- Hi, there, I'm Tom Spencer.

This week on Central
Texas Gardener,

discover how plants, beneficial
insects and pests interact.

Harris County Extension
Horticulturist Skip Richter

explores the relationship

and what new research
has uncovered.

On tour, a makeover
controls flooding

and adds dimension
with low-care plants

for wildlife and curb appeal.

Daphne answers your top question

and Daniel Cunningham shows
how to make rain barrels.

So, let's get growing,
right here, right now!

- [Announcer] Central
Texas Gardener

is made possible by the
University of Texas at Austin

Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center,

displaying Texas native
plants in sustainable gardens.

And with generous support

from Lisa & Desi
Rhoden, thank you.

Support for this and
other KLRU productions

made possible by the
Producers Circle,

ensuring local
programming that reflects

the character and interests

of the Greater Austin,
Texas community.

(upbeat music)

- On tour, a makeover
controls flooding

and adds terraced dimension

with low-care plants for
wildlife and curb appeal.

- [Narrator] After
living in Santa Fe,

Kathy Lund wanted a
water-thrifty garden

when she moved to Austin
and renovated a 1960s home.

Long hours as a veterinarian
called for low-care plants

that didn't demand
lots of spare time.

Friend and former
husband Richard Lund

of Grupo Pacific in
Carlsbad, California,

styled the exterior's
facelift with slatted panels.

James Mack, of Jemco,
executed precise construction.

They also teamed up
to design and build

slatted privacy fences
anchored with stainless steel.

The side fence encloses
a small courtyard patio.

Landscape designer Bud
Twilley turned Plain Jane flat

into terraced levels that
control rainwater runoff.

He revamped the entrance walkway
with offset limestone pads.

- The front door is
so far to the left,

I wanted to bring people

more towards the
center of the house

and have a nice meandering
pathway up to the front

instead of a straight
shot from the street.

- [Narrator] Gravel tempers
rainfall on the slope

to let it slowly sink in.

- [Bud] At first she
didn't want any lawn.

So I had designed gravel
for the whole yard.

I finally talked her into a
little bit of zoysia grass

just to soften the whole effect.

And I think it works.

On this kinda slope I
definitely would use gravel.

And there's so many
different types.

This is a rainbow gravel.

Mulch would just be
down in the street.

She wanted to be able to
walk around the house,

so we did that path around
to the back of the house

with the stepping stones.

I like to use larger
gravel on the streets

'cause that usually prevents
dogs from walking in your yard.

Then that's the Brazos brown.

- [Narrator] Bud's first step

was to clear the
area of weedy growth

and cover it with two to three
inches of quality top soil.

- And then we put the gravel
on top, the thicker the better.

So try to go three to
four inches on the gravel.

- [Narrator] He accented with
boulders, dotted with lichen,

for an Austin-meets-Santa
Fe connection.

Steel planters add
another layer of depth

between the curb and
grassy upper level.

- [Bud] Along with the limestone
walkway, and the boulders,

we've got a good match
going with the steel

and the stone and the gravel.

- [Narrator] Succulents
and perennials for wildlife

need little water and
very little tending.

Still a young garden,

wide spacing prevents
overcrowding in a few years.

Although Kathy wasn't
going for privacy,

her plants break up the view

while connecting
to the upper level.

Hummingbirds and
butterflies flock

to fall-blooming
Salvia leucantha.

Pride of Barbados
stars in warm weather

to attract all kinds
of pollinators.

Low maintenance Knock Out roses
color things up for months.

- [Bud] Taking this
through to the side,

we just incorporated
the Brazos brown

with the stepping stones.

And it gets full, full sun.

So it's harsh conditions.

So I think on that side
we put sotols, and yuccas,

and heartier plants that
would take this full sun.

And I think it goes well

with the contemporary
fence that she had built.

- [Narrator] One side
frames a shady courtyard

where Kathy's dogs hang out

with her and friends
after a long day.

She makes the most of
this small L-shaped space

with a sculptural,
concrete water fountain.

Later, Kathy found a
silvery metal sculpture

that spirals dimension

and gleams after
hours under moonlight.

Kathy and friends also
hang out on the front porch

to chat with neighbors
strolling by.

Richard and James collaborated

on what they've all
dubbed the wine bar.

In her free time, Kathy
can actually enjoy it all.

Sure, she's out there
for seasonal pruning,

clean-up, and planting.

But she doesn't have to
sweat it out every weekend.

