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Tag Archives: Central Texas Horticulture
What’s Happening in Austin’s January Vegetable Garden
January Vegetable Garden Checklist Tips from Paula Wolfel January is surprisingly an exciting time for Austin vegetable gardeners because this is when the bulk of your spring garden planning can occur! Continue to make preparations for the lower temperatures, and watch the rain because this time or year we can reduced our irrigations needs. Make sure you continue to protect all new transplants from freeze and their first frost. If the temperatures falls below 28 degrees then cover your plants, securing them with soil, bricks, rocks, or pins. … Read More →
Austin’s December Vegetable Garden by Paula Wolfel
Hooray for Rain! Gardening slows down a bit during this month. As predicted, some of us had our first freeze a few weeks ago, as well as lots of rain!! So hopefully all preparations were made last month for the lower temperatures, and the rain reduced irrigations needs. Make sure you continue to protect all new transplants from freeze and their first frost in the December vegetable garden. If the temperatures fall below 28 degrees then cover your plants, securing them with soil, bricks, rocks, or pins. In… Read More →
Vegetable Gardening in October
Enjoy Cool October Vegetable Gardening For a while there I was afraid the summer heat was never going to end. Thankfully we have dipped below 100 and (be still my beating heart) are having morning temps in the 60’s. That means I’m back out in the garden in earnest and trying to salvage my heat-stressed plantings. You too can take advantage of our cooler weather and plant brassicas, root crops, greens, and garlic. Try Garlic This Year Garlic makes a great addition to any garden as long as… Read More →
Earth-Kind Gardening Field Day 2022
Get info on the Spring 2023 Field Day! Travis County AgriLife Extension Service 1600 Smith Road, Austin, TX 78721 Free Admission Free Workshops Kid-friendly Activities Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Travis County Master Gardeners invite you to visit the Earth-Kind Gardening Field Day 2022 for ideas, advice, and DIY workshops. Free and open to the public, rain or shine, this fun, hands-on fair involves community members in creative, low-cost ways to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruit to improve the family diet as well as information about… Read More →
A Lawn for All Seasons with Dean Minchillo
Lawn for All Seasons begins 2022 Program Texas A&M AgriLife Extension-Travis County kicks off the 2022 educational series with A Lawn for All Seasons – Best Management Practices for a Healthy Happy Lawn. April 20th, 10 am to noon. Dean Minchillo, Extension Program Specialist with the Urban Water Team will provide tips on keeping a lawn healthy during drought or watering restrictions. The program will be presented utilizing a webinar format and interested parties are encouraged to register now. Dean Minchillo will talk about how various species handle… Read More →
Plant Pecans – The Bare Minimums by Ray Prewitt
The Other Best Time to Plant Pecans After discovering a small, mature, and very neglected pecan orchard on our new homestead some years back, the saying that the ‘best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago’ never rang truer. February is an important month for pecans and many other fruit and nut trees that thrive in our area. It’s my last chance to collect scions for grafting and my last chance to get bare-root trees in the ground to shore up production from my aging trees…. Read More →
Time to Plant Bare Root Fruit Trees by Alina Flasinska
Now that the big freeze is over (knock on wood) and we are coming up on the end of meteorological winter, it’s time to get those bare root fruit trees in the ground! You may have seen the tempting displays popping up in local stores and nurseries. After this cold weekend, I know I’ve started dreaming of a flush of blossoms in the spring and fresh fruit jams in the summer and fall. BARE ROOT FRUIT TREES A bare root fruit tree is a tree has been dug… Read More →
Overwintering our Friends by Marge Trachtenberg
Overwinter Plants During Austin’s Crazy February Storms We have all read the books and articles on how to overwinter plants in the house. We read that we should start getting them used to less light, less water, less fertilizer, and less attention. We read that we should check for diseases, insects or even slithering critters, before making the transition from outside to inside. It all makes for good common sense, especially for those of us with a geranium or two, a Sansevieria that lives under the trees all… Read More →
Austin Landscapes Survive 2021 Winter Storm Uri by Yvonne Schneider
Travis County Master Gardeners Track Winter Freeze Recovery Process Numerous landscape plants and trees were toppled by the freezing rain and snow sent by Winter Storm Uri in February, with most plant foliage becoming brown and crispy within days or weeks. Homeowners and gardeners wondered – do we have to start over with the landscape, and how much is all this going to cost? Can we even find the plants we’d like to buy? The Travis County Master Gardeners had the same questions, and researched the progress of… Read More →
In the December Vegetable Garden
When is it Winter in Austin Texas? Winter is a relative term for the December vegetable garden if you live in Austin. The first freeze hasn’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t lurking around the corner (the average frost date is the first week of December.) It is classic weather for Austin – which means anything can happen. According to NOAA, we have entered into a La Nina weather pattern, which for us here in Central Texas means we can expect warmer than normal temperatures and… Read More →