By Mary Ann Steele, Somervell County Master Gardener

Crop rotation is like playing a long term game of musical chairs in the garden.  Every plant is different:  inviting specific pests and diseases and demanding more of nutrients than others.  Growing the same crop in the same spot year after year drains the soil, and can lead to sick plants.   To make matters worse, some diseases and pests can end up taking residence in the soil around the plants they prey on most.  Keeping those plants in the same place is like inviting pests to an “all-you-can-eat” restaurant where their favorite meal is served every day.

Keeping a record of each crop allows you to perform the old switcharoo, confusing pests and diseases, and giving the soil a chance to catch up on depleted nutrients.  As a general rule, replacing a crop with a member of a different family will make a big difference.

Plant light feeders with heavy feeders, and deep-rooted plants with shallow-rooted plants.  Deep-rooted plants dig up the soil and bring nutrients from way below up to the top, while shallow-rooted crops create a web of roots near the surface, preventing erosion.

Some insect pests are put off by the smell or chemical composition of certain plants.  Protect vulnerable plants by growing repellent plants nearby.  Surrounding a vulnerable plant with something strong-smelling, like onion or garlic, can confuse pests.  Try marigolds, garlic chives, lavender or mint.

Insect pests are known to prefer some plants over others.  Try growing a known pest magnet near your favorite crop as a decoy.  Once infected, remove the decoy and destroy it, pests and all.  Try nasturtiums, mustard greens, or marigolds.

Legumes, such as beans and peas, can convert nitrogen from the air and release it into the soil.  Follow legumes with nitrogen-loving brassicas, such as broccoli, cabbage, or kale.

Grow tall, sturdy plants in front of delicate and sensitive crops as a protective shield against wind or excessive heat.

Grow short, quick-growing, shallow-rooted plants such as lettuce and greens under tall, leafy plants like tomatoes or okra.  The short plants will shade the soil surface for the tall plants while they work to get established, and the tall plants will provide shade for the short plants later in the season when the summer gets hot.  Try leafy greens, lettuce, parsley, and thyme.

 

 

by Jessica Brandt, Somervell County Master Gardener

Saturday, April 23 concluded the Somervell County Master Gardeners’ week-long celebration of Earth, as we joined several other organizations at Heritage Park for the Native Plant Society’s Earth Day Celebration. Members of Prairie Rose Native Plant Society, Rio Brazos Master Naturalists, Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose Garden Club, Glen Rose Bird Club and Dino Bee Club all joined in the celebration, sharing information with the many visitors to the park that day.

While we Master Gardeners celebrated Earth Week in many ways, including bike rides, recycling and turning off the lights, there is one thing that from this past month that stands out as a gardener’s ideal way to celebrate the earth: composting.

When I think of Earth Day, I immediately think “reduce, reuse, recycle,” and when you think about it, composting really achieves that goal. When composting, you can reduce the number of items that end up in the garbage, but you can also create a great soil amendment that can now be reused in the garden. I can’t think of a better way to recycle.

It just so happens that our April horticultural education program was on composting, so we’re all excited about our own composting. If you didn’t make it to the CHES program, you can always contact a Master Gardener with any questions about how to get started on your own composting system.

Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate a fun and successful Earth Week.

by Mary Ann Steele,  Somervell County Master Gardener

Now that gardening time is upon us, here are a few tips on buying your plants.

1.  Look closely at the leaves and stems.  Check underside for signs of pest damage.

2.   Inspect shoot tips closely for aphids, small pear-shaped insects that come in many colors.  They feed on young tender shoots, distorting growth and giving lower leaves a sticky look.

3.  Look on leaf surfaces for signs of spider mites.  These pests feed on the underside of leaves, causing a stippled or tan appearance on the leaf  surface.  They may even produce a fine webbing.

4.  Brush your hand over the plant to disturb the foliage.  If whiteflies are present they will fly up.

5.  Check leaves and stems for scale, small dark lumps that can be scraped off with your fingernail, and galls, tumor-like growths that indicate the shrub or tree is infected with crown gall, a bacterial disease.

6.  Avoid plants with wilted or discolored stems or leaves.

7.  To be on the safe side, spray plants all over and under with an insecticidal soap.

Garden Centers buy their plants from many different growers and any one of them can have a problem that goes undetected, and you end up with it in your garden.

