tel: 512 280-1192                                           Thurs, July 24, 2014

Nursery notes: Huge and beautiful 8-10" sun coleus reg. $12.99
sale price $5.99. (Ten colors to choose from.) These plants are
colossal! (see below for coleus article) Tomato & pepper trans-
plants ready for fall garden planting. Broccoli & cabbage 6-packs
are in. We planted them the first week of August last year and had
a bumper crop by Halloween. 10" bougainvillea baskets on sale:
$19.99 (reg. $24.99) Pride of Barbados in 2 gal. pots are bloom-
ing - $14.99. Plenty of milkweed to feed the Monarch larvae: 4"
for $1.50 and 1 gal. for $7.99  Huge Boston ferns in 12" pots -  
$14.99. No newsletter next week (editor in Mexico!)
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Forty one Gorgeous Garden Paths: Get ideas for your own wel-
coming walkway from some of the West's best garden designs. 
Sunset Magazine 
 

Sizing up Coleus: "What’s not to love about a genus that produces
colors from gentle butter yellow to shocking magenta, with leaves
that range in shape from simple ovals to frilly triangles—especially
when coleus plants are so easy to grow that each pot should bear
the slogan, Just add water.”  (All coleus on sale at our nursery this
weekend) Fine Gardening Magazine
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Central Texas Gardener.  Let’s go outside with hardy bromeliads
to structure up your drought-tough garden. On tour, a family picks
intrigue over lawn.  Sat. noon, 4 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m. www.klru  

 
A Guide to Fall Tomatoes
By Chris Winslow

It can be difficult to think about fall vegetable gardening when the
temperatures daily are now reaching 100 degrees. It’s also hard to
believe that we have just 18 weeks until the first frost.

In order to have a fine crop of tomatoes ready before this average
first frost date of Nov. 27, I am planting 14 heat resistant varieties.

I picked varieties that would set in the heat and had determinate
modes of growth, which  grow and bloom at a faster rate than their
indeterminate cousins.

I chose Sunmaster, Heatwave, Celebrity, Valley Girl, Solar Fire,
and BHN 444 (Healthy Surprise). By planting 2 or 3 of each, I will
track their performance and see which ones grow the best in my
raised bed garden.

During this year’s spring and early summer season, BHN 444 had
outperformed the other varieties, producing an average of 20 toma-
toes that were large (3/4 to 1 pound), meaty… and very tasty.

I had my doubts about the likelihood of my success since I planted
them at the end of April… which is late. To my ‘healthy surprise’
this heat-set tomato proved wonderful – both in its performance in
the garden and its flavor at our dinner table.

For my present planting, I micro-tilled in a fresh, generous supply
of compost and added some Espoma brand organic fertilizer at the
rate of 1 pound per 25 square feet. This organic fertilizer contains
added beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae to help feed the soil and
produce better roots and larger blooms and fruit. It worked well for
me in the spring and summer.

To beat the heat, I planted my tomatoes in craters. These craters help
to channel water to the root zone where the water is most needed.

With our current oven-hot conditions, watering becomes crucial. You
cannot miss a day.

Check and water the plants first thing in the morning and again in
the evening. Fill up the crater to get the water where it’s needed –
and not on the foliage, which can lead to problems with disease.

Coming up, with shorter days and cooler weather, we will have a
multitude of new vegetables to plant. Cauliflower, and Brussels
sprouts are just a few weeks away with lettuce, radishes, spinach,
mustard and collard greens, and carrots to follow.

By the way, I haven’t purchased potatoes since last May and onions
since last April and I haven’t bought a tomato all spring and summer.
Gardening is not only fun, it swells the pocketbook.
                                     Happy gardening everyone!
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In the next newsletter, Mick Vann's recipe for Quesadillas de Flor
de Calabaza  – Cheese and Squash Blossom Quesadillas
                                    
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