Yep, it's that time folks. Time to start your seeds of fall tomato transplants! (Here in Texas, DFW area). Tomatoes need a good 8-weeks from seeding to transplant time and you'll plant your transplants into the garden in late-June through mid-July. Never fear though, if you don't want to mess with starting your own transplants, local nurseries will have transplants available during that late-June, mid-July planting time!
Tomato 'Golden Mama' in my garden now. One of my favorites!
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Were you a smart gardener this spring? Did you let some of your cool season herbs and veggies to flower (which is always lovely) so you could collect seed? If so, then you'd have been collecting seed over the last few weeks. Arugula and Dill are two species that are particularly giving with their seed (most of my dill plants are actually volunteers from last year) and nows the time to collect seed from both.
Arugula seed. I've been harvesting this past week.
Dill seedheads...so pretty! I'll be harvesting seeds today.
Both Arugula and Dill are two edibles that make fantastic ornamentals, so it just makes sense to let them go to flower and then seed in your garden. Now, this only works with open-pollinated varieties, not hybid cultivars. For example, 'Celebrity' tomatoes are an F1 hybrid...the seed you save from that plant won't come true to type (you'll get seedlings with a lot of different variants that express characteristics of the original parent plants). But with 'Green Zebra' tomato, an open-pollinated heirloom, you can save the seed and get another generation of 'Green Zebra' tomatoes. So for plain old Arugula and Dill, you can save the seed.
Old 35mm film containers with the lids make great storage for seeds. Or use any container that will keep your seeds completely dry. Make sure to label the container with the plant and date. Some folks keep them in the fridge to preserve viability. I'll be starting these Arugula and Dill seeds outdoors in September for the cool season!
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I'm still in love with all the new Echinacea varieties out on the market these days. It's prime conflower season right now with them all coming into full bloom. Most are highly fragrant, which you don't get from the standard E. purpurea. A few that are blooming in my garden right now are 'Mama Mia', 'Sundown', 'Summer Sky' and 'Tangerine Dream'. Sooooo lovely! What's blooming in your garden?
Echinacea 'Sundown'
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If you've been to any of my tomato classes, you know that I always say "plant early, and stop planting by the end of March" when it comes to tomato transplants. Weather and temperatures permitting, the earlier the better. This year, we've had a fabulously long season for planting tomatoes.
Some might say that the mild winter caused timing problems for planting tomatoes..but thats not the case at all. The standard planting window still applied, but with no hard freezes in March those who planted in late February and early March should now be reaping the benefits of having fruit already setting on their plants; without having had to do the work of covering plants. Maybe this is a welcome payback for last year's nasty tomato season?
But as day/night temperatures rise, you'll soon lose the opportunity for your plants to mature, flower and set fruit in time. In the Dallas area your best bet is to get the last of your tomato transplants in the ground this weekend, or take your chances with a reduced harvest. If you live farther North, up into zone 7, then you'll have another week or so to play with...unless temps rise quickly in your area.
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If you're in North Texas, you now have my blessing to go ahead and plant tomato transplants. Yay! A bit early you say? It's probably going to freeze again right? Yes, it probably will. But with tomatoes, the earlier you can get them in the ground here the better. If you're willing to keep frost cloth or water wall protectors on hand, planting now will ensure you the best opportunity to get fruit set before temperatures get out of range. Peak planting time will be right about mid-March, then it needs to taper off through the end of March. Then I'll cut you off April 1st, lol.
If we drop below about 35F, cover your tomatoes with frost cloth. That does the trick. If you want to read a bit more about tomatoes I have a number of posts about them on the blog- just "tomatoes" in the search box to the right and you'll get a list of posts. Enjoy!
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Some of you may be wondering what, if anything, you can plant right now in Texas. You might be surprised at your options! The standard answer is...LOTS.
While some areas of Texas are colder than others right now, the main factor to take into account is whether or not your soil freezes in the winter. Generally, ours does not. That means you can continue planting all trees, fruit trees, shrubs, roses, perennials, perennial groundcover and cool season annuals and veggies. You can also continue planting cool-season color such as pansies, violas, snapdragons, Gerbera daisies (yes..I'm looking at some gorgeous ones on the nursery table as I type). The plants are far more protected from winter temps in the ground than they are in pots...so if they are out on the nursery table unprotected and still look great, well then you don't have much to worry about.
Best advice on what to plant when? Go to a real garden center. Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart are not real garden centers. A good garden center will have in-stock what you should be planting, at any given time during a season. They will also have expert staff that can teach you how to grow successfully.
Here is a list of what you can plant right now (it is not by any means comprehensive, but just a basic guide)
There are many other plants that can go in the ground right now, but hopefully this will give you a place to start if you're hesitant about planting. And btw...get this material in the ground now, and you'll have a much easier time getting it through next summer. It can take a good year or two for new plantings to get established. The larger the plant material, the longer that new establishment period (a 2" caliper tree, will need about 2 years to root in...a 3" caliper tree will need 3 years, etc. Shrubs, roses, perennials, etc. need a good year-2 years).
