If you’ve been gardening for any amount of time, you have probably discovered practical gardening practices that work for you here in Central Texas. We’d love for you to share them with us! In coming newsletters, we’ll select and share one or two submissions. Please help us make this new monthly feature a success by sending your submissions to npsot.sa.news@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name, fully describe the gardening tip, and possibly include an illustrative photo.
Try These Garden Hacks!
In the past year I’ve discovered the following gardening hacks:
Hairpins – While I’ve never mastered the art of using hairpins in an updo, I have discovered that they are handy items in the garden! I use them to encourage rooting at plant nodes for groundcovers and layering other perennials:
- Frogfruit often has long runners that lay on top of the ground without rooting. Use a hairpin to pin the stem to the soil at a node where roots can develop.
- I am also experimenting with using hairpins on other fairly lightweight stems that I’d like to root through layering such as Pigeonberry and Texas Betony. I use the hairpin to pin the stem to the ground (soil, not mulch) at a promising leaf node.
- Make sure you buy old-fashioned hairpins, not bobby pins! They come in different lengths. Found a pack of 200 (2 ¼ inch) for about $4 online (made in China).
Cardboard shipping boxes – Cardboard isn’t just for smothering Bermuda grass! It makes a great temporary “cage” for new plants (see image below). Cages help protect your new plant from the critters that frequent your yard. Since new plants get extra watering for awhile, the moist soil attracts insects, which attracts digging critters looking for insects to eat.
- Select a box that can easily slip over your plant with some room to spare to keep the critters from digging too close!
- Adjust the height of the box by tucking in some or all of the flaps.
- The box supplies some shade, but you can also use the top flaps to provide extra shade at first.
- Place the box over your plant, and secure it with sticks at several points so it doesn’t move around.
- The boxes dry out fairly quickly after a rain and are surprisingly durable. The boxes in this photo have endured 6.5 inches of rain over the past 5 days! When you’re done with caging, or need a new box, just pitch the old one into your green can!
Salad bags – Did you know your bagged salad greens come in a highly engineered bag to keep those greens fresh? If you occasionally take cuttings and don’t have access to a greenhouse and misting table, I’ve found that simply popping an empty salad bag over the 4” pot between mistings helps maintain the humidity level around the cutting, while allowing the plant to breathe, which greatly increased my success rate! Of course, cuttings should not be placed in direct sun while roots are establishing.
(Submitted by Pam Peck)
Do you have gardening tips to share for future issues? Please send to npsot.sa.news@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name, fully describe the gardening tip, and include photos as appropriate.
