Latest / ATXGardens Podcast / What to Do in Your Central Texas Garden (July 15–31): Prune Now & Plan for Fall

Transcript

What to Do in Your Central Texas Garden (July 15–31): Prune Now & Plan for Fall · ATXGardens Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hi listeners, I'm Colleen Dieker, landscape consultant and certified arborist at ATXGardens.com.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the ATX Gardens Podcast, where every other week I share simple, timely tips for what to do in your Central Texas garden right now.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching on YouTube, tap like and subscribe for more gardening help.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hi gardening friends.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm going to talk to you about what to do in your garden in the last half of July.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, this episode is brought to you by my landscape consulting business, atxgardens.com.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's jump in.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So can you believe that summer is about half over now?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Usually around this time, most of our plants are in summer dormancy in Central Texas.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're not going to be blooming or doing a whole lot.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's normal.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get into the details later in the podcast about how to take advantage of that dormant period to get some pruning and harvesting done.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But first, I want to talk to you about chiggers.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: This year I've had chiggers three times already, and I wanted to share with you uh my regiment for chiggers.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I know a lot of other people that have gotten them this year.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's the extra rain or why they've been so bad this year.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like everybody I know has sugars.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, there's two ways that you can prevent getting attacked by triggers.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: One is by it's organic, the organic option, which is using sulfur powder.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can get sulfur that comes in an applicator that you can use to dust your clothing before you go into an area where you think there might be triggers.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love doing that myself because the smell of the sulfur really sticks to your clothes.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the sulfur smell can spread to your other clothes in the laundry.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I use a DEET-based bug repellent, like off, and I just spray it on my lower pant legs, my socks, and my shoes only.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I generally avoid skin contact with DEET, it's just a personal preference, and everyone needs to figure out you know how comfortable they feel with certain things on their body.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you can also treat whole landscapes with sulfur.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have triggers on your own property and it's become a problem over and over again, you can treat a whole property with dusting sulfur at a rate of about two pounds per 1,000 square feet.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um, a sulfur also can benefit the soil in a landscape if the soil is very alkaline, which most people in central Texas have alkaline soil, and the sulfur can help lower the pH to make the pH more neutral.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but keep in mind that sulfur can harm pets until it's washed into the soil.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you sprinkle sulfur around your property and then your dogs and cats come outside and roll around in it, that can be a problem for them.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need to uh water it in or let the rain wash it into the soil first before you let your pets out there.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you get triggers and you get trigger bites on your body, I found that taking a Benadryl at night will help you sleep because they're so intensely itchy, it can really cause you to lose sleep.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I also like to moisten a cotton cloth or a cotton ball with witch hazel, and then add one or two drops of peppermint essential oil onto the cloth with the witch hazel, and then I'll dab that onto each bite, and that really helps reduce the itching.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And using peppermint soap in the shower really helps too with the itching.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So um, that's my little regimen for chiggers.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So chiggers are, you know, kind of mythologized, and they're a thing of terror all over Texas, and not just in Texas, but in many other parts of North America.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I won't get into the symptoms and the myth busting here because there's a really great episode of Stuff You Should Know, which is a podcast that I really like about triggers.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they do all the myth busting and talk about all the symptoms and everything like that in that episode.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there's gonna be links to all of this stuff in the show notes, um, the peppermint essential oil, the dusting sulfur, and the stuff you should know episode about chickers.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: All of those links are in the show notes.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So check that out.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, this episode, I'm continuing my little series about erosion and dealing with erosion in our yards because one of my listeners recently asked me how to deal with soil erosion problems in her yard.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a common question lately because of all of the beautiful rain we've been enjoying this year.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: She asked me specifically about French drains, too, and whether or not French drains are a good idea for dealing with soil erosion and water management.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to say, I really hate French drains.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Before I was a landscape consultant, I was a personal gardener.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I provided landscape maintenance services in many different contexts, both in commercial properties, but mostly residential properties and of all different shapes and sizes and styles.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I just ran into so many problems with French drains.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So French drain is not actually French, it's not from France.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was developed in the United States by a dude whose last name was French.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And French drains are underground pipes generally that fit into a system of drains that have grates over them, and then they often have outlets that are pop-ups where there's a little opening on the end of the pipe that pops open and lets the water out once the pipe fills with water.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the pipes are perforated and with holes in them.