Published: May 05, 2007 10:01 pm      

Showers to Flowers

With the ground still damp, time for gardeners to start thinking about mulch

"April showers bring May flowers" goes an old saying and we have certainly had a month of showers and more. It's good to see a wealth of wildflowers this spring. Heaven knows that there have been some very dry years when the annual wildflower show was pitiful.

This seems to be the year for the Sunflower family, Asrteraceae whose bright yellow blooms proliferate the countryside. 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 white highlights 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. And so he did. A drive from San Marcos to Dripping Springs on Ranch Road 12 just to see the different flowers is worth the effort and gas.

All 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, now 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 which 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. Dead head 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.

Pot “up” those container plants that made it through the winter to 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 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. 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 water 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 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. Happy gardening.



Questions? lindakeese@grandecom.net