bringing nature, nurseries and gardeners together Sept 27, 2018
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Nursery notes: At TreeFolks this Saturday at 9 a.m. join local
expert Colleen Dieter for a Citrus Workshop. Fee: $25. 10803
Platt Lane 78725 Oranges & Lemons / Also on Saturday Linda
Wall at the Natural Gardener will teach 'Basic Seed-Saving for
the Vegetable Gardener' at 10 a.m. / The Garden Club of Austin
meets tonight at 7 p.m. in Zilker Botanical Gardens auditorium.❦
Miguel's Gallery & Garden (5209 Burnet Road.78756) has all of
its collection of Balinese statuary on sale: 50% off. ❦
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'Old Thymers update' Dwight Littleton is running his own
landscaping company with help from Patricia Paschall and Sherry
Marcus. They can create and maintain gardens, and offer a free
consultation before work begins: 512 917 2189./ P.S.Some good
news expected soon from David Sargert ; - ) ❦
A fiery fall palette: to balance out 'the formal,' designer Larry
Weiner creates a series of colorful and naturalistic wild meadows
of ornamental grasses, natives and wildflowers sown from seed to
create a landscape that's 'stunning in autumn when the meadow
lights on fire with color, ' writes Michelle Slatalla in Gardenista ❦
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Fabulous Faux Fall: our current hot, summery fall season used
to drive writer Ellise Pierce 'nuts.' But after many years she now
looks forward to this time of year, 'when you have to rely on what's
available instead of what you'd like to see.' Four recipes for the
season: tarragon chicken, zucchini pancakes, chopped, roasted
broccoli salad and pear granita. Edible Dallas ❦
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The Austin Garden is sponsored by the.Hays Free Press
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Central Texas Gardener: Jay and Sally White, the new owners
of Texas Gardener, explain how to transition from summer to cool
weather harvests. Designers Leah Churner and Colleen Dieter
demonstrate how to plant seed for flowers and food: See the show
on Saturday 4 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. KLRU ❦
How to Plant a New Tree
by Amanda Moon
Fall and winter are the perfect times to plant trees in Texas. Our
soil does not freeze and our temperatures don’t often fall below 15
degrees Fahrenheit, making it easier to transplant than any other
time of the year.
In addition, cooler temperatures allow us to get away with less wat-
ering after planting and a longer period of establishment before the
hot temperatures head our way again. Larger shade trees, i.e. oaks
and elms, are especially grateful for an earlier planting date.
Another benefit is that there's less transplant stress on a tree that's
dormant. Even evergreens tend to take a top growth 'break' during
the winter. To make sure that you have a healthy tree even when it
has lost all its leaves, scratch the end of a few branches through
the bark with your fingernail. If you see green, the tree is still alive
to the tips of the branches – a very good sign of viability.
Ten Tricks of the Trade:
1. Choose the right location. Leave enough space for your tree to
grow and stay clear of power lines above and below the ground.
(Call 811 if you are not sure of utilities.)
2. Double check your soil type against the tree you want to plant.
A pecan, for example, will struggle if planted in very shallow soil.
3. Make sure that you start with a healthy specimen from a reput-
able source. Most local nurseries buy their stock from local growers
and so the tree is already adjusted to our climate.
4. Dig an irregular hole. Tree roots can be lazy and a perfectly round
hole can trick a tree into believing it is still in the pot and it may fail
to grow roots outwards.
5. Be sure to make the hole a few inches shallower than the root
ball of the tree. Use the length of a shovel to measure. In time the
tree will settle in flat.
6. When you remove the pot, if the tree doesn't come out easily roll
the pot sideways on the ground to loosen or cut away if necessary.
Do not put unneeded pressure on the trunk of the tree.
7. Water as you fill in to eliminate air pockets in the soil.
8. Use a mix of mostly native soil and a compost or soil blend
made for tree planting.
9. Only cover the root ball a few inches and don’t pile up soil or
mulch around the trunk (ever!). Create a donut-style ring around
the outside root-ball area of the tree for a water basin, using extra
soil to build it. Top dress with mulch to preserve soil moisture.
10. Water in again one final time into the center of the ring using a
root stimulator such as SuperThrive or seaweed to encourage quick-
er rooting.
Make sure after your new tree is planted that you water deeply at
least once a week. (Increase watering the later into the hotter months
you plant.) Don’t stake the tree unless you are planting in a windy
location. Un-staked trees are stronger and at maturity are better at
withstanding windstorms.
Avoid using chemical fertilizers on trees, especially during their
first three seasons. This is the amount of time it takes for a tree to
become fully established, and the roots are especially sensitive dur-
ing this time.
Apply compost and organic root stimulators. After they're estab-
lished, use an organic fertilizer during the growing season.
Continue watering as needed to keep the tree healthy. A drought-
stressed tree cannot always revive itself to its’ former glory when
the rains come again.
Our soil is tough to dig through sometimes. If you can’t go down
more than a few inches, create a large raised bed with all those
extra boulders lying around and plant up. Make sure you give the
tree a decent width and height to the bed size based on the final
size of the chosen species.
Lastly, whoever said that a tree hole must be twice as wide as the
pot clearly had never tried digging in our soil. Be sure to make it
wide enough so that once the tree is in the ground you can get your
arm down around it to push the soil fully down. Otherwise, I (and
the tree) forgive you if it isn’t any bigger than that!
Happy Gardening everyone. ❦