Bottom line:  Check your plants carefully for signs of pests and diseases.  If you see a problem put the plant back and shop somewhere else.  You don’t want to bring problems home to your healthy garden.

 

 

 

 

by Jes-c French, Somervell County Master Gardener Intern

Even in our relatively warm climate here in Somervell County, I’m sure there are many who brought some plants indoors to help them survive the cold of winter. I did, and with them some unwanted pests: fungus gnats.

I was asking for trouble from the moment I moved the plants indoors, because I didn’t adjust my watering appropriately. When plants are outside, they require more water because of the strong sunlight, heat and wind evaporation. Once they are brought inside, less water is needed because of lower light, temperature and wind (Browning). I had a routine to watering my plants, and when I brought them inside I continued on with the routine for a while before realizing I was overwatering.

When I understood my watering errors, I cut back on the frequency, hoping that the larvae would die off if they didn’t have a nice, wet environment to thrive. I also used yellow sticky traps to trap the adult gnats, keeping them from laying more eggs in the soil. Placing the sticky traps horizontally on top of the soil, beneath the foliage seemed to be the most effective way to trap the adults.

Fortunately, this method effectively solved my minor gnat problem. In some cases it might not be enough though. If there are still gnats flying around, you haven’t gotten to the root of the problem. Since the adults have short lives, one can assume there are still larvae in my soil (Savonen, 2006).

One way to address the gnats when simply letting the soil dry out doesn’t work is to completely repot the plants. The plants should be rinsed, the pots disinfected, and fresh soil that isn’t infested should be used. The infested soil can be solarized to kill the larvae. There are, however, other options if you do not want to repot your plants.

Adjusting our watering practices is a great first step of integrated pest management, but there are also chemical treatments that can be incorporated in the overall strategy. One highly recommended microbial insecticide for the larvae is Bacillus thuringiensis. Alternatively, parasitic nematodes, predatory mites, insect growth regulators, such as azadirachtin, or nerve-active insecticides, such as chlorphyrifos, can be used to kill the larvae (Drees, 1994).

For several other insecticide recommendations for killing both larvae and adult fungus gnats, see Drees’ Fungus Gnat Management at http://extentopubs.tamu.edu/bulletins/uc/uc-028.html.

Sources:

Browning, Sarah. “Winter Care of Indoor Plants (winter_houseplants).”Winter Care of Indoor Plants

(winter_houseplants). UNL Extension, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.

 

Drees, Bastiaan M. “FUNGUS GNAT MANAGEMENT.” FUNGUS GNAT MANAGEMENT. Texas A&M

University System, 1994. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.

 

Savonen, Carol. “Do Your Potted Plants Have Fungus Gnats?” Do Your Potted Plants Have Fungus Gnats?

Oregon State University Extension, 29 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.

By Shirley D Smith, Somervell County Master Gardener

If you are receiving this Newsletter, then I assume you are interested in gardening – and – if you are interested in gardening then it stands to reason you are interested in all its aspects.  One very important aspect is the pollinators that keep almost all plants reproducing.  One pollinator that has been in the news of late is the Monarch butterfly and it is in trouble.  Many factors have contributed to the decline in Monarch butterfly numbers (i.e. climate change, encroachment into their habitat, etc.)

One important issue is the decline of the space on which the milkweed grows.  So much of the prairie, which runs through the middle of America has been and is in decline.  If you find milkweed growing on your property, leave it!  IT IS NOT A WEED! The monarchs lay their eggs on all different species of milkweed and this is what the caterpillar eats.  Many folks are trying to grow milkweed by using seeds.  This is not an easy task as many wildflowers are very picky about this sort of thing and prefer to “do it myself.”

We have milkweed in Somervell County and I actually have a lot of it on my property.  I make sure that our pasture is not mowed until the late fall when most of the wildflowers have done their thing.

If you want to learn more about milkweed then get online and read about it.  There is a lot of information about it and the more you know the better.  The scientific name is Asclepias.  Look up and see what the “baby” milkweed looks like so you won’t accidentally pull it up.

I have actually heard that over the past few years, the Monarch numbers seem to be steady but let’s you and I do all we can to make certain we continue to see this beautiful butterfly for many, many years.

GROWING GREENS FOR ALL SEASONS   ©

by Christine Morgan, ND, Somervell County Master Gardener

Cool Weather Greens

Kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, Chinese cabbage (bok choy, and pac choi) from the brassica family are the best known greens available to the home gardener. Also important are Swiss chard and spinach. They can all be grown as cool season greens.

