WB Garden Tour 5/19/2012

The Wells Branch Garden Guild invites the community (and your friends) to join in a tour of gardens in the area. The garden tour will begin at the Wells Branch Community Gardens around 9 am. We will spend 20-30 minutes at each garden on the tour and finish up at the WB Homestead in the park to see the results of our plantings in April and maybe sit in the shade a bit and discuss the gardens. The gardens include vegetable and flower, shade and sun, drought treatments, community and demonstration gardens.

• A.       9 am WB Community Gardens at Town Hill and Single Trace
• B.       9:35 Don Harrell - 14533 Donald Drive
• C.       9:50 Eleanor Brooks - 14535 Donald Drive
• D.      10:10 Heather Johnson--15209 Mallard Green Lane
• E.       10:35  Laurie Childers--2436 Rick Whinery
• F.        11 am Dianne Koehler--14909 Alpha Collier Dr
• G.      11:25 Rachel Lebansky--14904 Yellowleaf Trail
• H.      11:50  Steve  Weikal- Karen Nunely--2333 Klattenhoff Drive
• I.         12:15  Wells Branch Homestead 2106 Klattenhoff Drive

Garden tour map

Spring gardening in the perennial beds

This has been a really interesting experiment combining the flower and vegetable beds but I am sold on it! Not only is it a better use of the space but it has all the walkers that come down my street keeping tabs on the progress. Although I do intensive planting in the back yard, in the front I am allowing more space as I am trying to establish perennials. I am also trying not to purchase too many plants but grow them from seed or cuttings and so far, so good on most things. The cabbage is way too close as the plants got much bigger than I expected-1 ft spacing with plants around them is WAY too close but they are self mulching this way and will soon be harvested. The variegated chard is a color punch next to the greens in the beds. The calediums and coleus are both giving nice color to the shady areas and are good next to the hostas.  Some of the begonias have red leaves too which is a pretty punch of color in the shade. I added the red leafed lettuce there too for show and for our table.


We planted some of the wildflowers in the bed under the tree but they get a bit too much shade so when they are done blooming they are moving to the sunny bed. I already moved a plumbago clumping to the sunny bed and added a few marigolds that self-seeded alternating with parsley along the border.  The geraniums wintered pretty well and are showing off nicely in the middle of the sunny bed. George is able to see the zinnias and sunflowers from his office window now that they are tall enough. The blue salvia is doing so much better than the white one that we are a little over on the blue plants. 


We are using natural colored mulch and have put in 20 bags so far. I think 5 or 6 more bags will do the trick. I am sure the garden guys at the big box just smile each time I leave with another 6 bags of the stuff. The mulch we used before was soil colored and too hard to identify when I needed to cultivate. We did add massive amounts of compost and organic garden soil to the beds this year and I am delighted we did that. Plants really are growing well in the mix. The organic soil is reputed to have too much nitrogen and the compost too little so the mix must be just right. 

Wells Branch Gardening group discusses soil sampling and planting with native plants

Having 2 guest speakers worked well for the group to get information on how to do their soil samples and where to send them. Janet Church even brought the sampling bags and applications to submit them. She had information about sending samples for organic sampling as well. Apparently A&M not only does the sampling but sends a list of recommendations on what to do to correct deficiencies. 


Shelley Palmer brought a number of booklets to help homeowners plan the kind of landscaping they would like to install and information on a grant from the city that defrays the cost of implementing the change from turf to less thirst landscaping. Catch is that you have to remove 500 or more sq ft to qualify. At $20-30 per 100 sq ft plus the water savings it is something I certainly am considering. I wish we had known about this before we converted the side yard to a wandering walk this spring and put in the 2 walks in the backyard with just borders to water. Tripling the perennial bed out front too would have been to include in this type of project. To check the program out go to: City landscape program
Next month we'll meet to discuss landscape plans and winter plantings. 

Gardener's group to meet Nov 6

What a great meeting this is shaping up to be! Come early at 11:30 for a seed and plant exchange then stay for this great program beginning at noon. 


First we'll have not one but two guests from the Native Plants Society of Williamson county who are master gardeners or naturalists (that means that they know quite a lot and have taken special certification classes) then we'll  be having a plant and seed exchange. Our first guest Janet Church, who knows something about soil, is bringing kits with her and will explain how to take samples and submit them to the lab for analysis. She says she is open to questions about the whole topic of soil so we can ask anything we want. I think she may have information on what to do with the results and may be able to elaborate on the soil problems guide I got from my on-line gardening group. 

Then WB resident Shelley Palmer (at left pointing out a tree to residents) will  lead a discussion on  “Sustainable landscaping with Texas native plants." She’ll talk about the reasons to do this, how to do this, resources and a city of Austin program that might be of help. This is so timely as the requests for funds need to be into the program by December. She will be bringing a box of the Green Grower books also.

Wells Branch Gardening group has its first meeting at WBCL

We met Saturday and brainstormed on the kinds of things we'd like to discuss or find out and times to meet in the future. We settled on the 1st Saturday of the month at noon at the Wells Branch Community Library. We are working with Natosha Gibbs to be a regularly sponsored group. Our next meeting is November 6th and we decided to have someone in to talk about soil sampling and have a plant and seed exchange. We are hoping Shelley today from Central Texas Native will be able to do this as she is a resident.  My friend Liz, who is a master gardener in Williamson county directed me to the agriLife Extension for information about sampling. I found the form for urban soil and downloaded it from this link. It appears that the Travis county office suffered considerable rain damage and is not currently open.


As a group we really wanted to focus on more organic gardening and water conservation. Tara pointed out that residents were eligible for the rebate on water barrels with a receipt. Austin's program includes all areas that are served by them like our MUD. More information on this is at AustinWater page with tons of information on water conservation and the rain barrels, including ones purchased on craigslist. She also recommended myfolia.com for tracking your plantings and more. The link is on the left.


We also discussed the location of local Farmer's Markets in Austin and the surrounding areas. If anyone knows of locations and times, it would be helpful. I added Johnson's link to the list at left and it last a resouses tab that lists several. George Holcombe pointed out that the Eastside Cafe has its own garden and irrigation system. It might be worth a field trip to see the gardens there.  George is using a well laid out drip irrigation in his garden.He is just off the trail and the garden is well worth a look.