Latest / ATXGardens Podcast / What to Do in Your Central Texas Garden (Sept. 15–30): Fall Planting & Bluebonnets

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What to Do in Your Central Texas Garden (Sept. 15–30): Fall Planting & Bluebonnets · ATXGardens Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hi listeners, I'm Colleen Dieter, 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: Well, hey there, gardening friends.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'll be telling you what to do in your Austin Garden in the second half of September.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this episode is sponsored by ATXGardens.com, my landscape consulting business.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get started.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: So in general, welcome to late September.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here comes our short but delightful fall.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that it's cooling down and that we'll all be enjoying it.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's going on with woody plants in late September?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good news is it's officially planting time.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I always say around September 15th is the time to kick off a new planting season for woody plants.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's trees, shrubs, and woody vines, things like oaks, you know, fruit trees, like plums and peaches.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good time for yopon, hollies, you know, those kinds of shrubs, rows of sharon, hydrangeas, beauty berries, and then the woody vines include things like cross vine and Carolina gessamine.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So as long as our nighttime temperatures are starting to get below 75 degrees and there's some rain in the forecast, go ahead and start planting.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of the nurseries will have trees and shrubs on sale because some of the deciduous trees will start losing their leaves and they're not as saleable then.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a good opportunity to go and grab a tree and get planting.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just remember when you're planting trees or shrubs or woody vines, make sure to dig a hole that is no deeper than the root ball.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's better even to plant it a little bit high so that the root ball is sticking up out of the ground just a little bit because the tree will probably sink over time.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when you get soil, mulch, or rocks, or leaves, or anything piled up against the stems, that material can hold moisture against the bark of the plant, and then that bark will start to rot, and bugs and diseases can get in there and start eating that bark, and they can cut off the top of the plant from the roots, and that can kill it.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So just remember our little saying: too low won't grow, too high never die.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: September is a really good time to get your soil tested.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never had your soil tested before, I really recommend it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: It can save you a lot of grief and money if you get your soil tested and then you know what you need to add to your soil before you start gardening.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: I really like the Texas Plant and Soil Lab.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: They have really good testing and good service.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put a link to the Texas Plant and Soil Lab in the show notes, of course.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: But go ahead and get that soil test done.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you need help interpreting those results, that is a service that I offer at atxgardens.com.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, like I said in the last episode, do not prune any of your woody plants now because pruning will stimulate trees and shrubs to grow new branches.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that means they won't have enough time to harden off before our first freeze, and that will damage that new growth, and it's really stressful and hard for the plants.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So remember no pruning on any woody plants in the fall if you can avoid it.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a tree that's getting hit by the UPS truck every time it drives by or the trash truck, you know, or something like that, and it's getting injured over and over again, it's better to go ahead and prune it now than to continue allowing it to get injured over and over again.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But any other pruning, go ahead and stop now.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do not do any pruning in the fall.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's going on with the fruit tree orchard at this time of year?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Keep checking your pears, apples, pomegranates, and persimmons to see if any of them are ripe yet.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Those Orient pears and pink lady apples usually come in at this time of year.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: If your fruits have any color on them at all, try cutting some of the fruit off of the tree and bringing it indoors for a couple of weeks to prevent animals from eating them before you get a chance to eat your fruits.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can just let them ripen on the counter.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: They'll ripen faster if you put them in a paper bag with a ripe apple inside.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Late September is a good time for taking cuttings for grafting or rooting on figs, pomegranates, loquats, and citrus.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can graft another variety onto an existing tree of the same species.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: For example, if you have a fig tree that is the celeste variety of fig, you could graft a brown turkey fig onto it and have two different types of figs on one tree.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And September is a good time for figs, pomegranates, loquats, and citrus.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So look for those.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some of those trees can also grow roots from their cuttings.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you take a cutting of a small stem from the tree that's maybe about the size of a pencil in terms of length and diameter, and you can dip it in rooting hormone and then place that cutting into a propagation mix, which is a special potting soil mix that's specifically for rooting cuttings and starting seeds.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then just keep that propagation mix moist like a run-out sponge.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do not allow it to dry out.