Tree Planting Practices

Ewing Irrigation had an interesting article in its last newsletter titled “What is a Sustainable Landscape?” Sustainability’s the hot word right now – and sometimes, I wonder how exactly it applies.

One comment, in particular, hit home for those of us in the tree business. Ronald Dodson, Chairman of International Sustainability Council, and Founder and President of Audubon International, writes, ” There is one instance in which you should not add organic matter into the soil: If you are planting a new tree, you should not add compost into the hole, as that has been determined to discourage root growth beyond the original planting hole. it is better to top-dress the tree planting using compost as a kind of mulch rather than a soil amendment.   Additionally, never till in the compost; that essentially defeats the purpose of improving the soil structure.   Organisms in the soil will digest the organic matter and disperse it throughout the soil naturally.”

Now, there's some food for thought . . .

To read the entire article, click here.

Anacua

Anacua is a Texas native tree whose range is the southern half of the state. Its flowers are as fragrant as they are pretty. In a couple of months they will be followed by golden-orange berries. You can expect your anacua tree to bloom 2-3 times each year. I had a multi-trunked one whose trunks bloomed a few weeks apart one year. Talk about your inner struggle!

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

A springtime visit to the LadyBird is all about the bluebonnets!  And the Indian paintbrush . . . . and winecups . . .  coneflowers . . . . red yucca . . .

The meadows has sweeps of color -  I think that these are Engelmann's daisies, Englemania peristenia

I love how this yucca looks in the clay pot!

My home isn't guttered and I have been trying to decide how to set up a few rainbarrels . . . .    guess I just need a big funnel!

Havard Agave

And aren't these beautiful!   I have never seen this flower and cannot for the life of me remember it's name. 

I love yellow and blue color combinations.   Isn't this cheerful?

The Vegetable Garden in April

It may just be early April but we are already getting summertime temperatures - it hit 97 at our home yesterday.

This limits what can be planted in the vegetable garden. Here is my list of vegetables that I will still plant from seed: cantaloupe and honeydew melons, corn, cucumber, okra, peppers, summer squash and zucchini, and watermelon. Ideally, squash is planted in early spring because it is so susceptible to downy mildew.

My husband, the farmer, tells me that some of his friends are just now planting butternut squash. I didn't even know that we could grow butternut squash in the valley - and would have guessed they were a winter crop. I may have to find some empty space and try it out. Butternut squash is a 100 day crop so we will see.

If you want to put out vegetable transplants, it's still a good time for that.

I usually plant 4" pots of herbs But if you want to plant seeds, April is a good month to plant cilantro, garlic, mint, rosemary, dill, and rue.

The flower seed that I'll continue to plant are zinnias, marigolds, coneflower, fancy sunflowers. Most of these make great cut flowers and I enjoy adding them into the veggie and herb gardens.

Keyhole Garden

In the electric co-op magazine a few months ago, there was an article about keyhole gardens. They are an African design that are supposed to conserve water. Since we had all the material we needed to build one, we thought it would be fun to give it a whirl.

Dimensions are supposed to be a five foot circle that is three feet tall. Use any material you happen to have. Ours was a pallet of brick left over from building our home. You do need to take a wedge out of the circle. At the center, place a 1 foot wide and 4 foot tall cylinder of chicken wire.

When this is all built, line the garden with cardboard. Then layer more cardboard, newspapers, sticks, phone books, etc to about 1 foot below the top. Water it well as you layer these decomposable materials. On top spread six inches of compost and planting medium. Fill the chicken wire cylinder with garden and kitchen trimmings.

Now you're ready to plant. This is my
husband's project and he chose tomatoes. After all, you can't have too many home grown tomatoes. You are supposed to just water this garden through the wire cylinder.

Ours is now six weeks old and we have baby tomatoes on our plants. The pros we've discovered are that 1) having the planting bed six inches below the wall protected the seedlings from the wind, 2) rabbits and other animals don't mess with the plants here, and 3) no stoop labor. Watering through the "keyhole" isn't working that great. The water just runs down the trimmings and puddles on the ground.

But we will wait and see how these tomatoes perform compared to those in our traditional garden beds.