tel: 512 280-1192 Thursday, April 7, 2016
Nursery Notes: a new shipment of crape myrtles arrived this
week. $24.99 for 3 gal. Fruit trees - figs, pears, plums and
pomegranates: $34.99. Moringa trees $4.00; tobacco: $6.99.
Blueberries: $24.99. Russ says this is 'the last hurrah' for tom-
atoes. If you still need some for your vegetable garden, please
drop by for a visit. 🌿
A selection of Knock-out roses is in stock. While these beauties
are considered 'low maintenance,' gardeners should be careful not
to think of them 'no maintenance.' Knock-outs definitely need
water during the summer months, says Russ. They're resistant
to blackspot, but not deer. Plant them in full-sun, and prune back
by 50% in February. ($24.99 for 3 gal.)🌿
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Create your own circular patio: an informal fire-pit encircled
with wood chips, leaves and weeds is replaced with a more durable
arrangement of bricks by a Brooklyn couple. Writer Meena Hart
Duerson tells how she did it. Brick Patio
Seven tips for beautiful flower arrangements: similar flowers
should be grouped together, mix the size and scale of blooms, use
complimentary colors - and other helpful ideas from party-planner/
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Drowning out street noise with water: when NPR's Ketzel
Levin decided she needed to cut back on the traffic noise near her
house and garden, she spent over $5,000 on a massive fountain
in her garden .. . and was delighted with the result. N.P.R. 🌿 Central Texas Gardener: learn how rusty blackhaw viburnum
attracts wildlife with its spring flowers and summer berries; learn
how to use evergreen textures to screen or accent in sun and shade.
On tour, a visit to an Avery Ranch backyard - ' a cornucopia of
delicious scents, food, and colors.' Saturday at 4 p.m ; Sunday at
9 a.m. or watch it on-line here: KLRU 🌿
A beautiful spring garden photographed late yesterday in Austin's Hyde
Park (near Duval & Park Blvd.)
April in the Garden
by Chris Winslow
1. Spring vegetable gardening: Plant those warm season crops.
This list includes beans, black-eyed peas, okra, squash, cantaloupe,
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, corn, and eggplant.
There's still time to plant those cooler season crops: lettuce, rad-
ishes, and carrots.
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2. Fertilize your garden: Do this organically with compost. Other
sources of nutrition are dried fish flakes and organic fertilizers for-
mulated for garden use. You can also use liquid fertilizers, such as
fish emulsion and seaweed extracts.
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3. Control weeds: Keep them down with mulch and by weeding
a little bit every day.
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4. Plant spring annuals: This is the perfect time. Work some com-
post into your flower beds and you'll give these new plants just the
food they need to flower through the summer. Some ideas: begonias,
zinnias, marigolds, petunias, coleus, periwinkle, cosmos, larkspur,
portulaca, and purslane.
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5. Plant perennials: Choose some of your favorites from the exten-
sive lists available. Look for the many varieties of drought tolerant
and showy lantanas and salvias. Also blackfoot daisies, skullcaps,
purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susan, plumbagos, columbines,
rock-rose, ruella, and verbena.
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6. Ornamental grasses: Native varieties are best due to their heat
and drought tolerance. My favorites are big muhley, coastal muhley
and the maiden grasses. For a short grass in a very dry place, you
might like Mexican feather grass. It is blond-colored, reaches 1.5
foot in height, and makes a beautiful accent plant that moves so
gracefully with the slightest breeze.
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7. Fertilize lawn: Use a slow release organic fertilizer. The 3-1-2
ratio is best. Allow 10 pounds of fertilizer for every 1,000 square
feet of lawn. Mowing height should be 2.5 inches for St. Augustine
grass and 2 inches for Bermuda and zoysia. I like to return the grass
clippings to the turf. These clippings act as a mulch and help to re-
duce weeds. Water infrequently and deeply to encourage a deep root
system. This practice will train your lawn grass to be more drought
tolerant and help to conserve water.
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8. Fertilize shrubs, trees: Mulch with a compost-mulch blend to
provide nutrients and conserve water. Deep, infrequent watering
of shrubs and trees will encourage deep, drought-tolerant root sys-
tems. Remember to seal pruning cuts on oak trees. It might save
them from oak wilt. Happy springtime gardening everyone!
🌲 🌿 🌵 Please contact newsletter editor Darrel Mayers
with any ideas for articles or interesting links:
internationalrain@yahoo.com (hitting 'reply' to this email won't work)
Visit the website: Its About Thyme facebook
Visit the nursery: 11726 Manchaca Road, Austin, 78748