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you might get some new trees sprouting up from your cuttings.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: They'll grow roots, and that could be a new tree for you.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's going to be links to the reading hormone and the propagation mix in the show notes.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am an Amazon affiliate, so I get commissions whenever you purchase anything through my links.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I also have in the links in the show notes a book written by my friend Susan Poisner called Fruit Tree Grafting for Everyone.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can learn more about grafting from Susan's great book.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there's also a grafting kit for beginners.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've never done any grafting before, um you can see a kit there that gives you everything that you need to get started.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: This year I successfully grafted a new grape variety onto a wild Mustang grape that is growing on the fence in my backyard.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I really hope that it takes and uh keeps growing.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's been growing great all summer.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited about that.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, late September is an awesome time for planting perennials, succulents, bulbs, and grasses.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So everything can get planted now.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: This time of year is a great time for planting everything.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's also a really good time for dividing and transplanting.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've got plants, you know, growing near walkways, driveways, or they keep flopping over onto their neighbors, you might need to go ahead and start transplanting some of those, dig them up and move them.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that goes for all the perennials, all of the grasses, sedges, all the succulents and cacti, and all of our bulbs.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now's the time for planting, dividing, and transplanting.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: So get out there and have fun.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great time for it.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now it's time for our sponsor break.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hi y'all, it's Colleen Dieter here from ATXgardens.com.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you need personalized help with your landscape, book a consultation and we'll walk your yard together, answer all of your questions, and create a strategy that feels doable for you.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I specialize in helping do-it-yourselfers by alleviating their anxieties about their yards.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: This week I helped Joey in North Austin with questions about the yard at their new house.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: The former homeowner had a hot tub that left some odd hardscaping around the patio, and Joey needed help figuring out which parts of the landscape to keep and which parts to remove.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I helped her find the best spot for a vegetable garden, and I gave her and her husband guidance on how to trim the overgrown shrubs in front of her windows.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you need some guidance on the best choices for your yard, make an appointment today at atxgardens.com and I'll come and visit you.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And as a reminder, you can also make an appointment with my new consultant, Bailey, and she can come out and help you too.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get back to the episode.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what about the vegetable garden and the herb garden?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: What's happening over there in that part of the yard?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: September is a great time to build a new vegetable garden.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, friend of the podcast, Cass asked me to cover some of the different techniques for building a new vegetable garden.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And in the coming episodes, I'll cover a different method each time.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So last time I talked about raised bed gardening, and this episode, I'm going to talk a little bit about keyhole gardening and hoogle culture.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gardening on a budget and you need to build raised beds because you have thin soil, or because you're gardening on pavement, or maybe you have mobility issues and you're not able to kneel or stoop, and you need your garden beds to be very tall, you can use Hugel Culture and Keyhole gardening techniques to save some money.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, go back and listen to last episode to learn how to build a raised bed.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And basically, you build a raised bed, and then instead of filling the raised bed entirely with a purchased soil mix, you can fill the raised bed with layers of organic matter.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Organic matter is stuff that used to be alive.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So anything that used to be alive is considered to be organic matter.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and it's all stuff that can decompose, stuff that can rot, basically.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Hugel culture is one technique that originated in Austria, and Hugel culture is a term, the term Hugel means little hill, and this method uses wood as the base.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so basically, you take logs, then branches, and then smaller sticks, and you stack them up in the raised bed.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can also do it without walls around the raised bed and make it just shaped like a little hill.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: I found that gardening in the little hill was harder than building up a raised bed because of the way the soil and the garden starts to collapse over time.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I prefer having walls around it myself.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: After you pile up the logs, then branches, then smaller sticks, then you add at least 12 inches of soil on top of all of the wood material so that you have something to plant your plants into.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then the wood underneath the soil rots as time goes by and becomes spongy.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: So your plants can get into that wood, they can get their roots into that spongy wood, and then they become more drought tolerant.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: As the decomposition happens, the whole thing starts to collapse.