Here is a nice little article put out by Garden Center Magazine...Einstein and Phyllis are so famous...LOL

Sustainable Living Article

Ok, I know I'm a HORTICULTURIST but all anyone wants to talk to me about these days is chickens! So, I'll be on "Think" tomorrow, Tuesday 9/22, at 1pm. KERA 90.1.

Talkin' Chickin's

So it seems more of the gals have started kicking into gear while I'm on vacation...the neighbors on babysitting duty are taking photos for me. lol. At least one of the Ameraucanas is now laying...I have a feeling it's Pecker, since she looked like she was trying to do "the squat" the day before we left on our trip. I'm not sure if Phyllis has starting laying yet or not, it may just still be Einstein, who started laying last Friday.

 

The two smaller ones are probably from Einstein, and the larger one on the left is from one of the Ameraucanas...Lonnie said it's the prettiest sage color, but that's really not showing up in the photo.

 

They seem a little confused about where they're supposed to lay their eggs....lol...I think they're doing it everywhere except the roosting boxes.

 

If you look real close...you'll see one little egg in some straw on the ground below the coop...lol

 

Look at those beautiful orange yolks! All those good greens they eat. Plus, I add flax oil to their cook spaghetti...what's good for them is good for me! Commercial grocery store eggs??? NO THANKS!

and bugs...lol

Ok guys...it's time to start buying and planting bulbs! Yay! Perennial bulbs such as daffodils, muscari, leucojum, anemone's, Dutch iris and much more are arriving at NHG and you can start planting them now through fall. Tulips and hyacinth are also arriving and will go straight into our special bulb cooler. Tulips and hyacinth require a vernalization, a chilling period if you will, at temps around 45-50 degrees F before they will initialize a flower bud upon return to warmer temps. Our soil temps are not consistently cool enough through winter to give them a natural vernalization in our climate. So, you have to chill them for about 8-10 weeks in fall, and then plant them in December. Usually, the third week of December is the optimal time to plant in the DFW area. You'll need to plant them when soil temps hit 50F or less, which usually happens after Thanksgiving. Get them in the ground no later than the first week in January. Plant tulips deep!!!!!!! That means 6-8 inches from the top of the bulb to the soil level. If you purchase bulbs with NHG we'll store them in our cooler and call you when it's time to plant. There are requirements for this process so ask about our bulbs storage next time you come in. So start planning your bulbs display now and get your favorite varieties!

If you're looking for something a little different from the regular 'ole spinach, check out this red-stemmed Malabar spinach. This beautiful vine, Basella alba,is no relation to true spinach, but has a somewhat similar texture and taste. Malabar spinach also prefers warmer temperatures and so can be grown in late spring, summer and early fall, when it's too warm for regular spinach. This is a fast growing vine will quickly cover a trellis or arbor and it has pretty little white blooms. You can eat it fresh in salad or cook like any other green. It won't tolerate a hard frost so you'll plant new ones next spring. When the Malabar spinach is finished, your true spinach should be maturing for the cool season. Perfect timing!

If you seeded some beans in August, you should have some nice little plants going by now. This is one bed of mixed bush beans I planted the last week of August. There were originally more seedlings but they've been thinned. Annual bush beans, black-eyed peas and other quick maturing beans can be planted in August or the first week of September in our area for a fall harvest. Look for maturity dates (on the seed packets) of around 70 or less days for fall planting. The varieties that mature in 50-65 days are best. Legumes are Nitrogen fixers and can help improve the nutrient content of your soil. It's a good idea to rotate legumes around your garden each year to improve your soil.

While I don't happen to have anything else planted in this bed, bush beans don't take up much space and you can easily inter-crop them with other plants in the garden. During the heat of summer they take only a few days to germinate and will grow quickly. If you've never grown beans in your garden spot before, try using a garden inoculant in the soil the first time around. This will help your beans establish better by encouraging the beneficial relationship with soil bacteria that help form those Nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots. If you planted beans in that spot before, you don't need to do this. Remember, don't over-fertilize your beans you you won't get very much fruit. Because beans fix a lot of their own Nitrogen, you don't need to add much. I should start seeing the first beans on these plants in just a couple of weeks. Mmmm, beans.

It's always a nice surprise when the rain lilies start blooming. I have a few different species in my garden but this one is the most vigorous (Zephyranthes candida). I have a lovely hybrid called 'Autumn Sunset' with the prettiest peach blooms given to me by my friend Jimmy. I just noticed a couple of buds on it yesterday. Rain lilies are really tough and versatile and you can plant them amidst herbaceous perennials, other bulbs and even turf. While they'll bloom sporadically through summer, the biggest flush of blooms on this species usually comes in spring and again in fall. The bulbs are tiny so they're easily inter-planted into groundcovers like liriope and mondo grass. Some have a light pleasant fragrance. They multiply by bulb and seed.