Garden Tips: Seed Organization

If you are planting multiple seeds in the same bed, and want to stagger them (so you want to have both the seeds out to use at the same time), use caps for various things in a larger Tupperware, dish, or box to put the seeds into for easy access.

Garden Tip: Use Faux Plants to Protect Real Ones

This is an easy garden tip I learned by accident.   I had tried and tried to grow plants from seeds on my back porch when I was living in an apartment, but time and again the hot Texas sun fried the seedlings before they could grow.   So, in frustration one day I just stuck a bunch of fake flowers in the pot, strait down into the soil I had planned for real flowers.

And then, two weeks later, I noticed some new leaves pushing up through the faux plants.   REAL petunia seeds had sprouted under the shade of the fake flowers and were now inching their way past them to the sunlight.

Even when we moved to a house with a real yard, I used this technique.   I'd buy dollar store fake flowers, and stick them in the ground over my rows of carrots, beans, peppers, ect. until the plants were strong and hardy enough to do without the shade. 

Above you can see a young green bean being protected by some of these dollar store flowers.  

Yes, you can also start seedlings inside and transfer them once they're stronger...but that doesn't work with all types of plants, and it's an extra step you can skip if you use fake flowers or something else to shade them.   And the fake flowers are easy to use and look pretty in the meantime. 

What To Plant In Texas In April

1. Cantaloupes, 2. Collards, 3. Corn, 4. Cucumber, 5. Cushaw (and Pumpkins) 6. Eggplant, 7. Melons (honeydew), 8. Lima Beans, 9. Luffa, 10. Malabar Spinach, 11. Okra, 12. Peppers, 13. Pumpkin., 14. Snapbeans (19), 15. Southern Peas, 16. Summer Squash, 17. Sweet Potatoes, 18. Swiss Chard, 19. Tomato* 20. Watermelon

*On tomatoes plant transplants (too late to plant from seed)

These are all plants which are great for planting in April here in Texas.  I've been learning all about the best time to plant different plants from a book called Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas.  I wish I had gotten this book years ago...it's teaching me so much about Texas gardening that I really was absolutely clueless on!  I knew Texas had two growing seasons but I really didn't understand when the seasons started or ended.  It turns out I trying to grow nearly everything at the wrong time!  I'm going to try to share tips from the book each month (but there's so much info, I couldn't even begin to share it all).   They also share what else you need to do each month (when to fertilize, aerate your soil, tackle weeds, etc.). 

But, if you just want info on what veggies and herbs to plant each month, you can also get that information online here.  That's a good resource for  other states too.

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I found the photos for my mosaic on Flickr, and the photographers were nice enough to offer up for use through Creative Commons (click on the links to see the photos larger).  Yes, the Sountern Peas (ie cowpeas) in that picture are blighted (that was just a hard one to find, so I took what I could get.)

I'm linking up at the gardening linkies at Living More, Spending Less and Ramblings of a Christian Mom.  Also linking up at Mosaic Monday.

Things that make a gardener go hmmm.....

That is a tomato plant.

That's right...that's a tomato plant growing on a sign out of what looks like pure concrete on the side of the road!  There were actually little green tomatoes starting to grow on it.   Just one of many "we're not in Texas anymore" moments I've had since coming back to California.

After how much I've struggled to keep plants alive stuff like this blows my mind.  

Texas Gardening Tips for Late June, Early July

•  The first week of July is the last chance to plant okra, luffa, peanuts, and, in south Texas, sweet potato slips--which are heat lovers and won't have time to mature if planted later.
  
  
• Transplants of Tomatoes and Peppers should be planted no later than July 4th.
  
  
• If you want pumpkins by Halloween you should plant them by early July!
  
  
• There are many other herbs and vegetables you can plant this month!  Find out what you can plant in your area HERE.

(I found these tips in the book Month to Month Gardening in Texas).

Start Your Pumpkins Soon...Seriously!

If you want to plant pumpkins for Halloween, you need to start early! Pumpkins take three to four months to mature, so you want to plant from June to early July, depending on the variety you're planting and how big you want your pumpkin (the longer they grow, the bigger they get!).  Learn more about planting pumpkins here.

Wildflower or Weed?

Thanks for joining me on my continuing hunt to find out what grows wild in my yard and whether it's edible or useful (or a pest that causes of allergies, has prickers, etc.).  Today I want to look at two plants that Ty at the Texas Garden Web Forums helped me Identify. I was hoping they'd have some useful properties (other than looking kinda pretty) but can't find anything about them being edible or medicinal, and their seeds have been described as "annoying balls of velcro" that get  stuck in pet hair (joy.)   These is not a native...but European plants that found its way here and took over.

