if falling down. We’ve been planning this for some time,” Law said.
Law thanked Alliance Bank for the financial institution’s willingness to loan HCHD the money for the project if it was needed. The project is being funded with money received from a deal giving CHRISTUS their shares in CHRISTUS Hopkins Health Alliance, and putting enough money in the HCHD’s coffers to pay off all of HCHD’s outstanding debt, including bonds taken out in previous years, and to fund construction of a building to serve as HCHD’s new headquarters and EMS station.
HCHD/EMS enjoys a great working relationship with CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital Sulphur Springs CEO Paul Harvey, his staff and hospital district personnel, which benefits the community and helped better facilitate the deal with CHRISTUS, according to Smith. HCHD and CHRISTUS closed on the deal transferring the remaining shares of the Hospital District’s share in the Health Alliance on April 30.
Smith too offered thanks to the building subcommittee which included HCHD Board members Kristi Schultz, Dr. Bill Dietze and Chris Brown, as well as Meredith Caddell who provided design input when they began the part of the design process that involved selection of carpeting and colors for the interior of the facility, and to the continued support from city and county elected officials.
As part of the deal HCHD will continue to own the hospital property. CHRISTUS, however, will be over all operations and activity at the hospital, and will pay HCHD an annual rental fee for use of the facilities, while HCHD will pay a specified amount into the the indigent care fund annually, with amounts in the indigent care fund increasing approximately every 5 years, according to the original basic terms reported for the agreement between the two entities.
HCHD is hoping the project will cost $4 million or less, but could change due to continued high costs of construction materials. Rees is the architect for the building and Scott and Reid are general contractors.
Emergency Medical Services in general have come a long way since the 1980s and Thursday morning marked a milestone for Hopkins County EMS, which has been in operation for nearly 40 years (or will be in 2023). HCHD started the EMS service in 1983, taking it over from the city fire department, which about a year previously had picked up the service previously handled by funeral homes.
The new facility will allow Hopkins County EMS to conduct in-house training and education opportunities in the conference room in the new station. Currently, any training is conducted in Plaza across from the hospital and current facility, provided space is available.
It is designed with four bays which will allow the EMS service to park six ambulances as well as the Ambus, better protecting the expensive assets. The cardiac monitor inside the MICU (mobile intensive care) units alone cost as much as most people’s cars. That will benefit the community in cost savings in repairs and replacements the EMS service would have if they were unable to house the ambulances out of the weather.
The new EMS/HCHD facility is planned not only to accommodate current staff and needs, but for potential future department growth as well, Smith noted.
HCHD President Kerry Law, board member Joe Bob Burgin, CEO Ron Folwell, COO Brent Smith were joined by Scott + Reid and REES representatives in turning a couple of shovels full of earth. This officially kicked off the construction phase of the building project.
Welding Goes Well at PJC-Sulphur Springs Center
PJC-Sulphur Springs Center welding shop instructor John Plemons (right), observes as structural welding students, Jason Johnson (left) of Quitman, and Michael Reagan of Caddo Mills practice operating a track torch.
To learn more about the welding program, call 903-885-1232.
For registration information call the Sulphur Springs campus at 903-885-1232.
For information about attending the Center, visit the campus at 1137 Loop 301 East in Sulphur Springs.
To see offered classes, go to www.parisjc.edu/schedule.
To apply to PJC, go to www.parisjc.edu/apply or email [email protected].
Paris Junior College — located in Paris, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas — has been a part of the Lamar County community since 1924.
Paris Junior College offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science and Associate in Applied Science degrees, as well as Certificates of Proficiency in technical/workforce fields. The college has expanded its academic curriculum through the years to encourage associate degree and university transfer candidates. Since establishing its first vocational program — jewelry and watchmaking in 1942 — the college has been aggressive in adding technical/workforce programs that will benefit students entering the workforce.
The campus of 54 tree-shaded acres includes 20 major buildings and residence halls and provides students a unique and pleasant environment for learning.
Paris Junior College also operates centers in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and in Greenville, Texas.
SSISD Summer Food Service Free For Children Up To Age 18
The Summer Food Service is being offered through July 22 at the Barbara Bush Primary Campus at 390 North Hillcrest in Sulphur Springs. Breakfast and Lunch are prepared Mondays through Thursdays. Any child up to age 18 can come in and enjoy the nutritious meals at no charge and with no application or qualifying process. Breakfast is served 7:30-8:30am, and lunch is served from 10:45-12:30. No meals are served after 12:30pm. The Food Service will be closed on Monday July 5 in observance of the holiday. July menus are listed below.
SSISD Tripling Internet Bandwidth District-Wide, Upgrading Security At SSHS
Sulphur Springs High School Partnering with TWC To Offer New Innovative Class Through ‘Opportunity Now’ Program
Sulphur Springs ISD will be tripling district’s internet bandwidth from 1 GB to 3GB to keep up with increased internet usage. An upgrade to security equipment at the high school this summer will also be preformed. The school district also plans to implement an “innovative” career and technology course in the coming school year.
