Gardening for This Weekend — February 25, 2016
Geraniums are great in patio pots. They handle cool weather well, and they could be easily brought into the garage if needed for protection from frost. Nurseries have nice selections now.
The weekly format of e-gardens is really paying off. This “Things to do now” section, which we couldn’t do in the old monthly arrangement, is the one the most of you visit. So here are this weekend’s assignments.
• Plant leafy and root vegetables now, including lettuce, spinach, cabbage, radishes, carrots, beets and turnips.
Radishes are just about the fastest of all vegetables to reach maturity. Harvest when half to two-thirds full size to avoid hot flavor.
• Plant frost-resistant annuals, including larkspurs, stocks, sweet alyssum, petunias and pinks. Geraniums handle cool weather well. Plant them in pots that can easily be moved whenever necessary.
Stocks bear fragrant flowers on upright stalks. They’re useful in beds and as the “thriller” vertical plants in large patio containers.
• Finish all dormant-season transplanting of established trees and shrubs before they break buds for spring.
• Finish all dormant-season pruning before new growth begins. Remove half or more of top growth of bare-rooted fruit trees to compensate for roots lost in the digging.
• South Texas: Reshape (as needed) spring-blooming shrubs and vines such as flowering quince and Carolina jessamine as soon as they finish flowering.
• Most Texas soils call for all-nitrogen fertilizers, with half or more of that nitrogen in slow-release form. Apply now to shrub beds, groundcovers and actively growing annual and perennial flowers. Wait a couple of weeks in South Texas and one month in North Texas to fertilize lawns (see related story this issue).
Protect pears from fire blight bacterial invasion (while in full bloom!) by applying agricultural streptomycin. Farm stores and better nurseries and hardware stores are most likely to stock it. Fire blight turns leaves at ends of branches dark brown to black, as if burned by a blow torch.
• Begin spring fruit spray program. See schedules online by searching Aggie Horticulture for the home fruit spray schedule.
• Prevent or control lawn weeds this weekend. See details in related story this issue.