A Conservation Challenge

We can’t make it rain or shade the earth from the sun, but there’s plenty we can do

By Linda Keese

It has not been that long ... only four short months since we were all commiserating about the lack of rainfall and dead lawns.

Remember how we were collectively going to gravel over all those bare areas and accent them with a few very drought tolerant plants? We cannot relocate or eradicate the deer. It would be foolish to even try. We cannot make it rain on command. We cannot shade the earth from the sun ... although there is a guy with a wild idea of a very large garden hose hoisted up to the stratosphere.

What we CAN DO is plant shrubs, trees, bunch grasses and forbes (wild flowers) native to this area, expose rock lying under a quarter inch of top soil, and use pottery items or concrete to accent around our homes.

I am old and my knees do not work half the time, nor does my back cooperate — but I challenge you to clear a ten-foot square section of turf (if you still have it) from your landscape and replace it with some type of rock, mulch and no more than five plants that are native (or close relative) to a 50-mile radius of Hays County. Please e-mail me with your results. If you have photos, send them as well. I will spotlight everyone who answers the challenge and their efforts. Let's go really green this year and reduce our use of spraying drinking water on our landscapes. It is too bad we cannot use gray water.

Plants, pipes and pets now need nighttime cover now with the temperatures fluctuating from the 70's down to the 20's. It is blanket time. Any large prized plant can be covered with moving blanket or even an electric one. There are lighter weight, white sheets available at garden centers that protect plants from cold winds and let sunlight through, which are easy to move around. Just think of the constant covering and uncovering as an aerobic work out for all those holiday pounds. Another type of blanket for plants is frozen water — ice. Irrigate dry landscaping with your sprinkler system just after sunset, until plant leaves are uniformly moist. As the temperature plunges, ice will form insulating them to a constant 32 degrees.

Think of the benefits of hauling wheelbarrows around full of those huge mounds of various soil and rock combinations at landscaping centers. Surely you have some beds around your home that could stand some filling, mulching and/or edging. A thick layer of mulch will help semi-hardy perennials survive freezing temps as well as cut down immensely on springtime weeds. Put in some hoops and cover with plastic to protect your garden area from wildlife. It will get you in shape for the months to come and burn off some of those holiday pounds.

On cold and blustery days go no farther than your garage full of garden tools, a space heater and a grinder just waiting to be fired up that will surely fill up any weekend, filing or grinding a sharp edge on a collection of picks, shovels and trimmers, dulled by months of contact with limestone rocks and hard wood.

Dead leaves and stalks left frozen and black by the artic air need to go, but hold off pruning your crape myrtle. Wait until February to prune dead twigs and seed heads. And this does NOT mean that you should go out and whack on spring blooming plants whose old wood canes from last year will sprout blossoms in the spring. These should be only be pruned immediately after they bloom. But while the leaves are off most of the trees and shrubs, now is a good time to see the skeleton and trim some branches out.

Keeping shrubs and trees compact helps with both airflow, keeping down fungus problems and water dependency with fewer branches and a more compact size demanding less moisture. On the other hand, larger trees can be thinned out to let more sunlight through their branches to the ground below.

Now is the time to move dormant shrubs around because cooler weather significantly ups the success rate of transplants. Dormant plants such as lantana, grasses and sages are easy to dig up and transplant now. As with any transplant, make sure that most of the root ball is dug up mostly intact. And it is easier to dig and move after a rain. But if rain is not forthcoming, water well the day before you move for easier digging and after transplanting to settle the plant in. If it hasn't frozen already, dig a small clump of lemon grass to pot and move inside to a sunny window. One of these nights you are going to forget to bring it in if you don't.

Beds will look perky if frozen and spent plants are cleaned out or cut back and covered with mulch and bare spots planted with cool weather annuals like pansies, dianthus, snapdragons and petunias. There is a pretty good sale on bulbs right now at garden centers and a good collection of hardy perennials and evergreens, such as nandina, herbs, yucca, liriope, palms, cypress or viburnum available. Keep water fresh and levels up on indoor forced bulbs.

January is the time to plant disease-free potato seed. Cut into two ounce sections containing at least one 'eye', dust with sulfur and plant two inches deep. Also plant beets, broccoli, carrots, Swiss chard, collard (kale), kohirabi, lettuce, onion plants, parsley, sugar snap peas, radishes, spinach and turnips. Keep your salad garden pot full of fresh lettuce by seeding each week.

Fertilize established fruit trees and flower beds with slow-release or composted nitrogen at the rate of one pound per 100 square feet or spread garden compost one inch thick. Set out strawberry plants under deciduous trees. They will survive as perennials if provided shade, otherwise grow them as annuals. Plant ground cover in shady areas that didn't grow grass last summer or cover the area with mulch if you don't want to thin out branches to let in more light. Overseeding with winter rye robs moisture from the perennial roots of warm weather grasses and is NOT recommended. Now is the time to re-think any turf at all.

Toward the end of the month begin seed or greenhouse peppers and tomatoes in cold frames for early transplanting. Repot your Christmas cactus after blooming. Broadcast stone ground corn meal in turf to control summer weeds and grass burrs.

If you were thinking green this Christmas and hung popcorn or cranberries on the tree, now is the time to hang them and other edible treats outside on the trees or fence for wildlife. Spreading peanut butter on pinecones and hanging them from tree branches is a good activity for kids to do during their school break and great for the birds. Or enjoy a nature walk in the woods and winter's stark beauty.

Even when it is too cold or wet to venture outside, you can delve into the world of gardening through corporate and personal web sites. Travel on the Internet with a cup of hot cocoa and see what other gardeners are doing across the globe.



• lindakeese@grandecom.net

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