“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” –JOHN MUIR (1838-1914) naturalist, explorer, writer, and conservationist
GOOD RAINS PREDICTED NEXT WEEK? BELIEVE WHEN SEE — WILDSCAPES COMETH!
BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH
“I thought you would get a chuckle or groan, whichever hits you first, at seeing the once prided lush lawn gone, yet the vincas and artemisia are still hanging in there, although a little thinly.” (Becki added she loved reading last week it’s not a good idea to cut off plants’ burnt leaves. Didn’t we all!)
If you’ve never visited Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, now’s a great time. In addition to these natives above, look for Prairie Plantain, Tropical Sage, Missouri Ironweed, Kidneywood and Blue Mistflower. While you’re there (or on HANC website), look up these upcoming activities: Sept. 9: Gardening for Butterflies and Sept. 30: Intro to Native Plants. * * * MEMORIAL PARK’S NEW CLAY FAMILY EASTERN GLADES on East Memorial Loop has reclaimed 100 acres of previously inaccessible parkland, where visitors now marvel at the beauty of wildflowers such as these below, blooming now:
CLAY FAMILY EASTERN GLADES includes a wealth of natives obviouslyvery hardy for Greater Houston and easily viewed along new trails and boardwalks that let you explore Hines Lake and wetlands Try to catch views here at sundown!
* * *
‘SOFT LANDINGS’ MAKE MOWED LAWNS MORE BUTTERFLY-FRIENDLY!’ In our Spotlight Article below noted pollinator expert and 2023 Wildscapes Workshop speaker HEATHER HOLM discusses the important link between pollinators and tree bases, along with tips on how we can help pollinators and our trees at the same time! Heather Holm photo At the Sat., Sept. 23 2023 Wldscapes Workshop, HEATHER HOLM, awardwinning author of many pollinator books (including 2022 American Horticultural Society Book Award) will focus on “Native Predatory Wasps: Their Role as Pollinators and Beneficial Insects.” Sharing the 2023 Wildscapes podium will be DAN SAENZ, wildlife biologist, and ASHLEY WAHLBERG, “The Spider Lady of East Texas.” 9am-4pm. Houston Community College – West Loop Campus, 5601 W Loop S.
* * *
“NO DOUBT SUMMER OF 2023 has been a challenge for even the most experienced gardeners.” — ANGELA CHANDLER, THE GARDEN ACADEMY. Angela, a long time contributor to my columns has a tag line to her online website I love: “Gardening and Micro-homesteading, Gulf Coast style.”
Angela Chandler photo
ANGELA cheerfully agreed when asked if she’d share with readers a few advance tips from her upcoming virtual live ZOOM class for Urban Harvest: SAT., AUG. 19: GROWING IN CONTAINERS, 9:30-11:30am, urbanharvest.org/stec_event/growing-in-containers/)
Mulch containers! Mulch helps reduce evaporation and shades to soil surface. Pine straw, finely chopped leaves, or shredded hemp make good mulches for containers because they are light and don’t pack down.
Shade black plastic pots. Large, black, nursery style containers are great for fruit trees, veggies, berries and herbs. But they can get really hot in the summer sun. A folded (several times) wide strip of white frost cloth wrapped around with clips will reflect some intense light, keeping soil and root ball cooler
Rotate containers regularly. Top and root growth benefit from having even exposure provided by turning containers a quarter turn occasionally. Pick one day of month and make sure everything gets twisted.
Don’t water in the heat of the day. When it gets this hot, plants can literally poach if they are watered in the heat of the day. Water very early in the morning or in the late evening. Foliar feed everything! Stressed plants need a mineral boost similarly to the way we might drink beverages that contain electrolytes to combat heat stress. But when it gets too hot, plants may not be able to utilize the nutrients provided in your soil fertilization.
Foliar feeding with sea-based products like liquid seaweed can be a life-saver practice for summer stressed plants. Mix as directed and thoroughly wet the foliage, top and bottom, once a week for veggies and twice a month for the entire garden. Good products for this are Ocean Harvest by MicroLife, Foliar Plus by Soil Mender, or your favorite liquid seaweed.
