Sat, 16 Aug 2008
Olive Mystery
We ended up cutting off the top dead part of the olive tree to see how it will re-grow from the sprouts/suckers coming from the trunk. I put this picture on there to show you how there are tiny holes in the trunk which makes me think that borers are the culprit. I think the trunk got some cold damage last winter in a very late cold snap and this made it more susceptible to borers. It seems like the tree will be ok and maybe with some stategic pruning we can make it look beautiful. I read online about preventing borers on fruit trees and most solutions are chemical. I try to do everything organically, so I think I am going to try spraying these olive trees with oil or Bt once a month or so to try to cut them off since this is the second tree we've had with this type of damage. If anybody out there knows about this sort of thing please write to us!
posted at: 10:56 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 27 Jul 2008
Olive Trees
One of my customers has several large olive trees. The largest of the trees is suddenly loosing leaves at the top and is showing a weird swollen area on the trunk. I have started calling around to see what the trouble is, and no one seems to know for sure, but everyone agrees that the tree is a goner. I think it may be borers, tiny larvae of a certain kind of moth, but I don't know what kind. I think that the culprit is borers because there are tiny holes in the trunk where the swelling is. But I am not sure. It also has some black sooty mold growing around the swollen part. I think it may also be a fungal infection because of this but I think that might also be mold growing in the leaking sap. Anyway, it was suggested to me that we cut off the top of the tree and let it re-grow. This is a fairly common practice in Italy and Spain where olives are from. I will have to check with the homeowner about this because it will look really strange for awhile. Plus, the tree is not in the best place in that yard, there isn't really enough space for it where it is. By the way, this is the second olive tree that this household has lost this way... Mysteries!
posted at: 15:28 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Tue, 08 Jul 2008
Rain! Weevils!
We are finally getting a few good downpours here in austin, but not enough to get us out of drought status. But, all of my plants look clean and perky. I watched Central Texas Gardener this week on PBS. They talked about the agave snout weevil that is invading central texas. I have already lost several agaves and softleaf yuccas at two different customers' homes to these disgusting little creeps. The weevils carry a bacteria that kills and digests the plants so the weevil larve can eat the plants. The plants start to turn into putrid goo from the inside out. They did not recommend any organic fixes for these creatures on the show but I'll let you know if I hear of something organic.
posted at: 17:10 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Sun, 22 Jun 2008
Pepper Time!
It's about a million degerees here in Austin. Perfect weather for growing all kinds of peppers. This year I am growing a few different types, including hungarian sweet wax, hungarian hot wax and anaheim. I made the mistake of not labeling each plant. The fruits are kind of similar on all of the plants, and I am not sure which ones are hot or sweet. I think I may be in for some surprizes with my dinners this summer! Take a tip frome me- take the time to lable your veggie plants.
posted at: 18:05 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Sat, 31 May 2008
Big News
I got rear ended a little over a week ago. My back, neck and head are sore and tight, so there hasn't been much gardening for me. I'm sure some of you can relate. I am just trying to keep things watered in the record setting heat we're having. I'm getting lots of massage and acupuncture so I should be back in action soon.
posted at: 22:31 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Tue, 22 Apr 2008
Late Wildflowers
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It's starting to get hot and it's very humid. Pretty miserable- except that a new batch of wildflowers just started blooming including the white yarrow in my front yard. Just as the bluebonnets start to fade, yarrow, mexican hats and coreopsis step in to take over the show.
posted at: 16:25 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 21 Apr 2008
Gut Feeling Confirmed!
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So, my "biointensive" garden experiment went really well.
I planted greens, radishes and other smaller, fast growing early spring crops in my garden in the early spring. In mid spring I planted my tomatoes, peppers, basil and eggplants in the middle of all of the greens in areas where I harvested them. They are all happily coexisting and I really saved alot of space and got a good late-ish season harvest of greens. By the time I finish harvesting all of the greens the other plants will be big and will start shading them out. By the way, the cat in the picture is one of mine, his name is Remmy. I just sprayed the garden with fish emulsion so he was enjoying a tasty beverage of watery fish emulsion on the leaves of the plants. He's kind of gross, but I love him. However, today I found out that someone has been eating the ends of my strawberries and I suspect it is a rodent. Sounds like Remmy has been falling asleep on the job- which isn't unusual for a cat.
