Tip of the Week – Week 18 in the Zone 9 Garden

Last week I did a post about my favorite gardening tools.  I did not realize I should have added rubber boots and a raincoat to the list!  Can you believe all of this rain?  I am thankful for the rain but it makes it very hard on us that can really only garden on the weekend.  Don’t want to sound like I am complaining though.  All of these spring rains gave us a great wildflower year and my yard has never been prettier.  Plus I will soon start harvesting from a vegetable garden that has received absolutely zero supplemental water.

sweet-potatoes

If you are not already making your sweet potato slips you are quickly running out of time.

Vegetables

By now most of our spring and summer veggies are in the ground.  This makes the early part of May a time of fertilizing and weeding.  I have been making compost tea and using it to fertilize my tomatoes.  You can do that or continue adding finished compost to your beds once a month.

I have a long time reader named Donna that is currently growing her own sweet potato slips.  If you want to grow sweet potatoes you need to get busy if you are going to grow your own slips.  July 4th is about as late as you can plant them and still get a respectable harvest in the fall.  Last year I did an experiment with sweet potatoes.  I wanted to see if there was a benefit to growing them from slips or if they would do fine if they were grown like Irish potatoes.  Turns out both methods yielded about the same.  However, in my opinion, growing them like Irish potatoes was a very easy, and sensible way to use up all of our sweet potatoes that were too small to cook or were sprouting in storage.

My Hyperion daylilies were passed to us by Sally's grandmother.  These tough and reliable plants provide me a solid month of blooms each May.

My Hyperion daylilies were passed to us by Sally’s grandmother. These tough and reliable plants provide me a solid month of blooms each May.

Ornamentals

My wife and I have hundreds of yellow Hyperion Daylilies scattered throughout most of the beds on our property.  I absolutely love these plants for two reasons.  First, they came from my wife’s grandmother.  Nana grew them for years and then after she passed we found a clump on her ranch.  We dug half of the clump up and brought it home.  That was eight years ago.  We have now turned that one clump into more than 150 feet of lovely borders that bloom none stop during the month of May.  And there is the second reason I love them.  Daylilies are beautiful, reliable and prolific!  If you don’t have any, I really suggest you give them a try.

Lawns

Thanks to all of this rain most of our lawns are looking pretty good.  If you have not already fertilized it is time.  Regardless of whether you use chemical or organic fertilizers, put them out about every five to six weeks.  Also, try setting your mower and little high and mow more frequently.  This, combined with the fertilization, will create a thick, healthy lawn that chokes out weeds.

peaches-in-bowl

Last year a late freeze “thinned” our peaches. The resulting fruits were the biggest and sweetest we ever harvested.

Trees

When putting out the fertilizer don’t forget your trees.  They are putting on new growth right now and they will thank you for a good feeding.  Apply fertilizer under the entire canopy with the heaviest application at the drip-line.  The tree’s most active and “absorbtive” roots grow at the drip line.

My peach and plum trees are currently covered in fruit.  If you want bigger, sweeter fruit remove about ¼ to 1/3 of the immature fruit from the trees.  Last year a late freeze did this for me.  We had the biggest and sweetest peaches ever because of this accidental thinning.

 

I share my posts on the HomeAcre Hop.  Be sure to stop by the hop.  It has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Tip of the Week – Week 17 in the Zone 9 Garden

Happy Earth Day!  45 years ago Senator Gaylord Nelson decided to raise consciousness about the environment after witnessing a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.  His efforts started the modern environmental movement and led to a worldwide celebration and network dedicated to raising consciousness about a wide array of problems and issues facing our planet.

chihuly-museum-1 As a gardener, you know that April is the perfect time to celebrate the earth.  Everything is blooming and growing.  Unfortunately everything doesn’t just mean flowers and fruits.  No, in April, everything is growing – including weeds and bugs!  Because of this I thought I would take this opportunity to do something a little different with the weekly tip.  Since we will all be spending a whole lot of time and effort battling pests over the next couple of months I thought I would tell you about my two favorite pest control tools.  Before I start I would like to say that I get nothing for promoting these products.  After much trial and error I have found these two tools to be invaluable and I just want to share them with you.

CobraHead

My most used and most loved garden tool is the CobraHead Weeder & Cultivator.  This curved piece of steel with a little football shaped head goes with me every time I go into the garden.  After trying many, many different tools throughout the years, I have found this inexpensive tool works best for me.

