Week 31 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Jay White

August 15 is right around the corner. Why do I mention that? Well, it is the first planting date for the fall garden. We are truly lucky to be able to garden in the fall. If you have never had a fall garden I highly recommend it. Fall temperatures make it much more comfortable to be outside. Bug and weed problems are greatly reduced and you can grow a wide variety of vegetables (some that will continue producing until you remove them to make room for the Spring garden). It is also the best time of the year to plant (or move) trees and shrubs.

Our friend Amy Hime captured this beautiful Texas sunset. Right now it is so hot I wait until about this time each evening to go into the garden!

Vegetables

Begin planning the fall garden– My friend and co-blogger Patty Leander creates the planting guides for the Travis County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension service. If you are wondering what to plant for the fall garden, check out her guide. Not only will it tell you what and when to plant, it will give you some ideas of different vegetables that do well in our area that you may not have tried before. Check out the guide here: Travis County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guide
Solarize nematodes-Nematodes plague many of the plants we grow in Texas. Patty has a great post coming out this weekend about controlling them. One of her tips is to turn up the soil in your infected areas and let the July and August sun rid you of some future problems.
Mulch and water – Lots of veggies like melons, southern peas and okra are still producing. Producing vegetables need lots of water. Mulch them heavily now then water early in the morning or late in the evening to reduce water lost to evaporation.

Love this shot of our red bird house on our redbud in front of our red garage door. Photo by Amy Hime

Ornamentals

Remove “buggy” plants – My marigolds have been good this year and so have my gomphrena. However, they are now beginning to succumb to spider mites. Remove these plants and throw them away. Do not put them on the compost pile.
Weed beds thoroghly and re-mulch – The heat is slowing down the growth of many of our invasive weeds. Pull them now and mulch heavily to prepare for your fall plantings
It is not too late to replant zinnias, cockscomb, sunflowers and gomphrena from seeds.

Lovely mixed annual border at FDR’s grave site in Hyde park, New York

Trees and Lawns

Do not fertilize lawns until the temperatures come down a bit.
Let grass grow as high as you can stand it. A thick carpet keeps roots cool and actually helps to conserves water

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Week 27 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Jay White

This week has been declared “American Flowers Week”. The week is designed to promote and celebrate American flower growers, marketers and florists. Did you know that 80 to 90% of the cut flowers sold in the US come from overseas? Many find this fact shocking when I share it with them. If you would prefer to buy flowers that are fresher, grown in a more ecologically responsible manner and produced right here in the USA then be sure to check out the Slow Flowers website. Slow Flowers is a cooperative effort between American growers and florists that allow you to find local growers and the florists that use their flowers to fill your flower buying needs.

In honor of “American Flowers Week” this week’s tips focus on growing, harvesting and arranging your own beautiful “local” flowers.

Flowers grown at the proper spacing are healthier and produce more blooms that plants that are grown too close together.

Growing Tips

Plant at the recommended spacing on the package– Over planting is the biggest mistake most home gardeners make. Plants that are grown too close together do not get as large or produce as many flowers and they are much more susceptible to pests.
Weed and feed regularly – Most flowers are annuals. Because of this they need to get as much nutrition as possible during their one growing season. Feed monthly and weed regularly. The weeds will rob your soil of the moisture and nutrients that your flowers need.
Control most pests with a strong blast of water to the underside of their leaves – Most flowers are plagued by a variety of pests. Most are tiny little rascals (like mites and aphids) that hide under the leaves of plants. Because of this they are very difficult to control with your typical spray applications of pesticides. I use a tool called the Mitey Fine Mister. This wand attaches to my water hose and is designed to spray water with enough pressure to kill the pests without harming the plant.

Cut flowers early in the morning and keep them cool to extend their vase life

Harvest Tips

Cut flowers when buds are just beginning to open – If you cut most flowers when their buds are just beginning to open they will open in the vase. This will allow you to enjoy them much longer
Cut flowers in the morning- Flowers cut in the morning have the highest moisture content (this is called turgidity in the horticultural world) and look their best.
Strip leaves and immediately drop blooms into a plastic container that is full of clean, cool water
Get flowers inside as soon as possible-Your flowers begin to die as soon as they are cut. Heat speeds up their ultimate demise. Get them inside and into the air conditioning as soon as possible

Nothing says summer in the country like sunflowers in a homemade arrangement!