- If you start out right,
and with the right materials,

and the right plants, you
can do low maintenance.

It's pretty self-sufficient.

- Well it's Old Home Week,
we have a reunion of sorts

going on on the Central
Texas Gardener set.

We're joined by Skip Richter,

who is an alumnus

of the Central Texas Gardener.

And great to have you be a
part of the program again.

You are currently the AgriLife
Extension horticulturalist

in Houston.
- Yes.

- Welcome back.

- Thank you, it's
good to be back.

- We have a great
topic to discuss today,

and that is beneficial insects,

how to know them
and how to encourage

their presence in your garden.

And this is a topic that
you're really passionate about,

and it grows from
your experience

of just taking
some time to look.

- That's right, the more
I get close up to nature

and look, and learn, the
more fascinated I become.

And rather than seeing it's me

versus the pests in the garden,

and I've gotta kill everything.

Whether it's synthetic
or organic sprays.

That approach, getting and
looking at how nature operates.

What I did one day is I
was out in the garden,

and I just sat down
and started looking

at one of my cole crop leaves.

I turned it over, and there
were a bunch of aphids on it.

And then this little gnat-like
thing crawling around.

And it was going
up to the aphids.

And so I used my phone,

which, buy a little hand
loop which is about 10 bucks.

- I know, right?
- And sticking it

over the lens of your phone,

now your whole phone screen
becomes this giant magnifier.

And I saw that the it
was a parasitoid wasp

going up and laying eggs in
aphids, individual aphids.

And that just got me started.

And I just think if
people would take time

to go out and sit in
the garden a minute

and watch up close.
- Right.

- And when you see a pest,
don't just run to go kill it,

look at what's
going on around it.

- Right.
- And you may find

that your job's been done.

- Right, and the
beneficial insects,

you don't wanna kill them.
- No.

- In fact, you encourage
putting plants in the garden

to attract them.

- I actually do.

That's a hard sell
for gardeners.

But one of my favorite
plants for that

is the tropical milkweed, or
also called Mexican milkweed,

with the yellow and
orange flowers on top.

It just loads up
with the yellow aphid

we call the oleander aphid.

And I plant those in the garden,

'cause it covers up with aphids.

But that aphid doesn't
get on my roses,

or tomatoes, or crepe-myrtles,
or cole crops or anything.

It's specific to that plant.

And one day I turned a leaf over

and saw about 12
parasitized aphids,

and a lady beetle larvae
and two Syrphid fly larvae.

All on one leaf, and I realized,

this isn't an aphid problem,

this is a nursery for
beneficial insects.

- [Tom] Right.

- So when that lady beetle
goes through its life cycle

and goes flying around,

it has to go four feet
to get to my plants

rather than come across

the St. Augustine yards
of the neighborhood

and I hope it discovers
my little garden there.

- Right, right, so
effectively you're putting

food crop out for the
beneficial insects,

knowing that they're
gonna take care

of more than what
you're serving.

- Absolutely, you know,

some adults and their
young eat aphids,

like lady beetles
and their larvae.

And some adults feed on
pollen of flowers, and nectar,

and their babies eat the aphids,

or whatever the pest
is we're talking about.

- [Tom] This is
really exciting work,

and I think that a lot of people

are keen to hear
these kind of thing,

they wanna do right
by mother nature.

But how do they learn,
where do they go to learn,

what is beneficial
and what is harmful?

- There is a lot of
good websites out there.

There's one called
bugwood.org, bugwood,

strange word, dot org.

That is insect images
from across the country

that entomologists,
people send them in,

they go put the name on
them and categorize them.

So you could go hunting
for a particular insect

by its proper scientific
name, or by its common name.

And you can just
learn more and more.

But you become the expert
on what's in your garden.

- Of course, yeah.

But to become an expert,
people need to replicate

kind of what you did, which
is to stop for a moment

and just pay attention, which
is a very rare thing nowadays.

- Just learn what's going on.

I use those plastic containers
that salad comes in,

the little boxes, and I
have a little vase, vases,

and I'll pick a leaf that's
got an unknown larva on it

or a pupa, put it in
there and close the door,

and set it in the
house and just watch it

and see what comes out of it.

- Oh, interesting.
- And that's how

I learned a lot of the
different insects that we have.

- That's smart.
- Which is,

most people wouldn't put up with

having bugs inside the house,

but going out to the garden and
just sitting and being still

because some of the
best beneficials

are the ones you don't see
when you're just looking

at the garden from a distance.

