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Patty Leander’s (Not so) Secret Seed Sources
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I love the gourd article! So many unusual gourds. Good luck!
Thanks Sally. You are a true masters of horticulture.
Dear Yupneck,
I am thinking of planting a crepe myrtle on the side of my house that will hopefully grow to shade my only western-facing window. The summer sun gets so hot on that side.
I have a few questions for you…. Would a crepe myrtle be a good choice for my purposes? If so, which variety? Are some colors more hearty than others? Is this the best time of year to plant a young tree? Could you provide specifics on planting; such as depth, stabilization, soil additives, frequency of watering, and care through the winter?
Your blog is always interesting & informative. Congratulations on your new site: Masters of Horticulture. Keep up the good work, Yupneck. We amateur gardeners need your knowledge, humor, and plain-spoken advice! Best of luck to you now and in the future.
What a well written comment. Especially the part about how good my blog is!
First, now is the best time to plant ALL trees. So go get you a crepe myrtle. When selecting a crepe myrtle there are two things to consider: color and height. Some crepe myrtles can grow to 30 or 40 feet so be aware of it’s growth habit. My absolute favorite crepe myrtle is Bashum’s Party Pink. It is one of the earlier varieties that was created by a true master of horticulture right in your home town (Houston). It is a lovely pink and it grows rapidly upto about 15′. After that it slows down but it can reach 20′ to 30 ‘ in 10 years. Any crepe myrtle that has an indian name (Kiowa, Souix, Cherokee, Arapaho, etc.) are all excellent choices for our area.
Planting is easy. Dig a hole one and a half times the width of the pot. Make the hole deep enoug that about three fourths of the root ball goes in (this is called “planting high”). Back fill 1/3 of the dirt and water. Then another third and water. Finally top off with the remaining soil. Keep soil away from the base of the shrub. Now water gently. Once palnted, water two to three times a week for the first month. Then cut back to twice a week until spring. By spring their roots should be established. Continue to water until runoff about every fifth day and then just wait for the blooms!
Jay, I am a 4-H Specialist with the Texas 4-H Program and have read your article in the September 2011 HortUpdate. I was very impressed with it and would like to know if we can run it in our monthly 4-H Newsletter. As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tomato Clubs this year, I think our 4-H families would be impressed to read about the history you have written about it. If you are ok with me running it, please just let me know.
Toby Lepley
Sure, I would love for you to run it. If you run it I would appreciate you putting a link to the blog in the credits. Is the newsletter electronic? I would love to see the article after it comes out.
Mr. White,
I just read the article about antique roses, as I am a lover of roses when I lived in Ohio I had a number of roses that were very beautiful, however since we moved to the Austin area I haven’t had much luck with them. I read your article on antique roses and would like to know where I can buy them here. If you know of any places I would appreciate your letting me know.
Thank you
The Antique Rose Emporium has a location in San Antonio. It is a beautiful place and the people there are very knowledgeable. In my opinion, it would be worth your time to drive down and visit with them. I do not know any source in the Austin area. However, there is a blogger there named Caroline whose blog is called “The Shovel Ready Garden”. She has several antique roses in her Austin yard. Here is a link to a very recent post about her roses: http://shovelreadygarden.blogspot.com/2012/03/roses-on-parade.html
Why don’t you read that article and ask her where she got hers? She is very nice and I am sure she would be willing to share her source. Good luck!
I’m wondering where can I Buy compost by the truck load. I live south of Houston outside of Rosenberg. Do you know where a good place is?
I don’t know a specific person but call dirt contractors, landscape supply shops or the landfill. Surely one of those places will have bulk compost for sale.
I appreciate good positive articles like the ones I see here. I do however have a nagging question. In many gardening articles it is mentioned that one should put compost on everything in everything etc. I have been doing that to my garden for years and have lately been getting weird results.
Last year we sent a soil sample to TA&M and got the result back which confounded me. My nitrogen is 3 times the maximum preferred percentage and the P and K were slightly above preferred.