Cobrahead-1 As the name says, this little tool does it all.  I use it to weed and I use it to plant.  Its sleek shape gives me enough leverage to pry up crab grass or scrape out Bermuda runners.  It also allows me to quickly dig holes for transplants or dig a furrow for planting seeds in my black clay soil.  I get all of this functionality out of a tool that only costs $25.  What a deal!

MITEYFINE Mister

While the CobraHead helps keep my weeds at bay, the MITEYFINE Mister helps me wash my bug problems away.  The MITEYFINE Mister is an ingeniously simple tool that does a great job keeping aphids, spider mites and even some caterpillars at bay.

Co-blogger Patty Leander introduced me to the MITEYFINE.  Her brother is an engineer and he is the inventor of this organic pest control tool.  The MITEYFINE is a wand that attaches to your hose.  The tip at the end is specifically designed for pest control.  It applies just enough pressure to knock off the bugs without damaging the plant.  Plus, it uses no chemicals, which is really important to me.

MITEYFINE-Mister The MITEY fine comes in two lengths – 36” and 48”.  The extra ergonomic handle assembly adds 10” to the overall length but makes the wand much easier to handle.  Patty likes the short one and I have the longer one.  This tool has an all metal construction so it will help you kill scale insects for a very long time.

 

I share my posts on the HomeAcre Hop.  Be sure to stop by the hop.  It has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Tip of the Week – Week 16 in the Zone 9 Garden

Spring is definitely in the air!  Many of my roses are in full bloom and one of my chickens just hatched three new baby chicks!  This is going to be a great weekend to be outside.  The sun is out, temperatures are mild and all of this rain should make those beds a joy to work in.

chicks-1 Vegetables

The middle of April is a great time to plant our heat loving vegetables from seed.  Patty Leander just did a great post on growing Butterbeans (Lima Beans).  In addition to Butterbeans and Southern peas (black eyes and crowder), this weekend is a great time to plant vining crops like cantaloupe, water melons and gourds.  It is also a great time to get your okra in the ground.

Quick note on vining crops.  They are water hogs!  If you give them as much water as they need by watering overhead you are setting yourself up for the best crop of uncontrollable weeds you have ever seen.  Save water and reduce your weed problems by setting up some type of drip system for your watermelons, cantaloupes and gourds.

grilled-okra Ornamentals

Most of my roses are truly beautiful right now.  There really is not much in this world that is prettier than a rose bush in full bloom.  If you have a rose (or other woody shrub) that you would like to make more of, now is the time to do it.  I have found that people are somewhat intimidated by the thought of propagation.  Don’t be.  Most plants are very tough and adaptable.  Making a new one from a cutting is pretty easy once you know a few tips.

If you would like to try your hand at propagation, read my article “Propogating Antique Roses”.  It has all the tips you need to save a few bucks by creating your own plants from cuttings.

Cherokee-Rose Lawns

Right now the conditions are perfect for the formation of brown patch in St. Augustine.  Brown patch is a fungal disease that forms when rainfall is high and temps or low.  It is also more come in lawns that are over fertilized.  Brown patch is not fatal.  Generally, you can control it by cutting back on watering and fertilization.  If it spreads to an area larger than a trash can lid you may want to apply one of several granular fungicides that are designed for control.

If your brown patch does not go away as the temperatures rise you may have Take All Patch.  This is another fungal disease that is becoming more common.  Unlike brown patch, take all patch is fatal.  While there are fungicides for control, this disease is hard to beat once it is established.  If you get Take All, you may want to consider replacing your water hungry St Augustine with Bermuda or zoysia.  Both require less water and are bothered by fewer pests.

I share my posts on the HomeAcre Hop.  Be sure to stop by the hop.  It has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Butterbean Basics by Patty Leander

 

butterbeans-mixed

Whether green, white or speckled, butterbeans are down-home delicious. As mentioned in a previous post, freeze leftover liquid from cooking collard greens and use it to boost the flavor of butterbeans.

Tomatoes tend to get all the attention this time of year but there is another vegetable, so delicious, so easy to grow, so humble, so Southern, that it belongs in every Texan’s garden. I’m talking about butterbeans. Some of you may refer to them as lima beans – the terms can be used interchangeably – but poor lima beans suffer from an overcooked-and-underseasoned-school-cafeteria reputation that still haunts many adults, even though they haven’t touched a lima bean in decades. Butterbeans, on the other hand, elicit nothing but comforting memories of gardens, grannies, greens and cornbread. One of the more memorable comments I’ve heard about butterbeans came from AgriLife Extension Fruit Specialist Jim Kamas. At a fruit seminar a few years ago I had the occasion to ask if he enjoyed butterbeans as a child, and without hesitation he fondly recalled his childhood in Belleville and those luscious beans from his grandmother’s garden. She used to tell him that “if you were eating butterbeans, you were the luckiest boy in town”.  Such a sweet and memorable sentiment coming from a man who lives and breathes Texas peaches. Lucky indeed.

shelled-butterbeans

Fresh butterbeans are hard to come by unless you grow and shell them yourself.