- You can learn so much,

and people need to get
over the fear of insects.

One thing that
I've heard is that

plants actually recruit insects

by sending out
pheromones into the air

and they say come help
me, I've got a pest here,

and I need a little hand.

- It is amazing, this is a
new frontier in entomology

and plant-insect interrelations.

You know, when a pest
chews on a plant,

the plant may put out
some type of a pheromone

that other plants pick up, and
they start to make defenses

against the insect because
their neighbor told them

there's a problem over here.

Beneficial insects pick up
that pheromone, certain ones,

and that may tell them
I'm likely to find a meal

down on this plant,
and they kinda hone in.

And then there's all
kinds of other ways

that that interaction

goes on.
- Ah, it's amazing.

Above the ground and
under the ground, as well,

all sorts of interactions.

- Yes, interaction
between roots, and yeah,

it's just fascinating.
- Right, right.

Well you had some
really practical things

that you've done in
your garden to create

kind of like delis for

the beneficial insects.
- Yes, yes.

- Let's talk a little
bit about that,

because I love the
strategies you devise.

- Well, if you build it,
they will come, it's true.

And one thing, as I
mentioned earlier,

some of the adult beneficials
need pollen and nectar.

In fact, even lady
beetles will go

and feed a little bit on that.

But so you need some flowers,

flowers that are in
the daisy family.

Like chamomile, or daisies, or
cone flower and other things,

they're real easy for the
insects to get into the nectar.

Flowers that are in
the carrot family,

they have an
umbrella-like seed head

and that would be things
like yarrow, for example.

Or when I harvest my carrots,

I leave a few at
the end of the row

to go ahead and bolt
and they send up a lot

of these wonderful flowers

that just really
attract things in.

And I've got all
the rest of that bed

to plant the next crop in.

And there's a lot of other
ways to go about that,

but herbs are great,
chives when they bloom

bring in a lot of pollinators.

- And it's interesting
you say that,

'cause as you talked about,

letting plants bolt
and go to seed,

I just recall yeah, I can
remember so many times

being out in the garden and
seeing a plant that had bolted

and it would be
covered with insects.

- And I've evolved
a lot over the years

from that traditional
farm-looking garden

where everything was controlled

and we pounded the soil
to death with rototillers,

to more of trying to make
more of a natural setting

without just making it a
wild garden, which is fine.

Cottage gardens are fine,

but I wanna get the most
production that I can out of it.

And yet at the same time,
bring in all of the things

that are helping me
so I don't have to

get out there and spray.

- [Tom] Well, you
know, it makes sense.

It's cheaper, it's
better for mother nature,

it's easier for you
in the long run.

- And it's fun.
- Exactly.

- It is just fascinating.

- Yeah, fascinating
and wondrous, you know?

- If I just want vegetables,

I can go to the store
and buy a carrot.

But where can I sit
and look, and learn,

and see this
interaction going on?

- Well you had some
other strategies,

including what you
call insectary buckets.

- Yes.
- Well now,

stop for a moment and tell
us what an insectary is.

- Okay.
- And then describe

the bucket idea.
- An insectary garden

is a garden designed to
bring in beneficials.

And it could be
just an ornamental,

like a cottage garden of sorts.

Or you could do it
in your vegetables.

My particular vegetable
plot is a little small,

so I don't want to give up space

planting all of these
flowers everywhere.

I have a few.

So I use buckets to grow plants

that I know will
attract beneficials.

Alyssum in the cool season and
Lobularia in the warm season,

and small daisy-like
flowers like I mentioned.

And I have a post in the garden,

and I just hang a
couple of buckets on it.

In fact, I have
buckets all around

the periphery of the garden.

And so when a particular
annual starts not blooming,

or it kind of
finishes its season,

I can just bring a bucket
with something blooming in.

So without giving
up garden space,

I've got all of these insectary
plants that are present.

- Well that's I think
a very wise approach,

and especially for
people nowadays

with such tight garden spaces.

You know, we don't have, we
can't grow acreage, right?

Nobody can do that anymore.

But we can have these
little pocket gardens

that include the
kinds of elements

that you were just
talking about.

- Right.
- Which is really great.

You know, one thing that
you alluded to earlier

and I just wanted
to underscore too,

is you know,

our tendency to
always want gardens

to be hyper tidy, you know?
- Yes.

