Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

Fall is for planting and there are many crops you can plant now. Plant hardy mums for color now and in future years. Plant pansies in a sunny spot for color all winter, even when there is snow on the ground.

Plant ornamental kale and cabbage to make a nice show with their unique colored foliage this fall and sometimes all winter if we don’t get too cold. Plant trees and shrubs to beautify your yard and help clean up the environment now and for decades or even centuries to come. Plant tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, crocus, dutch iris and other spring flowering bulbs to make a big flower show next spring. Many bulbs, particularly daffodils will naturalize to rebloom for years to come. Plant fescue or perennial rye grass seed to green up your winter lawn.

This is the season when everyone gets nervous about losing their annuals and tropicals for the season when we get our first hard freeze. We don’t lose all plants at the same time. Some tender plants will surrender when we drop to the mid thirty’s while other hardier plants or plants in protected micro climates may stay active down to the high twenty’s or even the low twenty’s before freezing out for the year.  We often get a nice Indian Summer of two to six weeks after a freeze or two so many folks try to protect their tomatoes, peppers, other vegetables or showy annuals and hardy mum flowers from the first couple of frosts.  You can cover tender plants with a fabric sheet or blanket or by buying some reemay fabric, using hot caps or wall-o-waters designed to give some extra temperature protection in the garden from these early sporadic freezes.

This is the season when lots of gardeners think about building a hobby greenhouse. There are kits available from under a thousand dollars to over twenty thousand dollars depending on the size, type of glazing, weight of the frame, whether designed for code or non code application and whether the frame is painted a special color. You can build your own wood or metal frame or buy one of these kits to assemble yourself or have installed by a professional crew. The most popular glazings are corrugated and twin wall greenhouse grade polycarbonate panels which have a ten year warranty and should last about twenty years. Fancier glazings include corrugated or twinwall acrylic panels and single layer or insulated glass. Greenhouse grade clear copolymer plastic films would be the least expensive glazing and are available in one and four year films.

Take time to enjoy your fall garden and remember fall is for planting.

When I was a youngster, years ago, the nursery industry organized a “Fall is for Planting” promotion. Most folks think of spring as the time to plant everything from vegetables to flowering annuals, shrubs, trees, wild flowers and perennials and indeed spring is a good time to plant most crops. The “Fall is for Planting” promotion never got enough funding to really get the word out to the public but the idea is a good one.

Fall is a very good time to plant fescue and rye grass seed, hardy mums, pansies, flowering kale and cabbage, and most of the spring flowering bulbs. Fall is a great time to plant container grown trees and shrubs. Many nurserymen think it is the very best season for planting trees and shrubs as the soil is still warm enough that the roots will still grow and root out into their new environment before the soil freezes. This helps the trees and shrubs get established this fall. Fall planted trees will usually take off much quicker next spring since they will have already rooted into their new soil home. As a result they handle the stress of their first summer better than spring planted trees.

The Oklahoma Nurserymen held their convention this last week and I can tell you that it has been years since this many nice trees and shrubs have been available and at these prices. The economy has slowed down new home and commercial construction and this has resulted in a large supply of nice trees and shrubs on the market. Depending on the size tree or shrub you are considering the nurserymen probably started that plant and committed time and resources to its production 1 ½ to 8 years ago, long before the economy slowed down.  It is always a good idea and a good investment to add trees and shrubs to your property. There has never been a better time to buy and plant trees and the oversupply has reduced prices and resulted in a great availability of just about any species and size tree you want to add to your property.

Take a look at your yard and decide if you need to add trees to your front or back yard to provide shade, save energy, create wind breaks, provide shelter for birds and wildlife, replace trees damaged in recent ice storms or just to beautify the neighborhood. Consider adding trees to your local school, church property or your neighborhood parks. While picking out your hardy mums, pansies, tulip and daffodil bulbs consider buying some trees and shrubs to add to your yard for long term impact because Fall really is for Planting.

