Central Texas Gardener - September 5th, 2009

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September 5th, 2009

See how to grow drought-tolerant perennial irises. Many of these will be available at the Iris Society of Austin's Rhizome sale.

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One last planting of warm season crops: green beans, cucumbers, squash. When the first frost hits, it'll shut them down, so if you don't get them out really soon, they won't have time to grow and set fruit to give you a good harvest before the first frost. We never know when that's going to occur! Usually it's sometime in November, but it could even be late October or December in our erratic weather here in this climate.
Continue watering fruit trees and container fruits. They've been setting their fruit buds for next year, and you don't want them to stress now. They need to go into winter fairly strong. That doesn't require a lot of water, but just a little bit to keep the tree healthy if it's still dry in the climate.Chinch bugs are still attacking lawns and need to be controlled because they'll downright kill a St. Augustine lawn especially. If you have dead patches, especially in the area that joins the sidewalk or driveway, it could be chinch bugs. (With water restrictions, it could also just be heat and no rain).
Lightly prune herbaceous salvias, roses, and other spring bloomers to encourage a new flush of growth and flowers this fall. Do not prune fall-blooming perennials. Dead head annuals and lightly fertilize.
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