Arrangement Tips

Use more flowers! – My youngest daughter is an incredibly talented floral designer. I asked her why my arrangements do not look half as good as hers. She said it is because I do not use enough flowers. According to Whitney, when making floral arrangements, more is almost always better
Use more than flowers in your floral arrangements – While it is pretty easy to make a very pretty and presentable arrangement by grouping together lots of beautiful flowers, the really outstanding arrangements use other things to add interest. Lovely branches with interesting leaves are great fillers as are twisting garlic scapes, iris leaves, lemon grass and onion flowers. Fresh vegetables, wasp nests, bird nests, dried sunflower heads and dried poppy heads all add a bit of whimsy and surprise to your arrangements
Throw away the floral foam – As useful as it is, floral foam is not biodegradable. There are tons of “green” alternatives that you can choose to support your flowers. Sally and I have a small collection of antique floral frogs. You can also make a wire ball out of chicken wire that fits in the top of your vase. My daughter loves to use fresh fruit. She cuts a hole into a melon or squash and then wires wooden stakes to her stems. She then inserts the stakes and stems into the firm flesh and rinds of the fruit.

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

The Fall and Winter Potager

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jay White

Lately, several people have been visiting my site from Pininterest.com and “pinning” shots of my garden on their pinboards. I am very flattered when this happens. If you are not yet familiar with Pintrest you should check it out. It is a collaborative site where you create “pin boards” of your favorite topics and then post images that you find on the web in them. Then, everyone on the internet can come to your site and see the things that you have found. It is really cool and you can quickly burn several hours if you are not careful.

Right now, my little garden has never been prettier. The folks from the Central Texas Gardener television program came to film it back in December. It was pretty then, but it is a lot prettier now. The veggies are doing great, but the flowers have really matured and look beautiful. Eventhough the potager is mostly about the vegetables, it is the flowers that make it interesting. So, for all of you Pinterest users that are fans of small, raised bed kitchen gardens, and my regular readers, here are a few pics of what is currently blooming in my little potager.

Panseys are always a great choice for Texans in the fall. I planted these around the first of Decemeber. If you look closely you will notice carrot foliage in the back. I do companion plantings in all of my beds. I have a mix of pink and purple panseys that share the center bed with a mix of carrots and vilolas (Johnny Jump Ups). They are all thriving and look very good mixed together.

My purple panseys.

Violas are one of my favorite winter flowers. The work great in pots where their pretty little flowers grow rapidly and spill over the side.

Calendula is often called pot marigolds. Not only is it pretty and a prolific bloomer, the petals are edible.

I love dianthus. They bloom well into the summer. Their common name is “pinks”. People think this is because they are mostly pink, but it is really because their petals look like they were cut with pinking shears. They come in all colors and all sizes now but I still prefer this old fashioned variety.

This year’s winner in the vegetable department is Comet Broccoli. This variety is incredible at putting on side shoots. I have two dozen of these scattered throughout the potager. Last Sunday, my wife and I harvested 8 produce bags full of side shoots.

Here is a picture of me with a lettuce harvest. Our lettuce has been outstanding this year.

One of my favorite things in the potager is not a plant at all. It is our bottle tree. While not technically in the potager (it is in the outside border), I still think of it as one of the main things that adds interest and charm to my little garden.

In addition to the flowers pictured above, I have byzantine gladiolous, crinums, daylilies, two varities of roses, lots of salvia, red poppies, holley hocks, crysanthimums, zinnias and larkspur. This ever changing pallette of colors and textures is what keeps me excited and watchful throughout the year.

Friends and Fresh Cut Flowers

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Jay White

This past Friday, two very pleasant things occurred at the Yupneck’s house; an unexpected visit from my youngest daughter and the first formal dinner party hosted in our newly remodeled farmhouse (celebrating the “almost end” of a five year remodeling project). While visits from the kids are always welcomed, it is those rare, unexpected drop ins that I love the most. Whitney is a senior at North Texas University. She is also a very talented floral designer. While there, she found out that we were hosting the renowned Master of Horticulture, Dr. William C. Welch (Bill) and his lovely wife Lucille. She asked if she could make us some arrangements from the garden for the dinner. Of course I said a most enthusiastic YES!!!!!

Whitney grabbed some shears and left the house for about 20 minutes. When she returned, she had a large bundle of flowers and foliage from just about every plant on my property. It was a joy to watch her sort, strip and prepare these cuttings for arrangement. What happened over the next fifteen minutes was truly amazing. In less time than it takes me to brush my teeth, she created three incredibly lovely arrangements that I felt I had to share.

Arrangement for the yupneck's table. Made with things from my gardens by my lovely and talented daughter.

The first was a large arrangement that she made for the center of the table. If you look closely, you will see hollyhocks, love-lies-bleeding, salvia, dried yarrow, coral honeysuckle and PURPLE HULL PEAS! Who puts peas in a floral arrangement? A young Master of Horticulture, that’s who. This arrangement was stunning! I wish my camera skills did it justice.

Close up of the table arrangement. Notice the use of purple hull peas and coral honeysuckle.

Next, she made a small arrangement for the bath. This arrangement was built in a small water pitcher. She incorporated tatume’ squash, zinnias, love-lies-bleeding and southern wax myrtle foliage.

