Learn about Gardening in El Paso –
Summer EPCC Class Starts in June 

Art Corral Teaches Propagation
(El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook)

Have you ever wanted to know more about gardening in El Paso? Whether you’ve moved here recently or have lived here for many years, you can learn something useful when you are taught by our Master Gardeners in the Home Gardening in El Paso class at the El Paso Community College (EPCC). In this sixteen-hour class, you will learn techniques and information about growing vegetables, xeriscaping, lawn care, controlling insects and diseases, and more. These techniques will help you improve your gardening efforts in El Paso’s desert climate.

Vegetables Grown by Master Gardeners (El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook)

While many courses have converted to online formats, we are pleased to offer this class in person with face-to-face instruction. The class limit will be ten students to ensure social distancing. See our EPCC Class Page to learn how we will comply with CDC and EPCC health guidelines to ensure that our classroom will be as safe as possible.

The Summer 2022 EPCC Saturday class goes from June 11th to July 30th. EPCC registration begins May 2nd.

Read our EPCC Class Page to get more information needed for registering at El Paso Community College. Act quickly to ensure your registration is received in a timely manner!

Save the Date!      
We’re planning some new learning opportunities for gardeners wanting to make the most of spring and who are eager for summer. Watch one of our YouTube video classes. Visit us at our Information Tables to get handouts and ask questions about landscaping or gardening. Here are some upcoming event dates so you can mark your calendar. Please check our Events page for more information.

May 21 – Master Gardeners’ Info Tables at Bowie High School’s Fiesta de Jardin y Cocina
June 11 – Water Efficient Plants for a Colorful Garden
July 9 – Water Saving Planting for Containers and Raised Gardens

Why We Landscape with Native and Adaptive Plants

by Lou Ellen Clement, El Paso Master Gardener

Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) (Photo by Linda Kaip,El Paso Master Gardener)

Living in West Texas we are all acutely aware of our limited water resources. Many residents of El Paso are rethinking their landscapes to make them more water-wise by using plants that nature put here. “Going native” is one way to achieve a beautiful yet water-wise landscape, help maintain our natural habitats, and conserve our precious resources.

It helps to understand native and adapted plants and why they should be in our landscapes. Plants native to a specific region are those that have developed naturally for many years without human assistance. Chihuahuan Desert native plants have evolved to live in harmony with our desert climate, limited resources, and indigenous wildlife. An often-quoted phrase, touted by the environmentally conscious, is to “go green.” Native plants are about as green as it gets.

Read more »

Related:

Why Native Plants?
Environmental Stewardship through Earth-Kind® Landscaping
How to Have an Attractive Grassless Yard
Have You Tried Growing These Popular Perennials?
What are the Elements of an Attractive Landscape?
Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas
El Paso Desert Blooms Water Smart Landscaping Guide

Plant and Gardening Questions

Do you have gardening or landscape questions and don’t know who to ask? The El Paso Master Gardener live online Chat Desk, part of our Help Desk is now available. The Chat windows are opened by clicking on the blue Chat button on our web pages. The live Chat hours will be:

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday – 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday and Friday – 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

At other times, when the Chat Desk Master Gardener volunteers are offline, the Chat buttons can still be used to leave questions and photographs. You’ll be asked for your email address, and we’ll reply by email as soon as possible.

Other ways to leave questions for our Help Desk volunteers are through the Ask the Help Desk contact form on our Ask Us page and through the Ask the Help Desk contact form on our Help Desk page. You will receive an answer from a Master Gardener volunteer by phone or email. 

El Paso Master Gardeners provide a free service for the public by answering your gardening questions. We follow Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service guidelines and do not endorse or recommend specific products or places of business.                    

By the Season – Gardening in El Paso

Soil Testing by Skip Richter, Horticulturist—Agrilife.org
Why Test the Soil? by Ignacio Munoz, El Paso Master Gardener
Grow Your Own Transplants by Skip Richter, Horticulturist—Agrilife.org
How to Start Spring Plants by Seeds and Transplants  by Southwest Yard & Garden (nmsuaces)

May Monthly Tips  
Getting Your Vegetable Beds Ready for Spring
Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide
Vegetable Planting Calendar for El Paso County
Vegetable Varieties for El Paso County
Vegetables – Easy Gardening Series (scroll down for Spanish)

Flowering Bulbs
Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes, Tubers
Summer and Fall Flowering Bulbs for the Landscape
Constructing Your Flower Bed
Wildflowers in Bloom – Growing Info

Easy Steps for Drip Irrigation
Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (including trees)
El Paso Desert Blooms Water Smart Landscaping Guide
Gardening with Perennials (including dividing; sections in Spanish)
Growing Roses (includes plant types and winter pruning)

What Tree is for Me?
Help Your Tree Survive in El Paso (PDF)
Regional Recommended Tree List (TPG List)
Trees for High Desert Communities
Fruit Trees for El Paso
Texas Tree Planning, Planting, Pruning, and Care Guide (text and video; Spanish version at page bottom of selected pages)

Watering Trees and Shrubs: Simple Techniques for Efficient Landscape Watering
Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees – Gardening in El Paso

Find other helpful articles at Gardening in El Paso – Articles and Gardening Topics – Links. Find more videos at Videos and More.

