🌱 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.
We were dancing like fairies at the gardens this week after seeing all that was ready to harvest. We enjoyed elderflower cordials and harp and plant music by Andrea Cortez of Mind Body Music Center at the Woodland Faerie Trail kick-off! We had lots of guest helpers stopping by to help harvest our spring crops.
Here is what we were seeing this week in the teaching gardens Zilker Botanical Garden: 🌽 Milpa/Three Sisters update: We did some hand pollination to make sure we get good ears of corn. Several tatume squashes are almost ready to harvest some signs of SVB but tatume is outpacing those buggers. The pole beans are climbing high, providing support for the corn structurally and nutritionally by fixing nitrogen in the soil. Visit our website for the Squash Vine Borer Organic Guide. 🦗 With the heat the plants are sending off stress hormones and we are seeing a lot of stink bugs and beetles. We did a foliar spray of seaweed as a preventative measure. The seaweed is like a stress wrap and gives the plant nutrients it needs for growth. 🦎Seeing some helpers including a 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 started to harvest and braid our multiplying Dr. Pound garlic that we grow on the perimeters of our beds. 🖤 Lots to harvest: Asparagus, blackberries, cucumbers, onions, and garlic, tomatoes, sweet peppers, elderflowers, and milky oats. Amaranth, Cosmos and Zinnias are starting to bloom. 🥜 The squash, malabar spinach and red noodle beans and southern peas are starting to come up on our new archway trellis. Okra and sunchokes are also coming up quick. Deep soaks at the teaching beds Zilker Botanical Garden.
Here is what we were seeing this week: With the heat the plants are sending off stress hormones and we are seeing a lot of leafhoppers, stinkbugs, and beetles. We did a foliar spray spray of seaweed as a preventative measure. The seaweed is like a stress wrap and gives the plant nutrients it needs for growth. We have started to harvest and braid our multiplying Dr. Pound garlic that we grow on the perimeters of our beds. 🖤 Lots of blackberries to harvest. This is our first year of getting a harvest as it takes a few years for the roots to get established. Wait until they are full black because they are tart otherwise. The legumes and southern peas are coming up quickly on our new archway trellis. We planted heat loving crops: red noodle beans, snake gourd, loofah squash, and Malabar spinach. Milpa/Three Sisters update: We are starting to see silks and tassels and next week we will do some hand pollination. The tatume squash is providing grown cover and protecting the soil and showing no signs of SVB. The pole beans are climbing high, providing support for the corn structurally and nutritionally by fixing nitrogen in the soil. Visit our website for the Squash Vine Borer Organic Guide. #milpa #southernpeas #luffa #garlicscapes #seaweedfoliarspray #seaweedinthegarden #epozote #threesisters
 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 beans, cucumbers, watermelon, 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.
If you haven’t planted your nightshades, try to get established transplants of your tomatoes because July is usually when temperatures are too hot for them and they need 50 to 60 days to reach harvest. Although, this year as temperatures are a bit cooler, you may still be able to get a good harvest from larger established 1 gallon transplants. As always, it’s best to transplant and seed-in with the coming rains. DIRECT SEED
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June 2022
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