Vicki Blachman

currently in Austin

resources

Vicki Blachman

When avid gardener and herbal expert Vicki Blachman married into the suburbs, she set her sights on slowly whittling away lifeless lawn for fragrant, food-filled gardens for her family and the wildlife. Along the way, she and husband Steven built a pond to refresh hot summer days, established solitary bee houses, and became a Certified Backyard Habitat and Monarch Waystation.

categories:

tags:

appeared on episodes:

Herbs for What Ails You

Recent Episodes

Water, Wildlife, Zen Design

Permaculture meets hospitality at Cosmic Coffee and Beer where Paul Oveisi created sustainable gardens and wildlife habitat set around ponds and gracious waterfall. Step into a meditative journey and Japanese pond design based on Zen philosophy at Rajat and Lisa Agarwal’s garden, members of the Austin Pond Society. In San Marcos, Dawn Houser cultivates food, | watch episode →

Front Yard Forward

For a 1930’s Tudor-style home, landscape designer Kim Beal goes for casual style with formal lines in shady gardens where seasonal flowering joins evergreen textural foliage to define outdoor living destinations. In Kyle, after 12 years in theater management, Leigh’Ann and Jordan Andrews turned the spotlight on a dream cultivated since grad school: growing healthy | watch episode →

March To Do List

Plant: ornamental & wildlife

Annuals: It’s a tricky month for annuals since we get hot days. But the soil is still cold and freezes could still arrive. Late: plant cosmos, sunflowers, morning glory, gomphrena but keep an eye on upcoming freezes. Avoid planting caladiums.
Wildflower transplants: early in month, you can still plant bluebonnet, larkspur, poppy and other transplants.
Perennials & vines
Ornamental (clumping) grasses like muhly and Mexican feather grass (late month)
Trees, shrubs, roses (as soon as possible before heat sets in)

Plant: herbs

Nasturtiums, chives, catnip, comfrey, fennel, horseradish, feverfew, oregano, thyme, rosemary, Mexican mint marigold, peppermint, lemongrass (after last freeze)

Plant: food crops

Chard, corn, cucumber, eggplant, endive, Malabar spinach, mustard, peppers, pumpkin, summer & winter squash, tomatillos (you need at least two!), tomatoes, beans, cantaloupe
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guides (Central Texas)

Prune

Roses (early)
Evergreen shrubs
Prune dormant perennials and ornamental (clumping) grasses.
Trees: DO NOT prune red oaks and live oaks unless damaged. Spray immediately with clear varnish.
No need to apply pruning paint to other trees
Avoid topping crape myrtles: simply remove sprouts or entire limbs at the trunk.

Divide/Move

Dormant perennials, roses, shrubs and trees. Still time, but don’t wait!

Fertilize

Citrus with high nitrogen fertilizer like Citrus-tone. Fertilize every few weeks through growing season.
Add compost to beds as you cut back dormant perennials. Fertilize with slow-release granular late in the month or as dormant perennials leaf out
Add compost around trees and fertilize. Be sure to dig out grass several feet from the trunk, ideally to the drip line of the tree canopy.
Watch for powdery mildew. Apply a natural fungicide like Serenade.

Lawn

Mow weeds before they set seed. Do not fertilize at this time except with compost!
Plant native Habiturf seeds after soil prep
Plant other turf late in month once freezes aren’t coming

Prep

Add compost to vegetable gardens along with organic fertilizer in prep for more summer crops
Soil test

Other tasks

Keep floating row cover available; avoid covering plants with plastic
Mulch, but avoid touching the base of trees and roses
Till in winter cover crops
WEED!

Tips

When planting, dig hole twice as wide as root ball but no deeper than where it sits in the pot.
Backfill and water until it sinks in.
Continue filling in.
Water again until it sinks in and pack the soil down.
Mulch.

[back to top]