As the snow begins to melt over the next few days, you may find yourself wondering about the status of your garden plants. First, don’t fret. Remember that when you treat everything that you do in the garden as an experiment, you cannot fail. Whatever happens in the garden, good or bad, it’s just feedback.
Indoor seed-starting is one of the best ways to adapt our gardening to the challenging North Texas climate.
I cover the technique extensively in the semester cohort, and it is a cornerstone of my curriculum because it makes such a remarkable difference for North Texas gardeners.
Gardening surged in popularity during the pandemic, and as a result, suppliers are running out of stock faster and earlier than ever before. Because we plant things later than our gardening friends further north, we are competing with them to snag things before they sell out.
Many gardeners prefer direct-sowing because it is less labor-intensive and requires fewer supplies than indoor starting. Germination rates are often lower when direct-sowing because seeds can be easily washed away by rain, accidentally planted too deeply, or be disturbed by animals, but there are some things that you can do to maximize direct-sowing success.
Part of my gardening philosophy is that only a handful of very simple things, when done consistently, lead to the greatest amount of success in the garden.
Only a handful of tools.
Only a handful of amendments.
The delphiniums and snapdragons are still blooming well, but the foxgloves and poppies are toast and have been pulled to make room for the ‘Indian Summer’ rudbeckia, ‘Mystic Spires’ salvia, and Profusion zinnias to fill out. These three plants will be the foundation of my summer flower garden.
Instead of giving your mom a bouquet of flowers this year for Mother’s Day (again), why not help her grow her own flowers? Talk about a seriously thoughtful gift! Whether she’s a bonafide garden guru or just discovering her green thumb, show your appreciation for her with an expertly-picked gardening gift that will bring her joy all year round.
An important part of my work as an educator is the testing and trialing of different plants to assess their performance in our challenging (and unpredictable) North Texas climate. I’m grateful to have relationships with the world’s leading plant breeders, and they generously send me new plants to trial before they hit the market.
I’m settling in to my new digs. Now comes the hard work of transforming the landscape and establish ing new gardens, slowly but surely. Emphasis on the slowly part. Spring is pretty much here, my garage is full of seedlings, and I have yet to build the beds they need to go into. (Gulp.) Despite all this, I’ve planned it all out in my head and will formalize plant placement on paper soon.
There is nothing better than fall in North Texas. Warm, sunny days and cool, crisp evenings are a welcome relief from the triple digit temperatures of late summer. Here are fives ideas for how to take full advantage of this glorious weather.
