QUESTION OF THE WEEK
What vegetables can I grow right now?
Answer: With rising fuel prices, rising food prices, and just rising temperatures and everything else, people are concerned about budgets, and are more interested than ever in growing their own food. The best seasons for starting a vegetable garden are fall and spring, but you can garden in the summer. Summer amaranth or vegetable amaranth is an excellent choice. It’s related to pigweed, so it grows quite well with very little care and just a little bit of water. It’s a very nutritious green, and it’s one that you can grow on through the heat. Okra likes the heat too. We can continue to plant okra for the next couple of months, and it has a number of different excellent ways to prepare it. If you’ve only tried fried okra, you need to try a few other okra recipes. It’s a Southern favorite and it does well. If your soil is somewhat sandier, or if you bring in a special soil mix for your planting beds, Southern peas will work well here. They don’t like our heavy clay soils, but they can be grown in this area. Winter squash is also something that we can be planting now, and that includes the pumpkins. Winter squash is extremely nutritious, high in vitamin A. Even on a small property, you can grow lots of winter squash. Consider putting it on a trellis, and you’ll get even more out of your space with it. Malabar spinach is really not a spinach; it’s a green, but it loves the heat. Malabar grows right through the summer.
We can also keep planting peppers and eggplant, too, along with cantaloupes and watermelons.
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PLANT OF THE WEEK
Butterfly Bush
(Buddleia or Buddleja)
 As its name implies, this deciduous shrub is a great one for butterflies. Growing 4-6’, it makes a great accent plant in sun. Varieties include pink, red, or white flowers. It needs a bit of supplemental water. To promote longer flowering, shear it periodically, water and fertilize.
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PLANTING TIPS OF THE WEEK
- A don’t: use lawn weed killers. They should never be used, but in this heat, you’ll stress your grass to danger. Also, mow high to protect your lawn’s roots. No amount of water you can apply now will help if you mow low.
- With unseasonal heat and drought, mulch and keep your new plants watered. If possible, use shade cloth to protect new transplants.
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THIS WEEK'S FEATURE
Horticulturist Patrick Kirwin designs new arenas with drought tolerant native ferns in sun and shade.
Fern list from Patrick Kirwin
Autumn fern: likes shade, needs moderate water; drought tolerant once established, evergreen in Austin, may lose leaves north of Waco
Sun-tough fern: (Astrolepsis sinuate) evergreen (hard to find: check out plantdelights.com)
Lindheimer shield fern: Deciduous. Sun tolerant if given water, grows on rocky slopes, loves caliche, can take water. Deer resistant.
Clover fern (Marsilea macropoda): Evergreen. Can live in moisture or dry. Hot sun. Shade, but not deep shade. Wants some light.
Woodwartia orientalis (mother fern): Non-native evergreen. Shade. Medium water, but drought tolerant once established.
Recommended books:
- A Field Manual of the Ferns & Fern-Allies of the U.S. and Canada by David Lellinger
- Ferns and Fern Allies of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas by Sharon Yarborough and A. Michael Powell
- A Natural History of Ferns by Robbin C. Moran
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