Nature’s Way Resources is proud to produce & email you this free weekly newsletter. We have no ads, but sponsors do graciously help support this project as a public service. Please note their names below & show your gratitude for this free service by patronizing their businesses! To become a sponsor, call (936) 273-1200
Nature’s Way Resources owner John Ferguson, “The Lazy Gardener” Brenda Beust Smith and Pablo Hernandez welcome your feedback and are so grateful to the many horticulturists who contribute their expertise
Click here to join our email list
CLICK HERE for PDFs OF PAST LG&F NEWSLETTERS
“Yellow flower, grieving flower, pale flower,
You were burnt by the sun and the hot rain.
Ripe flower, matured flower, immaculate flower,
You’ve nevertheless kept your phenomenal beauty sane.”
–Hebert Logerie (Poet)
BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH
IT’S HARD to find a famous “Autumn flowers” poem or quotes. That shows how lucky we gardeners here are. We still have not only 3+ months of dependable bloomers left, some might flower off/on until Spring! Have any flowers that do? Please share! Narcissus, right, have bloomed in snow in my gardens. Others???
Pictured: Paperwhite Nir (Galilea)
from Garden Club of Houston Bulb and Plant Mart PreOrder
SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER & EVEN NOVEMBER & DECEMBER are great months for us to plant, better in so many cases (like most wildflowers), than spring, which often comes as a surprise to newcomers. Our warm days of winter, and relatively short springs, impact below-ground root & bulb growth far more than in colder climates. Always check LOCAL sources for specifics. (And don’t consider Dallas local!)
Of course, with our climate changing so quickly now, winter cold spells seem to come sooner and more frequently than in the past, often with root-tricking warm spikes inbetween — so watch weather reports. Makes gardening here as exciting (or frustrating) as always!
The MOST important advice I can share with newcomers after 50+ years of interviewing our most successful, most informed gardeners is this: Our unique subtropical pocket of Texas includes one of the greatest varieties of soils, and unpredictable weather-challenges than other parts of Texas. Triple that perspective for the rest of the nation! Just because a plant, or planting times/techniques worked for you in California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Tennessee or Florida, do NOT assume it will work here.
Your safest bets are:
Find a INDEPENDENT local (to your area) nurseryman, and get to know manager & staff. Your patronage is key to their success. They want everything you buy from them to grow and thrive!
Locate your county’s Master Gardener Demonstration Garden. Visit, ask questions and check out the gardening info section of attached Texas Agricultural Extension Office. You will save time, money and energy with just this one outing, and learn more other great resources through their recommendations.
More great resources: our huge bounty of plant events. Your group’s event not listed? Send to: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com. GARDENING EVENTS ONLY !
ONLINE SALE PRE-ORDERING is open for two major fall Houston gardening events:
- Pre-ordering for Houston Native Plant Society‘s Sat., Oct. 5, 2024 Wildscapes Workshop Sale closes Sept. 27. (Pictured: Sagittaria platyphyla- Delta arrowhead).
- Pre-ordering for the Garden Club of Houston‘s annual Bulb and Plant Mart is also underway at gchouston.org/bulb-plant-mart/
WHY SHOULD GARDENERS CARE ABOUT FALL EQUINOX? Fall nationally officially arrives Sunday. Not here! If you’re looking forward to fall color, think: mid-November. Of course, as climate changes so does nature’s calendar. So who knows!!! New green growth triggered by pruning has time to harden before our first real hard freeze. If you’re looking forward to fall color, sad to say — our most prolific hues now come from invasive Chinese tallow (pictured),
urge is actively, below ground, deliberately killing adjacent native flora that our native fauna desperately need to make room for its own seed to germinate. If possible, dig out and destroy ts abundant seedlings.
NOTE! Have a favorite fall color tree, especially natives, do share (especially with pictures) Greater Houston area only! lazygardenbrenda@gmail.com
ATTN. GARDEN/PLANT GROUPS — In wake of Hurricane Beryl, Nature’s Way Resources offers free guided tours of NWR’s extensive nursery/soil/mulch facilities for garden clubs, plant societies and other plant-oriented, organized groups. As usual, NWR’s now-expanded meeting site is free to above groups. Reservations a must for both.
“LAZY GARDENER’S GUIDE” (PDF format) is emaild free.
Request: lazygardenbrenda@gmail.com
Brenda Beust Smith’s column is based on her 40+ years as the Houston Chronicle’s “Lazy Gardener” column — lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com Brenda’s column focuses ONLY on the Greater Houston Area
John’s Corner
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD
OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 300
Subject: animal manures (part 3 of 3)
PART 3:
Manure is available from horses, cows, chickens, turkeys, ducks, sheep, pigeons, rabbits, llamas, elephants and rhinos, fish, earthworms, swine, etc. all with different advantages and negatives.
Horse – One of the easiest manures to get and the safest is from private stables, where the horses are grass fed and less likely to be full of antibiotics, etc. It decomposes slowly, good source of beneficial microbes, low salt, good organic matter content. May contain weed seeds as a horse’s digestive system does not destroy most seeds as compared to a cow. Often comes with wood shavings used as bedding. Excellent feedstock for composting.
Pig (swine) – more nutrients than horse manure but less organic matter than horse manure, slower to decompose, often contains parasites like Helminthes which can persist for years. The best usage is a feedstock in making compost.
Sheep and Goat – some of the best manures, with similar nutrients and benefits to horse manure. These animals have a very wide diet of grass, forbs, brush, etc. Hence, they have a wider range of nutrients in their manure and a wider range of microbes.
Poultry (Duck) – high in nutrients and not as likely to be from factory farms or contaminated with toxic chemicals. Manure from backyard ducks can be very beneficial.
Rabbit and Rodent – these manures are high in nutrients but hard to collect in quantity, works great in a compost pile as they have good microbes and stimulate good biological activity once applied to the soil.
Dog and Cat – often contain microbial organisms along with parasitic worms that are harmful to humans. Best if buried for a long period of time before planting or used in a large hot compost pile for a long composting period where the harmful components can be destroyed.
Earthworm – Often sold as “Worm castings” or “Vermi-compost”. One of the highest quality manures one can use in the garden. Rich in nutrients, beneficial microbes, plant growth hormones and odorless. Helps prevent many types of soil and plant diseases. However, if the worms are fed contaminated manure from cows, poultry or other sources then the chemicals may become more concentrated in the castings
Bat or Seabird – Better known as guano. A rich source of nutrients and microbes. Best usage is a natural organic fertilizer rather than a soil amendment. Can be expensive unless one collects it themselves. The human illness Histoplasmosis is caused by the fungus Histoplasm capsulatum which produces symptoms like influenza and may be found in guano. This fungus is also found in old poultry manure.
Human manure (biosolids and sewage sludge) – often very dangerous. See our website for more information. For detailed information see: Lazy Gardener and Friends Newsletter Issues 201-204.
Often when the livestock show, or when a circus visits a city, the organizers will give away the manure and bedding. One may obtain manure from elephants to giraffes and other animals. Good source of feedstocks for a compost pile or if used as a soil amendment let it sit for a few months before growing plants in it.
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 35 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. For years he represented 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 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!