Herself’s Houston Garden

When I was outside last month making my first spring pass in the garden I noticed a row of false hollies had leaves all turning yellow and brown. When you see yellow leaves on a plant the very first thing you should do is flip the leaves over and look at the underside. When I flipped the leaves over I found scale. Neem or orange oils are the preferred choices and you can find them at most nurseries. I use orange oil, but in a pinch any oil you have hanging around the kitchen will do just fine. Spray the bottom of the leaves thoroughly.

If only a small part of a plant is effected, prune off that branch and spray the underside of remaining leaves with oil. These plants are totally covered. So if the spray does not work after two weekly applications, I’ll cut them back to the ground and let them start over.

Tea scale was first discovered on tea plants in the early 1900s. Hollies, camellias, tea, olive and citrus plants are all known to be victims. The life cycle is between 45 to 65 days. We can get them year round here in Houston as well as in other warm climate areas. Usually they show up in the spring.

If you have constant problems with scale in your garden you might also consider a systematic pesticide. These are absorbed by the plant through the roots and deliver toxins to the scale. I don’t use systematic pesticides in my garden, but if you are constantly fighting scale you should consider them. They are available at your local plant supply place as well. ( see Control of tea scale using root absorbing systematic insecticides )

At least out back that is. The back yard is finally grass free. We still have to mulch it but that should go quickly. The front yard is mulched, and the plants I purchased at the Conroe Ext office sale are all planted and happy in their new homes. From lots of view points I can see the jungle to come.

I found lots of good loot at the Extension Office sale, I’ve added in a Coral Bean tree, nun’s orchids, a Cat’s Whisker’s bush and several more flowering shrubs and oddities that I’ll cover in more detail when I have a few moments to research them.

I ended up moving the cattleya orchids to the back. It was too sunny and too dry in that bed by the door for them. I filled it with calla lilies for now.

As always trends come and go in gardening. One herb that I’ve been hearing lots of about lately is ‘Stevia’. The leaves are said to be 300 times sweeter than sugar. I tried a leaf from one of the plants being readied for sale at the Extension Office. It was very sweet, but I’m not sure I believe it is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia has long been used as a sweetener in several prepared foods in other countries. Stevia is being promoted as a no calorie alternative to sugar. Myself I think the evils of sugar are over rated, at 15 calories a tablespoon you have to eat an awful lot of sugar to do damage. And remember just because it is natural doesn’t mean it is better for you. Many of our most interesting poisons come from plants. But if you are looking for a new addition to the herb garden consider Stevia. [Stevia the new sugar substitute]

Another up and coming trend is micro orchards. In the Houston area citrus fruit trees are becoming more popular and everyone is reporting higher sales of these plants. The New York Times is also reporting ‘Backyards, Beware: An Orchard wants your spot’. City folk across the country are buying fruit trees and cramming them into city lots where they are successfully growing fruit. Up in the north mid Atlantic and New England they are growing cherries, apples and grapes.

And I saw my first hummingbird, a ruby throat on Monday. He was feeding away on my shrimp plant. Which although incredibly scraggily looking has had a prolific amount of blooms non-stop.

This past week I had to move all my websites to new servers. As far as I know everything is back together and working well. If you see anything off, drop me an email or a comment. The sites should all load more consistently and faster now.

And as a final note the Resources Page has some really excellent sites I learned about in the master gardener class. I just this week had a free minute to start digging through my notes.

I figure you all know as much as you want to about botany or you’d've looked it up online. So I am just going to mention some cool things I didn’t know that were covered in a class I recently attended.

The roots on a plant do not grow from the end. The end has a hard hat ( more or less ) on it to help protect it when pushing through the soil. It is the root section just behind the end that does the growing. It is called the ‘zone of elongation’.

The bulk of the roots that do the feeding on a tree are not near the center. I know you all already knew the tree roots spread out about equal to the branch cover under most trees. But it is the roots at the edge of that circle that need the water and fertilizer the most. You want to fertilize for a few feet towards and away from the tree in that circle.

Water only goes up the roots and stem, food and most nutrients travel both ways.

There is a cambium layer between the edge of the food/water transport veins in a plant and the section that does the moving. The reasons trees die when they get cut around the edges is because the cambium layer dies.

The terminal bud, the one on the very tip of a branch gets food first and the best of the food. Those closest to the terminal bud get second dibs and those further away only if there is enough food and water.

Likewise the flower on the end gets the best of the food and water. For really big flowers remove those under the end one so the end one can get all the food.

I’m told, but haven’t tried yet, that if you scoop out just the center bud in a caladium bulb that you will get a much bushier plant. I’m also told that doing so may ruin the color pattern on your caladium. So do some digging online about your particular variety before you try this. ( see Caladiums )

Corn should be planted in blocks not rows. Every single one of those silks needs to get fertilized in order for each kernel to grow properly. When you see an ear of corn and the kernels are all different sizes that is what went wrong.

Cucurbitaceae plants ( watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc ) have male flowers at the beginning of the vine and female fruit bearing flowers for the rest of the vine.

See also:
Carl Linnaeus, the father of botany

Asparagus - Jan 15->Feb 15th

Beans ( lima and snap ) - March 1->April 7th and Sept 1->Sept 21

Beets - Feb 1->28 & Sept 21->Oct 15th

Broccoli - Jan 21->Feb21 & Sept 15th ->Oct 15th

Cabbage - Jan 21->Feb 21 & Sept 15th ->Oct 15th

Cantalope - March 21->Jun 30th

Cauliflower - Jan 21->Feb 21 & Sept 15->Oct 15th

Carrots- Oct 15->Nov 15th

Collards - Jan 21->Feb 15th & Sept 15->Nov 1

Corn - Mar 1->March 31

Cucumber - Mar 21->Apr 30

Eggplant - March 21->Jul 7th

Kohlrabi - Jan 21->Feb 28th & Sept 21->Oct 31

Lettuce - Jan 21->Feb 28th & Oct 7->Nov 30

Muskmelon or Watermelon - March 21->Jun 30th

Okra - Apr 1st->Jul 31st

Onions - Jan 15->Feb 15

Peas, snap - Sept 21->Oct 15th

Peppers - March 15->April 30th

Potatoes - Feb 1->Feb 15th

Pumpkin - Mar 15->Jul 15

Radish -> Feb 1 -> Mar 7th & Sept 1->Nov 15th

Southern peas - Apr 1->Aug 21

Spinach - Oct 1->Nov 15th

Squash - Mar 15th ->Apr 30

Sweet potatoes - Apr 1->Jul 15th

Swiss Chard - Jan 21->Feb 15 & Sept 21->Nov 7

Tomatoes - Mar 1->Mar 31

Turnip - Feb 1 ->Feb 28th

See also:
Houston Vegetable Garden Blog
Urban Harvest, Success with vegetables requires timing