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they're flexible, sometimes they're not, sometimes they're solid.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's all different ways that people do this, but that's the generic term for an underground pipe system that handles water in the landscape is French drain.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's how most people talk about it.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Whether or not that's entirely accurate is for a different podcast.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: French drains treat water like something that is just a nuisance.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: It treats the water as a waste product to get rid of rather than a resource to be coveted and stewarded.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: The French drain systems cause many problems in our Central Texas landscapes.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, installing French drains is hard because you have to dig trenches.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And digging trenches typically damages tree roots very severely, depending on if you have large trees or not.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to dig trenches in places where we don't have a whole lot of soil, which is pretty common in certain parts of Austin.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: The drains often hold water, and there'll be a grate over the drain that lets mosquitoes in and out.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be a place for mosquitoes to breed.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Clay soil, which we have around most of central Austin and East Austin, has heavy clay soil, and that soil heaves and moves very often.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so the pipes underground often break or even tilt and begin sloping the wrong direction because the soil around the pipes moves so much.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So tree roots will grow into perforated pipes no matter what you do.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the tree roots are gonna grow into perforated pipes and they will clog them.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And by perforated, I mean pipes that have holes in them, and the tree roots will clog them.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: I have found dead animals in French drain outlets before.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've found skeletons of animals, so they definitely crawl in there and die, and that's super sad.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then they also clog the pipe.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't see the problems with the French drains because all the infrastructure of that system is underground and requires finding the pipes and then digging to repair them, or doing something like a snake drain snake or something to clear them.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So in the next episode, I will talk to you about earthworks as an alternative to French drains.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Occasionally, there is a situation where you need a French drain, but those situations are pretty rare.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: So tune in next time to the next episode to learn more about earthworks as an alternative to French drains.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So now what's going on in our gardens?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it here.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: What about woody plants, trees, shrubs, and vines, all of the plants that are made out of wood?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: In late July, it is not planting time.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do not plant any woody plants now.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's too hot, it's too hard on them.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: They will be struggling for many years if you plant them at this time.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have them in pots, just keep them in the pots for now and wait until September for planting.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I will definitely tell you on this podcast when it's tree planting time again.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very good time in late July for tree pruning, to clear roofs, to clear the street, to clear walkways and driveways.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good time to trim, to lift canopies on trees if you want to be able to see underneath them or to separate them from the plants around them.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Just remember not to remove more than 25 to 30 percent of a tree's leaves in one year.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And for more tree pruning tips and advice, you can hire me for a consultation at atxgardens.com.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Late July is a great time for pruning most woody shrubs.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: The exception is American Beauty Berry, because right now they have their flowers and their little berries on them right now.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you trim them really hard at this time of year, you'll be taking off all of those beautiful berries.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, all of the other shrubs appreciate some pruning at this time of year.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: But make sure whenever you go to prune any plant, especially shrubs, um make sure you know why you're doing it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: What is your objective?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's the goal?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And some examples of objectives for shrub pruning include to control the plant's size, you know, if it's just getting too big and it's growing all over its neighbors, or it's growing up in front of a window and you just want it to be shorter.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can also trim a shrub to improve its appearance, you can trim shrubs to prevent diseases.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: As long as you keep your objective in mind while you're pruning, that objective can guide you in how to do the pruning.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you need help, again, you can hire me for a consultation, and you and I can trim it together, and I can show you how to do it, and then you'll be empowered to do it again later when you need to.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Check out my services at atxgardens.com.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Late July is a very good time to trim shrubs and small trees that bloom early in the spring before they set their flower buds.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: In fall and winter, they have the flower buds on their branches already and they hold them all winter.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you prune them during the winter, you'll be removing the flower buds, and then you won't get as many flowers.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you prune them now in the summer, that will not affect the blooming as much.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so some examples include Texas mountain laurels, hydrangeas, azaleas, winter honeysuckle, elbow bush, and red buds.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's tons more, but those are the ones that are the most common examples.