Angela’s The Garden Academy is devoted to gardening and urban homesteading for the Upper Gulf Coast as is her The Garden Academy Group | Facebook. She has more “heatproofing your garden” tips in her column in the current The Arbor Gate newsletter.
* * *
Brenda Beust Smith’s column is based on her 40+ years as Houston Chronicle’s Lazy Gardener Email: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com — Note: This column’s gardening advice focuses ONLY on the Greater Houston area . Personal reports MUST include your area.
* * * *
BRENDA’S “LAZY GARDENER GUIDE” is no longer sold. However, free pdf copies available upon request at lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com NOTE: When sending pictures for potential use in column, please make sure they are jpegs no larger than 10″ wide AND each is identified by its NAME.
* * *
SOLUTION: SOFT LANDINGS
Planting intentional soft landings under native oaks (or any tree) builds healthy soil, provides food for songbirds and pollinators, sequesters more carbon than turf grass, and reduces time spent mowing. It also provides refuge for beneficial insects: beetles, native bees and lacewings, plus fireflies that overwinter underground.
Smother Existing Turf Grass. Do not dig out existing turfgrass under the tree. You could damage the roots and trunk. If you still have grass under the tree, in autumn, smother it by laying thick, moistened newspaper or cardboard over it, then add a thick layer of leaves and small branches to hold it in place. Your soft landings will be ready to plant in 3 to 6 months.
Start Planting Leaf Litter Layer In autumn, rake excess leaves into tree’s dripline (area under the horizontal reach of the tree’s branches.) Cover soil under trees with natural materials—leaves, twigs, and plant debris. Do not add any soil or compost on the roots (create a raised bed). Tree root systems are ‘lungs’ and need to be able to breathe!
Many trees have shallow roots so be careful to avoid damaging the tree while planting. Buy small plants (plugs or cell packs) and use a small trowel to carefully dig the holes. Avoid using a shovel or digging large or deep holes. Alternatively, the area can be seeded once undesirable vegetation is removed.
Stay away from the Tree Trunk. Avoid planting within three feet of the tree trunk to prevent damaging the primary roots and root flares. Plants will fill this void once established. Keep leaves, twigs, and mulch away from the trunk to avoid excess moisture leading to bark rot.
* * * EDITOR’S NOTE: At the 2023 Wildscapes Workshop, HEATHER HOLM will focus on “Beyond Bees & Butterflies — Why Wasps, Amphibians, and Spiders Matter. ” Learn more from Heather on her YouTube and delightful webpage: storymaps.com/stories/7942b55334b349098718a834b6c0503e REGISTER (link) for the Sat., Sept. 23 2023 Wldscapes Workshop. * * *
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 252
Lawns and Grass
With this prolonged heat wave and drought, many of our lawns are suffering. A paper by researchers at Rutgers and several other groups was on grass and the effects of mowing height. They compared mowing at 3 inches tall versus 1.5 inches. They found that when grass was cut at the shorter length, the soil and grass became a carbon emitter but was carbon neutral at 3 inches. This means when grass is cut short the lawns add carbon dioxide to the air contributing to climate change. This did not include emissions by the lawn mower. Journal of the American Horticultural Society.
This means for the grass to help build carbon (organic matter) in the soil, and reduce greenhouse gasses, it needs to be cut higher than 3 inches. Lets look at some other effects of cutting grass short. From the chart below – The grass stops growing and is not capturing carbon and not producing root exudates that helps the soil microbial community be healthier. This means your chance of getting a lawn disease like brown patch or take all is much higher when fall rolls around.
When the grass is cut short and the soil dries out, the roots cannot grow
deeper to follow or obtain moisture. A study at the University of Florida found
that St. Augustine grass has the genetic potential to grow roots 12 feet deep.
If the grass is cut short (less than 4 inches), it does not shade the soil. This
increases the soil temperature and evaporation rates. The chart below from the
USDA illustrates this issue.
In Texas it is easy for the soil temperatures to exceed 130 degrees if not
shaded by vegetation. Cutting short allows the soil to get hot, which kills the
bacteria that prevents fungal diseases in the fall.
When grass is cut short it is not building organic matter in the soil. This is done from root exudates directly, feeding the microbes that pull carbon out of the air to build their bodies which adds organic matter when they die, and roots when they die (root turn over) adds organic matter as they decompose.
