2 minute read
The Garden Post
By Kim Bius
Summer Gardening in Texas
It is deep summer in Texas, and the heat is sizzling. The following tips should be helpful. New landscapes (installed in spring) will require deep root watering 4x a week. If you have planted new plants into an established landscape, the new plants will need additional water and will need to be hand watered to not overwater established plants. The first few minutes of irrigation are lost to evaporation, making it imperative your stations are running a minimum of 15 minutes.
Outdoor pot plants may require watering every other day; some plants--such as petunias, geraniums, Gerber daisies and calibrachoa--will do beautifully if moved into an area with morning sun (shady after 12:30). In mid- September, the plants can be moved back into full sun, if you desire.
Annuals, perennials, and hanging baskets will require pruning back to pot rim and leave 6” on top for the plant to reflush if it has become heat weary. Frequent summer watering leaches out the nutrients, and it is important you keep your micronutrients replenished and not allow salt build up from granular fertilizer. Fox Farm has several rock star fertilizers that we use weekly at the garden center to keep plants looking lush.
Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, and Comeback are our favorites. Bat Guano, worm castings, 10% iron, and a host of other nutrients will have your plants looking amazing in a few days.
Chinch bug damage is appearing in area lawns and must be treated quickly or you will have to replace the lawn. Treat with a granular systemic insecticide every 30 days through September. What do chinch bugs look like? You will notice brown, dried out grass along the perimeter….all the other grass in the area is lush green. You begin thinking, we need more water here…but it is microscopic chinch bugs “sucking” the chlorophyll out of the sod.
Most vegetable gardens will have “played out” by mid-July and will need to be turned under to make room for the fall garden. Ensure you add an inch of new compost (humus), not fresh compost, to replenish lost nutrients.
August 1st will be time to plant broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprout seeds, and other veggies from seed. It will remain hot until mid-September, when cool weather veggie starters can be planted.
A few more tips. Remember to only fertilize hibiscus with hibiscus food and save your high phosphorous fertilizers for other plants. Can you plant now, when the heat is high? Yes, but you will water frequently. Pot plants that have become too dry will need to be placed in a container of water for several hours until the oxygen pockets are replenished and the “dried brick of soil” has regained its original texture.
Fall is just around the corner, although it seems like an eternity from now. Use your time now to repot, fertilize, and plan your fall selection.
