Gardening Angels

As everyone battles the dry conditions in Hays County, area experts are here to help

By Linda Keese

When it comes to gardening answers, it goes without question that specific nurseries like GardenVille employ people who are well versed in the art of gardening Hill Country style.

But do not count out the box stores. It is during these dry times that garden angels come in real handy and there are some around if you know where to look.

Susan Avey is the early morning watering person at Lowe's in San Marcos. Her inspirational plant vignettes in the parking lot medians, combine beds of perennial shrubs with planters to fill out the arrangements.

"It doesn't take many plants and the focus becomes just a few that are easy to care for," she says. She is available from 6 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday to help select pots and plants for your specific area. She enjoys putting her interior design training and plant knowledge to use.

Tim Miller, owner of Millberg Farms can be found at Lowe's in Kyle. The Kyle dry land farmer of 20 years is up on all the tricks of the gardening trade and more. He can answer any of your gardening questions, plus offer invaluable suggestions for fruiting trees, and is there off and on during the week

Laurie Jackson, owner of Jackson Growers and a Hays County Master Gardener works at King Feed & Hardware on 14210 Ranch Road 12 in Wimberley from Wednesday through Sunday. As a professional grower and gardener, she can answer any question you can think to ask.

It would be worth a trip to all these stores to talk to Laurie, Susan or Tim just to get to know them and be familiar with where they worked. You never know when you are going to need your gardening angel.

While some of us have had rain, the clouds have passed a lot of us up, leaving us to our own devices. Timers are readily available at most garden centers, home improvement and hardware stores, which can be attached to an outdoor faucet and hose to be set to come on in the early morning hours. Ideally irrigation should start between four or five in the morning and end at eight or nine to allow moisture time to soak thoroughly into the soil before the heat of the day begins the evaporation process. Never, never water during the heat of the day, even by hand: It causes too much stress in the plants. If the water droplets fall on plant leaves it sets them up for sunburn.

Watering before midnight on a hot summer night may also set up your lawn and plants for fungus diseases, particularly if the moisture is being supplied with an in ground sprinkler system, which throws water onto the plant leaves. If some fungus does crop up, spray the effected plants with baking soda and water or use dusting sulfur, available at most garden centers.

Pecan trees might need supplemental irrigation now to ensure optimum kernel development during July and August. Water them deeply in an area from three feet beyond the drip line to half the distance from the trunk

If you haven't raised the wheels on the lawn mower to their highest level, do so now! Leave the clippings in the lawn to act as mulch. The longer turf blades will help shade the roots helping with burn out and chinch bugs. It will also slow down the growth, requiring less irrigation and less mowing — a good thing for the month of July.

If a section of lawn is not responding to irrigation and turning brown, don't waste time and water, just apply pyrethrum-rotenone combination available at most garden centers, in the area because you have chinch bugs. They love it hot and dry, particularly next to curbing, over embedded rock and along concrete driveways. It you have round brown spots in green grass you have Fairy Circles fungus. Treat those with compost or dusting sulfur.

The old way to reduce nematodes and weeds was to dry till bare garden soil several times during the summer. An alternative to all that hard work is solarization. Till the soil first and if it doesn't rain, wet and cover with a double layer of clear plastic sheeting or one layer of UV resistant clear plastic for six weeks. This will kill most weeds, insects and disease.

That is also the lazy way of preparing a new planting bed and during the hot summer months in Texas, it's probably the best way. It really isn't even necessary to till the soil for the bed, just mow low, wet and cover with plastic sheeting. The sun and heat will do the work for you. But tilling will break down the larger, woody weeds and allow more direct contact between the plastic and soil.

After six weeks, remove the plastic and fill the area with some good soil and compost, plant and mulch. Voila! You have an instant flowerbed or vegetable garden. Well, sort of. You will have to work up a sweat shoveling in the new dirt.

If you haven't already, set out Nolo Bait for the invading grasshoppers, unless your’s are big enough to saddle and ride. Then save your money, the bait won't do any good if they are over half-an-inch long. Treat grub worms with beneficial nematodes or just let the armadillos do their feasting.

Grasshoppers and other insects do not seem to be as big a threat this year because of the drought their food sources are in short supply. Butterflies are most notable in their absence.

Fruiting branches need plenty of sunlight to develop attractive, well-colored fruit. Heavily shaded peach branches will often die. Remove vigorous growth from the center of peach and plum trees to prevent shading of fruiting branches. Dip pruning tools in a 10 percent bleach with water solution or in diesel fuel after each cut, or at the very least, after each tree, to avoid transmitting fungus disease.

At the end of the month, transplant seeded crops such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Start seed flats of broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage and other cool season transplants. Buy small plants of southernwood or rosemary or germinate seedlings to plant with your cabbages to deter the cabbage moth. Cabbages like to be planted with dill and any kind of mint as well. Fall will be here before you know it.

Evaporation rates can run up to an inch a day or more during the month of July when the sun is shining. If you can, partially shade your pool or tank to cut down on evaporation. Set out fresh water for birds and other wildlife.

Even when it is cloudy and humid your sweat glands are working hard to keep your body cool. It is important to keep everything, including yourself, well hydrated in the heat by drinking plenty of water. Try to limit your physical activities to the cool early morning or late evening hours. And don't forget those work gloves. Snakes and scorpions are out like everything else — looking for water.



• lindakeese@grandecom.net