Too Little, Too Late, Too Much, Too Soon

Gardening in Central Texas forces you to be a whiner.

There is no such thing as “normal” here (except that nothing is normal.)  As a gardener you are always caught off guard and have to constantly improvise against the shenanigans of the weather.  Last week I gave a presentation to a gardening group about growing veggies, and every time they asked a question “should I do this, or should I do that?” my answer was “Yes.”

It's January 22 and my roses are blooming!

Garden calendars?  What a laugh. Wait until February to prune my roses?  They are blooming NOW.  Spray dormant oil on fruit trees in January?  My apples STILL haven’t lost their leaves.  And my kumquat is still setting fruit!  And what if this mild weather means that we are going to have a huge cold front in February?  Am I going to lose my citrus crop AGAIN?

I’ve always been one to go by the book, follow the recipe, read the owners manual, do as your told. While these are admirable attributes and made my Mom happy, they make me miserable out there in the yard.  I have had to learn to adapt.

Yes, it is winter.  And yes, I need to spray, prune, propagate, weed, plant and plan, even though the weather outside is behaving like spring.  So instead of just going by the book, I ask what it is that we are trying to accomplish out there, and then go ahead with what is best.

So what should you be doing in the garden?  Dormant oil sprays are best done with the tree is, well, dormant.  Why do we spray them?  To smother insects and their eggs hiding in the bark of our fruit trees.  These critters are going to hatch and plague us when the weather warms up for good.  The key is to spray before the tree puts out new leaves.  My apples haven’t dropped their leaves.  I sprayed anyway.  It is okay if the current leaves are smothered and fall off, because my goal is to avoid spraying new buds.  Task in January:  spray dormant oil.  Check.

Um, aren't apples supposed to lose leaves in fall?

February is pruning month, but my roses are blooming!  The buds on my fruit trees are starting to swell!  AARGH.  Should I wait?  Why do we prune in winter any way?  Pruning naturally stimulates growth in plants.  We like to prune when things are dormant (in winter), because the plant will wait to put out new growth when the temperatures warm up.  If the silly thing is already actively growing, the dormancy thing no longer applies.  The plants I have targeted for pruning need it for shaping and to stimulate flower and fruit production.  Task in January:  prune the roses.  Check.  Wait for bud break on the fruit trees.  Check.

Whew.  I feel better all ready.   Now, back to whining.  When is it going to rain?  When is it going to freeze?  When is it going to stop being so hot?  Whine, whine, whine.