Holy Cow, where in the world did all this wind come from? I know many

of you are from West Texas and think this is just a gentle breeze. My wife

Patty is from Midland and she says this is a walk in the park. However, those of us who were raised here in the Texas Hill Country and in Austin are wondering will it ever stop? The wind is really drying out the land and our gardens.

We really need to mulch more than ever this Summer. Personally I am thinking around four inches of mulch is a minimum. Remember that you don’t want the mulch to touch the trunk or base of the plant or vegetation that you are mulching. This is a really good time to be using a drip system or soaker hoses for watering your garden. With the wind at 25-40 MPH it makes it impossible to water any other way. As they say, we will overcome this adversity.

The way to give the plants and trees relief from the stress that they are experiencing is once again to spray the leaves (foliar feed) with fish emulsion and aerated compost tea.

The recipe is in my book “Gardening in the Texas Hill Country” on page 14. If you don’t already have your copy the recipe is as follows:

Mix the following ingredients in a gallon of water.

1 cup of manure based compost tea

1 ounce of molasses

1 ounce of natural (organic) apple cider vinegar (this breaks up the

alkaline PH of the solution)

1 ounce of the liquid seaweed

If that is too much trouble for you or you can not find the ingredients then you can purchase Garrett Juice all ready made up for you. You can find this product in any real nursery or garden center. In order to further build up your soil to produce even better and more plentiful veggies, is to add the product Medina Plus to your soil in the

garden area.

Lawn Care

Now is the time to cut our lawns at a height of not less than three inches. If we cut them lower than that, then our lawns will burn up. We are in yet another drought, so we need to assist our landscape as much as possible. Remember: Only water in the early morning and late evening, never in the middle of the day. If you want to know how much to water, take a tuna can and place it in the area of the watering, when it is full turn off the water.

You should water that much only on a weekly basis. Again the wind that we are experiencing will alter that amount depending upon where you are located and how much wind you are experiencing. Of course, this is the best time to fertilize your lawns. Compost tea has already been mentioned.

Warning: Under no circumstances should you ever use “Weed and Feed” chemical products. It is even against the law to use those products in Austin. Bravo for them to make that stand.

Grasshoppers

If you haven’t noticed yet, the grasshoppers are here and with vengeance they are attacking all of our vegetation. It is still time to do the flour application for the eradication of the grasshoppers. See page 82 of my book. Hint: It is the flour application I wrote about last month.

Sharing

Please remember, if you are a true blue gardener you don’t need reminding, sharing is the best part of gardening whether it is flowers, fruits or vegetables. The reason that most of us gardeners garden is to share with our friends or those in need. The higher the gas prices the more we need to share.

Farmers Market

Don’t forget the local Farmers Market. Those folks grow veggies, fruits, and flowers that we can not all grow. As a good friend of mind has said “The easiest and best way to garden is with the checkbook at a farmers market where you can find all that makes you happy.”

Till Next Month! Keep your souls and your soles in your garden! Remember the True Master Gardener: Jesus said, “I am the vine; my Father is the Gardener.” John 15:1

Have questions or comments? Contact Bill Luedecke at The Luedecke Group Realtors, P.O. Box 1632, Bertram, TX. 78605 (no Post Office in Oatmeal) or email bill@texasland.net. For additional gardening web sites, go to his Web site; www.texasland.net and click on links.

Wm. H. (Bill) Luedecke, III, Broker, The Luedecke Group Realtors (512) 577-1463 Austin Cell, P.O. Box 1632, Bertram, TX 78605, bill@texasland.net.