Garden Wise Gazette - Collin County Master Gardeners

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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Garden Wise Gazette
The Garden Wise Gazette is an outreach
of the Collin County Master Gardeners
Association (CCMGA) and the Texas A&M
AgriLife Extension Service to the citizens of
Collin County for horticultural education,
interest, and information.
January/February 2014
photo co
Snow and Ice Damage to Trees .............. 3
Save the Date for the 11th Annual
CCMGA Plant Sale ............................. 4
Vegetable Garden Takes Root
at Myers Park ....................................... 5
Garden Checklist for January/February .... 6
Upcoming Events .................................. 7
Help Desk FAQs ................................... 8
Gardening in Collin County .................. 8
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Get Motivated at
In this Issue . . .
Get Motivated at The Garden Show 2014 .. 1
urtesy of
The Garden Show 2014!
by Dawn Bluemel Oldfield, CCMGA Public Relations Chairperson
Happy 2014!
A New Year . . . a time when 45% of Americans make New
Year’s resolutions to improve or change something in their
lives. According to a University of Scranton study losing weight
and getting fit rank at the top of the resolution list year after
year. This year add shaping up your garden and landscape to
your resolution checklist. Get motivated and make a commitment
to conserve water, reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers,
and plant the right plants in the right place. Plus, an hour of
moderate gardening can burn 300-400 calories!
There are a variety of ways to boost your gardening knowhow. An abundance of books line the shelves at local libraries
— continued on page 2
The Garden Wise Gazette is published six times
a year, providing information applicable to the
upcoming season. The March/April issue will be
released on March 1, 2014.
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Mark Your Calendars for
Saturday, March 22nd
and Sunday, March 23rd
ou
photo c
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CCMG
rtesy of
Get Motivated at The Garden Show 2014
— continued on page 2
and bookstores, magazines
encourage us with colorful stories,
and HGTV offers entertaining
television shows. Yet, perhaps the
best place to cultivate new ideas
and learn more about North
Texas gardening is at the Collin
County Master Gardener
Association’s Garden Show.
Spring and the 4th annual Garden
Show are right around the corner,
so open the new calendar Santa
brought you for Christmas and
save the dates of Saturday, March
22 & Sunday, March 23, 2014.
The fun two-day event at Myers
Park and Event Center in McKinney,
Texas features vendors and programs
that will delight, educate, and inspire.
Local horticultural specialists and
Collin County Master Gardeners,
with decades of collective experience,
will offer ideas for healthier, more
successful gardening experiences.
Educational and informative
demonstrations on a variety of
gardening topics will be presented
throughout the show. Subjects will
include Vegetable Gardening,
Herbs, Trees, Container Gardening,
Earth-Kind® Perennials, Native
Plants, Water Conservation, and
Rainwater Harvesting/Drip
Irrigation, and more.
The Garden Show
is coming!
The Garden Show 2014 is
pleased to feature two outstanding
keynote speakers at the 4th annual
show. Steve Huddleston, author
and senior horticulturalist at the
Fort Worth Botanical Gardens
will discuss Outstanding Plants for
North Central Texas on Saturday,
The Garden Show is a great
motivator to start and maintain a
healthy, beautiful landscape.
Local vendor booths, children’s
discovery area, adult interactive
education, innovative
presentations, and tours of the
International Award Winning
Research and Demonstration
Gardens are just a few of the ways
attendees can glean ideas and
learn more about Earth-Kind®
gardening principles.
So, mark your calendars! The
Garden Show is an indoor event,
so come rain or shine, hot or
cold! Find room to grow and dig
up some inspiration and
education at The Garden Show.
Steve Huddleston
and noted horticulturalist and
publisher Neil Sperry will wrap
up the show on Sunday.
Hours are:
9:00 am –5:00 pm
Saturday, March 22nd
11:00 am –5:00 pm
Sunday, March 23rd
Entry on both days is a donation
of $2 per person. All proceeds
will benefit the Children and
Community Health Center
and Meals on Wheels.
Parking is FREE!
For up-to-date information, visit
www.ccmgatx.org/TheGardenShow
or, call 972-548-4232.