There are several varieties of butterbeans to choose from and I’ve never grown one I didn’t like. Some are bush, some are pole, some are green, some are white, some are speckled but they all like warm weather and they all grow well in Texas.

butterbean-varities

Henderson, Jackson Wonder, Thorogreen, Dixie Speckled, King of the Garden, Christmas Pole, Fordhook 242

You can usually find small packets of butter beans at farm supply or garden centers. Online sources for seeds include Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (www.southernexposure.com), Willhite Seed (www.willhiteseed.com), Seed Savers Exchange (www.seedsavers.org) and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com).

Florida-Speckled-Butterbeans

‘Florida Speckled’ butterbeans engulf a chain link fence.

Because they like warm conditions it is best to plant them a couple of weeks after you plant green beans – any time this month is good. They are not particular about soil but be sure to give them full sun and regular moisture. Pole varieties are quite vigorous and will need a sturdy structure to climb. Most bush varieties are ready for picking in 60-65 days; pole varieties take a week or two longer. Butter beans, especially pole varieties, usually produce through the summer but if it is exceptionally hot and dry (and who knows what awaits us this summer!) their blooms may shut down. Keep them watered and they’ll perk up again in the fall and produce like crazy.

Dixie-Speckled-Butterbeans

Small-seeded ‘Dixie Speckled Butterpeas’ cook up tender and delicious.

If you are new to the business of butter beans, keep in mind that they must be shelled. Not really a big deal unless you plant rows and rows that all come ready at once – then you’ll have some work to do. If you have room in the garden plant a few short rows of different varieties with varying maturity rates so you’ll be able to space out the picking, the shelling and the eating. Cooking is simple, the less you do to them the better – just flavor with a little bacon fat, salt and pepper and let their subtle flavor and creamy texture shine. The fresher they are the quicker they cook, usually less than 45 minutes.

Butterbeans used to be a common side dish served at kitchen tables across the South, but like corded phones, station wagons and cassette tapes, they are at risk of becoming yet another reminder of simpler times and days gone by. Shoved aside by an industrious society fueled by quick-to-fix processed food, their destiny lies at the mercy of local farmers and vegetable gardeners willing to continue their cultivation. I hope you will help carry on their legacy by planting, eating and saving seed. Sop up the simplicity of this humble bean and enjoy a taste that is rich, down-home and satisfying, and always remember how lucky you are to be eating fresh butter beans.

King-of-the-garden-butterbeans

‘King of the Garden’ with a side of cornbread and a piece of fruit for a good-to-the-last-bite satisfying meal.

Old-Fashioned Butterbeans

The secret to a tasty pot likker is to simmer the cooking liquid with bacon drippings or ham hocks for at least 30 minutes before you add the beans. 

1 ham hock, ham bone or 1-2 tablespoons bacon drippings**

2 quarts water or chicken broth

4-6 cups shelled butterbeans

¼ cup brown sugar (optional, but a common ingredient)

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Bring water and ham hock or bacon drippings to a boil and simmer 30-40 minutes. Add the beans and simmer until tender, about 30-40 minutes, adding more water if necessary, to keep beans covered by about 1 inch. Season with salt and pepper.

** Vegetarian-minded folks can forgo the pig meat and cook beans in water or vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper then top off with a pat of butter.

Tip of the Week – Week 15 in the Zone 9 Garden

I hope you have your garden in shape because, according to the weather forecast, this weekend is going to be a wash-out.  They are predicting at least 2” of rain at my house from Friday through Sunday.  There is also a 90% chance of rain on Monday.  Oh well, we really do need the rain, especially my friends in Austin.  Speaking of Austin, if you are in the area why not come out to Mayfield Park this Saturday?  I will be discussing great native and low water adapted plants to bring in pollinators to your garden at the annual Trowel and Error Gardening Symposium.  It starts at 9:00.  They have three speakers, a plant sale and door prizes.  Plus, it really is a beautiful place with lots of peacocks!