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to add more soil on top as time goes by.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I always recommend adding compost every time you plant, anyway.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll be kind of filling as time goes by and the whole thing starts collapsing.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So keyhole gardening is a similar approach, and the spirit of it is to fill the raised bed with layers of cardboard, paper, or tree leaves, and then food scraps, and then soil on top of that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I recommend having 12 inches of soil as the top layer to plant into.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because it has a little place for you to enter into the garden to be able to access that food scrap composter in the middle of it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really neat technique, particularly good for Texas.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think because it's so hot here, all of that or decomposing organic matter in there becomes really, really spongy and uh can hold moisture for a really long time.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you can use this method, the keyhole gardening method in any shape bed.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't necessarily have to make it the shape of a keyhole, but the spirit of it, like I said, is just adding organic matter to fill the raised bed up.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so some other organic matter sources that you can sometimes get a hold of are uh coffee grounds from coffee shops.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're pretty high nitrogen and they're acidifying, a little bit acidifying.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that can be good to add to your keyhole garden or even to add into the uh stick layer of your hoogle culture to sort of jumpstart the decomposition.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can also gather up additional food scraps from neighbors, just don't add any meat or dairy, just vegetables.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can get uh maybe food scraps from a local smoothie or juice restaurant where they might have a lot of pulp blended up, is really great.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Even hair from barbers or salons and pet groomers, you can add in there to add some nitrogen to jumpstart decomposition of all that organic matter.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And last but not least, don't forget the mushroom blocks from the Central Texas Mycological Society and their mushroom block giveaway program.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's links to the uh mushroom block giveaway program in the show notes.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And uh again, let me say I recommend in Austin adding at least 12 inches of a good vegetable garden soil mix on top of your piled up organic matter so that way your first-year garden will have plenty of root space to thrive while all that stuff is decomposing underneath.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And for a soil mix, I recommend a mix of about 30% finished compost, 30% loam, and 30% decomposed granite.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So most of the nurseries and soil yards around town will carry some sort of mix like that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you have access to those materials separately from one another, go ahead and mix it up yourself, and you'll save a lot of money.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: In the next episode, I'll talk about growing vegetables in pots and containers.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: The last half of September is one of my favorite times in the vegetable and herb gardens.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many things you can plant.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So now you can plant the following vegetables as small plants.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: It still can be a little bit hot, so I recommend giving them some afternoon shade with a shade cloth.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or in future gardens, you can plan for taller plants planted on the west side of the garden to put some shade on the little baby plants at this time of year.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So plants that can be planted now as small plants include artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, leeks.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and now you can plant the following vegetables from seed sown directly into the garden.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is your last chance for green beans of all kinds.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Plant those from seed now to get your last harvest of the season.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's still plenty of time for fava beans, though, because they are cool season plants, so you can plant them later.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the regular green beans need to be planted now in order to get a harvest before the first freeze.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Plenty of time.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now's the time to start planting beets, turnips, and carrots.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is your last chance for cucumbers and your last chance for summer squash.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's your last chance for those two to plant those from seed to where they'll produce before the first freeze.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you choose varieties that mature in 80 days or less.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can also plant kale, kolrabi, lettuce, cool season greens like mustard, Swiss chard, arugula.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now's a great time for planting cool season greens like mustard, Swiss chard, and arugula.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is the best time to plant peas.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we're talking about green peas like sugar, snow peas, and snap peas.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So look for those.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's the best time for planting peas.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I like to grow peas for the shoots.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I like to harvest them when they first come up and they're just a few inches tall, and I'll just eat the shoots on sandwiches or in salads.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually prefer that to trying to trellis the pea plants and then harvesting the pea pods.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like building trellises, so I just like to grow this the sprouts instead of the shoots instead.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then one of my favorite crops, it's time now for radishes.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can't go wrong growing radishes.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're so easy, they grow so fast.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just plant those seeds, and in about a month, you'll have a harvest of radishes.