Master Gardener: This And That For November
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener When mums finish blooming and start turning brown, there’s always the question of what to do with them during winter. Well, take a look at the shrub base. There should be shoots emerging at the base of each flowering stalk. These are next year’s stems. So, leave them alone and remove everything down to 1-2 inches in height. Don’t trim any of the newly emerging clumps. Autumnal foliage and...
Why does a Yard Tree Have to be so Big?
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener As urban areas grow and new housing development become established, yard sizes decrease and various rules become word of mouth or absolute rules for home owners’ associations HOA. One of the dumber rules (my opinion!) is that each new house gets two front yard shade trees. The rule itself isn’t so dumb, but how it is imposed leaves much to be desired. HOAs generally have no...
Replant cucumbers NOW!
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener Those who started cucumber plants from seed or bought transplants from various stores have been getting great results. The problem with cucumbers, and similarly tomatoes, is that they have a definite production limit. Most regular cucumbers species such as marketmore, straight8 and numerous others will usually produce under good conditions somewhere 15-25 fruit. After the...
This and That for July 2023
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener Pepper production should be coming into full production now. How about your hot peppers? Are they not as hot as they should be, or are they much hotter than usual. It’s really a simple matter to adjust the heat level. If hot peppers are too hot for your taste, simply increase the amount of water they’re receiving and fertilize. Are the not hot enough? ...
Overly Rich Soil
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener 10+ years ago, I wrote articles on gardens’ ideal soil organic percentages being 5%. An interesting aspect is an awful lot of organic material doesn’t raise the overall percentage very much. Getting up to 5% can take several years. Finally, anything over 5% is a wasted effort. There was also an article that too much fertilizer could result in excess vegetable plant growth at the expense of...
Try Growing Peanuts in Containers
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener Peanut plants are somewhat unique in that they flower like a traditional vegetable plant but instead of producing their “fruit” above ground, they send what are called pegs down into the dirt to produce their nuts below ground. Traditionally, peanuts are grown only in areas with long summers, such as the deep south. The time from seed-to-harvest which is normally at least 20-150 days,...
A Mexican White Oak for Your Yard
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener Mexican white oak (Quercus polymorpha) or its alias as Monterrey oak is incredible tree that remains to date relatively unknown. A primary reason is that until 1992 when a small stand was discovered in SW TX, it was not known to exist in the U.S. Normal range is from Guatemala through Mexico. Since 1992, it has become adapted to hardiness zones 7-10, and is considered a highly desirable...
Bees like to Play???
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener We’ve all watched native, bumble and honey bees go about their daily task of gathering nectar and pollen before heading back to the hive to do wonderful things with the gatherings. Though we seldom pay attention, wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets all do the same. It’s almost as if they are programmed to be robots in accomplishing their tasks. BUT, as we are slowly learning, all of them...
Liquid Versus Solid Fertilizers For Your Patio
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener Many keep liquid fertilizers to feed individual plants around the patio. They act faster than solid fertilizers and give plants an immediate shot in the arm, so to speak. In fact, patio container grown plants do their best when they get frequent doses of liquid fertilizers, because nutrients are immediately distributed throughout the container. Liquid fertilizers work very well but have...
Bee Balm for Your Yard
By David Wall, Mount Pleasant Master Gardener It has been said that everyone should grow bee balm in their yard. A member of the mint family, bee balm is also known as horsemint and Oswego tea. It’s a native-to-North America wildflower that is a hardy perennial. It can be any of several colors or a mixture of colors. It can be12-24” tall or up to 48” tall. Then, it can grow almost anywhere from pristine conditions to shady and rocky...