Lovely arrangement using zinnias, amaranth and a tatume' squash.

Finally, she turned a vintage Mary planter into another stunning arrangement. Here she used zinnias, salvia, wax myrtle foliage and iris leaves for effect. Beautiful!

A vintage Mary planter featuring zinnias and salvia.

Whitney’s arrangements were the cherry on the top of the truly fabulous meal that my lovely wife prepared for the Welch’s. Mrs. Yupneck created a carmalized onion and goat cheese appetizer, steak with bearnaise suace, stuffed summer squash and a tomato and balsalmic salad. This was washed down with a lovely red brought by the guests and finished with a decadant “mudslide” dessert. The evening was perfect. My wife and daughter’s combined skills came together to create a dinner that was memorable for all.

The yupneck with his very talented floral designer daughter and his equally lovely and talented culinary wife.

P.S. My daughter is a very talented floral designer. She has started her own business in the DFW/Denton area. She will be more than happy to give you a bid on events of any size. To see more of her work you can check her out at Arbor Floral.

P.S.S. Since the dinner was to celebrate the almost completion of our FIVE YEAR LONG remodeling project here is a picture of the entryway.

The entryway of "The Nest"

Daikon

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Jay White

The other day I was at lunch in BCS (that is Bryan-College Station for all you non-Aggies out there) with several Masters of Horticulture. We were talking about our gardens and I mentioned that my daikon were doing really well. To my surprise, not a single one of these PhD Horticulturists knew what a daikon was. I found this somewhat amusing but I guess if you do not eat a lot of Asian food, then you would have no reason to know about daikon.

Sydney Pickle, Hannah Michna and Lindsey Pickle pull the first daikon of the year from the yupneck's garden

If you are not familiar with daikon, here is a little background. They are a root crop much like carrots or parsnips. In fact, the Japanese translation of their name means “large root”. Daikon is a radish and it is a staple of Japanese food. They cook it, pickle it, stir fry it, stew it and eat it raw. The Chinese, Koreans and Indians also eat a lot of this spicy root. The greens are also edible. One reason it is so popular in the Far East is it’s storage capabilities. Unbruised daikon can stay fresh for three months in a root cellar. When dried, they can last much longer. This allows the Japanese to have a ready supply of a vitamin C throughout the long winters. There are more acres of daikon in production in Japan than any other vegetable.

There are two varieties of daikon. One looks like a big turnip and can grow to 100 pounds. However, the one that I grow is much more common. Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus is a long white root that resembles a carrot. It has white flesh and skin. It can grow to lengths of 36” but is most often harvested when it is between 12” to 18” long and the diameter is between “1” and 2”. Summer diakon have a sharper and spicier flavor than fall diakon. Also, the taste of the daikon changes as you progress up the stalk. The hottest (and most radish-ey tasting) part is near the tip. The flavor becomes milder as you move up the root toward the greens.

Daikon, Chinese cucmbers and volunteer zinnias in the potager

Daikon are very easy to grow. They like rich, loose soil and full sun. Plant at the same time as you plant other root crops. They actually work best as a fall vegetable but do quite well in the spring. Since they produce roots that weigh over a pound, a small amount of space will provide you with lots of radish.

I work with several Indian and Chinese ex-pats so I grow enough to share. This year, one of my friends took some home and had his wife make me pickles. They are AWESOME!!!! I have enjoyed these pickles so much that I am including the recipe here. It is a simple and delicious recipe that will make a perfect side for all of your outdoor summer grilling. Hope you enjoy!

Debbie Kwan’s Daikon Pickles

Slice the daikon and sprinkle with about 1 tsp of salt. Use your hands to knead the vegetables for about 3 minutes. Place in fridge and wait about 15-30min until water has been expelled. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water, then press gently to expel extra water.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rice vinegar and 1/2 cup of water in a pot on low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool then pour over the daikon. The brine should cover the daikon. Add peppers of your choice to make it spicy. Let it marinate in the brine for at least 1 day before eating. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 weeks.

MiMi's flowers

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Jay White

An arrangement from our fall garden

Right now the weather is so nice that I want to be outside all of the time. So far this fall I have planted the potager and the row garden. I have divided and moved perennials and I have also divided and moved my spring bulbs. I have started stem cuttings of my coleus, begonias and geraniums. I have been so busy preparing things that I almost failed to step back and enjoy what was already there. This Saturday, my wife asked me to go outside and pick a few roses for her mother. As I went out to cut the roses I noticed all of the really lovely things that were still growing in our garden. I decided that MiMi would get more than just a few roses. The arrangement you see is composed of a spider lilly, salvia, turk’s cap, zinnias, roses, rosemary and okra. I am so glad that I took the time to look around and enjoy what was right under my nose. I really enjoyed putting this together and sharing a little of what we love with someone we dearly love.