For new gardeners, you will be shocked and saddened by the loss of many of your plants but over time you will come to see how erratic Texas weather can be. This fall was exceptionally good – spring plants that survived the summer found a reason to bloom and fruit for us. We had tomato salads for Thanksgiving, and more basil than we could eat. But alas, the hard freeze that is always estimated for mid-November hit last night. If you awoke early enough and braved the frost you would have seen a garden captured beneath a crystal sheet. As the sun peaked out and melted the ice the crisply decorated plants turned to a mushy, droopy mess. Our rain water bucket froze over and we found lots of interesting ice sculptures.
So here is what did and did not survive last night:
Kicked the bucket (some covered with grow web, other left uncovered)
Bees play a vital role in pollinating flowering plants. As a gardener, it is natural to have bees to ensure that our crops (cucumbers, beans, eggplants, etc) are pollinated and produce. Bees gather nectar or pollen depending on what they are producing in the hive.
It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, especially the domesticated European honey bee.
Every year the San Marcos Bee Wranglers offers a free, 4 session, beekeeping class.
Class Days Are: January 6, 13, 20 & 27 Class Location: San Marcos Library, 625 E Hopkins Class Time: 7-9pm.
Call the Library at 512-393-8200 to register. The class fills up quick so Bee Quick and sign up! Textbooks to be sold the first night at class $12.00.
Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at 3:38 PM. Add a comment
This was one of our last spring gardens to go in – two small starter beds. While it suffered in the crazy heat and dry spell that was to come it has started to produce this fall. Sorry to take so long getting the photos up! From the photos you can see the area gets dappled sunlight part of the day which is a bonus in the Texas summer.
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 9:31 PM. Add a comment
A Native Garden: Using cedar logs for a raised bed garden
This fall we installed a unique garden made with native cedar logs. The winter vegetable garden design was done by Amy Crowell and the installation took two days. It turned out to be a beautiful garden structure and we look forward to see the beds filled out with the winter veggies. Congratulation Genny!
We also featured Genny’s compost pile in the slideshow because it a a great design example. The first images show the area before our fall rains and then you see the native weeds in the next images. During the build you will notice we use newspaper as our weed block. We have seen the store bought weed block in many yards and neither weeds nor veggies pay attention to the barrier. The one thing that does suffer from the separation of new landscaping and existing soils are the earthworms. Newspaper is biodegradable, and free and helps kill off the initial weeds but eventually decomposes to allow earthworms into your garden. The mulch and a gardeners diligent weeding will eventually rid that area of weeds. We will rephotograph this garden after a few weeks to see the progress.
Winter in Texas is very mild and the gardening challenges are minimal. If you are thinking of starting a garden, winter is the time…very few bugs, cool days with good sun, and more chances of rain. However, be aware that dry air and wind can desiccate plants as well as the hot sun so pay attention to your watering schedule. Check out our winter advice blog post.
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 11:45 AM. Add a comment