Have some frost cloth on hand to protect newly planted herbaceous plants if we're going to have a hard freeze.
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Alright folks, no rest for the weary here in N. Texas! We get to garden 12 months out of the year and it's just about time to start those spring veggie seeds!
You can refer to an older post HERE for more info about exactly what to start when. You can also use the search function to the right and search seeds for several other detailed posts. Now is a great time to start amending your veggie beds or building your new raised beds so that they will be ready for your first transplants.
DO NOT, EVER, try starting your seeds indoors without supplemental lighting. It's a must-have. Also, January is chilly so tomatoes and peppers will appreciate you adding a seeding heat mat to your set up. You'll be very pleased with the results of both supplemental lighting and additional heat - well worth the initial investment.
NHG has good stock on cool season herb transplant as well as some cool season veggie transplants right now. You can start seeding cole crops now for transplant outdoors in 5-6 weeks, and in a week or so get a start on those tomato transplants. For my new class schedule visit my main website at: www.lesliehalleck.com Veggie Gardening 101 is on Jan. 13th and registration is required!
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You might wonder why I bring up fruit trees and berries, just as we’re getting chilly here in the DFW area. Did you know that one of the best times to plant fruit trees is when they are dormant? While you can plant healthy containerized fruit trees any time of the year, now through February is really best. Also, your selection of fruit trees at the garden center will be most extensive this time of year.
Cultivar selection is one of the most important steps you can take when planting fruit trees. The success of many varieties depends on the amount of chilling hours they receive. Stone and pome fruit trees, such as peaches and apples rely on enough chilling for flowers and leaf buds to develop properly. Without sufficient chilling hours in winter to break dormancy once warm temperatures return, trees may experience many different problems that can damage fruit production. A few of my favorite varieties for Texas are ‘Moonglow’ pears, ‘Ranger’ peaches and ‘Methley’ plums, but there are many to choose from.
When planting fruit trees make sure to provide them a spot with full sun exposure for best success. By full sun I mean sun for most of the day, if not all day long. Good drainage is also important. Choose a spot in your landscape where you’re sure you don’t collect excess moisture due to drainage or settling issues. Fruit trees will require regular fertilization and treatment programs to maximize production. You’ll need to provide adequate water to your new trees until they become established and supplemental water thereafter as needed.
It’s also a great time to plant berries and grape vines. A few to look for include ‘Brazos’ Thornless and ‘Womack’ blackberries. Blackberries are one of the easiest fruits to produce in our Texas soil and climate. You’ll be rewarded with an abundance of fruit with little effort.
For more information about fruit tree varieties that will perform best in your area, visit your local garden center. Folks in the North Texas area can visit North Haven Gardens’ website for an informative list: http://nhg.com/pdf/FruitList.pdf
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Really, it's just about one of the easiest veggies to grow! In the DFW area, you can grow salad greens from September through May of the following year! And growing your own beats paying $7.99 a pound for organic greens at the store.
You'll want to direct seed lettuce into the garden now. Lettuce seeds need light to germinate so just sprinkle them onto moist soil surface and press down gently. Do not cover with soil! Because seeds are exposed, you'll need to be diligent about keeping the soil surface moist until germination (consistency of a wrung out sponge). As seedlings sprout and put on their first set of true leaves, you'll then want to thin out seedlings so that remaining seedlings have room to grow.
While you may want to harvest entire heads of lettuces such as Romain or Butterhead, it's not necessary. You can do what is called loose-leaf haresting on these plants from fall through spring. New leaves emgerge from the center of the plant and then splay outwards. Simply snip off leaves as they reach about 4-inches and continue harvesting around the plant as it grows.If you do want to harvest the entire head, then do what is called "succession planting". Sow new seeds in the garden every 2-3 weeks.
Lettuces are biennials, meaning they will grow foliage the first season, and then bolt, or flower, the next. So after warm temperatures hit in late spring/early summer, your greens will bolt and you'll need to stop harvesting. Pitch leftover plants into the compost bin! Feed your greens with an organic veggie food every couple of weeks (liquid) or monthly (granular).
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Well, I don't want to jinx anything, especially considering what we experienced last October, but this month has just about been the nicest we've seen in a long time! The weather is great, night temperatures cool...it's a great time for planting just about anything.
It's an especially good time to get Narcissus (Daffodils), Lycoris, Anemone, Leucojum, Muscari, Hyacinthoides, Dutch Iris and many other perennial bulbs in the ground. The next couple of weeks will be peak availability at the local garden centers so you'll have the best selection of bulbs to choose from. Don't wait until December because many varieties will be long gone.
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