GARDENING CALENDAR

TEXAS AGRILIFE EXTENSION SERVICE

BEXAR COUNTY BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ

November 1, 2008

November is the ideal month to plant for winter color. Pansies, cyclamen, dianthus, violas, snapdragons, flowering cabbage, flowering kale, delphiniums, larkspur, petunias, phlox, calendula, Shasta daisies, and stocks are cool-season bedding plants recommended for this area. They all prefer a sunny location with well-prepared enriched compost and a well-drained soil.

Be a steward of the environment. Leaves are simply too valuable to waste in our landfills. Mow them and let the material decompose on the lawn. This will help hold moisture, thus cutting back on watering. They make great mulch for flower beds. They are used as walkways and also excellent in the vegetable garden or simply incorporate them into a balanced compost pile.

Sow elbon/cereal rye in unused parts of the vegetable garden as both a nematode trap crop and a “green manure” to be tilled into the soil in late winter. Apply at a rate of one pound per 50 square feet.

Overseeding rye grass for a late fall/winter green lawn only works on established Bermuda and zoysia turfgrasses and completely dormant St. Augustine lawns. Rye grass will kill buffalo grass. Plant only perennial dwarf rye grass seeds at a rate of one pound per 100 square feet.

David Rodriguez is the County Extension Agent-Horticulture with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service 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.