I don't even know what to say...I mean, could fate BE any more cruel?? Yes...my favorite, sweetest, most docile adopted Silkie, has turned out to be...a BOY. Really? Really??

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember how these Silkies came to live with me. It wasn't by choice. I wrote THIS post on February 20th of this year...after someone abandoned a box of baby silkies on the door step of the garden center I run. Either in the middle of the night or very early that Sunday morning. It was cold, and the poor babies had no food or water. So of course, my store manager called me...and up I went to retrieve them. They were about 12-weeks old and all had CRD, or chronic respiratory disease, so it took a lot of hand nursing and antibiotics to get them back on track. The first one died within three days and it was a struggle with the remaining four, but eventually they pulled through. All were clucking along nicely, until the partridge colored one, (buff/blue) died mysteriously a couple of weeks ago with a wound to the stomach. So, then there were three. All fluffy and cute, all black.

Now, it can take 6-8 months for silkies to reach maturity, and it can be notoriously difficult for even an expert to sex the birds until they reach that age. So this was a lot of work that had gone into taking care of these birds I hadn't planned on...and I was worried I was going to get stuck with all roosters. That would be my luck, right? So I kept my fingers crossed that the remaining three were girls. At least then I'd get to keep them. I was pretty confident about two of them, and those two have confirmed themselves as pullets just in the last week by starting to lay the tiniest cutest eggs; but the third showed a slightly different morphology...the feathers were a bit different. But no comb or waddles yet. Until about the last month (which would be right on schedule). Yes, yes, I know that I've been in a state of denial. Why? Because he's the sweetest bird. Seriously. I didn't figure that the most docile sweetest bird of the bunch would turn out to be a boy. And now I don't want to part with him.

As his comb grew larger and waddles developed, I knew I was probably in for major disappointment. As of today, I can no longer choose denial. I mean, look at that pose he's making above? THAT was him being his proud self right after trying to awkwardly mount two of the girls just a couple of hours ago. Yep, and in that moment he became...Rico Suave. Even so, he's still my sweetest bird. Now, he hasn't made a sound yet and I'm not sure how long that will take or if he'll even make much noise at all. As you may know, Dallas ordinance prohibits keeping roosters. Not because they are a nuisance, but rather certain people made nuisances of themselves by engaging in cock-fighting. So thanks for that you jerks. In any case, I'm going to have to find a loving new home for this dude with someone in a city that allows roosters. At least I'll have a couple of girls to hang on to. They just don't like me as much as Rico does!

So, after 5 months of nursing, hand feeding, raising and becoming attached to him, Rico has to go. He's a beautiful boy and would make nice breeding stock if you are raising silkies, or just need a man around the house. You'll need to live in the DFW area (but not city of Dallas), be able to meet me somewhere in the DFW area, be able to show me that you have experience raising chickens and a photo of your secure coop and run. He's had a good amount of space to roam and I'd like to keep it that way. He's been raised completely on certified organic feed and gets plenty of fresh greens and worms. So I'll be looking for someone who raises their birds similarly. I have no idea if he was given any vaccinations when he was a baby...he was successfully integrated into my existing flock, who were all vaccinated for Merck's, but nothing else. All are healthy. All the birds get along very well, and he's pretty docile with all the girls, but that took about 4 weeks of transition time after moving the silkies from a separate enclosure. Everyone needs a little time to work out the pecking order. Realize that silkies are smaller than other breeds. Even though he's a rooster, there is the possibility that he could get ganged up on by your birds, so a gradual transition is always recommended. You'll need to plan on quarantining this new bird from your existing flock for 30 days just to be on the safe side in terms of health.

UPDATE: Rico found an amazing home out in the country where he immediately usurped the resident rooster and took over the entire flock. It happened within about 10 minutes of us releasing him into the farm. It was hilarious, and I hope he lived out his day with all his gals strutting his stuff.

Almost time to harvest my watermelons! This is a beautiful dwarf hybrid melon called 'Faerie'. It's an AAS Winner that I'm currently testing in my garden for Organic Gardening Magazine. The beauty of this baby is it's size...vines only reach about 11-foot and they don't require trellising. It's great to find a melon that doesn't take up much space. The skin is a luminous pale yellow, and the flesh inside is a bright pink. I'm waiting for the first few melons to get to "full slip", meaning they'll slip right off the peduncle (stem that attaches the fruit to the stem). Should be any day!

You have to take a look at this miniature beauty I found this week over at North Haven Gardens in Dallas. I'll pretty much make a bee line for anything blue or purple in the nursery, and this lovely caught my eye from across the perennial section. I mean, who expects to see a bearded Iris blooming in July...in Texas?? Not I said the fly...This tough yet stunning perennial is Iris 'Smell the Roses'. It's a miniature bearded Iris that re-blooms, so you get spring and fall blooms, or spring and sporadic blooming when weather is favorable. I can only assume that the lower than normal temps and extra rain fall made way for this specimen to go ahead and get it's bloom on.

Iris are one of the toughest drought tolerant perennials we can grow here in Texas, yet it still provides that showy delicate look one might expect from an English cottage garden. Best of both worlds! And yes, you can plant Iris in the middle of the summer here in Texas. Remember, any plants you see at your local garden center are ok to plant at the time they are stocked. And believe me, they will be much happier in the ground in summer than they are in a black nursery pot!

