Texan Magazine
By Marc Hess
“Fall is the best time to plant just about anything in Central Texas. In fact, this time of year could be called the Second Spring.” – Charla Anthony, The Eagle
Texas is blessed with two distinct planting seasons every year. First, we share the spring season with the rest of the country. As the cold weather of winter abates, the days grow warm enough to put seeds in the ground and establish the plants that will bloom into summers heat.
For spring vegetables, that means you plant in March and harvest in late spring or early summer. Like gardeners in the rest of our country you can be planting flowering plants until May and, if you choose the right variety—like Texas Superstar™ plants—you will enjoy their colorful flowers until August…..if the deer don’t get them.
Our second planting season, a season that our fellow Americans don’t share, is often called our Second Spring. Because of our warmer fall temperatures, south Texans can start their second vegetable garden in September and enjoy their best harvest of the year in November or December.
You should start your fall tomatoes even earlier, in August—but be sure that you select the tomato varieties that will start in the heat and produce when it gets chilly.
Fall is also the best possible season for the flowering perennials that we love so much. By the time fall comes around many of the bloomers that have delighted you with color have been beaten down by the long, hot summer. You can reinvigorate your color by cutting them back. When the old flower stalks are cut off and not allowed to mature seeds, the plant will attempt to make more seeds, and therefore a whole new fall bloom cycle will occur.
Fall-blooming perennials, such as those salvias that kept the deer at bay all summer (S. greggii and S. farinancea), Mexican marigold mint, chrysanthemums, and Salvia leucantha, should have been pruned periodically during the summer to keep them compact. If you didn’t do that pruning, cut them back by one-third as early as September. Perennial or Summer Phlox (such as ‘John Fanick’ or ‘Victoria’) should be cut to the ground and allowed to resprout with new stems in the fall.
And that beautiful large esperanza that was the pride of your summer garden? The best thing you can do for that plant is run it over with your lawn mower. The hotter the temperature when it is growing back, the faster it grows and it will be blooming profusely by October, the pride of your Second Spring.
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Usually, our extremely hot weather ends in September and cooler temperatures stimulate rose bush growth and intensify the color of the rose blooms. Many people do not prepare their roses for this second spring, so they miss the most spectacular, longest-lasting bloom period. Roses should be pruned or groomed during the first two weeks in September. Fall pruning requires a lighter hand than you used on your spring roses. You still need to cut back, but not as much. If you cut only a quarter of the bush you will be fine.
PLANT SPRING BULBS IN THE FALL
THE LARGER THE BULB, THE LARGER THE BLOOM
Since you are back in the garden this fall, planting spring bulbs is the most natural thing to do.
Bulbs—such as daffodils and hyacinths—are truly some of the simplest of flowers to grow. They are also easy to care for and quite inexpensive. All they ask is to be planted in the fall, and, in return, they will reward you with weeks of early spring color, fragrance and beauty. Success with spring bulbs will depend largely on the selection of good, healthy, quality bulbs. Generally, good bulbs produce flowers the first season after planting, as the flower buds are already formed at the time the bulbs are purchased and planted. The quality of flower is determined by the quality of bulbs, even more than by cultural conditions or growing techniques. You can be assured that the larger the bulb, the larger the bloom.
Fall in Texas is the absolute best time to plant trees. Smaller is better, so select five-to 15-gallon size tree stock from a nursery that will guarantee the tree. But do not amend the soil. This seems counterintuitive, but research has proven that trees grow best if the soil that you dig out is the soil you put back. The bottom of the hole should be solid to avoid settling, the sides sloped and after planting the trunk root flares must be visible, just above the soil.
SOW WILDFLOWER SEEDS IN AUTUMN
And don’t forget the bluebonnets, and other wildflowers. October and early November are the perfect time to get your spring blooming wildflower seeds in the soil. Whether it’s vegetables or shrubs, bulbs or flower beds, we Texans, are fortunate to have a second opportunity to get out into our gardens.
“As hot and dry as the weather has been, some
people think that transplanting is risky. Fall transplants will survive hot temperatures and full sun if adequate moisture is available to the plant.” ~ Dr. Jerry Parsons, Bexar County Horticulturist
POTEET’S BEST KEPT SECRET
(PLANT SHORT DAY VARIETIES OF STRAWBERRIES IN SEPTEMBER AND HARVEST IN APRIL)
Specialty food producers, fruit distributors and regular people like you and me flock to the tiny town of Poteet, Texas (population 3,260 and birthplace of George Strait) for their world-famous strawberries. Sweet strawberries became the signature crop of this town just southwest of San Antonio in the early 1900s when local farmers discovered that they could tap into nearby artesian wells for irrigation and the high-quality minerals that bring out the sweetness in their crops. Another, lesser-known secret, that Poteet strawberry farmers have going for them is Texas’ Second Spring.
Strawberries are hardy perennials, but cover them during a freeze. The plants become less robust after about three years so they need to be continuously re-planed. The conventional strawberry production cycle used by our northern neighbors is to plant in February, let the plants establish themselves in the first full year and be ready for harvest the following April or May, a full 14-months later. Because of our warm fall weather, Poteet strawberry producers use an eight-month cycle. They can plant in September and harvest the following April. Poteet’s crop yields are as good as or better than their northern competitors.
You can judge the world renown sweetness for yourself at the annual Poteet Strawberry Festival. Next year, the festival will be held April 14- 16th, 2023. Besides the world-famous strawberries, you’re sure to enjoy some great Texas music.
