Nursery notes: 50% off all fruit trees, including apple, peach, pear

and plum. 20% off all evergreen shrubbery and grasses. Huge

Boston ferns in hanging baskets $15 each, or two for $25. New crops in

 of arugula, cilantro, and romaine lettuce. 

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Favorite blog at the moment? Designer Amanda Winkles's Austin
Gardener blog is beautifully laid out, and full of information. Want

to choose some 'classic white flowers' for your garden? Amanda

presents 20 of them. How about butterfly gardening? She offers

photos and details about 45 different plants. Well worth a visit!

 

On KLRU's Central Texas Gardener this weekend, a visit to the

native heritage garden of designer David Mahler. In the studio Tom

Spencer chats with Jared Pyka (Native Texas Nursery) about using

native alternatives to replace ligustrum and nandina. Saturday:

noon and 4 p.m. Sunday: 8 a.m. http://www.klru.org/ctg/ 

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Next lecture: Nov. 21, 2 p.m  Free. DeAnne Pearson will show you

how to use herbs to create flavored vinegars, extracts and natural soda.

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2. Plant flowering perennials: it’s never too late. Even though their
tops will be burned back with the first hard freeze, their roots will be hardy.
During the cool days of winter, they will establish a healthy root system
for a show in the spring.

 

3. Plant some winter blooming annuals: in central Texas, we can grow

 pansies, snapdragons, violas, stock, cyclamen, flowering cabbage and kale.

 Remember to work in some organic plant food such as blood and bone

meal. These slow release plant foods will feed your plants throughout the

 winter and into the spring. Pansies love blood meal.

 

4. Plant fall bulbs:  there is still plenty of time. There is a great selection

of late winter to early spring flowering bulbs to choose from. Look for

tulips, narcissus, jonquils, muscari, daffodils, ranunculus, and anemones.
Bulbs benefit from the slow release phosphorus found in bone meal.

Mix a tablespoon in the root zone when planting.

5. Force some bulbs indoors: this is a fun activity for Thanksgiving and

Christmas time. The easiest are paperwhite narcissus. Add some potting

mix to a clay or plastic 6” bulb pan (fill about ½ way). Place 3 to 5 bulbs

on top of the soil and add some decorative gravel to keep them upright

and firm. All you need to do now is water the bulbs in and place the pot in

a sunny location. It takes around 3 weeks for the bulbs to force out their

foliage and open their flowers. Easy and decorative.

 

6. Winterize your lawn with a slow release organic lawn food. This will

give nutrition and strength to your lawn for the coming cold months.

 

7. Cutback your perennials after the first frost, and mulch your beds

with compost and mulch mixed together. This combination will feed the

roots while conserving water and warming the bed.

8. Onions, scallions, garlic: November is onion, scallion, and garlic

month. To be successful with growing these vegetable gems, don’t wait

till the days get long again. Success requires growing in the short days of

winter. You too can grow an onion 6” across! Timing is most important.

 

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.

 

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!  

 [© Chris Winslow 2010] 

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