W ith the arrival of the new month on Saturday, we enter a period of transition as we move (hopefully!) from the doldrums of summer into what can be one of the busiest of seasons for central Texas gardeners. Some jobs for the upcoming month. 1. Cut back annual summer flowers, mulch, and feed. We hav...

A t this time of year, when summer sun is doing its annual roasting of central Texas, 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 qu...

arly July gets me in the mood to plant fall tomatoes. Texas A&M’s Vegetable Garden Planting Guide advises gardeners to get their fall tomato transplants in the ground between July 7 and August 7. (Larger transplants in 1 gal. pots or larger can be planted as late as Sept.1.) I prefer to plant determ...

1 . Vegetable Garden: The timing always feels a bit strange, but this is actually the month to renew your vegetable garden for the fall harvest season. From seed, plant snap and lima beans, sweet corn, Swiss chard, cucumbers, summer and winter squash (my favorite), black-eyed peas, okra, cantaloupe,...

A lthough we have enjoyed some rains this spring, I can’t help but notice that we have entered the oven-hot months of the summer, and I also notice that my life has a certain repetitive rhythm to it: water all day long at the nursery, drive home … and more watering. With all these hours spent holdin...

1. Spring vegetable gardening: Plant those warm season crops. This list includes beans, black-eyed peas, okra, squash, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, corn, and eggplant. There’s still time to plant those cooler season crops: lettuce, radishes, and carrots. 2. Fertilize your ga...

F ebruary is one of the most exciting gardening months of the year. The days are getting longer, and the last average freeze and frost dates are approaching. Also the days are cooler and it’s more comfortable to work outside. Clean up the landscape. Cut back perennials and apply a mulch-compost blen...

ast year was a fantastic year for gardeners in central Texas. During January and February we only had two cold mornings. Spring started early, and the weather wasn’t too outrageously hot during the summer months. In addition the lakes were full and watering restrictions were slightly loosened. So it...

ollards grow like a weed in these parts in the fall, through the winter, and well into the spring; when it gets hot they typically bolt and go to seed, making the leaves bitter. They descended from wild cabbages that once grew in Europe. They are a continuous crop, meaning that you can harvest the o...

1 . Replace summer annuals with winter bloomers if the frost has burned them. Top performers are dianthus, flowering kale, flowering cabbage, pansies, snapdragons, violas, and stock. Add some rich compost and bone and blood meal to the soil to give the new plants a boost. 2. Plant bulbs: There is st...