Neil Sperry
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Snow and Ice Damage to Trees
sleet sticks to wet limbs and
foliage, causing the rain to freeze.
If you already have snow
buildup on limbs and leaves,
the sleet adds to the weight.
A Certified Arborist’s
View on the Recent Storm
by Steve Houser
Editor’s Note: This article about the December ice
storm is reprinted with the author’s permission.
It originally appeared on December 12, 2013 in
Neil Sperry’s e-Gardens.
It is the time of year when all
good arborists start to worry
about the ice and snow damage
to our trees. The weather
events of the past week justify
those concerns. Often times,
we are so excited to actually
get a little snow, we overlook
the potential damage that can
occur. The dramatic change of
a little snow is welcome, until
it just keeps coming down. Joy
quickly turns to fear as your
live oak snaps a limb — and it
falls on your favorite holly. If
you were a tree, your biggest
concern beyond the effects of
humans, would be the effects
of Mother Nature.
Deciduous trees that have not dropped
their leaves have a difficult time
supporting the weight of ice and
snow accumulations, and are likely
to suffer broken limbs.
Photo by Bill Seaman
Photo by Steve Houser
If your landscape has only
deciduous trees, those that lose
their leaves, you may think you
have no worries. However, the
recent ice storm tells us otherwise.
Enough ice can build up on
limbs without foliage to cause
breakage. A half-inch of ice on
a limb will dramatically increase
the weight load on limbs,
trunks and roots, leading to
structural failure.
Although we had great fall
color and warm fall weather,
the mild weather slowed the
drop of leaves. As a result,
trees that did not lose their
leaves had more surface area
for the ice or snow buildup,
increasing the odds of breakage.
The same situation applies to
some deciduous trees, such as
Texas red oak and blackjack
oak, which go dormant but
may tend to hold their leaves
all winter. Although the tree is
dormant, it is much more
susceptible to damage.
Sleet, following cold rain, is
also a problem because the
The best defense against ice
and snow damage is to work
diligently now to minimize
any future impact. Extremely
severe weather can cause the
loss of most, if not all, trees in
an area, regardless of any efforts
to reduce the damage before it
occurs. Damage from less severe
weather can be lessened by
inspecting trees for weak
branching habit that is likely to
fail. In some cases, weak areas
can be reinforced with cables
or bracing rods. Ideally, poor
branching structures — tight
V-shaped forks or attachments,
should be removed when the
tree is small. Doing so
eliminates the risk of that fork
splitting as the tree matures.
For trees with spreading canopies,
selective end-weight reduction pruning
can significantly reduce damage from
heavy snows & ice.
Photo by Bill Seaman
— continued on page 4
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Snow and Ice Damage to Trees (continued from page 3)
Beyond resolving weak
branching habit, be aware that
longer limbs in trees tend to have
broad, spreading canopies, should
have the end-weight reduced to
lessen the surface area exposed to
ice, snow, sleet or high winds.
Professional tree climbers are
trained to climb out to the ends of
the limbs to reduce the weight.
Bur oak trees have stout limbs and a
branching habit that supports the load
of ice and snow with minimal damage.
Photo by Bill Seaman
Arborists also consider the
strength of the wood for each
species of tree when determining
corrective actions for structural
deficiencies. An oak will typically
have a strong wood, whereas a
maple will be weaker-wooded
and more likely to break.
Ice, sleet, and snow buildup
can cause tree limbs to bow to a
great degree without breaking.
The affected branches will return
to their previous position once the
ice and snow melts. In some
situations, however, the limb can
contain internal cracks that are
difficult to see, or the vascular
system may be damaged to the
point that the limb permanently
retains a bent shape.
Once you have an ice or snow
problem, little can be done until
the weight load melts. Low limbs
on larger trees or smaller
ornamental trees can sometimes
be braced with wood or other
materials. However, doing so can
put someone at great risk should
the tree or limb fail during the
process of propping it up.