PLANT #1:  Torilis nodosa
(Knotted Hedge Parsley)

First, the one I THOUGHT might be carrots....

You see, year before last I left some seed packets out accidentally and they blew across my yard.  The next spring I had two carrots grow in a corner I hadn't planted them.  Then after a fire in my backyard hundreds of what seemed to be the same carrot plant sprouted up where the fire had burned.  Here's a picture of some:

What I Thought Were Carrots

I was all excited.  But alas, I think I got excited too soon.

Because here's what my full grown carrots look like (and several more of these did pop up, which is cool):

Actual Carrot Leaves

But this is what the hundreds of little plants grew into...

Torilis nodosa

Torilis nodosa (Bloom)

Torilis nodosa (Leaf Pattern)

As you can tell, it looks very different than the carrot.  While it started with the same sort of lacy rosette of leaves the carrot has, the stem soon split apart into branches and the leaves stayed the same size.  It has flowers that grow on the stem near the leaf nodes, not up at the top like Yarrow or Queen-Anne's-Lace.   The root smells sort of carrot-like.  I can tell you already it's invasive.  Man, I wish these had been carrots!

Plant #2:  Probably Torilis arvensis
(Spreading hedge parsley)

  It's root's also smell carroty, and it has similar leaves, but the flower grows at the top, more like like Yarrow or Queen-Anne's-Lace.  Actually, it VERY much like Queen-Anne's-Lace except the top flowers are smaller and lack the leaves right under the base of the flower shown in this illustration.

 Plant #2

Plant #2 (Blooms)

I am pretty sure this is Torilis arvensis (Spreading Hedge Parsley).   It's root's also smell carroty, and it has similar leaves, but the flower grows at the top, more like like Yarrow or Queen-Anne's-Lace.  Actually, it's VERY much like Queen-Anne's-Lace except the top flowers are smaller and lack the leaves right under the base of the flower shown in this Queen-Anne's-Lace illustration.  As it's name suggests, it's invasive too (but it's at least prettier than the other one).

Oh well.  Time to get the weed whacker out again!

Wildflower Wednesday

Throwback Thursday
Throwback Thursday II 

What to Plant in April in Texas

1. Cantaloupes, 2. Collards, 3. Corn, 4. Cucumber, 5. Cushaw (and Pumpkins) 6. Eggplant, 7. Melons (honeydew), 8. Lima Beans, 9. Luffa, 10. Malabar Spinach, 11. Okra, 12. Peppers, 13. Pumpkin., 14. Snapbeans (19), 15. Southern Peas, 16. Summer Squash, 17. Sweet Potatoes, 18. Swiss Chard, 19. Tomato* 20. Watermelon

*On tomatoes plant transplants (too late to plant from seed)

These are some plants which are great for planting in April here in Texas.  I've been learning all about the best time to plant different plants from a book called Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas, which not only shows when to fertilize, aerate your soil, tackle weeds, etc.. But, if you just want info on what veggies and herbs to plant each month, you can also get that information online at one of the resources listed here.). 

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I found the photos for my mosaic on Flickr, and the photographers were nice enough to offer up for use through Creative Commons (click on the links to see the photos larger).  Yes, the Sountern Peas (ie cowpeas) in that picture are blighted (that was just a hard one to find, so I took what I could get.)

I'm linking up at the gardening linkies at Garden Club Thursday and...






(Post recycled from last year).

Texas Gardening Resources

Useful Texas Gardening Resources

Here's some online resources for gardeing in Texas:

For Finding Planting Times 

• Aggie Horticulture - Spring Vegetable Planting Guide
  
• Aggie Horticulture - Fall Vegetable Planting Guide
• Mother Earth News - What to Plant Now (only includes Feb - Oct)

General Resources

• The Herb Companion - Texas Tagged Posts
  Lots of great articles on various planting topics in Texas.
• Aggie Horticulture
  So many resources to browse through.  Lots of info on specific plants, charts, articles, etc.. 
• Wikipedia Companion Planting Chart
  Though not a specifically Texan resource, I have found this invaluable in my garden.
• GardenWeb Texas Forum
  This forum is an valuable place to go to ask advice on any topic related to Texas gardening. 
• Texas Farmers Markets
  Farmers markets aren't only a great place to get fresh, locally grown food. You can also find some great deals on live plants, and are more likely to find unusual heirloom varieties than at many nurseries.
• The Dirt Doctor, Howard Garret
  A great resource for Texas organic gardeners.