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I also recommend summer rose pruning now to control the size of your rose bush if you need to, and to increase the vigor of your rosebush to help motivate the plant to bloom again this fall.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you deadhead them and remove the rose hips at this time of the year, and we get a little bit of rain in September, you may get some extra flowers on your roses.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now moving on to fruit trees.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't plant any fruit trees right now.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's too hot.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a really good time for pruning fruit trees.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, especially for older, well-established fruit trees.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So your fruit trees that have been in the ground for three or more years, it can be really beneficial to prune them in the summer rather than the winter.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The summer pruning slows down a large tree and helps control its size so that the tree doesn't get so tall so that you don't need a ladder to harvest the fruit.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you have established fruit trees with a lot of vigorous growth and not a lot of fruit, summer pruning can help.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So at this time of year, the tree is deciding which types of growth it will make next year.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so wherever sunlight touches a branch, the branch can be stimulated to make a flower bud.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that way you'll get more fruit.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the time of year where the trees are trying to decide what they're going to do next year.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do some summer pruning on a tree that's really big and really vigorous and growing really fast, but maybe doesn't make a lot of fruit, um, summer pruning can help control it and give you more fruit.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: I like to use Corona Orchard Loppers, and there's a link to those orchard loppers in the show notes.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I am an Amazon affiliate, so I get commissions whenever you buy anything from my show notes or from uh my website at atxgardens.com.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you clean your blades with alcohol or lysol between trees for both fruit trees and between plants for roses, because fruit trees and roses tend to get a lot of diseases and they can be spread on our tools.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Something else to think about for summer pruning on fruit trees.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some types of apples and pears produce fruit on the ends of their branches.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're called tip producers.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you prune them in the winter time, it's possible that you might remove all of their flowers and then you won't get any fruit.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that has happened to me with some of the apple trees that I have.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: So summer pruning is better for those tip-producing apples and pears.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know if your tree is a tip producer or not, it's really helpful to label your trees with the variety name or keep a journal of the fruit varieties that you have so you can find out, you can research and find out if they're tip producing or not.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: If they're not tip-producing types, then they would produce on spurs.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And spurs are like little tiny stems that come off of the main stems and they're kind of short and stumpy.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And those are specifically there to produce flowers and fruit.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's some types of apples and pears that are spur producing.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so if they're spur-producing, it's a little bit easier to prune them in the winter time.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, moving on to perennials and bulbs and ornamental grasses.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is too hot to plant now.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do not plant anything.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll let you know when it's time again.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said in the last episode, July is a very busy time for trimming perennials.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, like all of the trees and shrubs, too, that I just talked about, all of these plants are reaching their maximum size at this time of year.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna recap a little bit what I said in the last episode about perennials.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: So warm season perennials that are done blooming for the spring should be cut down by half to promote bushier growth and more flowers in the fall.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you just cut the top half of the plant off.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if these plants aren't trimmed now, they have a tendency to flop open in the fall unless you have a support system for them like stakes or cages.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so this includes the tall herbaceous salvias like salvia pharinesia, also known as mealy blue sage or Henry Doltberg sage, or indigo spires, the mystic spires, Mexican bush sage, black and blue sage, forsythia sage, and more.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Fall asters, goldenrod, and maximilian sunflowers are also good candidates for this treatment.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, lantanas often need pruning at this time of year to clear them off of neighboring plants or to get them out of walkways.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's especially true for the trailing landanas.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Antenna types, the purple and white ones that really spread out across the ground.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can lift up the top branches on the plant and cut off that lowest layer completely, all the way back as far as you can reach.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's also a really good technique to use with the Zex menias, too.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So some of our more tropical perennials are in full bloom now, and you can deadhead them to remove dead flowers and to get more blooms from them if you want to.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Things like yellow bells, plumbago, pryto Barbados, and hibiscus.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: I just had a conversation with someone this morning about their plumbago starting to get too big, too bloomy.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a good time to go ahead and trim back that plumbago if it's starting to crawl all over its neighbors.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you might consider in the fall moving either the plumbago or some of the neighboring plants if it's starting to get a little too overgrown.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: You could transplant them and you can tie a ribbon around a little plant that might need to be transplanted in the fall so that you'll remember to do it later.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is the best time of year for pruning the semi-evergreen sub-shrubs.