The middle of September has arrived ever so quickly this year and the first hardy mums are already in bloom. Most all the varieties of hardy chrysanthemums, one of our grand fall traditions are either in bloom or heavily budded and getting ready to bloom. The cooler than usual and moist weather of August is resulting in earlier fall flowers. If you already have some in your yard they probably grew nicely this summer and you can expect literally mounds of color.

If you go to purchase some now from your local garden center they will likely be in bud or bloom and the size you buy will be the size they are for this fall. Once they set buds and flowers the vegetative growth of the plant is complete for this season. If you buy a 6” or 1 gallon plant and enjoy it this fall at that size remember that when it sprouts out next spring and grows all season most varieties will make a mound of 18” to 24” in diameter and 12” to 18” tall.

Most hardy mums in Oklahoma survive our winters and grow nicely through the spring and summer to produce a great fall flower show if watered regularly through the growing season. They are heavy drinkers and respond well to liquid or granular fertilizer during the growing season. You can get many flower styles of cushion mums in all tones of red, bronze, yellow, purple, orange and white to add excitement to your fall garden as each plant can produce bushel basket size mounds of color.

There is still time to apply weed and feed products or pre-emergent weed killers to control winter weeds in your lawn before they germinate. The sooner you apply the pre-emergent the more effective it will be. This is the time to complete your final feedings for the season on your trees and shrubs to insure a healthy root system as they prepare for winter.

State fair time is when spring flowering bulbs usually go out for sale.  I like to wait to plant them until mid October through November but now is a good time to select and buy the biggest, firmest tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus to have them ready to plant later this fall to produce bright cheerful colors early next spring.  Those gardeners that kept watering and taking care of their tomato plants that didn’t produce well this summer with our unusual weather are being rewarded with great crops of fall tomatoes. At our house we are enjoying fresh tomatoes and peppers with every meal and great bowls of green beans and potatoes as well as eggplant dishes as fall vegetable yields are bountiful.

Now is the time to apply pre-emergent herbicides if you want to control winter annual weeds in your warm season grasses.  Pre-emergents can be sprayed or spread as granules.  Most are applied as weed and feed granular products where you feed your lawn at the same time you are applying the weed killer.  There are many good pre-emergent herbicides.  Some of the most popular and broad-spectrum contain Barricade or Prodiamine, Dimension, Trimec or Simizine and they act like birth control to kill the winter weed seeds before they germinate. 

The researchers at OSU recommend application by mid September so you are not feeding your lawn and stimulating too much soft new growth as we approach freezing temperatures.  Many folks still apply fall weed and feed products through October, just remember the pre-emergent weed killers are generally not effective once the weeds have germinated.

Many folks are experiencing a lot of mole and gopher problems this year.  This often means you have a lot of white grubs that they are feeding on.  Apply a product with Imidacloprid or Mach 2 to your lawn areas and water thoroughly to help reduce your grub population.

This is a good time to apply fertilizer to your trees and shrubs, particularly young trees and shrubs to help them prepare for winter.  If you plan to convert any lawn area to tall fescue this fall – usually in late September through October – now is the time to apply glyphosate (Round-up) type post-emergents to kill competing grasses and weeds in the areas to be converted.

My tomato plants don’t have many red fruit but they are absolutely loaded with green fruit after our cooler temperatures and refreshing August rains.  It is too late to plant more tomatoes for this season, but you can still add to your fall vegetable garden.  You can plant collards, lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard for greens.  Consider planting leeks, onions, radish, rutabaga or turnips to produce root crops to use fresh in your kitchen.  You can also plant green peas, kale and kohlrabi to enjoy this fall or plant garlic cloves now to produce next summer.  You may want to find some row cover to have on hand in late October so you can cover and protect your good producing vegetables from any early frosts to stretch out your season.  We often will have 3 to 6 weeks of Indian Summer after the first frost or two and a little protection can give you a lot longer harvest season.

