Gardening This Weekend: February 13, 2020
Our DVR control has four forward speeds. Gardening right now is moving into Speed 4. Things are about to change daily. Here are the jobs you’ll want to get done in the next several days.
PLANT
• Last call for digging and transplanting trees and shrubs before buds begin to swell (may be too late in South Texas).
• Last call for setting out fruit and pecan trees and bare-rooted roses.
• Cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower) and Irish potatoes– this is the “primest” time for much of Texas. South Texans, you really must hustle! Far North Texans, wait another week or two.
• Frost-tolerant annuals: petunias, stocks, English daisies, larkspurs, sweet alyssum.
PRUNE
• Rose bushes by 40-50 percent immediately, even if they have started to produce new foliage. You just can’t let them continue to grow larger and larger. They started growing really early this year.
• Do not top crape myrtles – there is no justifiable reason (including reducing height – they’ll just grow back).
• Shade trees to remove dead or damaged branches while you can still see through the trees’ canopies easily.
FERTILIZE
• Rye and fescue turf to stimulate new growth.
• Winter and early spring annual color with high-nitrogen, water-soluble plant food.
• Asparagus with all-nitrogen, fast-release fertilizer such as 21-0-0.
• Liquid root stimulator to newly planted and transplanted trees and shrubs.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Deep South Texas apply pre-emergent granules Dimension, Weed-EX with Halts or Balan to prevent germination of crabgrass and grassburs. Repeat 90 days later for full season of control. These are safe on any type of lawngrass. In Central Texas your time will come first two weeks of March. Far North Texas, last two weeks of March. Remember that these are “pre-“ emergent products to kill the weeds before they emerge (germinate).
• Broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-D) to eliminate non-grassy weeds in lawn, including clover, dandelions, chickweed, thistles, plantain and others.
• Concentrations of aphids on tender new growth. Wash off with hard stream of water or apply general-purpose organic or inorganic insecticide.
• Wrap trunks of newly planted oaks and Chinese pistachios to prevent sunscald. Leave wrapped for 18 to 24 months.