Now it's August, and things have changed. It's ridiculously hot. And dry. The armadillo has found your priceless stockpile of earthworms, and has proceeded to blindly, thoughtlessly vandalize everything. The only flowers you see are from the wild morning glory vines that have taken over your texas sage and the giant weedy daisy looking things you've been meaning to pull. Things are bad, and you're beginning to consider not only a new hobby, but a new region of the country in which to practice it. But alas, out of the heavens a dark cloud blows in, and for the next day and a half your parched paradise gets soaked in sweet, sweet summer rain, pregnant with nitrogen and magical microbes, and your heart sings. Before the last drop of rain hits the roof, you're sprinting out to the garden to give it a great big horticultural hug. After a few days of crawling around in a post-rain steam cloud, pulling weeds and deadheading spent blooms, your celebration is interrupted by the discovery of a dead lavender plant. Whole thing, dead. Yesterday it was fine. You scan the bed, and see a few more dead lavenders. A half dead blackfoot daisy withers in the shade of a wilting Texas sage. Over the next couple of weeks, half of everything you planted in your dry bed last fall wilts, then dies. You water, but it doesn't seem to help.

August and September are crucial and difficult months in the Austin garden for many reasons, mostly because it's all kinds of hot. But the answer is often more involved than that, especially regarding drought tolerant xeric perennials and desert shrubs. The hard truth is, Austin suffers from a sort of multiple personality disorder when it comes to climate. Temperature and moisture can shift dramatically and quickly, taking a semi-arid August dunescape straight into equatorial jungle terrarium literally overnight. Heat plus moisture plus nutrient rich, organic soil is like kryptonite to many of our toughest desert plants. Many harmful soil fungi are at their best under these conditions, and waste no time turning vulnerable plant roots into a fungal buffet. Plants like lavender, culinary sage, silver germander, and blackfoot daisies, that have spent thousands of years living and evolving in dry climates, have traded their fungus fighting skills for other adaptations like waxy or succulent leaves, and other physiological and chemical mechanisms to combat heat and drought. This means they're sitting ducks when opportunistic soil fungi that normally occur in wet, tropical or subtropical climates are enjoying their day in the sun.

We can't control when rain happens, and there's nothing better than an August storm in Central Texas. But if you want to keep your dry plants happy and floriferous through summer, there are a few preventative measures you can take.

1. Location, location, location. Pick a site for your xeric plants that is sunny and breezy. Sloped areas are better than flat, as they allow moisture to drain from the soil faster.

2. Poor soil is best for xeric plants. Don't baby your blackfoot daisies with rich, composted soil. Good old fashioned sandy loam with little to no amendments and no mulch will give harmful fungi no safe harbor. Once plants are established, keep soil on the dry side and nutrient poor, and your plants will live for many years.

3. Be patient. If you follow steps 1 and 2, you will likely notice your plants growing slowly, and in the summer not growing much at all. This is what is supposed to happen. Be the tortoise, not the hare, and win the race. Patience is both free and priceless in the garden.

Pictured: Blue Glow Agave in the August sun

Pictured: Fern Leaf Lavender

Give your garden late afternoon and evening shade by placing a trellis on the southwestern or western part of your garden and growing a heat-tolerant vining plant up the trellis. Such plants include cucumber, green beans and hyacinth beans. You can also grow sunflowers or corn on the west side of the garden. These plants grow as tall as six feet and can give shade to trailing plants like squash and melons. Last but not least, you can hang a shade cloth made out of bed sheets on the western side of your garden, or you can plant tall, sun-loving plants in front of short, shade-loving plants

Fire ants are a very common, warm weather garden pest and can harm plants as well as humans and animals with their sting. If you have access to a stove or electric tea kettle, we recommend carefully pouring three gallons of boiling water on each mound. For an easier fix, you can find organic fire ant control products under our cashier tent!

Pictured: Composting is an amazing summer project, the city of Austin offers a $75 rebate towards qualifying composters.

Heat-loving plants that have adapted to our climate will be the most successful. Many varieties of squash grow well here. Prolific, heat-loving tomatoes are a staple in most summer gardens for good reason. If your tomato plant stops producing fruit in July or August, you can cut it back severely, give it a layer of compost or mulch, and it should start putting out more fruit in September. Eggplant and okra are great options as well and can provide abundant fruit in mid and late summer.

Pictured: Drought tolerant, native, pink Guara lindheimeri

August brings bugs. Lots of bugs. All kinds of bugs, and many of them want to destroy your fabulous plants. That's where we come in! We have all the organic pest control solutions you will need during the high insect season. This month we want to share with you the magic of neem Concentrate mixed with karanja oil. Neem oil is an incredible, multi-purpose insecticide that has about a 68% efficacy on its first application. 68% is a great number, but wouldn't 100% be even better? Why yes, yes it would. That's where the karanja oil comes in. 

When karanja oil is mixed 1:1 with a neem concentrate/water solution, the result is a garden pest's worst nightmare. Better coverage, better viscosity, better action. Mixing karanja oil enhances the effectiveness of any organic pesticide it is mixed with, but it is especially effective when used with neem oil. If you have issues with hordes of spider mites and aphids this potent mixture is what you have been looking for! 

T here are many other fantastic products under our cashier tent and in our gift shop that address a litany of pest and fungal issues. Whether you are looking for a spinosad soap, a bi-carbonate anti-fungal, or just some diatomaceous earth, we have all the organic, water-safe, pollinator safe pesticides you could ever need. Please come in and ask us for help, we look forward to helping you beat back those bugs.

Organic Pest Control in Austin