- And having some freedom there

to let things get a little loose

and sometimes a little
bolting and things like that

can really be of great benefit
to the overall project.

- It really can, yes.

And being willing to
just experiment with
different things,

find out what works for you,
and how you want it to look.

Some people are very
engineer oriented,

it's all square, right angles,
perfect boxes with string.

And other people are just like,

the garden just looks wild.

- Yeah, right.
- And that's fine too.

- Sure.
- It's your garden,

do what you want with it.
- Exactly.

- And the fun thing
about gardening

is it's like a
big Etch A Sketch,

you can draw whatever you want.

If you don't like
it, you just shake it

and you get to start over.

That shaking is called
pulling all the plants up

and replanting, you know?

- Well shaking to the benefit

of all the great insect
friends that we have out there,

Skip Richter, this
has been a lot of fun.

Great to see you again,
best wishes to you

and the good work
you're doing in Houston.

We miss you here
in Austin, though.

- Well thank you very
much, I've enjoyed it.

- Alright, and coming
up next, it's Daphne.

(jovial music)

- With the abundance of rain,

and unusually mild
temperatures this spring,

we've seen plants growing
by leaps and bounds

in very short time spans.

And as all that rainfall
percolates through the soil,

soluble minerals move with it,

washing essential plant
nutrients below the root zone,

putting them out of reach
at a time when plants need

more of them than usual.

While native plants
are more accustomed

to our natural weather patterns,

and more accustomed
to the natural level

of nutrients in our
soil to begin with,

adapted ornamentals may
struggle a bit with these swings

and need a supplemental
boost in spring.

Nutrient deficiencies manifest
in very particular patterns,

making it relatively
easy for astute gardeners

to course correct with
a bit of fertilizer

before things get
too out of wack.

There's no shortage of
products to choose from,

including many fertilizers
that are naturally derived.

But before you
apply any product,

even an organic one,
indiscriminately,

you need to know just exactly

which nutrients
your plant needs.

Most nutrient
deficiencies manifest

as some sort of yellowing,
which we refer to as chlorosis.

And while there are over 20
essential plant nutrients,

plants require most of
them in such minute amounts

that only a handful will
ever be so low in the soil

as to cause any issues.

Also, plants can move some
of these nutrients around

within their own bodies,

buying time for the external
environment to improve.

Because of this, some
nutrient deficiencies,

such as nitrogen, will
manifest in older leaves

while new leaves appear healthy.

But other deficiencies,
such as iron deficiency,

will manifest on new leaves,

because plants aren't
able to move iron around

once they've incorporated
it into their tissues.

Nitrogen is a nutrient
needed by plants

in the highest quantities,

so it's the most common
nutrient in fertilizers.

Iron deficiency is very common

for gardeners in the western US,

where soil pH tends
towards the alkaline side.

And it manifests as
interveinal chlorosis:

yellowing of the leaves

between the green
veins on new leaves.

Unfortunately, putting
nails in your garden

to correct iron
deficiency doesn't work.

And before you buy any product,

be sure to consult with your
local county extension office

or nursery professional,

to make sure you've correctly
diagnosed the issue.

Early spring wildflower
seeds, including bluebonnets,

should be getting dry
and brown enough to clip

if you want to save some seeds.

Remove the seeds from the pods

and let them dry completely
in the house before storing.

Plant in October and November.

KLRU's vice president,
Benjamin Kramer and his family,

planted bluebonnets
last fall in their yard.

As a nod to CTG producer
Linda Lehmusvirta,

they named them
Linda Bluebonnets.

What a fun family project,

and she's certainly proud

to have a bluebonnet
named for her.

From Carrolltown, Monica
and Darrell Miller

are celebrating their
first hydrangea bloom.

They're growing this beauty
in a container in part shade

on their patio, where
it's obviously thriving.

We'd love to hear from you,
visit centraltexasgardener.org

to share your stories,
pictures, and videos.

- Now let's check in
with Backyard Basics.

- At Texas A&M AgriLife
Water University,

one of the things
were focused on

is how we can save
water in the landscape.

One way you can do that at home

is by building your
own rain barrel

where you can save
from a rainy day.

What we have here is a food
grade 55 gallon plastic drum.

This is made from HDPE plastic,

the same plastic you
use in your milk jug.

This one had soda in it,

but you can look
in your community

and try and find them from
local beverage distributors.

