TIPS FOR YOUR
GARDEN & LANDSCAPE

Fall Harvests and Versatile Chard

Well, hopefully your fall vegetable garden is well underway, and you even have some greens to harvest and prepare. Keep an eye on those Cabbage Loopers! The little guys feed on the underside of the leaves of cabbage, broccoli, collards, brussels sprouts and other Cole crops at a time in the fall when the plants really need those leaves to produce carbohydrates for root and leaf growth. Continue using Bt or Spinosad weekly to control those little buggers! Swiss chard is not only a pretty plant that can be used [...]

By |2017-11-12T15:35:34-06:00November 12th, 2017|Vegetable Gardening|
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Twig Girdlers

    I came out one morning and my driveway was covered in the tips of the branches from my enormous Cedar tree. (Actually, what we call a Cedar in Central Texas is really an Ashe Juniper.)           I picked up one of the fallen branch tips. It was about 3-4” long.  I examined the cut end of the twig. Yep. I could see the smoothly chewed groove that caused the twig to fall. It was Twig Girdler damage, all right!         Twig [...]

By |2025-11-02T08:37:22-06:00November 6th, 2017|Insects, Trees|
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Why Trees Change Color in Fall

What determines if a plant will have good fall color? Fall color in tree leaves is determined by many factors. Any tree grown from a seed, such as an acorn, will have genetic variability in developing fall color. This is observed by watching our native “Spanish Oaks”, aka Texas Red Oak, as the leaves begin to turn in fall. Many will have beautiful red fall color, but we also observe some trees with leaves that simply turn brown and hang on the tree most of the winter…. (this is called [...]

By |2024-12-08T08:25:47-06:00November 1st, 2017|Trees|
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My Lawn is ALIVE!

Soooooo many calls the past two weeks about “creepy crawlies” on lawn grasses! What is going on, and what can we do about it? Many lawns were visited a month or so ago by hoards of 1-inch-wide tan or mottled gray moths. The moths laid eggs and the Armyworms have hatched! The rains last month gave these pests the conditions they needed to reproduce and cause rapid damage to lawns. Typically, these Armyworm larvae feed and are most active at night and on overcast days. In daylight, they will hide [...]

By |2021-08-20T07:36:15-05:00October 18th, 2017|Insects, Lawn Care|
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Brown Patch in Central Texas Lawns

  Brown Patch in Central Texas: How to Identify, Prevent, and Treat Lawn Fungus Is brown patch damaging your lawn in Central Texas? Brown patch is a common lawn disease that appears during the cooler, wetter months of fall and spring. This fungal disease most often affects St. Augustine grass, but it can also damage Bermuda and Zoysia lawns when conditions favor its development. The good news is that you can take steps to prevent brown patch, limit its spread, and help your lawn recover. Learn how to identify brown [...]

By |2026-10-25T13:14:38-05:00October 11th, 2017|Disease, Lawn Care|
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Time to Plant Garlic!

Time to Plant Garlic! A Guide to Growing Garlic in Central Texas Have you ever wanted to grow your own garlic? Fall is the perfect time to get started! In Central Texas, our relatively mild winters allow us to plant cool-season vegetables in the fall and harvest them in the spring. Garlic is one of these easy-to-grow crops. The best time to plant garlic in Central Texas is October and November. With the right garlic variety and a little preparation, you can enjoy homegrown garlic by late spring. Once you [...]

By |2026-10-25T11:27:09-05:00October 4th, 2017|Vegetable Gardening, Monthly Gardening Checklist|
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Cool Season Color

Winter Annuals in Zone 8 Pansies are one of the most rewarding plants for cool-season planting. They require 6-8 hours of sun and a soil enriched with compost. Remember that winter is their season, and that they are HEAVY feeders-fertilize monthly with NutriStar Color Star time-release fertilizer, and the blooms will never stop! I have had them bloom in an ice storm! Dead-head the fading flowers when possible to encourage more blooms, and you will be greatly rewarded!               Violas are one of my [...]

By |2024-02-26T14:36:35-06:00September 26th, 2017|Plants|
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Mum’s the Word

Most of us think of mums as a fall flower to put in a pot by the front door to welcome in the cooler weather, and they certainly pair well with pumpkins as a fall decoration. When grown in a container, mums do not need additional fertilizer. Regular watering is a must, as wilting shortens the life of the flowers. Be sure to soak the soil thoroughly, and do not let water stand in a saucer beneath the pot. Water the soil, not the plant, as water on the flowers [...]

By |2023-10-23T14:16:28-05:00September 20th, 2017|Plants|
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Fall Pre-Emergent

Remember the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? That certainly applies to the use of pre-emergent herbicides. Who wouldn’t prefer spreading a product on our lawns and beds that STOPS the weeds BEFORE they come up? A real no-brainer for me! The correct product with the correct timing ensures success! Because weeds are classified as “warm-season or cool-season”, according to the temperature at which they germinate, we can address a particular weed we have by timing the application of pre-emergent appropriately. I’ve said it [...]

By |2023-09-06T12:17:52-05:00September 14th, 2017|Lawn Care|
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September Gardening Checklist

    Vegetable Gardens:  If you haven’t already removed your old vegetable plants from spring, now is the time to do so! Compost whatever does not have disease or insects, and discard the rest. This is your “window” to add amendments to your garden! Choose from Happy Frog Soil Conditioner, or Heirloom Soils Leaf Mold Compost quality amendments for use in gardens and other plantings. Compost will add needed nutrients and texture to your soil, improving moisture holding capacity, microbe activity, and production.  If you need large amounts of compost [...]

By |2025-12-16T12:45:59-06:00September 5th, 2017|Monthly Gardening Checklist|
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Midges are a Nuisance!

There are a lot of perks that come with living near a lake or pond, especially in Texas. But in addition to swimming and boating, your summers might include large populations of mosquito-looking insects hatching in hordes! They infiltrate your outdoor spaces, fly in your mouth and up your nose, turn your patio into a dark mess of squashed bugs, hover around your porch lights, and generally cause a huge nuisance! Aquatic midges, also known as non-biting midges, are related to flies but look like mosquitoes. Females lay their eggs [...]

By |2017-08-24T13:10:43-05:00August 24th, 2017|Insects|
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Texas Ranger

August is the perfect time to look around your neighborhood and see what is thriving in this oppressive Central Texas heat. If you have been thinking about planting in a new area, adding screening or simply rejuvenating an existing landscape, observing what does well at the hottest time of the year should give you some great ideas of what will thrive in years to come. Texas Ranger, also known as Texas Sage, Cenizo, or Barometer Bush, has been giving us a particularly good show the past week. Abundant flowers appear [...]

By |2017-08-15T15:53:25-05:00August 15th, 2017|Plants|
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