Mayfield Park in Austin is a gardeners and photographers paradise in the heart of the city. Vegetables

This past week I finally got my green beans in.  I am way late this year.  If you have not planted your beans, squash and cucumbers you are running out of time.  Temperatures in the 90s cause pollen grains to burst.  Because of this, vegetables planted from seed may still have time to grow and produce some.  However your production will be limited to fruit that was pollinated (or set) before the high heat arrived.

It is not too late for transplants.  You still have time to put in squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and pepper transplants.  If you plant large transplants and give them adequate moisture and nutrition you should still get respectable harvests in June and early July.

If you have sweet potato slips start planting them this week.  If you don’t have slips, cut up some sweet potatoes and plant them just like Irish potatoes.  Production will be slightly delayed but they will grow and continue to produce all the way through the fall.  It is also time to plant southern peas from seed.  Both black eyed and crowder peas do well in our hot summers.

contender-bush-beans

You are quickly running out of time to plant beans, squash and cucumbers from seed

Ornamentals

I have an article about caladiums coming out in Texas Gardener next month.  I love caladiums and I plant lots of them.  Now is the time to get them in the ground.  There are two types of caladiums.  Fancy Leafed varieties produce large, heart shaped leaves and do best in shade.  Strap Leafed varieties produce slightly smaller leaves.  However, they take sun better and work well in containers.  Plant your bulbs with about an inch of soil over them in well-draining soil.

Weeds are beginning to be a problem in our beds.  Pull and add more mulch to control them.  The mulch will also regulate the soils temperatures in your bed which will lead to prolonged blooms for your annual flowers.

Caladiums are great plants for the shadier parts of your yard.  Photo used with permission from Classic Caladiums

Caladiums are great plants for the shadier parts of your yard. Photo used with permission from Classic Caladiums

Lawns

Last week I talked about applying commercial fertilizer to your lawns.  This week I want to remind you that you can add compost to your lawn at all time.  You really cannot over do it with organic products.  If you regularly add compost, and leave your grass clippings in place after mowing, you can grow grass that is just as healthy and pretty as the lawns grown with chemical fertilizers.  You can also apply Corn Glutten Meal to the yard now.  This natural pre-emergent herbicide will stop broad leafs like dandelion and thistle.  We are getting to the end of the time where CGM will be effective.  However, even if it doesn’t kill any weeds it adds a nice shot of natural nitrogen to the soil.

I share my posts on the HomeAcre Hop.  Be sure to stop by the hop.  It has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

2015 Bluebonnet Report

This weekend the kids all came for Easter.  Sally and I absolutely love it when the kids come for a whole bunch of reasons.  However, one of my favorites is my son in law Ramez Antoun’s camera.  Ramez is a dang fine amateur photographer.  Each time he comes he leaves me with a ton of outstanding photographs.  This weekend the bluebonnets of Washington County were at their peak.  He took tons of great shots of the bluebonnets and all of the other wildflowers in our yard.  I was so impressed with them that I thought I would share.

bluebonnets-lake

Our little house sits on a long, narrow two acre lot.  We have a ranch in front of us and one behind us.  One of the ranches has a 56 acre lake on it.  This shot is from our yard looking toward the lake.  I love the way this picture captures the swaths of bluebonnets that lead down to the lake.

Bluebonnets-yorkie

All of our kids are dog lovers.  Kate and Ramez are the owners of the Yorkie in the picture above (my apologies for the ugly sweater they forced her to wear) .  Our daughter Jessie and her husband own the three labs below. The two black labs are retired guide dogs.  While Jessie was in college she and Cameron worked with a group of people that socialized and trained dogs for the seeing impaired.   They got these dogs when they were six weeks old and kept them for the first year of their lives.  They then turned them over for further training.  Finally, the wound up with a seeing impaired person who loved and depended on them for several years.  When it was time for them to retire, the foundation offered them back Jessie and her husband.  How could they refuse?

bluebonnets-labrador

Here is a great shot of our little guest house/bed and breakfast.  I love the mural that my wife had done last year.  If you are planning a trip to Washington County, Sally and I would love to be your hosts.  Click on the link below to tour “The Nest” and/or book your stay.

bluebonnets-guest-house

 

Finally, bluebonnets aren’t the only wildflowers that are blooming now in Washington County.  I leave you with this great shot of an Indian Paintbrush.

This post has been shared on the HomeAcre Hop!  Stop by the hop and see what gardeners and homesteaders across the country are doing.

indian-paintbrush