How wonderful to end July with rains across much of our state. They have really refreshed our lawns and gardens and give us a chance to visit about something besides mulching and watering in our summer gardens. I just returned from the American Society of Horticultural Science in St. Louis, the annual gathering of all the horticulture professors from across our country. I’m not a professor but I still try to attend to listen to these bright folks talk, to see what research the graduate students and professors have completed and are pursuing.

There were several clear trends this year. Interest in vegetable, fruit, nut and berry or edible food production is up for both home gardeners and commercial producers. We have seen a surge in new gardeners raising tomatoes, peppers, herbs and melons for the first time in traditional gardens, interplanted with ornamentals or in containers. Across the country there is a trend towards locally grown commercial produce including some ornamental growers switching part, or occasionally all, of their production to produce. With the interest in more locally grown produce we are seeing more production of produce and berry crops on plastic film and other mulches, under row covers, under shade cloth, in tall season extending hoop houses and in temperature controlled greenhouses.

There is a lot of research to determine the best varieties, best fertilizer and watering protocols and best production systems for specific crops in regions all across the country. Most everyone expects water to become a bigger issue in the years ahead as costs go up and we stretch scarce resources and limited water distribution systems. There is growing interest in water tolerant natives, breeding other crops to tolerate and even produce fruit or flowers with lower water use. Many are working to refine sprinkler and drip systems to deliver less water, more efficiently as we all work to maintain our lifestyles and yet live a more sustainable life.

Over the last 20 years the research had focused on how much we could fertilize to get maximum plant growth. Now with fertilizer costing more and a commitment to be more sustainable, the fertilizer research is being directed to how low can we feed to meet the plants basic needs and get most of the benefit of fertilization to assure healthy and productive plants. There is significant university research now into organic or low impact fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides. There is a focus on finding good consistent liquid organics that could be applied through drip systems and to find more organic or biological controls that will have mainstream impact like BT (bacillus thuringensis) has had for worm control.

The hot dog days of summer have arrived and your plants, like your puppies and pets, depend on you for water and a little extra care and attention. Last week we had a long stretch of days at well over 100 degrees, some days even tougher with hot drying winds.. It is very important you walk your yard, observe the condition of your lawn, trees, shrubs, vegetables and flowers and provide adequate water to prevent wilting and extreme stress. Some of your plants would survive without extra water but might stop growing, will drop many leaves to get their water use in sync with water availability and might be slow to recover when we get to cooler temperatures this fall if they survive. Spending a little time observing your plants and soaking them when needed will keep your plants healthy, growing, and often flowering and fruiting in spite of the hot dry conditions.

Remember it is better to really soak your plants every few days rather than squirting them every day. Drip hoses or soaker hoses are a better way to water then overhead sprinklers. A mulch of 2” or deeper of cottonseed hulls, pecan hulls or bark like eucalyptus, pine, fir, oak or cedar will cut your water needs in half and keep the soil cooler and your plants happier. Remember that plants in hanging baskets and containers, especially smaller containers, with less soil will dry quicker so need more frequent watering, maybe every day at these temperatures. Sandy or loose soils will need watering more often than clay and loamy soils that will maintain moisture longer and require a little less watering.

 Happy, properly watered plants will be healthier and experience less insect and disease problems. We have much less fungus and disease problems in these hot dry conditions but this is the time of year we face the greatest insect pressure. Most insects hatch many more insects per batch and lay eggs or cycle much quicker at these temperatures so insect populations can appear to explode in our gardens. We are currently seeing lots of wooly leaf hoppers, spider mites, grasshoppers, hornworms and other worms and caterpillars in our vegetable gardens and on our ornamentals. We are seeing bagworms on junipers and webworms on many trees. Visit with your local nurseryman to select the proper control to apply to your plants if you are tired of sharing your crops with the worms and insects.  Now is the time to make like a fireman and soak your lawn and garden to keep everything healthy in these hot dry sauna conditions.

