Hands-on Garden Design

The Show

Hands-on Garden Design

air date: May 4, 2024

Creativity, art, outdoor living and inventive solutions unite gardeners on the Travis County Master Gardener 2024 Inside Austin Gardens tour. Two gardeners turned rough land into charming gardens, artistic fun, wildlife habitat and home to fluffy chickens and gregarious donkeys! Laura Brennand, cut flower grower at La Otra Flora, shows how to grow and dry cut flowers. Extension entomologist Wizzie Brown explores caterpillars and their importance in garden ecology.

tags:

Episode Segments

On Tour

Rough Land into Wonderland

How did two Travis County Master Gardeners turn rough land into charming gardens, artistic fun, wildlife habitat and home to fluffy chickens and gregarious donkeys? Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann brought creative collaboration, muscle-wielding grit, and problem solving to rocky, flooding ground to sentimentally-dubbed Katie Bird Farm.

Watch more "On Tour" videos on YouTube →

Interview

Hands-on Garden Design

Creativity, art, outdoor living and inventive solutions unite gardeners on the Travis County Master Gardener 2024 Inside Austin Gardens tour. Master Gardener JoAnna Benko previews the four gardens and what you can learn in each one.

Watch more CTG Interview videos on YouTube →

Question of the Week

Caterpillar Conundrum: Keep or Control?

Caterpillars come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and patterns. As larvae for beautiful butterflies and moths that pollinate our gardens, caterpillars feed on plants. Some feed on vegetable crops, like cabbage loopers, tomato hornworms, and cabbage worms. So, should you manage them or not? Extension entomologist Wizzie Brown explores why to leave them alone as contributors to healthy gardens.

Watch more Question of the Week videos on YouTube →

Backyard Basics

Grow and Dry Cut Flowers: Laura Brennand

Bring spring and summer’s garden bounty inside to enjoy all year! Laura Brennand, cut flower grower at La Otra Flora, shows how to grow and dry flowers from your garden for beautiful indoor arrangements.

Watch more Backyard Basics videos on YouTube →

Comments

Recent Episodes

Garden for Birds and Pollinators

Bird populations have declined dramatically in recent years. Wildlife biologist Rufus Stephens, co-author of Land Stewardship for Birds with Jan Wrede, explores how to give our birds a helping hand, even in our backyards. Chris Garza sheet mulched his small front yard to kill weedy Bermuda grass to restore soil health and wildlife diversity. Watch | watch episode →

Changing the Winter-Tidy Mindset

Explore nature-to-garden perceptions with Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art Markman of KUT’s podcast, Two Guys on Your Head, produced by Rebecca McInroy. A Army Veteran’s new backyard lacked personality until she dug into gardening. Find out where beneficial insects snuggle down in winter with entomologist Wizzie Brown and get the secret to composting with | watch episode →

Tiny Wildflower Gardens, Monarch Migration, Herbal Health

Are monarch butterflies in danger of extinction? Monika Maeckle of the Texas Butterfly Ranch explores the history and controversy in her book, The Monarch Butterfly Migration: Its Rise and Fall. Three Studio Balcones landscape architects create pocket prairies in their own small yards. Entomologist Wizzie Brown notes a new pest: muhly grass mealybug and explains | watch episode →

CTG Episode Archive

November To Do List

Plant: ornamental & wildlife

Perennials, shrubs, ornamental (clumping) grasses; fall is the best time to plant
Avoid planting cold tender plants like Pride of Barbardos, Esperanza, lantana, plumbago
Trees
Strawberries (best time to do it!)
Winter annuals, including calendula, snapdragon, pansy, viola, dusty miller, ornamental kale and cabbage, alyssum, stock, cyclamen, dusty miller, flowering kale and cabbage
Early to Thanksgiving: native wildflower seeds like bluebonnets, phlox, Mexican hat, Indian paintbrush, Indian blanket (gaillardia). Also, non-native poppies, larkspurs, hollyhocks
Early to Thanksgiving: spring bulbs

Plant: herbs

Perennials thyme, oregano, lavender
Cilantro transplants, parsley, dill, fennel , chervil, summer savory, borage, chives, rue
Be prepared to cover in case of deep freeze

Plant: food crops

Keep planting winter crops for successive harvest
Water weekly with liquid seaweed
Spray cabbage loopers on broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guides (Central Texas) http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/travis/home-landscape/edible-gardens/growing-vegetables/

Prune

Avoid pruning shrubs right now unless you see damage
Okay to prune live oak and red oaks through January
Okay to prune trees
Thyme

Divide/Move

Shrubs, roses, trees, evergreen spring-blooming perennials

Prep

Mulch cold tender plants like gingers, Esperanza and semi-tropicals
Select spots where you want fruit trees, grapes, or berries to plant in January; for now, prep with compost
Get that row cover ready! Do not protect plants with plastic!

Lawn

If must mow, keep high to shade out germinating weeds
It’s really not a good idea to overseed with rye unless you have new, muddy construction and a dog!

Other tasks

Cut basil to freeze in oil in ice cube trays to use this winter in soups and stews
Collect seeds from summer annuals to dry and store indoors until next spring
Take cuttings of tender annuals to propagate in warmth to plant next spring
Rake leaves into beds to mulch over winter and return nutrients to the soil
Mow leaves on grass (if not raking to beds or compost) to break them down
Collect leaves from neighbors to add to compost pile!
Deeply water new plants; keep new seedlings moist but not drenched

[back to top]