Seasonal Advice for the Garden
This section features gardening tips appropriate for the season and also gardening tips applicable year-round. One great resource is information from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
Recommended Planting Dates for North Texas.
Note: The links below will take you to information provided by one of Garland's locally owned garden centers.
Rohde's August 2015 Organic Gardening Calendar
- PREFACE
- VEGETABLES_ANNUAL_FRUITS
- HERBS
- FLOWERS
- ORNAMENTAL_GRASSES
- TREES_SHRUBS_VINES
- LAWN_TURF_GRASSES_GROUND_COVERS
- GENERAL_PESTS_DISEASES
- OTHER_THINGS_TO_DO_THIS_MONTH
We are in USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 8a with an annual minimum temperature of 15 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit,http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/. Click the "Interactive Map" tab to get street level views. In Dallas you will find warmer 8b zone areas normally found from Waco south. This is due to the concrete "urban heat island" effect.
Also in Texas AgriLife Extension Service District 4 (East Region) - North (Dallas): http://urbansolutionscenter.tamu.edu/
Our soil is predominantly blackland prairie clay or "Houston Black" officially with areas of sandy Cross Timber soils north, east, and through parts of Ft Worth's Tarrant County. (ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/TX/factsheets/fact_houstonsoil.pdf).
Plant heat zones for Dallas-Ft Worth: The zones give the average number of days a year that an area has over 86 degrees temperatures. The temperature many plants apparently become affected by heat. Click here for more information:http://www.beorganic.com/additional_info/plant_heat_zones.html.
AHS Plant Heat Zone Map;. Dallas, Ft Worth, north, west,& south is zone 9 (120-150 days). Rockwall, north & east is zone 8 (90-120 days).
Plant Maps Interactive Heat Zones Map for Texas; Dallas Ft Worth is also in zones 8 (91-120 days > 86°F ) or zone 9 (121-150 days > 86°F)
Sunset Climate Zones; We are in ZONE 33. North-Central Texas and Oklahoma Eastward to the Appalachian Foothills
NOAA's Weather Forecast:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html
Synopsis: There is a greater than 90% chance that El Niño will continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, and around an 80% chance it will last into early spring 2016.
Odds have increased some from last month as El Niño continues to strengthen.