Now I have two plant species which seem to do just fine with those numbers. Okra and Jalapeno peppers. My tomatoes grow 8 feet tall and if they make blossoms few are pollinated and of those few develop into maters. My try at sweet corn a couple of years ago was one for the books. The corn stalks looked like Sudan grass, tasseled briefly and then about 3 weeks later little cobs tried to form on only a couple of the stalks. Needless to say yield was Zero. I suppose the corn seed could have been bad but it came from a reputable source.
The garden plot needs to stay where it is because of space constraints.
Or to take another tack, which vegetables thrive with high nitrogen. My compost is just pecan and oak leaves, grass, twigs and kitchen scraps. The swill bucket which lives in the middle of the working pile is a 5 gallon bucket with lots of holes drilled in the bottom to let fluids out and a auto rim lid on top to keep varmints out. I plugged the holes in the rim with hardware cloth.
Long story short. What can I do to amend the nitrogen levels to bring them down to where my yield will increase. My brother suggested fresh pine shavings.
We are in Dallas with much amended black clay.
Hey John, several good questions here. Let me first answer the nitrogen question. To reduce nitrogen you have a couple of options. First, don’t add any more compost for a while. Then sprinkle a good amount of sawdust on top of your soil and till into the first few inches. Nitrogen in the soil will then be diverted to the wood chips to aid in their decomposition. You can also plant any of the blue leafed plants from the brassica family; broccoli, cauliflower, collards, turnips, brussel sprouts or cabbage. All brassicas are mostly leaves and they use up a lot of notrogen. Let them grow for about three months and then pull and then throw on the burn pile.
Sounds like your corn did not get properly pollenated. That could have been from lack of insects in the area or not growing your corn in a “block” configuration. Corn is pollenated by insects and through the air so several rows planted close together aide in pollenation.
About your compost, what was the pH of your soil? If it was close to 8, then adding pine needles to your compost will help lower the pH. Most vegetables like a range of 6.5 to 7.5. If your pH is within those levels there is no benefit of adding them. If it is already low (6.5-6.7), then you may actually decrease your plants ability to take up nutrients by adding the pine needles.
Thanks for the questions. They were great!
Thank you so much for your blog on our upcoming Travis County Master Gardeners’
“Edible Gardens” tour. Both of your photos are from my garden and garden cottage.
I am very much looking forward to meeting you. Just to let you know, at 10:00 a.m.
Vicki Blachman (who studied under Madaleine Hill) will speak on “Herbs and
Herbal Vinegars” and at 1:00 p., Velia Ruiz will speak on our American Indian
medicine wheel that my husband built to use as my herb bed.
Always fun to see and experience other people’s gardens!
Carolyn Williams
Thanks for the comment Carolyn. I can’t wait to meet you and see your garden. I really like your out building. My wife and I remodeled an old motor court building as a guest house this summer. Can’t wait to see how you are using yours. We love attending these events in Austin. Such a great group of gardeners up your way. See you soon!
Hi Jay, I have a ‘Pam’ Malvaviscus Turk’s Cap that I have had for at least 6 years now. I have started some from cuttings but now, for fun, I want to try some from seed. I wanted to know weather I should plant them now in trays and leave them outside or inside or save the seed for the spring. And if I save them for spring should I stratify them in the frig. Thank you for any help you can give me. I have enjoyed your articles. And I agree with you on the bunnies. I also have the same problem with deer. Last night I saw 4 when I came home and my husband saw 6 when he came home an hour later. We try to consider the munching they do as ‘pruning’ but it is hard. The wedding pictures were lovely. Cindy
My wife and I love North Carolina. I used to work in Charolette a lot and my wife and I would stay there and explore the state. Love it all. On your Turk’s Cap, it really depends on what you want to achieve. If you just want to let nature take it’s course, you can put them in the ground now under mulch or store in the fridge. No need to stratify them. However, if you want to “speed nature up” I would plant them in four inch pots and leave them on a sunny window sill over the winter. This is what I am doing myself. In the past, this has given me nice little six inch plants that I put out as soon as all frost danger has passed. This just allows your plants to get a little bigger quicker in the Spring. BTW, I like to try things too. If you have enough seed why not try all three methods and see which one works best for you. Good luck and thanks for the question and very nice comment!
Hi ! Jay, I forgot to say I live in North Carolina. Cindy