Once the severe weather event is
over, standard tree care practices
should resume. This includes
removing broken and damaged
limbs by making proper pruning
cuts, evaluating any splits or
cracks in trunks or branches,
inspecting and adjusting cables or
bracing rods on mature trees, and
adjusting staking hardware on
newly planted trees.
The snow and ice can be
beautiful, but when it comes to
the risk it may present to your
trees, the adage “Be careful what
you wish for” applies.
About the Author:
Steve Houser is a Dallas native with
more than 30 years of experience as a
consulting arborist and tree climber.
Save the Date! ~ Mark Your Calendars!
Collin County Master Gardeners present the
11th Annual Plant Sale
Saturday, April 12, 2014
at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center
Pavilion Building
17360 Coit Road, Dallas, Texas 75252
Watch the Garden Wise Gazette and our website ccmgatx.org for details.
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Vegetable Garden
Takes Root at
Myers Park
article by Jamie Upson,
Collin County Master Gardener
photo courtesy of CCMGA
This spring, the Earth-Kind ®
up at Myers Park in
McKinney. The research garden
is designed to determine if EarthKind® principles
by measuring
the impact on soil fertility from
decomposing mulches during the
growing season.
The Vegetable Research
Garden is sustainable through
and through. But what, exactly,
constitutes sustainable gardening?
Master Gardeners employed
Integrated Pest Management
techniques, or “squishing every
bug we see and crossing our fingers.”
They pulled weeds regularly and
used no synthetic fertilizers.
The spring garden contained
twelve types of vegetables,
including four tomato varieties,
cantaloupe, peppers, squash,
eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini.
The plants lived in six raised beds
constructed of yellow pine planks.
The boxes measured forty-eight
feet long by three feet wide and
were tilled to a depth of eight to
ten inches. Four to six inches of
fully aged, vegetative compost
was tilled into each bed. Plants
were watered weekly using a drip
irrigation system. Three types of
mulch were used in this trial:
partially composted hardwood
mulch, leaf mulch and regular
hardwood mulch. Soil fertility
was tested at the start of the trial
prior to the addition of compost,
immediately after compost and at
the end of the growing season.
Why rely on a “compost and
mulch only” approach for
fertilization? We know that
microorganisms decompose or
“breakdown” organic matter to
obtain the nitrogen and other
essential nutrients they require to
live and grow. Garden plant
materials respond to the essential
plant nutrients released during the
decomposition process the same
way they respond to the addition
of fertilizers. Organic mulches not
only help conserve soil moisture,
suppress weed growth and maintain
uniform soil temperature; they can
also be a source of natural plant
nutrients by releasing nitrogen,
phosphorous, and other essential
plant nutrients into the soil.
What about the results?
Despite heavy spring winds,
extreme summer temperatures
and a swarm of grasshoppers and
squash bugs, the garden thrived.
Over 700 pounds of vegetables
were harvested and donated to
local food pantries. Staff at Allen
Community Outreach was
especially grateful for the fresh
produce as they receive mostly
processed food donations and yet,
want to teach their clients about
the importance of including fresh
fruits and vegetables in their diets.
What does the Vegetable
Research Garden's future hold?
To continue this effort, and to
support the increased interest in
our community in sustainable
vegetable gardening, Collin
County Master Gardeners are
building a potager style demonstration
garden. A potager garden is the
French counterpart to the English
kitchen garden, but with an
emphasis on growing vegetables.
The potager will have intermingled
vegetables, fruits, flowers, and
herbs.
Master Gardeners envision the
garden serving as a hands-on
space for outreach and teaching
in the future — a place for the
community to smell, touch and
occasionally taste. It’s therapeutic
to be around growing things, and
in addition, there’s a lot of science
going on in a small amount of
space. CCMGA looks forward to
sharing this with the community.
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Image courtesy of Simon Howden/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Garden Checklist for January and February
Plan:
•
•
Make flower and vegetable garden
plans now before the rush of spring
planting. Time spent in armchair
gardening before the fireplace will
pay off in improved plant selection.
Besides, it is fun to page through
the garden catalogs.
Select and order gladiolus corms
for February/March planting.
Plant at two-week intervals to
prolong flowering period.
