Green Season

By Linda Keese
Hays County Master Gardener

May 03, 2008 02:51 pm

— “April showers bring May flowers,” but we have seen too little rain through here to bring on a traditional display of bluebonnets this spring. But in spite of the lack of rainfall last year and this, some wildflowers are making a show.
Bright yellow, showy blooms of the Engelmann Daisy, Plains Coreopsis, Coneflower, Parralena, Engelmann Daisy, Texas Squaw-weed, Brown-eyed Susan, Butterweed, Goatsbeard, Golden Crownbeard and Thelesperma brighten the roadsides like so many rays of sunshine.
Interspersed with dots of magenta from Wine Cups, mounds of blush pink from Mountain Pink and primrose highlighted with the white of wild Foxglove, it appears as though a master artist washed the country roadsides with a magical brush over the landscape and adroitly painted a masterpiece for all to see. One little native flower making a comeback this year is the tiny Chatterbox Orchid.
There has been enough rain to fill the creeks where they grow and no raging floods to wash them away, so their blooms are quite visible along the banks this year, usually lodged between Cypress tree roots. They can be found all along Cypress Creek in Wimberley. Look for river fern and you will usually find the shy Chatterbox Orchid growing alongside. Their distinctive 'orchid' style, elongated and pleated leaves give the little plant away.
Wimberley Garden Club members are sponsoring their annual Garden Tour of several private gardens in the area on May 10. Unusual and traditional private gardens are selected that incorporate native plants in different style settings and well worth the visit. For more information check with the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce or call 512-842-8004.
The rain has been delightful even though it came with severe weather threats, but we can already smell the heat of summer coming. While the ground is still damp and the weather somewhat cool, is the time to start thinking mulch if you haven't already started laying it down. Always side dress plants with at least a one-inch layer of compost before laying down mulch so when the mulch decomposes, it will not draw nitrogen from the plants it surrounds, thereby causing a nitrogen tie-up, resulting in iron chlorosis.
Remember to use a mask of some sort to cover your nose and mouth while applying any sort of dry materials such as compost, fertilizer, manure or pesticides whether non-toxic or not, to your lawn or garden and gloves on your hands.
Dust particles, mold and pollen are present at all times in our everyday life, but even more so while working in the garden. The ones that hook abound your ears are much easier to use that the ones that band around your head.
Dust, pollen, mold and chemicals can piggyback into your home on your body and clothing. After working outside, particularly with chemicals, remove your shoes before enter your home. Better yet, have a pair of shoes specifically for outside use.
Strip in the laundry room and wash those clothes separately in warm water on the longest setting. Take a long shower, washing off completely, from top to bottom. Pay close attention to your hair, eyebrows and nose. These are areas that naturally trap minute particles that will shed on your bedding and can be inhaled while you sleep, leading to (at best) a headache or (at worst) a full-blown allergic reaction and sinus infection.
May is the time to prune back all spring blooming plants once they have finished flowering by at least a third. Deadhead and lightly prune all roses just before mid-month for an extended spring flush.
Bothered by powdery mildew? Make a solution of half baking soda, half water in a hose applicator and spray all your affected plants on top and bottom of their leaves.
Remove the bottom leaves from tomato plants and grapevines to avoid the spread of fungus. Watch tomatoes for blossom-end rot. Remove all affected fruits and maintain uniform soil moisture by mulching. Generally pick up and clean up spotted leaf debris to avoid the spread of black spot or other fungus spores.
Plant those container plants that made it through the winter in larger pots. Help insulate their roots from the summer heat with a little soil between them and the side of the pot. Layer the bottom of the container with foam noodles (peanuts) to help insulate and well as drain. Place screening material over the holes to prevent ants from moving in.
Plants that are watered from the top should not be allowed to stand in the water that filters out of the pot because it contains most of the salt that is present in dry processed fertilizers. Periodic leeching (flooding with water) of container plants that are fertilized is highly recommended for that reason. Bottom fed container plants such as African Violets should be repotted each year to avoid salt build-up in their soil.
If you like the pot a certain plant is in and its size suits your space, by all means keep it in that pot by removing the plant once a year, root ball and all, preferably in the spring and trimming off about one quarter of the roots all the way around. Clean the pot by brushing it down and washing it out with soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Add a fresh layer of potting soil and replace the plant, also adding more fresh soil around the sides and top. Prune the top and sides of the plant back by at least one quarter, but no more than one third.
All of this TLC will encourage your plant to grow and look healthy, while still maintaining its current size in the pot you really like. FYI: If you purchase a plant in one of those coconut fiber 'pots', be sure to help the decomposition of the pot by tearing down the sides. Sometimes those pots are stronger than the root system, making it difficult for them to break through until they are very mature.
Fertilize all blooming plants at the rate of one pound of slow-release nitrogen (ammonium sulfate) per one hundred square feet. Water the fertilizer in well and cover with mulch to retain moisture. Remember that caliche or heavy black soils in this Texas Hill country should not be fertilized with phosphorus, which can tie up iron and create severe iron chlorosis (characterized by yellow leaves with green veins). Because of the extreme alkalinity of the soil, an application of nitrogen is the only necessary fertilizer.
Nitrogen is also extremely water-soluble making it instantly available to plant root systems when either rain or irrigation is applied after fertilizing.
Broadcast one cup of ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate fertilizer on the soil surface under the limbs of two year-old pecan trees. Three year-old trees require two cups and four to seven year-old pecan trees will need four cups of fertilizer.
Zinc is necessary for healthy leaves on pecan trees and if applied to the soil, quickly becomes unavailable, so it must be applied as a spray on the trees. Use two teaspoons of 36 percent wettable zinc sulfate powder to one gallon of water and spray non-bearing trees every two to three weeks until August. Spray nut bearing trees at least three times between bud break in April and early June. Pick a day to spray when there is little or no wind, usually just before daybreak. Afterwards, shower off and get ready for the day.
Fertilize fruit trees with one cup 21 percent nitrogen for first year trees and two cups 21 percent nitrogen fertilizer for second year trees. Call or visit the friendly folks down at the Hays County AgriLife Extension Office on Clovis Barker Road by the Hays County Civic Center, for more information on controlling insects and diseases on fruit bearing trees. FYI: Disease and insect problems are usually minimal on Asian pear trees, making a regular spray program (normally) not necessary.
Don't forget those gloves when gardening! A small cut can quickly become infected and if you manage to stick your finger in the mouth of a coral snake, while pulling weeds, he will bite! Install a mailbox in each corner of your landscape to house all those smaller, necessary items like gloves, pruning shears, ties and even a hand trowel or an extra hat.
It keeps walking all the way back to the house down to a minimum and actually using them more probable.
Did I forget to mention sunscreen? I know it makes you sweat. You are going to sweat anyway. Wear it.

• lindakeese@grandecom.net

Photos

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