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the little plants that stay green all year.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're sold in the perennial section at the nursery, but they're not really true perennials because the tops of them don't ever really go dormant.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's stuff like Salvia Gregi, Damianita, rock roses, Mexican oregano, the globe mallows are another one.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Any plant that's green year-round and is like it's a sub shrub because it's less than 24 inches tall.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this time of year, they're going to be taking a break from blooming.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they might have one or two flowers on them.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Just first remove all of the dead and broken branches, then remove all the branches that are touching the ground.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then I like to remove any branches that are bigger around than a pencil.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: That helps keep the plant vigorous and growing new branches because otherwise, this category of plants, their branches tend to get really woody and they can't grow new stems and leaves from them as they get thicker and thicker in diameter, and then they start to look really ugly.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this time of year, this sort of trimming can really help increase the longevity of these plants and prevent them from looking ugly.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then the last step is to shear the top two inches of the plant.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So just removing the ends of each stem about two inches to remove all the dead flowers, and that helps make the plant bushier too.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you feel unsure about how to do any of this pruning, I have a guide available on my website.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a$20 digital download, or you can order a hard copy.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a three-volume set of booklets in the style of a zine.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it includes some illustrations and some art from me.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's available on my website at atxgardens.com.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, there's a link in the show notes.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Some of my customers who have bought those booklets have told me that it's their favorite gardening book and that it's been really, really helpful.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So check that out.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that happens at this time of year that I didn't talk about in the last episode is that some of the perennials start to just look a little shabby at this time of year.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: And especially lambs' ears.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's really normal.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you're growing lamb's ears, it's really normal for them to just kind of melt at this time of year.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: The whole top of the plant dies.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that is okay.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: They will grow back in the fall.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So just get in there with some gloves, and you can pull out all the dead leaves and you can trim if there's any stems that are like really shriveled up.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can trim those, but they'll grow back from the ground in September.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: So don't worry, they're just going dormant for the summer.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes our Turks caps, cannolilies, some of the other perennials that have larger leaves can start to look sort of ratty at this time of year because they get eaten by bugs, they get fungal diseases and stuff like that.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally okay to just cut the top half off of those plants or even cut them all the way down at this time of year, force them to grow back with fresh new growth if they're just way too ugly.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: That trimming can reinvigorate them to come back and look really nice in the fall, but you need to do it now because if you wait too long and you do it too late in the fall, you'll cut them down before they have the chance to grow back and before there's a first freeze, believe it or not, because our fall is very short in Austin.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you do it now.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: If they're looking ugly, get out there and get on it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's time for our mid-episode sponsor break.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, y'all.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is Colleen Dieter from ATXgardens.com.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you need personalized help with your landscape, book a consultation and we'll walk your yard together.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll answer all of your questions and we'll create a strategy together that feels doable for you.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I specialize in helping do-it-yourselfers by alleviating their anxieties about their yards.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: This week I helped Juan in North Austin.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: He and his spouse wanted to create a vegetable garden at their house, but they weren't sure where to locate it, how big it should be, or what materials they should use to build it.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And they also didn't know when the right seasons are to plant foods they love like cilantro.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love vegetable gardening, and I think every Austinite should grow some food.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I shared with Juan and his spouse my tips and tricks for a successful vegetable garden.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Juan was so excited to get going on his vegetable garden project when I left, and I felt really proud that I could help.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: So make an appointment today at atxgardens.com.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's get back to the episode.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so July 15th is mid-summer in Austin.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Many gardeners elect to put their vegetable garden to bed mid-summer to give the vegetable garden a little break during the hottest part of the year.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Did you decide to do that?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you decide to take a break, make sure to get that garden cleared out so that it'll be ready to plant in late August and September.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Remove all of your unwanted plants, put away all of your cages and trellises, add some fertilizer and compost per your soil test results.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last step is the most important step.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you cover the soil with a heavy layer of mulch, like tree leaves, straw, or pine needles.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: This year I used really chunky homemade compost, and that makes a really great mulch.