September garden activities | trees and pottery | tree blindness

Nursery notes: Labor day weekend sales: 20% off all trees and

pottery (includes talavera). Papayas: buy one get one free $19.99.

We are fully stocked with fall veggies. Please drop by for a visit. ❦

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A cure for tree blindness: There was a time when knowing your

trees was a matter of life and death, writes Gabriel Popkin. 'Now

most of us walk around. . . tree blind.' Popkin leads tree walks in

in Washington D.C. , to raise people's ecological consciousness,

and wrote about it in last Sunday's New York Times. ❦

How to make rainbow salad: field chef Eric Wilson provides a

no-nonsense, inspiring how-to video for this intriguing creation -

which bursts with the flavors of orange-roasted beets, crispy rad-

ishes, snow peas, dark greens, and fresh herbs. Modern Farmer ❦

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Central Texas Gardener: Author Shelley Cramm unites gardens

and faith in her book 'God's Word for Gardeners.' On tour, designer

Lisa LaPaso’s garden enriches her family through art, food and flow-

ers. Also, golden barrel cactus, troubled grapefruit trees, and help

with charming containers. Sat. 4 p.m. Sun. 9 a.m. KLRU ❦

Garden Ideas for September

by Chris Winslow

With the arrival of the new month tomorrow, we enter a period of

transition as we move from the doldrums of summer into what can

be one of the busiest of seasons for central Texas gardeners. Some

jobs for this month.

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1. Cut back annual summer flowers, mulch, and feed. We have

approximately 75 to 90 days until the first frost . . . plenty of time

to get a renewed flush of color.

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2. As the rains from Hurricane Harvey dissipate, it will be time

once more to be ready to water your trees, shrubs, turf grass and

landscape beds. Slow, deep watering will encourage a deep root

system and make your landscape more able to withstand drought.

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3. It's time to plant new vegetables for fall and winter harvests

during the last week of the month: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels

sprouts and cabbage.

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4. Buy bulbs. The season to plant tulips, hyacinths, crocus, jonquils,

daffodils, grape hyacinths and anemones is just around the corner.

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5. Mulch all beds and trees with compost mixed with mulch. This

mixture will protect plant roots from heat and cold extremes, and

conserve water.

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6. Inspect trees for fall webworms, and if you find them, come up

with a strategy to get rid of them using Thuricide or Dipel.

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7. Fertilize lawn towards the end of the month. (Please choose an

organic fertilizer.)

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8. Be on ‘brown patch alert’ for your grass, and be ready to treat

this disease with the organic Actinovate.

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9. Keep on the lookout for a world of fall bedding (annual) plants.

As temperatures cool, we can begin to plant dianthus, snapdragons,

and petunias.

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10. Watch for black spot and mildew on roses. With cooler weather,

these pesky rose diseases will begin to show up. An organic spray

of Neem oil or wettable sulfur should help in keeping it at bay.

Happy Gardening Everyone! ❦