Wow...I love blue in the garden. My blue spiderwort (Tradescantia) has started blooming in the shade garden. Aren't these flowers, and their reproductive parts AMAZING?

I tell you what, Ajuga (Bugleweed) has come a loong way baby! Some of the new varieties are less like a standard groundcover and more like a featured blooming perennial! This variety, called 'Catlin's Giant', is really stunning come April. The huge blue bloom spikes reach almost a foot in height. Really stunning combined with a 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple, Hellebore 'Silver Lace' and a newly planted Hydrangea 'Lemon Daddy'. Great foliage color and contrast with the blue Ajuga flowers!

Oh, and little Beezus likes them too!

(UPDATE: This photo was from 2010...Sadly our precious Beezus JUST passed away a few weeks ago, August 2024. She was THE best girl.)

How to Pinch Favas for Better Production

I've gotten a few questions on pruning fava beans lately. I usually do tip-pinch my fava beans. Sometimes, your fava beans will flower and flower away, but you won't see fruit. Often, if you'll tip-pinch the stems, it relieves what is called "apical dominance" and triggers the plant to go ahead and set fruit. There are special cells in the tips of growing stems of plants. Once you remove them, they are triggered to develop different structures, such as lateral shoots, fruits, etc. You don't need to pinch off much, just that very first internodes worth of growth right at the top of the stem. Make sense?

You can harvest the bean pots when they are only 2-3 inches long if you'd like to cook the whole pod as you would a green bean. Or, wait until pods are about 6-8 inches long to harvest the seeds (shell the bean). Go Here for more info on fava beans.

By the way, fava beans are beautiful plants. The leaves are edible in salads and the flowers are lovely and fragrant.

Alessandra told me I was slacking...so I figured I'd better get some photos up here! Oh the Irises sure are pretty right now! One of my absolute favorite just opened it's first flower. 'Orange Glaze'...I think the name says it all!

And a few other beauties...my mystery beige Iris...this Iris is super fragrant, with the scent of honeysuckle. It's fantastic. With the most striking purple stamen. Tons of blooms. I only wish I knew which variety it was! I originally purchased 'Superstition' rhizomes (a "black" flowered variety) and this is what came up! I've just got to do some digging around in some Iris registries to see if I can figure it out. Anyone?

What Works in Cooler Climates Doesn't Always Work in Texas!

Well, some parts of it...

I get a ton of questions about SFG (Square Foot Gardening) so I thought I'd go ahead and address it here. My opinion is No, you don't have to follow the principles to the letter to get the results you need, especially in our climate. Not to say that there aren't those who've have had success with the plan here.

I think that there are some good principles in the book that have obviously worked for the author in his particular experience. Specifically in learning how to rotate crops, spacing, etc., especially for beginner vegetable gardener.

However, In climates like those here in Texas, I do believe, from extensive experience, that you'll need to make some adjustments to the soil mix and the depth of the beds for best results. I just don't think the author has to garden in 107F degree heat!

Firstly, 6-inch deep beds are too shallow for my taste. Trying to keep your raised bed soil adequately watered is tough in the summer with that little soil volume. Especially considering that the organic matter is going to break down, leaving you with less than 6-inches worth of soil. Larger root systems, such as those of tomatoes, are going to need more soil volume. I build my beds to 12" tall.

I don't recommend tilling up the soil underneath your raised beds here, as you'll end up with lots of extra weed seed germination, Bermuda grass and nut sedge. So using newspaper and weed block fabric on top of the existing soil, without tilling it, is usually the easiest way to go. Watered cardboard works well too. But that means you're going to need a good 8"-10" of soil to best accommodate your plants.

More important is the soil mix. The SFG mix calls for a good amount of peat moss and vermiculite (The recipe is 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite.) This can turn into a watering nightmare for you in the summer. Once peat dries it can be very difficult to rehydrate and you end up with a brick. You're much better off upping the levels of organic compost, humus, some high quality topsoil and expanded shale instead of the vermiculite. Throw in some greensand to help you retain moisture and provide micronutrients and some composted manure for a Nitrogen charge. If you want to use something with a peat moss-like texture, but without the hydration problems, go with COIR. A superior product in my experience (made from coconut husks).

Another thing...there is the impression in SFG that because you use compost in your beds that you don't have to use any fertilizer. Realize that compost is an organic amendment, which will eventually begin releasing nutrients slowly as it is decomposed by microbes (which will take a while to get going). Organic matter also breaks down faster in higher temps, so you'll have to replenish more quickly in hot climates. Also realize that what it will offer is mostly Nitrogen. It's not a complete "fertilizer" per say. You're still going to need to provide a good organic food to your plants, especially when first planted. Continual applications of compost will feed your plants as it breaks down, but don't expect a quick green up from it, and don't expect it to feed your plants enough if you don't have good microbial activity in the soil.

ADDENDUM: I realize there are folks on the SFG board who will tell you that you can't garden in the summer in Texas and that it's not our season, but they are wrong. They don't understand our climate and growing season, which is incredibly different even from areas just a couple of hours North of us. They also don't understand our soils. Please take my advice as a professional horticulturist on this one. We have a 12-month gardening season here and you can grow year-round, NOT just September-May. But they are correct on one point, you can't garden in the official SFG soil here in July, because it turns to rock and you can never keep it hydrated because of it's composition and shallow depth. For example, you have to plant your fall tomatoes here in July. Period. if you don't you will not have a fall tomato harvest. Also, you're not wasting growing soil by going to 10-12" here - it's necessary. Sure, you can grow winter crops, such as lettuce, broccoli, etc, here in more shallow containers, but not larger warm season crops. Once you get some experience under your belt, you'll see the difference. You can't successfully harvest year-round here in 6" of soil, not to mention 6" of soil that is heavy on peat moss.

Here is one of my discussions on good soil mixes for your Texas raised beds.

I guess I'd better get to cooking some eggs! The girls are laying about 4-5 eggs a day right now, leaving me with an average of about 45 eggs in the fridge at any given time!

They've had a little molting going on lately - the girls have lost some of their saddle feathers, but they seem to be growing back slowly. But it does not seem to be hurting their egg laying rate at all!

We also have a pullet (juvenile hen) sale going on from 11am-2pm. So if you're thinking about chickens, or have just gotten started, come on out!

The 'Oshi Beni' Japanese maple in my garden is flowering and leafing out right now. This is one of my favorite varieties of Japanese maple. To my delight, I realized yesterday that I have little baby 'Oshi Beni' seedlings coming up all around the mama tree. Let's hope I can foster a few of these along to get some good transplants!