Dear Friends,

Here is the second issue of our weekly gardening newsletter for Houston, the Gulf Coast and beyond. This a project of The Lazy Gardener, Brenda Beust Smith and John Ferguson and Mark Bowen of Nature's Way Resources. We also have a great cast of contributors writers who will chime in regularly. We would love to keep receiving your input on this newsletter . . . comments . . . suggestions . . . questions . . Email your thoughts to: lazygardenerandfriends@gmail.com. Thanks so much for your interest.

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Of Weeds and Winged Wonders  

 

By Brenda Beust Smith

  

Stickyweed (velcroweed) invades my Martha Gonzalez antique rose.

 

 

He did.  By six months later, almost every plant along that fenceline had died, including my Meyer lemon. What didn't die? A large vitex tree, a fig tree, Louisiana iris and my giant coneflower.

 

I guess they're pretty tough plants!

 

MONARCH UPDATE: Great news in from Diana Foss, who oversees the Wildlife Diversity Program at Sheldon Lake State Park and Wildlife Management Area (a great visit if you're looking for a Sunday ride). Diana advises us to start planting more milkweed (butterfly weed) for the monarchs that will be coming through.  

 

Since Diana Foss has urged us to plant for our "winged wonders," here's some news of great plants available at a sale that will help support the new White Oak Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden at 7603 Antoine Dr., site of the sale.

 

(http://www.nearnorthwestdistrict.com/Programs/WOCC.shtml) 

  

 

 

Trust the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Hermann Park to perfectly time its Spring Plant Sale with the Monarch and other butterfly explosions in this area.

Check out our list of great butterfly attractors that will be available at the sale, 9 a.m.-noon, Saturday, April 6, on the 7th Level of the HMNS Parking Garage:

#1 Hairy wedelia (Zexmenia hispida). Perennial bush, 2 ft, Hill Country native, full sun,

drought-tolerant (Translation: needs to be very well drained and don't overwater!). One

inch wide yellow flowers spring through fall. Dies back in the winter. Give good haircut in

spring.

#2, Gaillardia pulchella or Mexican Blanket. Mounding clumps, 2-ft. flower stalks spring

to fall. Full sun, don't overwater. Save seed heads to replant next spring.

#3, Red Porter Weed (Stachytarpheta sp.). Red spiked blooms 

To read the full article, visit http://www.natureswayresources.com/nl/butterflygarden.pdf

 

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In this column we are going to answer your questions on mulch. In the first issue we discussed the three best types of mulch hence this week we will look at the
three worst types.

Researchers have found that healthy fertile soils with low insect and disease pressure have one thing in common, a 30:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. This is an important and common ratio found throughout natural systems.

 COLORED MULCH - Colored or dyed mulch can be found in many colors from red  to green and blue. The most common are red and black. The first problem with the dyed mulches is the carbon: nitrogen ratio. To get the dyes to stick to the 

wood producers use raw wood from pallets, crates and other trash wood. This
type of wood has a C:N ratio of over 500:1! Hence when it is placed on the soil
microbes will start to break it down. To do this they need lots of nitrogen. To get
this extra nitrogen they pull it from the soil away from plant roots (microbes
always eat first). When plants do not have enough nitrogen they are far more
susceptible to insect and disease issues.

  

 

 

 

• Put tomatoes in the ground early this month.
• Mow the lawn when it needs it, then feed.
• Watch out for bluebonnets. They look like clover. Don't mow them down.
• Fertilize everything. Water first, feed, then water again.
• Gradually move hibiscus and other container plants into more light.
• Remove flowers on newly-purchased plants so they will set stronger root systems.
• Unwrap banana trunks and keep well watered. Want bananas? Remove baby plants.
• Plant Louisiana phlox around late-appearing shrubs like hamelia, lantana, dishplate hibiscus, etc. This perennial groundcover is green in winter, blooms in spring and goes dormant (almost disappears) in summer.
• Give hibiscus a slight haircut, then feed with hibiscus food to encourage lush growth.
• Attend area programs to learn about new-to-us hardy, low-maintenance flowers.

If the spirit moves . . .