Regional Resources

• Heart Of Texas Urban Gardeners 
• Central Texas Gardening
• Central Texas Horticulture
• South Texas Herb Society

Wildcrafting Resources

• Foraging Texas 
• Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest

Apps

• Wildflowers of Central Texas App for iPhone/iPad

Recommended Books

Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas is an excellent book for anyone new to Texas.  It helps you learn what to plant when, when to fertilize (and what fertilizers work best in Texas), and much, much more.  If you didn't know that there were veggies you can plant in the middle of winter, or that there was such a thing as cool season and warm season annuals, or are finding that the things you did to help your garden thrive somewhere else aren't working here, then this is the book for you!  This is my MOST RECCOMMENDED gardening book for newcomers to Texas!  See my full review here.


I'd reccomend anything by Howard Garret, but especially his books on organic gardening, such as Texas Organic Gardening.  I read several of his books the summer I worked at The Herb Market in Carrollton, and they were all excellent.

Today's Flowers - Garden Bloom Day

What's blooming in my garden?

First, what was planted (by me)...

Gazania rigens - African daisy

Flowering Chives

Morning Glory

Salvia

Marigold

Those my neighbor planted...
(creeping through the fence)

And these nature planted for me...

One Texas Bluebonnet
(Literally one, in the smack dab middle of the yard,
but I want more so I'm mowing around it.)

Some Texas Dandelion (a lot more than one)

I don't know what...would love to know!
The flowers look similar to wild carrot,
but they are at every leaf intersection
down the stem, and much smaller.

(Oh no...I found out...a weed!)

Another mystery weed/wildflower

 

Dakota Vervain 

Texas Vervain

Wild Evening Primrose

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Garden Bloom Day

Throwback Thursday

Sky Watch Friday - Flora and Fauna, From a Bugs-eye View

1st Trio:

Wild Primrose

2nd Trio:

Bolting Oak Leaf Lettuce

Plantain

Goldenrod

3st Trio:

Wildflower - Unknown

Flowering Chives - Just budding

Flowering Chives - In Bloom


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Sky Watch Friday
Blooming Friday
Pink Saturday 

Plant Identified: Bowlesia Incana

This plant is Bowlesia incana, common name hoary bowlesia.  According to wikipedia it is a member of the parsley family and a native to South America and the southeastern and southwestern United States.

According to debndal at The Garden Forums it does NOT have any spines or burrs and lasts two winters long.  She didn't notice any flowers on hers, but wikipedia says it grows yellow-green flowers appear in the leaf axils, and the tiny inflated fruit is only 2 millimeters wide.  (Which explains why you might not notice any).

Now, you know I had offered a giveaway to the first person who correctly identified this.  Weel, I had asked about this and a number of other plants both here and on The Garden Forum and THOUGHT no one had been able to identify it yet (thus, the giveaway).  Well, I was wrong.  Somehow I actually missed the VERY FIRST POST on The Garden Forum in which pkponder identified this plant!

So, here's what I'm doing...I'm going to give away free seeds or a postcard to everyone who posted here.  Since I only have one Carl's Jr. Coupon and don't want to waste it, I selected a few people who gave the most helpful answers and am giving it to the first one of them who claims it.

Thanks all!

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Linking up, among other places, at Garden Club Linky

Eating the Weeds - Plantain (Not the Banana)

Plantain (aka White Man's Foot, not the banana) has taken over the center of my yard...

It's growing so thick it looks like grass...only now (unlike the picture above) it's sending up seed pods.


Well, those seed pods are suposedly edible, so taking advice from the video below I decided to try some sautéed in butter (I added a little lemon pepper)...

Not Impressed! Phet!

The taste was not bad, but the texture, was, well, very weedy.  Even after cooking it had a "feathery" feel.  So, unless I'm lost in the wilderness starving, I won't be eating these again.  Not the pods at least.  The VERY young plants (you have to get them before they grow hair) are not that bad in salad, and I still may give the seeds a shot, though I doubt I'd have the time or patience to do this...





Plus, the seeds, I gather, can have a laxative affect (they're related to the plant used in Metamucil), so I'm thinking eating them in that amount may not be a great idea.  I might try the seeds as a topping though, like poppy seeds or sesame.

And I also want to try making a salve out of the leaves (one of this plants various uses is as a pain killer...nice for bug bites I've been told).  Theres a bunch of other uses for this plant, which you can learn more about here.

But for now, I had my older boys take a whack at the seed pods with the weed whacker.  There are more plantain plants in my yard right now than I'd ever use, and though they look nice and green and lush now, they'll die off and look ugly mid summer. 

Throwback Thursday