Exinda Packet Shaper
In order to expand internet service above 1 GB, to accommodate the numerous devices acquired over the past few years and in use regularly during the school year, the core network equipment must be updated. That means the district will need to upgrade the packet shaper, the device that manages the network traffic, SSISD Technology Coordinator Rodney White explained.
The packet shaper gives the district the ability to dictate how much bandwidth is used for each application, such as YouTube, web traffic and streaming music. This ensures things that SSISD prioritizes, such as testing, have sufficient bandwidth. SSISD has satisfactorily used an Extinda packet shaper for several years, but the current device can only handle 1 GB of bandwidth, according to White.
Bandwidth, White explained, is like a four lane highway going into Dallas. After a while it gets congested with more traffic on it, so the highway is expanded. So expanding the bandwidth to 3 GB would be like expanding the highway from four to 12 lanes going into Dallas. The packet shaper then manages the traffic. Just as one 18-wheeler passing another 18-wheeler on the highway can slow traffic down.
Without the shaper, there is nothing to prevent the bandwidth hogs streaming music and videos from congesting the network. The packet shaper would then essentially keep the 18-wheelers in the right hand lane, and would essentially create HOV lanes for those using the network for important priority functions, such as testing, so that would access as much bandwidth as needed for those priority tasks.
“The packet shaper ensures that the important things don’t get slowed down – don’t get interrupted by more nonessential things,” White said.
“Can you change that in the moment, like say today’s a testing day, shut everything down everything else?” asked SSISD Board of Trustees Secretary Jason Dietze, when White pitched the proposal to the school board during their regular June meeting.
“Yes, for testing we can give them 90 percent of the bandwidth, ratchet everything else down,” White replied “Whatever we deem important, we can ensure they get all the bandwidth they need.”
White noted that the district has been able to stay at 1 gig for so long because of the packet shaper. A 3 gig network that is manager, he added, is more efficient than a 10 gig network that is unmanaged. The district has used the 1 GB shaper for about 10 years, and White anticipates a 3G packet shaper should last about that long as well. And, the model he recommended, is expandable up to 10 GB.
He recommended purchasing the Extinda packet shaper from CDW-G, a TIPS approved vendor, for $53,088.01. The company was also the low bidder, and Extinda is the same type system already in use. The bid, he said, is cheapest for what SSISD needs it to do.
SSISD Superintendent Mike Lamb said while the cost isn’t in the technology budget, he anticipates being able to use some $11.5 million in federal ESSER grants the district is eligible to apply for to fund the necessary upgrade.
SSISD Board Trustee Leesa Toliver made a motion, which was seconded by Vaughn, and approved by the rest of the board present at the June 15 meeting, to purchase the Extinda packet shaper to extend the district’s broadband width from 1 GB to 3GB from CDW-G for $53,088.01.
Security Update
SSISD Director of Maintenance Dan Froneberger also asked trustees earlier this month to consider approving an $82,547.35 proposal from Allied Universal to update the access control system at the high school. The system there is very weak due to lightning hits over the past 5-6 years.
Allied Universal supplied all of the new equipment and upgrades to SSISD in the last 5 years and their components will interchange with all of the district’s other schools as well.
The proposal would upgrade security systems at Sulphur Springs High School from the multipurpose facility east. The tennis and track facilities have fairly new systems.
Of the three SSISD facilities where security has not been upgrades in recent years, the system at SSHS is in worse shape than those systems at Sulphur Springs Elementary and the Administration building, Froneberger noted. When there’s an issue, from say a lightning strike, SSISD personnel aren’t able to go to the server room to a computer to reset the security systems. Someone has to go door to door, climbing into the ceiling to rest the readers for each room.
“That makes for a bad day when they call from the high school and none of the doors are working at 8 o’clock and school is starting when we had a storm the night before,” Froneberger said.
He proposed replacing all of them. He noted that when SSISD took in the old tech center building at one end of the property, a secure hallway was constructed, attaching the building to the high school. Two of those doors inside of the building aren’t connected to the system.
Parts removed from the high school would be placed into storage to serve as replacement parts until the SSES and Administration campuses are upgraded too.
The new access control system would match those at other campuses, coming from the same company – Allied Universal. The company serves as tech support for all of the district doors, working hand-in-hand with maintenance worker Sanford Shell and the rest of the maintenance team to install the systems and work on them when needed.
The $82,547.35 includes the base price plus doors not already in the system. It is also about $7,000 less than the district paid when they started the access control system program at the elementary campuses about 6 years ago.
Randy Hutchison [with Allied Universal Technology Services] said if we get a PO this week, they felt confident that we would be able to go in before school,” Froneberger said, when asked if the company has all of the parts readily on hand.
Roberts made a motion, which was seconded by Dietze, to allow Allied Universal to upgrade the access control system at SSHS for $82,547.35.
Innovative CTE Course
Also new at SSHS news year will be a new innovated career and technology education course.