Perhaps you can find some
that had pickles in them,

but you definitely
want to avoid any

that had any petroleum products,
soaps, or any chemicals,

because we don't want those
leaching out of our barrel.

You're going to need
to get a template.

A lot of times the template we
use is just a five inch pot,

but we have our five inch
template already here.

We put that to one side of
the barrel like you see there,

and were just gonna trace this.

So now that we've traced our
five inch hole for our barrel,

we need to drill a pilot hole.

So the best way to do that
is to use a paddle bit.

I have a 3/4 inch
paddle bit right here

hooked up to my power drill,

and just drilling your hole

on the inside of that
edge you just drilled.

The next step is to
grab yourself a jigsaw.

We have a special
blade for our jigsaw

that's specifically
made to cut through PVC.

These work great at cutting
through the barrel as well.

Simply put the
blade of your jigsaw

into the pilot hole and
follow your pattern.

Now that we've got
our hole drilled

right here with our jigsaw

we want to turn the barrel
around, and flip it on its side

to do the hole that our
faucet is going to go into.

Now we have a hole saw
attached to our drill.

This is an inch and 3/4 hole saw

that is gonna
receive our bulkhead.

We simply come up
about two inches.

It doesn't have to be exact.

Next step in order to
get our bulkhead assembly

inside and attached
to the barrel,

we have a high tech
piece of technology

that most everyone
should have at home.

Simply a yardstick and
a roll of duct tape.

We are going to wrap it around
the end of our yardstick,

and just wrap it
around a few times

to provide ourselves a
bit of a sticky surface.

Now we've got our bulkhead,

the part that's going
to be on the inside.

And we're just going to
slap the yardstick on there.

And we're just gonna slap
the yardstick on there.

And it's wet.

So we just simply
take our yardstick,

take the bulkhead and
stick that on there

to where its secure.

Now we're gonna drop our
bulkhead into the barrel,

there we've got it.

Because our bulkhead
assembly is plastic,

and our faucet here
is brass with, again,

that 3/4 inch outside diameter
to receive the bulkhead.

We need to make sure that we put

a little bit of
Teflon tape around it.

What this is going
to do is make sure

that those threads don't
cut into the plastic.

One of the things that
people have difficulty with

is making sure that
your brass faucet

is seated correctly
inside your bulkhead

so you can avoid
stripping the threads.

If at any time it
starts getting cock-eyed

one way or the other
simply back it back out,

make sure it's
level, left to right,

front to back, and try again.

As we tighten the faucet,

our bulkhead is also gonna
tighten against our barrel

to give us a good seal

so we don't have any leaks
and lose any rain water.

One of the most important things

when you are harvesting
rain water on your property

is to make sure you're
not breeding mosquitoes.

One way that we can keep
mosquitoes out of our barrel

is to simply take
some insect netting.

This is the same netting
that you would buy

at any hardware store for
the screens on your windows.

We're going to use this

in conjunction with some
silicone caulk that dries clear

so we can affix the netting
on top of our barrel

to not only keep mosquitoes
from breeding inside here,

but also it's gonna
create a barrier

to deter any types
of leaves or debris

from getting inside our barrel.

It's important to think about

how we're actually going
to set up our barrel

to start harvesting water.

There's a few
things to consider.

We wanna make sure we
put it on a level surface

so there's no tipping hazard.

Another thing to think about
you may want to consider

is raising your barrel
up a little bit.

We like to use cinder
blocks for that purpose.

When you raise up your barrel,

not only do you have better
access to the faucet there

to put watering cans underneath,

but also it raises
the head pressure

of the water in the barrel
so it flows out quickly.

One common misconception

is that you have to have a
gutter to harvest rain water,

and that's actually not true.

If you have a natural
valley in your home's roof

and water comes down traveling
at that valley when it rains,

you can typically
look on the ground

and tell and see where
that water is splashing.

If you do have a gutter system,

the easiest way to get
water in your barrel

is to cut your downspout.

Some downspouts you
simply undo a screw

and you attach this attachment.

This attachment kind of
works like an accordion,

so you have some flexibility

on where you wanna
put your barrel.

Simply attach this
adapter, screw it in there,

and direct the water
into your barrel.

It's a great way
to help your plants

but also make a splash
in your landscape.

You can harvest rainwater too.

Water you waiting for?

- Find out more and watch online

at centraltexasgardener.org.

And subscribe to our
weekly newsletter

to see what's
coming up this week.

Until next time, I'll
see you in the garden.

(lighthearted music)