Fertilize:
•
•
Prepare:
•
Prepare beds and garden area for
spring planting.
Plant:
•
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Now is an excellent time to
transplant mature or established
trees and shrubs while they are
dormant.
Sow seeds in flats or containers to
get a jump on plant growth before
hot weather arrives. Petunias,
begonias, and impatiens should
be sown in early January. Warm
temperature plants, such as tomatoes,
peppers, marigolds, and periwinkles,
should be sown indoors in late
January or early February.
When buying plants, the biggest
is not always the best, especially
when dealing with bare-root
plants. The medium to small sizes
(4 to 6 feet) are usually faster to
become established and more
effective in the landscape than the
large sizes.
Apply a light application of
fertilizer to established pansy
plantings. Use one-half pound of
ammonium sulfate per 100 square
feet of bed area. Repeat the
application every 4 to 6 weeks,
depending on rainfall. Dried
blood meal is also an excellent
source of fertilizer for pansies.
Don't fertilize newly set out trees
or shrubs until after they have
started to grow, and then only
very lightly the first year.
Prune:
•
When pruning shrubs, first prune
out any dead or damaged
branches; then thin out by
removing about one-third of the
canes or stems at ground level,
removing the oldest canes only;
and last, shape the rest of the
plant, but do not cut everything
back to the same height.
Roses:
•
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Hold off on pruning bush roses
until February or early March.
Use good shears that will make
clean cuts. Remove dead, dying,
and weak canes. Leave 4 to 8
healthy canes, and remove
approximately one-half of the top
growth and height of the plant.
Now is an excellent time to select
and plant container-grown roses
to fill in those bare spots in your
rose garden.
•
Climbing roses should be trained
but not pruned. Weave long
canes through openings in
trellises or arbors and tie them
with jute twine or plastic/wire
plant ties. Securing canes now
prevents damage from winter
winds, and contributes toward a
more refined look to the garden
when roses are blooming. Wait
until after the spring flowering
period to prune climbing or onceblooming shrub roses.
Other Tasks:
•
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Check junipers and other narrowleaf evergreens for bagworm
pouches. The insect eggs
overwinter in the pouch, and start
the cycle again by emerging in the
spring to begin feeding on the
foliage. Hand removal and
burning of the pouches are ways
of reducing the potential damage
next spring.
The life of the plant received as a
Christmas gift can be prolonged
with proper care. Keep the soil
moist, but provide drainage so
that excess moisture can flow
from the pot. Keep the plant out
of the range of heating ducts and
away from heating units. Keep in
a cool room at night, preferably at
60 to 65 degrees F.
Water foliage plants as well as
other containerized plants only
when needed and not by the
calendar.
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
The International Award Winning Research & Demonstration Gardens at Myers Park & Event Center – McKinney, Texas
photos courtesy of: the Collin County Master Gardeners Association
Upcoming Events
Spring into Vegetable
Gardening
Saturday, January 25, 2014
8:30 am – 12:30 pm
The Collin County Master
Gardeners will present a program
on spring vegetable gardening
on Saturday, January 25, 2014.
Experienced Master
Gardeners will speak on topics
such as site selection, raised
bed construction, and soil
preparation. Plant selection,
maintenance and pest control
will also be discussed.
The program is FREE to the
public, but registration is required.
Please visit our website at
www.ccmgatx.org to sign up.
Tomato Roundup
Saturday, February 8, 2014
8:30 am – 3:30 pm
All you ever wanted to know
about growing tomatoes in
North Texas!
The Tarrant County Master
Gardener Association invites the
public to register for this step-bystep, how-to program on growing
tomatoes in North Texas.
Featured speakers are Bill Adams
and Tom Leroy, co-authors of
Common Sense Vegetable Gardening
for the South, and The Texas
Tomato Lovers’ Handbook.
The cost to attend is $45,
which includes lunch and snacks.
Topics to be covered include:
• Bed and Container
Myers Park and Event Center is fast becoming the Jewel of
Collin County! The park was originally created as the Collin
County Youth Park in 1969 with acreage donated by John and
Winnie Myers and has since grown to over 158 acres of rolling
land. Myers Park and Event Center offers a variety of
entertainment options. The Collin County Farm Museum is
located at the park and open to visitors and tour groups. Come
visit one of our many educational and research gardens created
and cared for by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the
Collin County Master Gardeners.