posted at: 18:35 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
A Garden Surprise
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There was a mystery plant in my new bed in the front of my house that appeared a week or two ago. I wasn't sure what it was but it looked desirable so I left it. Today from accross the yard this incredible bloom caught my eye. The picture does not do it justice. It is astonishingly shiny- it looks metalic. I did a crazy garden victory dance when I saw it up close. It's just a petunia, and I have no clue where it came from because I never grow petunias. Must have rode in on a plant from the nursery or something. Anyway, if any of you now what type of petunia this is please click on "contact" at the top of the page and email the garden mavens to let me know. It has unusally round leaves that are very fuzzy too. It is also much more erect than most petunias. There are more buds on it so it's getting ready to bloom more. It fits in great in my new garden bed that is full of white and purple.
posted at: 18:24 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Wed, 09 Apr 2008
Invasive Plants
Spring is well underway here in Austin. The wildflowers are putting on a good show and we had a little rain so the trees all have little bright green leaves on them. But the weeds are really going crazy. Running bamboo is taking over my backyard compost area, and most homeowners are battling stickyweed. Stickyweed is a little shade loving plant that is covered with little hairs that make it stick to your clothes. It grows a lot in spring and is dead before the summer heat sets in. We usually use a hoe and a rake to remove stickyweed, and corn gluten works well to prevent it from sprouting in the early spring. I will wait until the bamboo ends its growth spurt in May and cut it all down at one time.
posted at: 13:09 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 31 Mar 2008
'Tween Times
This March, I tried something different with my vegetable garden on the side of the house. I planted some cool weather crops early in March like carrots, beets, turnips and salag greens. It was late in the season to do that, sine mid March- early April is the time to plant summer crops like peppers, eggplants and tomatoes. But the pepper and tomato plants are so small when I first put them in, I thought I could just plant them in amongst the cool season crops and when the cool season plants are ready to harvest, the summer plants will grow into their spots. I'll let you know how it works out.
posted at: 13:32 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Mon, 25 Feb 2008
Radishes
This year in my particularly untidt winter garden I grew a few different varieties of radishes. I love butter and radish sandwiches so I always have a supply of the red roots during the winter. I grew 'cherry belle', 'white icicle' and 'french breakfast'. My garden was very weedy and infertile. The weather grew unseasonably warm recently, so some of the radishes began to bolt/flower. When radishes flower the roots can tunr woody or extremely spicy. For me, the 'french breakfast' variety was the best for competition with weeds and was slowest to bolt. It has a great flavor and looks pretty too. The other varieties did ok but this one stands out!
posted at: 13:51 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Sat, 09 Feb 2008
Intensive Planting Worked for Me
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You may have read awhile ago in my blog that this fall I hurriedly planted my fall vegetable garden in the dark one evening. I planted pole beans, broccili, cabbage, kale, radishes, turnips and collards. I did not prepare the soil at all! Well, a few lucky things happened. The beans produced really well and then I just left them and they died with the first freeze. All of the other plants did ok, depsite being planted really close together and never thinned and hardly ever watered. The leaves from an ash tree nearby fell into the veggie bed acting as a much needed mulch. What a nice surprize! And the weeds that grew are things that make a nice cover crop like clovers and ryegrass. Plus, the plants are so close together in an intensive style planting that not many weeds have room to grow anyway. I had a bad slug infestation, and they ate huge holes in the collard leaves but they left everything else alone. After awhile of seeing the collards devoured, I decided to treat the collards as a "trap crop", which means that the slugs and snails will eat them, but since the slugs and snails are so fat on collards they won't eat the other stuff. This garden is a testament to the true nature of a garden- SOMETHING will grow even if you don't look after it constantly. Today I harvested a bowl full of kale and radishes, and soon I will be harvesting broccili! MOral of the story- don't worry about the garden!
posted at: 20:00 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Sat, 12 Jan 2008
Strawberry Pot Idea
You may have read an article from me recently about planting a strawberry pot. My strawberry pot did ok, but I need to follow up with one thing: make sure all side of your pot get sun exposure. Some of my plants died because they were totally shaded on one side. But for the most part it still looks good. TOday I took some old spider plants aka airplane or mother plants, and planted them and their offspring in a smaller strawberry pot that I really love. They look great and their roots should be able to easily take hold in the pot sides. Plus they can all handle shade so I don't think I need to worry about some of them suffering from lack of sun. I recommend it!