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with the herbs, we're also in a transition time from warm season to cool season herbs.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's getting late now for any of the warm season herbs like basil and poppalo.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: If the weather looks good, like it's cool.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, those nighttime temperatures are below 75 degrees, and there's maybe some rain in the forecast, I hope.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and plant from seed.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can plant cilantro, dill, parsley, calendula, borage, fever few, and chamomile.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Any of the perennial herbs like garlic chives, oregano, sage, and mint can be planted as small plants now.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it's wildflower time.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: So start dreaming about what springtime is going to be like because now is the time to plant blue bonnets and other spring blooming wildflowers like pink evening primrose and galardias.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Get those seeds ordered or purchased if you haven't already.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Get those seeds out of the fridge that you might have in storage or start gathering up those seeds from friends and libraries ASAP.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Visit the seed libraries and see if they've got any blue bonnet seeds in there.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as promised in the last episode, I will explain my tried and true blue bonnet planting method.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, last half of September is blue bonnet planting time.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Step number one, put your blue bonnet seeds in a strainer and then pour boiling water over them.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's no don't soak them, you don't need to soak them.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're just pouring the boiling water over the blue bonnet seeds, and the boiling water helps crack the seed coat because the blue bonnet seeds have a really hard coat, and that coat needs to be opened up so that the seeds can absorb water when they're planted.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and the way to do that is to shock them with the boiling water so that seed coat will crack, and then when you plant the seeds, the seeds will be able to absorb water and that will allow them to sprout.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so after you pour the boiling water over them, mix the seeds with one bag of compost and one bag of decomposed granite.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then, and so you'll want to do that mixing in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp or in a big trash can or something like that.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mix them all together.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's one bag of compost and one bag of decomposed granite mixed together with the seeds.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then use a soil rake to rake the area that you're seeding and expose as much of the bare soil as possible without destroying any little plants that you want to keep.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then make it rough.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So you want the soil to have a lot of little divots and grooves in it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: That way the seeds can kind of get caught in those little low spots.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then walk through and sprinkle your compost, seed, decomposed granite, mix around the area.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then you want to come in, get some friends, get your kids out there, and stomp on it.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Get in there and really press down with your feet on the seeds to make sure that they have really good contact with the soil.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is a job that historically was done by buffalo.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So pretend that you're a buffalo with hooves and get in there and really press those seeds down so that they have contact with the soil.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all there is to it.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: So happy blue bonnet seeding.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's very special thing.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Central Texas is the only place, you know.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if blue bonnets, different kinds of blue bonnets go all over Texas, but Central Texas is the best place.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: So get to it, plant some blue bonnets, and enjoy our home.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now for the activism portion of the podcast.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make plans this fall to save seeds from one crop in your vegetable garden this season to share with others.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to seed sharing and seed saving, just choose one plant from the vegetable garden or from your native plant garden this fall and learn how to save seeds from that one plant.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Central Texas Seed Savers will have a seed swap on the last Saturday in January, in January 2027.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's National Seed Swap Day.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: It will be at the Austin Public Library in downtown Austin.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: More details, TBD.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned to the podcast for more information about that.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: But then you'll have some seeds to bring to the seed swap in January if you start paying attention now and learning how to save seeds from your chosen plant.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Visit atxgardens.com to get downloadable free zines to learn how to save seeds from common crops.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that link is in the show notes.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that wraps up today's episode.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Please check out the show notes for links to everything I mentioned.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this show, please share it with a fellow Central Texas gardener.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: It really helps me to grow the show.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Colleen with atxgardens.com.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you next time.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the ATX Gardens podcast.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: For show notes, tools, and to book a consultation with me, visit atxgardens.com.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Happy gardening.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.