Good to Grow Radio Shows
 (Current and Archived)

Spring Gardening
Spring Gardening Ideas
Garden Design Tips
Garden Design Trends
Seed Planting
Spring Vegetables

Vegetable Container Gardening
Container Gardening, Pt. 1
Container Gardening, Pt. 2
All About Tomatoes
Composting
Native Plants

Irrigation, Part 1 of 2
Irrigation, Part 2 of 2

Watering Your Landscape

Weeds
Winter Weed Control

Listen live on Saturdays at 11:15 a.m. on 88.5 FM or stream from the archives at KTEP Good to Grow.
Read more about our Good to Grow Radio Show, here.

Texas Super Sweet Onion Added to Texas Superstar^® List

Texas Super Sweet Onions aka
1015Y (Texas A&M AgriLife)

The Texas Super Sweet Onion has been added to the Texas Superstar^® listing because of its sweetness, size, and overall performance in Texas. Read more about this onion, also known as 1015Y, in this article at AgriLife Today by Adam Russell: Texas Super Sweet Onion Named Latest Texas Superstar. The 1015Y can be grown from seed or transplants. The ideal planting date when grown from seed, October 15th, inspired its name. Transplants can be planted November through February. If not found locally, look online for the Texas Super Sweet Onion seeds or bunches to transplant.

The Texas Superstar^® website is here and you can find a list of Texas Superstar^® plants here. (The listing hasn’t yet been updated to show 1015Y.) You’ll find plants in these categories: Annuals, Perennials, Per-Annuals, Woody Shrubs, Trees, and Specialty Plants (including vegetables). The most up-to-date e-book with descriptions and illustrations is here as a PDF file: https://texassuperstar.com/press/TDA_Superstar_2020_0520.pdf.

Improve Your Skills with Our
Informative El Paso Gardening Handbook

Texans Ask About Gardening–Vegetables, Herbs and More

Photo credit: Vegetables Grown at Ascarate Demonstration & Teaching Garden (El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook)

From Asparagus to Swiss Chard plus “Non-Crop” plants and Herbs, you’ll find many of your questions answered in Everything Texans Ask About Gardening, an informative 67-page publication by Joseph Masabni and Patrick Lillard. Organized largely by vegetable name, the questions and answers cover general issues, diseases, and insects. Since this is a digital document produced by Texas A&M AgriLife, you can easily search for a topic or keyword by using the “Find” command if on a PC. Otherwise, here are some page numbers by section:

Vegetable Q&A – pages 1-54
Minor Crops – pages 54-61
Herbs – pages 61-63
Non-Crop Q&A – pages 64-67

Your Shopping at AmazonSmile Can Help Support Us

When you start your shopping at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com/ch/20-1878485) you can support the El Paso County Master Gardener Association. With your support we can do more at our teaching gardens and for the community. At AmazonSmile, you’ll find the same convenient shopping experience as at Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of your cart’s value to El Paso County Master Gardeners. You can verify you’re shopping through the AmazonSmile portal by finding the AmazonSmile logo in the upper left of the website page. Your support is appreciated.

You shop. Amazon gives.

Note: Only purchases at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com/ch/20-1878485) or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app will support us (not www.amazon.com). Please see this page, Donate, for more information.

Who We Are

The El Paso County Master Gardeners Association, as a member of the Texas Master Gardeners Association, is a non-profit educational and charitable organization supporting the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in providing quality, relevant outreach and continuing education programs and services to the people of El Paso County. Our local volunteers receive extensive training and experience in a wide range of subjects before certification as Texas Master Gardeners.

In collaboration with the County A&M AgriLife Horticultural Agent, Denise Rodriguez, we educate the community through various events, workshops, and demonstration gardens. Our Master Gardeners volunteer through our Outreach programs and community Projects to provide information and recommendations on horticultural topics to all residents of El Paso County.

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Webmaster: Mary Ann McCravey
Content Editor: Marlene Stalker