At this time of year, when summer is beginning for real, I am often thinking of the best ways to keep all of my lovely plants alive. As gardeners we must try our hardest to conserve as much of our precious water for our landscapes as possible. Drip irrigation, without question, is the best way [...]
There has never been an easier time to go green. And you know what? It’s about time! Thank goodness gardening products like malathion, dursban, diazinon, spectracide, triforine, and a thousand others are no longer viable options to combat our garden pests. Thank goodness also that we no longer have to rely on toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons [...]
On Sunday afternoon we’re hosting a Thai cooking event presented by Sap Apisaksiri, the owner of Sap’s Fine Thai Cuisine , and Mick Vann, the horticulturist, chef and food writer.
This continues to be a busy (and joyful!) season for gardeners, although we could certainly use some more rain. I wish you all every success with your gardening ventures this month – and don’t forget to visit this weekend’s Zilker Garden Festival in Austin. It’s always fun to meet up and chat with fellow Hays and Travis County gardeners.
It’s simple to create the perfect salsa garden. All you need is to grow some peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and lime… and mix them together in a way that suits your taste buds. Luckily, most of them grow fairly easily in our Hays County gardens.
One group of trees long associated with drought and desert conditions is the palm tree. You can also find palms doing perfectly well in equatorial rain forests.
The canna lily, once a popular landscape plant, has returned this season as a garden favorite with the introduction of new, exotic leaf colors and flowers.
With all the fantastic early-spring weather, this is the time for gardeners to launch the big gardening and landscape activities for the year. These first few weeks are also a good time to finish up some of last month’s chores:
In my last fruit tree article, I covered peaches, plums, apples, pears and pecans. These are all wonderful choices, but the options in home fruit trees far exceed those five basics. For example, you can also grow pomegranates, persimmons, loquats, and figs. All four are super-easy to grow in central Texas and they require little if any care to thrive.
I like to think of it as my favorite time of year, my ‘Rite of Spring,’ when I go outside to plant America’s favorite backyard vegetable, the tomato.