The chart below illustrates how important organic matter is to helping the soil capture and hold water from rain or irrigation. Healthy soil will have around 8% organic matter by weight (25% by volume).
Another issue we often encounter when we water using municipal water with fluoride in it, is that this chemical, effects permeability. Minerals are formed from the chemicals in our municipal water supply that cement our soils and create hardpan. Two common ones are Fluorapatite Ca5(PO4)3Fl and Chlorapatite Ca5(PO4)3 Cl, (from Principles of Soil Chemistry, 4th Edition, Kim H. Tan).
If you notice in the chemical formulas above, we first notice our friend the phosphate ion (PO4) that is required for healthy soils and plants. We next notice calcium (Ca) that all gardeners know is essential to having healthy plants. However, when these good guys are exposed to fluorine (Fl) as in the fluoride and chlorine (Cl) that are found in our water systems it turns them into minerals that cement our soil particles together creating hardpan. So, the more one waters, the more often one will need to aerate and in general the more problems one will have. This is why using a good organic fertilizer and top dressing with leaf mold compost is so important and effective. When you add some Re-mineralizer every few years it helps even more.
Many of the soils south of Buffalo bayou are the heavy expansive black clay known as the Beaumont/Lake Charles clay. By cutting the grass short the soil dried out much quicker, and the clay shrunk, creating the crack shown that was over 6 inches wide. These cracks besides being a danger of getting a foot injured by stepping into it, also breaks many things from tree roots to water pipes and sewage pipes.
Mowing the grass short kills off the many beneficial microbes and insects that control insect pests. The hot soil with reduced soil life activity, becomes a good home for chinch bugs and sod webworms. Just for the record, I watered my St. Augustine lawn this past weekend, for the first time since the drought of 2011!
Note: Many lawnmowers are made for Northern grasses that can be cut shorter hence they do not offer a higher cutting option. On my lawn mower I had to drill holes above each height adjustment peg and insert a large screw to make a higher stop, so I could cut the lawn at 4 inches. Another benefit is that the lawn looks better, is thicker and more fun to walk on or play on. LAZY
SPONSORSHIP
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us at 936-273-1200 or send an e-mail to: lazygardenerandfriends@gmail.com
ABOUT US
BRENDA BEUST SMITH WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . . but Brenda Beust Smith is also:
- a national award-winning writer & editor
- a nationally-published writer & photographer
- a national horticultural speaker
- a former Houston Chronicle reporter
When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda’s 45-year-old Lazy Gardener” print column — started in the early ’70s as a fun side-project to reporting, it then ranked as the longestrunning, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area. The name, she says, is not just fun, it’s true. Brenda’s gradual sideways step from reporter into gardening writing led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener’s Guide book which morphed into her Lazy Gardener’s Guide on CD, which she now emails free upon request. Brenda became a Harris County Master Gardener and, over the years, served on theboards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty shows on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in “EcoGardening” show on KPFT-FM. For over three decades, Brenda served as Assistant Production Manager of the GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA’S “BULLETIN” magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda’s main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez of Nature’s Way Resources. A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston, Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith. They have one son, Blake. Regarding this newsletter, Brenda is the lead writer, originator of it and the daily inspiration for it. We so appreciate the way she has made gardening such a fun way to celebrate life together for such a long time.
JOHN FERGUSON John is a native Houstonian and has over 27 years of business experience. He owns Nature’s Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He holds a MS degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas. John has won many awards in horticulture and environmental issues. He represents the composting industry on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden has been featured in several horticultural books and “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine. His business has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of their products. He is a member of the Physics Honor Society and many other professional societies. John is is the co-author of the book Organic Management for the Professional. For this newsletter, John contributes articles regularly and is responsible for publishing it.
PABLO HERNANDEZ Pablo Hernandez is the special projects coordinator for Nature’s Way Resources. His realm of responsibilities include: serving as a webmaster, IT support, technical problem solving/troubleshooting, metrics management and quality control. Pablo helps this newsletter happen from a technical support standpoint.
Download the Newsletter with Our Events Calendar Below!