Now, I did you guys a favor and didn't snag this gem off the Iris table. So it might still be there for one of you lucky ducks. NHG had plenty of other unusual Iris varieties in stock so it's worth checking out.

There's a pretty hefty outbreak of Rosette disease making it's way around North Texas right now. You may be well aware of this if you have an 'Knockout' roses in your garden as they've taken the hardest hit this spring. What is Rosette disease you ask? Well, it's thought to be a virus (but the organism itself has yet to be identified) spread by the eriophyid mite, Phyllocoptes fructiphilus, or by grafting.

If your rose plant/s are infected, the first symptom you'll usually see is rapid elongation of new shoots, followed by something called "witches' broom". The new stems are stunted and begin clustering into many small branches. The leaves will be distorted and tend to be very red in color.

The problem with this disease is that it is as of yet uncurable. The infection will typically kill a small or young plant within two years. A larger more established rose can survive as long as five years. But if you allow infected plants to stay in your garden, you'll only expose the rest of your (and your neighbor's) healthy plants to the disease. Sadly, the best option is to dig and remove the plant completely. Roots and all.

Because the causal agent of the disease is not soil borne, you should be able to re-establish new healthy roses in the spot where you removed the diseased rose. But you must make sure you remove all the remaining root tissue from the soil. However, if there are other infected plants nearby, or wild multi-flora roses growing around your neighborhood, your new plants can be re-infected by the mites as they move from plant to plant.

When you garden organically, as I do, the focus is on building healthy soil to grow healthier more vigorous plants. And yes, vigorous plants with a strong immune system are better able to ward off any number of pest and disease issues. Because I have faith in nature I’m sure that there may be rare cases of roses being able to run the course of the disease and survive. I just don’t have any real documentation of that happening. While we might wish it did, gardening organically does not make your rose plants immune to this viral disease. While feeding and pruning your infected plants may make you feel better and hope that you can cure it with love, it's still not a cure. As I stated above, you can limp an infected plant along for a few years...but remember your infected plant is still acting as a host for the virus, which can easily spread to roses in the rest of your garden if the mites are present, not to mention the rest of your neighborhood.

Do us all a favor: The best horticultural practice when you have Rosette is to remove the plant and roots completely in order to stop the spread of the virus. Amend the soil with organic compost and apply a bio-stimulant (like Medina soil activator) and/or product that contains mycorrhizal fungi (Espoma Bio-Tone is a good one). Then, you can either try replanting with new healthy roses or a new species.

Interested in interesting people of Dallas? Check out the newDallas People 2012 issue of The Dallas Observer that's on newstands right now. Jim Schutze of The Dallas Observer was kind enough to include me in the issue and I'm honored. This chicken thing has gotten pretty popular...but I swear, I'm a horticulturist! But I'll go ahead and take that new title of "The Chicken Quihote" and slap it on my resume. Why not?! LOL

Leslie Halleck and her chickens

It's about that time of year when I start getting asked a lot of questions about why your tomato plants either haven't set fruit, or are not ripening on the vine. The first question I'll always ask is "When did you plant them?"...if you're here in Texas, or similar Southern climates, and you tell me you planted on April 15th, then I'll yet again wag my finger at you and tell you "that's too late!' There is an optimal temperature range for both fruit set and ripening in tomatoes. If the average day/night temperature is hotter or colder than that optimal range, you'll have poor or no fruit set or ripening. That's why it's important to get tomato transplants in the ground as early as you can push it. Here in Texas, depending on the weather, you can plant as early as late February. Ideally, you'll get them in the ground mid-March. April 1st is my absolute cutoff for planting; so plants have time to mature, produce flowers and set fruit before temperatures get too hot. Now, I know some of you will say something like "well I have cherry tomatoes and they are still fruiting..." Yes, that's often the case with smaller-fruited varieties. They are generally more heat tolerant.

Starting this weekend, you can plant your second crop of fall tomato transplants. Get them in the ground by mid-July. The 4th of July is always a good target date.

If you want to read more specifics about fruit set, ripening an the effects of temperature on tomatoes, you can read THIS POST.

Ok...we've gotten off easy the last couple of months with all the mild temps and rainfall...but SUMMER IS COMING... so it's time to mulch folks. That's what I'll be doing this weekend. Mulching all the new and old beds. On yard of mulch down...only 7 more to go. I think I'd better go ahead and take the ibuprofen now! yeeesh.

So, what are you folks doing in the garden this weekend?!

I've been harvesting some fruit off of my 'Golden Mama' tomato plants over the last few weeks, but the big haul is beginning to come in! I filled this obviously inadequately sized bowl to overflowing today, and there are plenty more fruits to come.

I'm also harvesting some wonderful 'Black Cherry' heirlooms. I've saved the larger fruit for slicing, but what to do with some of the smaller fruit? Well, one of my favorites and super easy thigns to do with cherry or small tomatoes is marinate them overnight, then roast them. So some of these babies will be going into a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary from the garden.

I'll let the tomatoes marinate overnight, then tomorrow, I'll pop them into a 425F oven and roast them for 15-20 min (15 minutes is typically adequate for cherry sized tomatoes, I give it an extra 5 minutes for larger fruit). And there you have it, the most delicious soft warm tomatoes to serve on top of bread, crackers, or anything really. YUM. I wish it was tomorrow already!