🌱 We planted more cover crops of buckwheat and cowpeas to make sure we are protecting and providing nutrients to the soil.
🦗 Tomatoes are still ripening and this week we didn't see any stink bugs! We are using insecticidal soap and seaweed foliar spray. The seaweed is like a stress wrap and gives the plant nutrients it needs for growth. 🦎 Seeing some helpers including a baby anole lizard. Male anoles have a pink colored throat fan (called a dewlap), which is used in both territorial and courtship displays. They eat insects like grasshoppers, moths, grubs, and beetles. We have lots of exciting things coming including in-person classes at the teaching gardens once a month on Saturday mornings. Planning and seed starting begins in August! We will be out there every Saturday until then tending through the summer. Join us!  We are approaching the summer solstice and another full moon. June’s full Moon—typically the last full Moon of spring or the first of summer—is traditionally called the Strawberry Moon. This name has been used by Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota, and Lakota peoples, among others, to mark the ripening of “June-bearing” strawberries that are ready to be gathered.
We are now going into a waning period of the Moon—from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again. As the moonlight decreases night by night, plants are encouraged to grow roots, tubers, and bulbs. It’s always best to try to plant with the coming rains. DIRECT SEED / TRANSPLANT Ginger Peanuts Purple Yam/Ube Sweet Potatoes Sunchokes Turmeric It is too late to grow your own sweet potato slips which we did at home using two methods. The soil method produced up to 75 slips and we planted them at Zilker Botanical Garden a few weeks ago. If you haven’t grown your own slips you can buy them at local nurseries such as the Natural Gardener and Tillery Plant Company. You can even plant small organic sweet potatoes directly in the soil. For more ideas on Ornamentals, Perennials, and Herbs, visit the Central Texas Gardener and The Natural Gardener lists online. Download the Texas A&M Extension Planting Chart and Varieties. Always a potato shakin' party in the teaching garden Zilker Botanical Garden when it's harvest time! After all the digging in the dirt, we cooled down with @cantorasgarden butterfly pea lemonade and @forage.atx Shiso, basil cucumber, tomato salad. See everyone next week.
 We just passed the first quarter and the moon is now in waxing gibbous going into a full moon. Now is also a time to seed-in plants that fruit and seed like cantaloupe, pumpkins, squash, okra, and southern peas. If you already planted these things, remember that it’s a good idea to succession plant and grow twice as much as you will need in case of disease and pest. As always, it’s best to transplant and seed-in with coming rains.
DIRECT SEED OR TRANSPLANT Cucumber Melons Okra Peas (Southern) Pumpkin Squash (Summer/Winter) TRANSPLANT Eggplant Peppers What are your favorite varieties to grow? Visit our website blog to get links to growing guides and varieties that do well in Central Texas. For more ideas on Ornamentals, Perennials, and Herbs, visit the Central Texas Gardener and The Natural Gardener lists online. Download the Texas A&M Extension Planting Chart and Varieties. |
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May 2023
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