posted at: 20:09 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Potted Garden Update
Over a year ago I blogged about my potted garden in front of my house. It was great because I put in in an area directly infront of our huge front windeow that gets hot western sun in the summer. It is also under the eaves of the house so it doesn't get any rain. Since we were renting the house I kept my favorite plants in pots. Also, a friend of mine moved overseas and left me a bunch of her houseplants. I loved the potted garden and its beauty and shade but I loathe the constant water the pots need in the summer and lately they all seem to need more fertilizer. Many of the plants are very cold sensitive and need to be moved or covered during a freeze. It is all very high maintenance. Since we bought the house I decided to dramatically dowsize the potted garden, keeping only my favorite pots and plants and either giving away or planting the others. Two citrus trees and some cacti are in the front uard with a 'free plants please take' sign on them. Truthfully, they all look horrible, but I hope someone else might like them. While moving some of the pots around today I broke one f my favorite pots into a million pieces. I was sad, but maybe I can find an even nicer one to replace it and all of the ugly plastic pots that I an getting rid of.
posted at: 20:03 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Front Yard Progress
Many avid GP readers will know that since September I have been in the process of overhauling my front yard. Noting too dramatic- just removing some old overgrown ugly shrubs and replacing them with perennials and other fun stuff. Well, it is starting to come together. I would post a picture but my camera has a dead battery. Maybe later. All of the plants I put in the new bed are leftovers and orphaned plants from my landscaping jobs. It is a big hodgepodge but I am pleased to say it looks good. Some of these plants have been in pots for a long time while my hubby and I were renting. Now that we bought the house it feels really good to sink them into the earth. I am also building a 'landing pad' along the street where I can stage debris for trash pick up day and so guests at our house will have a place to step onto when they get out of a car. I had plants in this area previously and it was confusing for folks getting out of cars. More info and pictures soon!
posted at: 19:52 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Fri, 30 Nov 2007
Garden experiment success
I love the fall veggie garden in Austin. I always plant beans, cukes, and some flowers on Labor Day. This year things were really hot in september so the beans did great. I also planted cool season greens in September Now that the weather has cooled my greens are perking up. They looked horrible for the first month they were in. They got eaten by snails and wilted in the heat. I should have waited to plant them until October, but I got the plants for free early in September and I was tired of watering them twice a day in their tiny pots! This year I had little time or energy to turn the garden over or even to mulch it. I planted my seeds and transplants at night! I let the weeds grow. I watered during the hot times and watched them get munched on. I still haven't mulched the garden. It still looks ok, I am glad I did it. I hope that other gardeners out there will think about taking the same route with their gardens, and not worry too much about getting it all perfect. It has been fun for me, and now that I have more free time I will put come compost and mulch around the greens, then they will really take off! THe best part- I have cosmos blooming out there that I can see from my bathroom window when I brush my teeth in the morning. They are gorgeous and bloomed with nothing but neglect from me.
posted at: 18:47 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Sun, 25 Nov 2007
Surprizes
It has been a strange fall. My landscaping buisness has been very busy even though this is usually a slow time for us. The weather has been erratic- getting cold, then warm, then hot, then cold again. It is really hard on plants when the weather changes abruptly, just as hard as it is on people. Did you ever notice how people get sick more often when the weather changes abruptly? Plants are the same way. My crew and I have been spraying plants with liquid seaweed to help them overcome stress. We also have been careful not to overwater or underwater when the temperatures change. Try liquid seaweed and see if your plants like it. But be careful because it can stain porous surfaces so rinse it off if you get it on anything like a window, the side of a house or a patio. Happy gardening!
posted at: 21:02 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Mon, 05 Nov 2007
Big Yard Changes
Now that the weather has cooled off, my husband and I started working out in the yard more. We cut down some huge boxwood shrubs that were growing as a hedge in front of our house. They were ok, but they were way too big for our house. We have a small one story ranch house, and the boxwoods were almost 6 feet tall. We plan on building a stone patio/porch in their place and planting around it, as well as within the spaces inbetween the stones. I will keep you up to date on our progress and take pictutres.
posted at: 07:07 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Tue, 09 Oct 2007
It seems like most people in Austin save their garden planning and planting for the spring. I think the fall is a great time to plant too! THe plants have enough time to get established before cold comes on and they have a head start on drought tolerance next summer. I pulled some gulf coast muhly grasses out of a customer's yard yesturday because he does not like them. I love them so I plopped them in a weedy, overgrown bed in my yard. Planting in there motivated me to clean it out somewhat and the plants look great. I encourage southern gardeners to try fall planting.