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned in the last episode, plant a cover crop instead of mulching.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Black-eyed peas, sunflowers, millet, buckwheat, and sorghum are all good choices for summer cover crops.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: You just water the seeds, let them grow until they start blooming, and then cut them down and leave the dead plants on the ground as a mulch.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're a brave soul and you decided that you want to continue growing food through the summer, you can still plant okra, southern peas, that includes black-eyed peas, you know, pink eye peas, all of those southern peas that everybody loves.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Melons, Armenian cucumbers, and cucumelons, New Zealand spinach, malabar spinach, malokia, magenta spring, all of those vegetables you can plant from seed at this time of year, and they will produce through the heat.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is your last chance to plant pumpkins, gourds, or winter squash from seed.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: I do not recommend planting any small plants at this time of year.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people do recommend that and say it's okay, but I just think it's too hot for transplants of any kind.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important now, getting into the fall, to pay attention to the days to maturity listed on your seed packet.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if it isn't listed, look it up.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: So for any particular variety of vegetable, you need to know how many days it takes before you can start harvesting it.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: So some crops like pumpkins, winter squash, gourds, certain types of corn, and certain herbs like Roselle hibiscus take more than 100 days to mature.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a wacky time of year where we need to start considering when your first average freeze is in the fall and winter, even though it feels like it's never going to be cold ever again, it will.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's important to look on the calendar and count backward from your first average freeze date, because a freeze can kill things like pumpkins, gourds, winter squash, and corn and roselles.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really important to think about whether or not there's going to be enough time if you plant seeds now for those seeds to grow and develop into plants and then be able to harvest a crop before a freeze comes.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it this way: if you live out in the hill country, your first average freeze, and that's average, keep in mind.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it can be earlier, but the average freeze is around mid-November.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: So around November 15th, right?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Western Travis County and suburbs, the average freeze date there is November 14th through the 27th.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: So again, around November 15th.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: For Austin Metro and downtown, so if we live in Austin proper, it's later.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a November, about November 28th to December 4th.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I usually just say December 1st.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're out in Bass Drop, November 10th to November 21st is about the time of the average first freeze.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Saledo, a little bit further north and outside of town, it's about the same.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: November 10th, November 21st.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're further east, northeast and Giddings, maybe Brenham, it's early November.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: So around November 1st.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: So wherever you live, use a calendar to count backwards the number of days to see how many days you have until your first average freeze.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's July 15th when you're listening to this podcast, that means there's about 108 days until November 1st, which could mean an early freeze if you're outside of Austin.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you live in the hill country, you live in Bassdrop, you live around Saledo, you might get a freeze on November 1st.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you're taking a risk if you plant anything that takes longer than 108 days to mature, or you may not get a harvest from it.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: So this is something to keep in mind if you're thinking about growing varieties of vegetables or herbs that take longer to mature.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: So in general, I try to choose varieties that mature very fast, like less than 80 days for my spring and fall gardens.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: In Austin, I count backwards from December 1st to get an approximation of how many days we have until our first freeze.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: So look for varieties that mature in less than 80 days if you start planting warm season crops into August and September.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: But this is your last chance.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: You've got about 110 days if you want to do any longer, longer warm season crops like certain types of corn and the pumpkins and winter squashes.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as I mentioned in the last episode, late July is still time to do major pruning and removal in the herb garden after the herbs have started blooming.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you have basil or any other annual herbs or biennial herbs that have been blooming and started tasting bad, go ahead and remove them now.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Tag your best plant with a ribbon or a string and keep it in the garden to collect seed from it if you like.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let it go through its whole life cycle after it's done blooming and let the seeds dry out, and then you can harvest seed from it to use next season.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Mint and lemon balm will start looking bad.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can cut the whole top off of the plant, leave just a few inches of stem sticking up out of the ground so that you'll remember that they're there.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: And they'll stay dormant during the hottest part of the summer.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then they'll grow back from the ground in September.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Evergreen herbs like oregano, lavender, thyme, sage, rosemary, and marjoram will all need to be trimmed after they're done blooming, too.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: I usually just cut off the dead stems, the big fat stems, and then shear the tops.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then with tropical herbs like lemongrass, roselle hibiscus, ginger, and turmeric, they're going to keep growing all summer summer.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: So just keep them well watered.