October 6 2007 Timely Tips

GARDENING CALENDAR

TEXAS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

BEXAR COUNTY BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ

October 6, 2007

  • With the weather cooling off, this would be the ideal time to plant for fall and winter color. Consider planting young immature plants that are not in full bloom, but are healthy, full and slightly budded. This type of transplant will establish better and will bloom more successfully. Flowering annuals that can be transplanted now include alyssum, asters, calendula, dianthus (pinks), flowering cabbage and kale, pansies, petunias, phlox, Shasta daisies, snapdragons, stock, and cyclamen.
  • Problems with snails, slugs or pill bugs? Make sure when you plant your new and young bedding plants, to dust the planting area with an all purpose insecticide. This will prevent these critters from ravishing your new plantings.
  • Do not cut corners! Use a premium enriched organic potting mix with a slow-release container fertilizer, consisting of a 14-14-14 analysis when planting seasonal bedding color in pots or baskets. Plants that are short term crops need a good start and need to be fed often. Watch the watering real close and supplement feed every 7-10 days with a 6-12-6 water soluble analysis.
  • Rich organic compost, about 2″ or 20% should replenish flowering beds for the planting of new seasonal flowering plants. Incorporate a 4-2-3 organic fertilizer analysis at the initial planting of the flower beds at a rate of 5 pounds per 100 square feet. An extra bone/blood meal fertilizer base product may also be used. Supplement feed with the 4-2-3 or a higher nitrogen 19-5-9 analysis often throughout the growing season.
  • There is still time to add to your winter vegetable garden. Beets, Chinese cabbage, carrots, collards, lettuce, mustard, parsley, garden peas, spinach, radishes, and turnips would do just fine.

David Rodriguez is County Extension Agent-Horticulture with Texas Cooperative Extension in Bexar County. For more information, call the Master Gardener “Hotline” (210) 467-6575 or visit our County Extension website at http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu.

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