• Continue pinching perennial tips to make them bushier. Stop when they produce buds.
• Dig up, thin out and transplant perennials so crowded they no longer bloom properly.
• Feed azaleas, spirea, climbing roses and other shrubby spring bloomers after they bloom.
• Remove spent flowers on spring bloomers to promote more bloom production.
• Work 1/2 cup of Epsom salts around roses, hibiscus and other bloomers for more flowers.
• Remove fading daffodil blooms so they won't go to seed. Leave fading foliage on.
• Feed plumerias with fish emulsion and superphosphate.
• Plant bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and watermelon - but cover if a late freeze is forecast. Start eggplants in pots.
• Put bluebonnet plants in raised, containers and/or hanging baskets. (Sow seed in fall.)
• In the water garden, remove leaves and muck from pond bottom if not done last fall. Remove toad eggs if you see them.

If you're really feeling energetic . . .

• Landscape with a wide variety of plants, instead of large masses of all the same kind. Masses of the same variety attract insects and disease.
• Donate excess plants to school, nursing home or community garden.
• Check grocery stores for white-flowering oxalis (clover) around St. Patrick's Day. It should be perennial in shady areas. Goes dormant in summer; reappears in winter.
• Plant antique roses, four o'clocks, gingers, jasmines and mock oranges for fragrance.
• Prune poinsettias; keep spent blooms picked off mums. Mums bloom spring and fall.
• Make a note of beautiful spring bulbs (tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, ranunculus, anemones, etc.) now in bloom. Fall is the time to purchase and plant most of them.
• Remove tulip bulbs after the flowers fade. Discard; they won't bloom again.
• Watch tree trunks for webworm eggs in limb crotches on susceptible trees. Remove!
• Try crushed egg shells, coarse sand in ring around plant stem to discourage snails.
• Give all the plants a manure tea treat: Mix in washtub: 1/2 rotted (or bagged) manure and 1/2 water (preferably rainwater). Let it sit overnight. Drain off water and pour over plants. This tea is high in nitrogen, so don't use more than once a month on blooming plants.

Great Don't-Do tips for really Lazy Gardeners

• Don't prune off freeze-damaged limbs or remove what looks like freeze-killed plants just yet. Wait until April. They may come back out.
• Don't prune crape myrtles unless they are causing damage, have grown out of bounds or have dead limbs. (See page 6.)
• Don't cut foliage off bulbs that naturalize after they finish blooming. They use the fading foliage to set next year's blooms.
• Don't plant caladiums yet. It's still too cold.
• Don't put out any tender tropicals, like plumerias. We may have a late freeze.

The monthly gardening activities information above was excerpted from "The LAZY GARDENER'S GUIDE." See below to find out how to get the complete guide:

"THE LAZY GARDENER'S GUIDE ON CD" - Specifically for Houston Area gardens - WHAT TO DO EACH MONTH - when to fertilize, prune, plant what where, best plants for sun, shade, butterflies, hummingbirds,etc. Based on Brenda's quirky 40+ year Houston Chronicle Lazy Gardener column. PDF format, print out only the month you need.  $20 total, checks payable to Brenda B. Smith. Mail to: Lazy Gardener's Guide on CD, 14011 Greenranch Dr., Houston, TX 77039-2103.

Please see the following letter from the Fifth Ward Farmer Street Garden's gardeners:

We, the members of the Greater Fifth Ward Farmer Street Garden, would like to make a plea to the larger community for help in restoring our community garden. On Saturday, February 9, 2013, we discovered that person(s) unknown broke through the garden gate and burglarized our locked tool shed of our donated equipment we had accumulated over the last several years. The equipment included a riding lawn mower, an electric saw, push mowers, weed eaters, wheel barrows, an assortment of shovels, rakes, hoes, machetes and other gardening tools. Over $2500 worth of donated equipment was stolen.

The members have given generously over the past six years of its existence to the seniors, disabled and low income families of the Fifth Ward Community and surrounding communities. We participate in pantry programs at the Julia C. Hester House, Peavey Center, Finnigan Park and other organizations in the Fifth Ward community with donations of fruits and vegetables grown in our community garden. We hope and want to continue to do so in the future, but we will need assistance in replacing the stolen items.

We thank you in advance for your support in restoring our garden supplies so that we may continue our charitable work in the community with little interruption. Although we are a small group with big plans and big hearts, we hope we can fulfill the need in the community for anyone needing food for a wholesale, happier community. You may contact us by visiting the garden at 4110 Farmer St, Houston TX 77020 on Saturdays between 8 am - noon or by calling James Phillips at (832) 607-4044 or Ernestine Lloyd at (713) 672-9314.

Collard Greens Going Strong

Tia Bonham

 

Ernestine Lloyd and James Phillips

Willie Nickels

Mark Bowen