posted at: 20:03 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Thu, 27 Sep 2007
Fall Garden Progress
Well, my fall garden is going ok. After I planted my seeds on labor day, we got some rain and my beans and cukes came up right away. I decided to do some cactus zinnias, but they did not come up. The seeds were old and I think I did not keep the seed bed moist enough. Also, I had trouble getting my kale to come up but a few plants sprouted. Then my cat rolled around on top of them and squished them. Anyway, I tried planting some cosmos in place of zinnias. I am not sure if the flowers will grow and bloom before cold weather comes, but I like to have some extra plants in the garden like that to attract beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs. I went to a fun seed and plant giveaway sponsored by a non-profit called Sustainable Food Center: www.sustainablefoodcenter.org. I got some free collard, cabbage and broccili plants there. That was a few weeks ago, and the plants were very tiny. It is a little early to plant them yet. I put them out in the garden in their pots to get used to the light there. They got eaten up a bit by snails but they are ok. I am gradually putting them in the ground in place of the kale that didn't come up. I also planted some radish and parsnip seeds. As you can tell, my small garden will be crammed with plants if all goes well. I plant everything really close together to prevent weeds. I just plant a few of each vegetable type. It's more fun for me that way.
posted at: 19:12 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Sun, 09 Sep 2007
Fall Garden Time!
I do not grow vegetables for myself in the summer. It is just way too hot for me to spend the extra time outdoors. Plus, I am a yankee, and I tend to dislike the veggies that grow in Austin in the summer- okra and blackeye peas for instance. But now the time has come for things I do like- Beans, cukes, and greens. Every labor day weekend I put in my fall veggie garden and become somewhat obsessed with it, because I know that the fall garden is the best in Austin. All of the veggies get better and better as the weather cools off. You may have read in a previous blog that my fig tree grew over my veggie bed, engufing it in deep shade. Well, I had planned on moving it, but I opted to plant my fall garden in another bed that I used to use for veggies and as a holding area for perennials that I bought or got from friends but didn't have a good spot for yet. The spot is a bit shady but I hope it will suffice when the leaves fall.
posted at: 22:45 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Mon, 27 Aug 2007
Garden time Again!
Well, I cleaned up the veggie garden yesturday with the help of my hubby, Eric. The whole thing usually gets totally overgrown in August, and this year was no different. Old tomato plants and half-dead basil, all because I totally lose my will to brave the heat and water the darn things. This year, things are a bit different, though. There is a fig tree growing next to the veggie patch, and it grew about three times its size this year because we had so much rain. It completely shades about half of the veggie patch, so it looks like I am going to have to move the garden elsewhere. I am not completely sure of my plan of action yet, but I do not want to trim the fig tree because it provides a great deal of shade on the western side of the house and shades the AC unit. I will keep you posted.
The vines in the backyard that I talked about in my last blog at the beginning of August grew back almost entirely since we cut them down. Eric ran them over with the lawn mower yesturday, so they are pretty easy to control at this point. We might try to dig them out but I am hoping we can just wear them out by repeated mowings.
I am off to buy a new string trimmer, mower and blower for the business! This time I am going to get professional-grade implements, since in the past I just always got stuff from the Sears or Lowes. I am going to get an Echo trimmer and Blower as well as a toro mower, all heavy duty models. We'll see how it goes.
posted at: 17:12 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Wed, 01 Aug 2007
Your title for this blog entry
So, here is the after picture. Note the firewood pile and the trellis. Both were completely covered with out of control morning glory vine. We left a section of the vine that is covering a brush pile in the middle of the yard, where an above-ground pool used to be. Hopefully we can eradicate this vine eventually and replace it with a native passionvine, which will also be perennial and attaract butterflies. We might remove the trellis if we decide not to get a pool. We can't afford a pool now and might not be able to afford one any time in the near future. If that is the case we may have to re-grade a large portion of the yard. I am not looking forward to that, but I am getting tired of having a giant empty ditch in the backyard...
posted at: 21:07 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Devil in a Blue Dress
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I am sorry I haven't blogged in so long! We have gotten record rain here in Austin this month, and all summer long for that matter. The rain has caused many plants to grow completely out of control and my business is much busier than usual this summer. Usually the heat makes the plants stop growing for awhile and we can take vacations. Not this year. My backyard became completely overgrown by perennial morning glory, a beautiful vine with bright blue flowers that attract butterflies. It is invasive, though, and in years past has taken up too much space in the yard. This year, the vine grew all over our deck and patio as well as most most of our other plants in the yard. My sweet hubby, Eric, and I cleaned up the vine this past weekend. See the next entry for "after" picture and description of a harrowing removal.
