Gardening This Weekend: November 14, 2024
This time of year, we garden with one eye focused on current activities and the other focused on the forecast 10 and 15 days into the future. Things can change quickly in Texas if you haven’t discovered.
Let’s deal with the first batch now – those things you might want to tackle this weekend.
PLANT
• Pansies, violas, pinks, snapdragons and ornamental cabbage and kale in all but the coldest parts of the Panhandle.
• In warmer settings gardeners can also include petunias, stocks, larkspurs, calendulas, sweet alyssum, wallflowers, English daisies, Swiss chard varieties Rhubarb and Bright Lights, cyclamen, Iceland poppies and other frost-hardy plants.
• Trees and shrubs as nurseries finish out their end-of-season sales. Christmas trees are on their way! This is a fine time to plant woody landscape plants, the sole exception being those types that are known to be winter-tender in your part of Texas.
PRUNE
• Dead and damaged tree limbs so they won’t fall during winter storms. Odds are good that you’ll need a certified arborist to do the job safely.
• Browned stem and leaf stubble from perennial gardens, also dried flower stalks and seed pods.
• Erratic growth from evergreen shrubs, but save major pruning and reshaping for later this winter.
• Houseplants to reshape them if they’re taking up too much space as you bring them indoors.
FERTILIZE
• Pansies and other winter color annuals with high-nitrogen, water-soluble fertilizer each time that you water them. That’s especially important for plants you’re growing in pots, since nutrients drain away quickly.
• Winter grasses (ryegrass and fescue) with all-nitrogen lawn food during this, their most active period of growth. In the case of ryegrass that has been over-seeded into existing St. Augustine or bermuda, apply the fertilizer at half the recommended rate.
• Houseplants sparingly. Your goal is to maintain them in a healthy, vigorous condition without encouraging strong growth in the low-light conditions indoors.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Have frost cloth pre-cut and ready to pull over tender plants for protection from extreme cold should it roll in.
• Brown patch (“large patch”) is active in St. Augustine lawns. The grass turns yellow, then brown in circular patches. Blades pull loose from runners with gentle tugs. Apply a labeled turf fungicide and do not water at night.
• Monitor houseplants for insects that may have come indoors when you moved them inside. Watch especially for spider mites, scales, and mealy bugs. Take the plants back outdoors to treat on a warm day but keep them out of direct sunlight and wind.
• Sometime this month apply a broadleafed weedkiller spray containing 2,4-D to kill young clover, dandelions, henbit, and chickweed plants. Temperatures will fall as winter arrives and you will be forced to wait until early spring for your next chance to spray. Read and follow label directions carefully for best results.