Hope you had a great 4^th of July and got to enjoy some fireworks and special time with your family and friends. You may have even gotten to enjoy some pretty flowers at the Myriad Gardens, the Zoo, your neighborhood park or even in your own yard as part of the holiday celebrations. As we think back on the birth of our country all of our early presidents and most of the leaders who met in Philadelphia to form our country were avid gardeners and most were active farmers. If you ever have the chance, please make time to enjoy the gardens of George Washington at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. It is amazing the planning they put into their gardens and their passion to find new plants and new crops. They kept comprehensive records and it is fun to see the joy they expressed at the beauty of their flowers and trees and the excitement of their first harvest each season or from new crops.

That is one of the exciting things this year with so many new vegetable gardeners as we get to hear stories about the anticipation and the celebration of their first harvests. I have had many people talking about how red to let their tomatoes get before harvest and debating whether to eat the first tomato sliced, on a hamburger or in a salad.. There are great debates about how big to let the eggplant get before harvesting and when to pick the green beans and peppers. It is really fun to watch and hear the excitement of these new gardeners harvesting their own vegetables for the first time. An experienced gardener gets that same thrill from growing a new vegetable or flower species or succeeding with a plant that has not produced or grown well on a previous effort or in a different spot in the garden. When you are dealing with living things you also learn to deal with the frustrations of a cutworm eating through the stem and killing your tomato or sweet potato, the birds pecking into your tomatoes or the aphids overwhelming your peppers. It really makes you appreciate the challenges commercial farmers face.

Nothing beats growing gorgeous flowers or fresh vegetables and fruits in your own yard but if you can’t or aren’t growing your own local produce please consider buying as much locally grown produce as possible to support the local truck farmers and market gardeners. Many communities have opened their own farmers markets to make it easy for local vegetable growers and consumers to find each other. Local foods are picked more mature and so are usually tastier and even healthier than the usual good produce we Americans are blessed to enjoy.

The weather has been downright gorgeous the last couple of weeks and has allowed us to get more evening and weekend time out in the yard. My wife, Dona, and I have planted more this season than we have in many years and we are having a great time doing it, even though we have been getting a little sore from time to time. I know these physical workouts are good for us. We have really enjoyed gardening together, visiting about all the family, church and world issues in between digging, planting, weeding and arguing over what should go where. She keeps planting more squash, melons, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and other vegetable crops while I keep planting more annuals, perennials and tropical foliage for color. This year we have ended up with lots of mixed plantings of vegetables and flowers. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. The plants we got planted earlier are really bursting out with new growth. If you were not able to get most things fertilized before the mild rains this last week you should fertilize now. We are still planting and have a couple more flowerbeds to update and Dona has a bunch more container gardens planned. Some people act like if you aren’t planted by Memorial Day you might as well skip the season but with container grown transplants, shrubs and trees you can plant all summer as long as you will commit to watering the new plants a little more often until they are well established. We are about 2 months into the growing season and have almost 5 months to go until our first hard freeze so well over 2/3 of the growing season is still ahead of us.

If you have not mulched your container gardens and flowerbeds that should be your highest priority. A 1 ½” to 3” layer of cottonseed hulls, pecan hulls, pine straw or one of the many choices in bark mulches will dramatically reduce your watering.  A layer of mulch will reduce weed germination and competition and result in a more consistent soil temperature and produces bigger, healthier plants. Mulching is an organic or sustainable practice that really makes sense.

Be ready to start helping Mother Nature with the watering responsibilities. Most of our plants need regular watering and if you notice crops starting to wilt, turn a dullish grey-green or look stressed you need to start soaking with drip irrigation, sprinklers or with a good old fashioned waterhose.

Enjoy your time in the garden as you plant, fertilize, mulch and then sit back to enjoy the view and eat the fresh harvest.