posted at: 21:02 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Sat, 07 Jul 2007
Free At Last, Free At Last
My worm bin fell over the other night when we had a bad storm with lots of wind. The bin had been working well, the worms would eat alot and I was just getting to the point where I might be able to collect some castings. But the bin I have is called the Can O' Worms and it is a little top heavy. I don't think I am using it correctly because I got it as a hand-me -down from a friend and I don't have instructions for it. Anyway, the worms were set free. Most of them ended up in my compost pile, though, which is great. I will start over again when I have a better grasp on what I am doing with the Can o' Worms.
posted at: 17:11 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Fri, 22 Jun 2007
Raining...at last!
Well, it's raining again. I am so happy that we are getting some rain for a change around here. All of the plants we planted in our customers' yards are looking great. My husband, Eric, and I bought the house that we had been renting for a few years. Now that we own it, I am super-excited to finally have a yard all my own to fool around in. I will keep the GP readers informed, and perhaps I will include some before and after pics in my blog to document our yard transformation. Yay!
posted at: 18:48 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Tue, 12 Jun 2007
Weekend Day Trip
On Sunday my friends Krista and Niku joined me and Eric for a trip to the Texas Hill Country. We were on a mission: buy peaches, eat and relax. We went to Stonewall, Tx to investigate their famous peaches. We were not dissapointed! I plan on making a pie but they might not last that long...
posted at: 17:38 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Wed, 30 May 2007
Summer Has Arrived
Well, it has finally happened. I got a headache from being out in the heat too long today. I almost made it through the entire month of May! My crew and I are finishing up most of our plantings for the spring, and we are starting to have a lighter work load, which is typical of my business at this time of year. We have had ALOT of rain and all of our plantings are thriving. The humiditiy is bringing in alot of problems, though, like powdery mildew on squash. Other problems are brought on by high humidity too: all kinds of fungal infections on leaves and in roots, mite infestations, scale infestations and slugs and snails. I have seen more mite infestations this year than ever before. I don't mind snails and slugs so much but this year I used a slug bait at one customer's home where the slugs were eating alot. The bait is called (I'm not kidding) Sluggo! I will let you know if it works. It's organic, of course.
posted at: 18:18 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Sun, 20 May 2007
SNAKES IN A HOUSE! I wouldn't be a very exciting movie, but it is an exiciting daily event for me.
So, my husband and I keep finding snakes in our house. It happens almost every day. At first they were really small, like the size of earthworms. Last night we found this one, which I would not describe as small. At first it was kind of cool, but now it is getting a little creepy. I think our two cats are bringing them in for us as "treats" or "gifts". I feel conflicted about growing a yard and garden that attracts wildlife only to have our furry hunters mame the creatures I aimed to attract. We tried keeping the cats inside but they made our lives miserable. It is a good thing only one cat is a hunter, the other is lazy. We also keep the cats in at night which seems to cut down on the number of unwanted gifts brought into our house, still alive and kicking/slithering. Perhaps other gardeners feel the same way I do about wildlife in the house and pets that eat the animals they try to attract to their gardens- if you do post it on the Growing Pleasures Gardening Forum. I'd like to hear it.
posted at: 19:39 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry
Tue, 01 May 2007
Master Gardeners
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to the Highland Lakes Master Gardeners. The Highland Lakes are northwest of Austin near the cities of Burnet, Llano and Marble Falls. All are great places to take a weekend trip, but these lucky Master Gardeners decided to make this gorgeous area their home. As I expected, these lakeside country dwellers were very fun and lighthearted and very engaged in my talk. One gardener hosted me for dinner at her lakeside home. The soil in her area was so different from mine! It was made up largely of decomposed granite sand, because pink granite is the prevalent bedrock in that area. The beach by her house sparkeled pink in the sunset. I am so happy I got to meet these great people, and I realized that some of our GP members might not be familiar with the Master Gardener program. Master Gardeners are usually just regular people who like to garden. There is usually a fee to sign up for the program and you get to take classes about gardening. Then in order to become a certified Master Gardener, you have to volunteer for a certain number of hours at a local botanic garden. The Master Gardener program is usually conducted by county extension offices through a major resarch university in your state. You can find a Master Gardener group in your area by visiting the American Horticulutre Society web site here: http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners/
posted at: 21:52 | path: /colleen2007 | link for this entry