SSHS Director of College and Career Readiness, and Career and Technical Education Director Jenny Arledge and SSHS Special Education Coordinator Courtney Anglin proposed partnering with Texas Workforce Commission to offer a new course called ” Opportunity Now” in the 2021-22 school years. SSHS was provided the opportunity to offer an “Opportunity Now” program.
The class would need to directly align with the program intent, and would be funded by TWC; the agency would also provide instructors to teach “General Employability Skills,” and the class would be taught at SSHS and would require an SSISD CTE teacher of record to assist the incoming instructor with attendance, grade and other tasks.
This would be for students who are already in or candidates for the Connections program. This would provide transition services to help prepare the students with real world skills to get and keep a job.
The proposal was presented to the school board on Arledge and Anglin’s behalf by Assistant Superintendent Josh Williams on June 15 as well.
Dietze made the motion, which was seconded by Toliver, to approve the proposal for the partnership with TWC to enable SSHS to offer the class to students in the 2021 school year. The SSISD Board of trustees approved the proposal during the group’s regular meeting June 15, 2021.
Flyer and QR Code For Upcoming Wildcats Soccer Camp Released
On Tuesday, June 29, Wildcats soccer coach Alexi Upton released a flyer and QR code pertaining to the upcoming soccer camp that will be held at the end of July.
The camp runs the last week of July and will last four days from July 26-29 (Monday through Thursday).
The soccer camp will be run by Wildcats HC Alexi Upton and is welcome to students ranging from entering kindergarteners to ninth grade.
The cost of the camp is $50 and is welcome to both boys and girls.
KSST is proud to be the official Wildcat and Lady Cat Station. We broadcast Sulphur Springs ISD games year round live on radio. When allowed, we also broadcast games via our YouTube channel.
Growing a Fall Garden, by Hopkins County Master Gardener Brenda Payne
By Brenda Payne
Summer might be high season in the vegetable garden, when tomatoes, squash, and other warm-season plants are in overdrive, but autumn can be just as productive.
If you begin planning and planting in late summer, you can extend your harvest of garden-fresh produce well into fall and even winter by growing cool-season crops.
Many sweet root crops like beets and carrots as well as cabbage cousins like kale can continue growing for several weeks beyond the first frost.
These tips will help you fill your table with plenty of homegrown goodness long beyond the heat of summer.
You can start many autumn crops while the weather is still hot. That way, there’ll be enough time to harvest them before the snow flies.
It’s All About Timing
The secret to growing plentiful fall vegetables is timing. That means thinking a little differently because you have to plan backward. Start with your area’s average first fall frost date.
Then look at the number of days to harvest for the fall vegetable you want to grow. You’ll find that number on the seed packet or in the catalog description. Use the days to harvest number to count back from the first frost date.
Then add two weeks, because many fall vegetables grow more slowly as days shorten in fall.
Get the Garden Ready
Make room for your fresh crop of fall vegetables by removing garden crops that are no longer performing well or ones you’ve already harvested. Pull any weeds so they don’t steal moisture and nutrients from your new your new young plants.
Take advantage of the open planting bed to incorporate a 2- to 3-inch-layer of well-decomposed compost to get your fall crop off to a great start.
Start From Seed
You’ll probably grow most vegetables for your fall garden from seed. Use the extra seeds you didn’t plant in the spring or purchase new ones.
If you start your seeds directly outdoors, plant them a little deeper than you would in spring; the soil is typically moister and cooler an extra inch or two down.
Watering vegetable garden
It’s especially important to keep your vegetable plants well-watered during the hot months of July, August, and September.
The general rule is that most fall garden vegetables do best with about an inch of water a week. Once your seedlings or transplants are established, aim to give them one deep watering a week rather than several lighter waterings.
There may already be pests and diseases in your garden, so keep an eye out for holes or spots on plant leaves. Deal with insects and diseases promptly to minimize the damage.
Crops for Speedy Harvest – Get a last blast from your veggie patch with quick crops that go from seed to table in 40 days or less. Sown in September, sprinters such as arugula, mustard, spinach, turnips, and crispy red radishes are ready to harvest in little more than a month.
Also try pretty Asian greens, such as tatsoi or mizuna, which grow so fast that you will have baby plants to add to stir-fries and soups just three weeks after sowing.
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage Carrots
- Collards
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Cauliflower
- Lettuce
- Mustard
- Radish
- Swiss
- Chard Turnips
The hardiest fall vegetables, spinach and kale, often grow well into early winter. Stop harvesting leaves when freezing weather arrives.
When protected by a blanket of snow or a plastic tunnel, spinach can survive winter and produce a flush of sweet leaves first thing in spring.
Best Fall Garden Vegetables – Plenty of fall garden vegetables thrive in cool temperatures. Count on them to survive light frost if given some protection. Remember, when shopping for seeds for fall, select varieties with the shortest seed-to-harvest time period.
Some suggestions are:
This may be a good year to try your hand at fall vegetables and enjoy a second harvest.
