They are back! Armyworms are marching across Texas and feeding in your turf areas and on many other plants. They are called armyworms because of the size of the infestations and the way they eat their way across an area.
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Tree Care Following February Freeze Event
Many of the complications for trees from the February freeze event this year have just begun to appear. As temperatures increase this summer, damaged trees will start to show more problems.
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Spring Gardening
This is the time of the year that you need to start paying attention to your yard. If you do the following 4 things, you will set your landscape up for success through the remainder of the year and avoid most weeds and sprinting away from fire ants.
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Tree Damage from February Freeze Event
There are many questions about why some trees in the same block or surrounding area are fully leafed out following the freezing event in February and why some trees are struggling to come out. The answer to this is complicated. Oak trees are propagated from acorns and each tree can have a different progeny. Trees are like us. We are all human but have a different gene pool and just as we react differently to stress and disease, so do these trees. Some trees of the same species are more tolerant to the stress of the freezing temperatures.
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Bare Turf Areas Under Trees!
Many of you have bare turf areas under trees in your yard and no one likes to look at these unsightly areas. I totally understand. Following are some suggestions to help resolve this problem.
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Freeze Damage on Evergreen Trees!
Many of you have Italian Cypress, Cedar or Juniper plants that suffered from the recent freezing event. The damage is just now showing up on these plants. If your plants have damage, you will first see branches turning gray and discolored followed by these branches turning brown. If these trees turn brown, they die and they will not re-grow easily. This damage creates big, open areas or voids in the plants which are very unsightly.
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Freeze Damage Update
We are now over a month from the freezing weather and many of your plants have not leafed back out. Others have started to leaf out and most of these plants will recover. I know you want to know now if your plantings will survive but it is still too early to make that call.
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Protecting Your Trees From Insects
Some of you are being told by arborists that your ash trees need to be removed and replaced because of the Emerald Ash Borer. Having ash trees does not mean your trees will automatically get borers.
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PATIENCE!
Last week was a trying time for all of us just to keep warm and safe during extreme cold temperatures and devastating ice. It was also a trying time for plant materials. You only need to step outside in your yard to verify that your plants suffered along with you. The impact of this storm will be felt into the summer and for some plants even over the next few years.
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Vegan Cooking
This week we are bringing you a recipe from our very own Greenhouse Supervisor, Libby! Libby has a passion for vegan cooking and baking and the recipes she comes up with are always so delicious. This week she will be sharing a very warm and cozy recipe, Crispy Curried Chickpeas with Roasted Pumpkin, Millet, and Tahini Kale salad.
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The Crazy Weather in Texas
If you watch or follow the weather, your head is probably spinning. Temperatures are mild and the wind is blowing. Your plants are thinking maybe spring is coming. Then you get a forecast that a cold front from the north is to arrive and night temperatures will drop below freezing. In Texas, this can happen in a matter of hours!
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WHAT’S “GROWIN” ON AT THE FARM?
This week we wanted to give you an inside look at what we have growing in the greenhouse this winter. During the winter we definitely start to slow down a little on the farm, but our greenhouse crops continue to thrive. This year we planted an array of winter crops from lush leafy greens to hearty root vegetables.
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What is the Harvest CSA?
I am so excited to announce the creation of the Harvest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. What is a CSA? We are so glad you asked! A CSA is a subscription that provides locally grown produce. By providing locally grown produce (often from right here in Harvest), we are able to build a stronger community around what it means to support local agriculture for the health of ourselves, our families, and our planet.
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Where is Our Fall Rainfall!
This is the time of year where we normally recommend that you turn off your irrigation system and let nature do its work. However, our fall rainfall has not been helping us out this year.
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ARE GRUBWORMS EATING YOUR YARD?
When on site, I have seen damage in some of your lawns due to a lawn-eating insect – grubworms. This insect is stealthy because it is working under your turf. Grubworms are the larvae stage of that late spring, early summer, pesky June beetle that swarms around your lights.
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Rats and Mice are on the Move!
I am sure you are aware there is a serious rodent problem this year around your home. As millions of people sheltered at home, restaurants and places of business closed or provided limited services, rats and mice migrated to neighborhoods to find an easy food source.
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The “Why Bermudagrass “ in Your Yard
A question that often arises is why Bermudagrass was selected as the turf for the HOA yards in this community. The main reasons are that Bermudagrass is the most drought tolerant turf for the Texas heat and it is resilient during periods of water rationing.
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Watering Drought Stressed Plant Materials
If you have been one of the lucky ones that has received some beneficial rainfall these past few days, I am sure you are thankful. If you have a new landscape, your plants will benefit from this rainfall. However, the recent heat and dry conditions have been hard on new trees, shrubs, and turf.
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LET’S TALK LAWNS!
It is summer in Texas! And with the summer heat the inevitable has happened – water rationing. The City has said all you can water is two times a week! That is what is recommended for your plants in the Harvest Irrigation Guidelines for the summer months but you need to make sure your irrigation is set for the dates that the City allows you to water.
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Vertical Gardening
My wife knows how much I love to garden, so for Valentine’s Day, she gifted me with a vertical garden so I could start early to plant salad greens and herbs. It has been a real hit for my family. We just walk out the back door and harvest a fresh salad. This has been so much fun! You can cut the lettuce greens and arugula (all varieties) and plants will quickly regrow so you can have a continual source of salad.
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