•
Preparation (location, best
varieties, transplant vs. seed)
• Tending Tomatoes
(planting, protecting, fertilizing,
irrigating, cages, trellises)
Pests/Diseases/Weeds (how to
treat, pollination, good & bad
pests.
Break out sessions include:
• Make and take tomato cages
• Make and take drip
irrigation
• Raised beds (examples of
three types)
• Cooking with tomatoes
The program will conclude
with “Tomato Relatives: Their Care
and Culture,” a presentation on
peppers, potatoes, eggplant and
companion planting.
The Tomato Roundup Spring
Regional Conference will be held
at:
Resource Connection
of Tarrant County
2300 Circle Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76119
You may register by mail or
online. For more information,
please go to:
http://www.tarrantmg.org
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Collin County
Volume 7, Issue 1
Help Desk FAQs
Collin County
Extension Horticulture
&
Collin County
Master Gardeners
825 N. McDonald Street
Suite 150
McKinney, Texas 75069
Phone: 972-548-4232
Metro: 972-424-1460 x4232
Email: [email protected]
What is the date of the last
freeze each year?
Because Texas is so large,
there are several dates of the
last freeze date (LFD) says
Brent McRoberts of Texas
A&M University. “In the
panhandle area, the LFD is not
until early April because it is not
uncommon for Amarillo and other
areas to receive snowfall as late as
May,” McRoberts, explains.
“And in the Rio Grande Valley, it
almost never freezes so there really
isn’t a LFD to speak of. Much of
Central Texas and a large part of
the state have an LFD of March
12-15. But remember, these are
average dates, and a freeze can
certainly happen much later.”
Has the LFD date remained
the same over the past century?
County Extension Agent:
Greg Church, Ph.D.
Email:
[email protected]
Garden Wise Editor:
Bonnie Landon
Email:
[email protected]
Collin County Master
Gardeners Association
http://ccmgatx.org
http://collin-tx.tamu.edu
A quick answer is that it is
probably occurring earlier,
McRoberts says. “It’s been
proven the Earth is getting warmer
over the past 100 years, so that
means that the last freeze probably
occurs earlier and it starts getting
warmer sooner, say in February or
March,” McRoberts adds. “If a
freeze should occur later than
usual — near the end of March or
early April — it can really do some
serious damage to trees and plants
that are starting to bud and bloom.”
The above information was excerpted
from Weather Whys in the tamuTimes.
Weather Whys is a service of the
Department of Atmospheric Sciences at
Texas A&M University.
An excellent website for
learning the first and last freeze
dates for North Texas is:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov
According to Dr. Greg
Church, Collin County
Horticulture Extension Agent,
“This is interesting information
about the first and the last freeze.
Good information . . . relevant for
landscaping, gardening, fruit crops
and agriculture.”
You’ll want to check the
website for the average last
freeze date for our Dallas/Fort
Worth area when you start
planning for your spring
gardens. Happy gardening!
Gardening in Collin County
One of the main objectives of the Collin County Master Gardeners is to help
gardeners identify suitable plants for our area. Our website — ccmgatx.org —
features recommendations and information about plants that have proven to
perform well in our part of Texas. Here are some links to helpful information:
Plant Pictures Pages
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu
USDA Plant Hardiness Map http://ccmgatx.org/gardening-resources
Extension programs serve people
of all ages regardless of socioeconomic
level, race, color, sex, religion,
disability, or nation origin. The
Texas A&M University System, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and the
County Commissioners Courts of
Texas Cooperating.
Texas Superstars
http://texassuperstar.com/
Vegetable Picker
http://ccmgatx.org/gardening-resources
Water Conservation
& Irrigation Tips
http://ccmgatx.org/gardening-resources
Plant Diseases
http://ccmgatx.org/gardening-resources
All About Insects and Pests
http://ccmgatx.org/gardening-resources
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