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure they have mulch around them to keep the soil cool.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Give them a handful of compost or organic fertilizer and lightly scratch it in with the hand cultivator.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: They won't need any trimming or anything until late fall.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a link to a hand cultivator in the show notes.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, something I haven't talked about in a long time.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to start thinking about your wildflowers again.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Late July is time to mow or burn your wildflower meadow.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you live in the city, don't burn your wildflower meadow.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you live out in the country, you can get training to learn how to safely do a managed burn.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: But don't do it if you don't have any training.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mowing is a fine option.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Before you mow, harvest your seeds.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Any seeds that you might want to keep and share with others.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then you don't have to harvest all of your seeds if you have a huge wildflower meadow, just a couple bags full or an envelope full as you wish.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Then mowing at this time of year is important for spreading the seeds that are left on the plants.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's important for chopping up the dead material so that the plants can sort of mulch themselves.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also really important to mow at this time of year to control woody plants.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you never mow your wildflower meadow, it's really likely that it eventually would turn into a forest.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't want a forest with trees and shrubs, then you need to mow to prevent your wildflower meadow from getting taken over by woody plants.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you want a forest, then just let those woody plants grow.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little more complicated than that.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if you need help figuring out if you want a forest or not, you can hire me for a consultation at atxgardens.com.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, on to my activism portion of the podcast.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is a very seedy time of year, especially for wildflower seeds.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, go ahead and collect some firewheel, milkweed, senna, or other wildflowers to share with friends and consider hosting a seed swap with friends.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe your neighborhood group or garden club would be fun to have a seed swap with them.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is just an occasion for people to get together and share seeds with one another, and it can be a great source for seeds that are otherwise not widely available to us in nurseries or in the seed industry.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: So get together with your friends and have a seed swap.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of fun and it doesn't cost anything.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, you just need some tables, one or two tables, some envelopes to put seeds in.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: If the participants bring bulk seeds in big bags or envelopes, you can provide smaller envelopes so that people can just take small amounts of seeds from the big bulk bags that people harvested and brought to the swap.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: You'll need some tape for closing up the envelopes, sealing up bags and stuff like that.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you just need some pens for labeling the envelope.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Try to make it so that the seed swap is free of charge.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: Not requiring a ticket or sign-up or anything like that reduces barriers to entry.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Keep it super simple.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's really helpful to sort your seeds by category like vegetables, herbs, flowers, etc., so that people coming to the swap can more easily find what they're interested in.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you have one basket that's just for vegetable seeds or one table that's just for herbs, that sort of thing.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: For anyone attending, it's not required to bring seeds to a seed swap generally.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Generally, there's always a lot of seeds available and plenty to share.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if people do bring seeds, it's really important that they label their seeds with the name of the plant and the year they were harvested so that everyone knows how old the seeds are.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can also bring individually packaged seeds to share.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can bring commercial seed packets that you only used a portion of.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you have a small garden, you might not use all the seeds in your seed packets.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you can bring those to share too.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all you need is some friends.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ask participants to take only what they'll use this year.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then all of the leftovers from the seed swap, any seeds that aren't taken by participants, can be donated to a seed library.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the Austin Public Libraries have seed collections, and you can drop off seeds to donate to the seed the seed collections for the Austin Public Libraries at any Austin Public Library branch.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Many of the suburban and exurban libraries in central Texas also have seed libraries.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: So go ahead and take all those extra seeds from your seed swap to the seed library, and you can get more information about seed libraries and how to host your own seed swap at SentexSeedSavers.org.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, there's a link to that in the show notes and at atxgardens.com.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link to the Central Texas Seed Savers website.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that wraps up today's episode.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you check out the show notes for links to everything I mentioned.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a fellow Central Texas gardener because it really helps the show grow.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Colleen Dieter with atxgardens.com and I'll see you next time.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the ATX Gardens podcast.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: For show notes, tools, and to book a consultation with me, visit atxgardens.com.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Happy gardening.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.