Collards, kale, mustard, turnips and pac choi are related to cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi.  They are tolerant of cooler temperatures, and where winter is not too severe, kale will re-sprout from stems in the spring. They can be grown in spring and fall, but fall may be the preferable season because they benefit from frost which increases the sugar content and flavor of the leaves. These vegetables are quick to mature, being ready to pick in 30 to 60 days, depending on variety. I have grown collards all year long here…they will slow down growth in the summer…and then pick back up as the nights get cooler!

Turnips are a two way vegetable in that certain varieties can be grown to produce both greens and roots (ie. ‘Purple Top,’ ‘White Globe,’ ‘Just Right’ and ‘Tokyo Market’). Other two-way vegetables are beets and rutabaga. It is usually for sale in the store as a root only, but the greens are quite good. I think rutabaga is a sweet tasting love child between cabbage and turnip! The leaves taste more like cabbage, and the root tastes sweeter than a turnip.

Besides the greens mentioned above, lettuces, many Japanese greens, and other salad greens can be grown that have some kind of protection from the cold.

Herbs also included in cool season cultivation would be rosemary (which lives and produces year round), cilantro, parsley, and chives. Herbs are great additions in small amounts that help clean and strengthen your body.

Warm Weather Greens

Other greens are commonly called “spinach”, but are not in the spinach family. New Zealand, Ceylon, Red Malabar, and Purslane are four separate species of greens, but are grown in late spring and /or summer, as they require heat. Also sweet potato, and winter squash and pumpkin leaves are quite edible.

There are many Japanese greens to choose from…too many to list…and easy to grow. Dandelion, basil and other warm season herbs are delicious also.

Wild greens are another place to get greens as long as you know for 100% they have not been sprayed with herbicides! Purslane, chickweed, lambs quarters and miner’s lettuce are common here in Texas.

Another very heat tolerant green is Molokhia; it is from the okra family and is common in the Middle East, such as Lebanon. It can be grown in containers easily and does have some of the thickening ability like okra, but is quite good in stews or smoothies.

Cultivation:

In spring, plant seeds as soon as soil can be worked (3 to 4 weeks prior to frost date).  You can also germinate seeds indoors and plant 3 to 4 week old transplants into garden soil.

For fall planting, determine time to maturity (i.e. 55 days), then add 10 to 14 days (“the short day factor”) and plant seeds that many days prior to the first fall frost date (i.e. 65 to 69 days).

As in the spring, transplants can also be used in the fall. Also, many greens can be successfully grown in large pots or in “container gardens” that have a wide surface and a water reservoir in the bottom fed via a tube. I use container gardens from www.gardenerssupply.com with great results.

Sow seeds of these vegetables about 4 inches apart in rows 8 to 12 inches apart.  In fertile raised beds, seeds can be broadcast and thinned later.

Soil Remineralization and Amendments:

It is important to use beds or containers that have been remineralized with rock dust (Azomite) and contain amendments like course vermiculite, and/or perlite, and peat moss. In general, leafy greens should be spaced about 4 inches on center and the thinned plants can be eaten in their entirety! As with most vegetables, closer spacing will result in smaller, “baby leaved” plants, and farther spacing will result in larger heads or plants.

Fertilizing:

Leafy greens are medium feeders. Incorporate well-rotted manure (fall) or compost (fall and spring) at planting. Addition of manure or compost can add micronutrients and organic matter to soil. I prefer to keep all fertilizers organic because of the strong uptake ability of greens in regard to minerals, nutrients, synthetics, and poisons. I would not even consider eating non-organic commercial greens!

Harvesting:

With the exception of the Chinese cabbages…where the entire plant is usually harvested, the outer leaves of these greens are usually harvested. Make sure the outer leaves show no sign of yellowing, since at this stage they are past prime and should be composted. Alternatively, a raised bed can be thickly sown with your favorite leafy green and thinned to an 8 inch spacing after they are 6 to 10 inches tall. These thinned plants are your first harvest (the entire plant is edible), with future harvests coming from the outer leaves of the remaining plants.

Resource list:

Arrow Feed in Granbury has:

Azomite 44lbs. $34.99

Course Vermiculite 4 cu. Ft. $35.99

Perlite 4 cu. Ft. $26.99

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R-95 dust masks home Depot or Lowes

Mushroom compost- Lowes

Organic garden soil-any of the above places