LAST FREE CLASS OF THE SEASON! Please come join us. Class attendees will receive a coupon good for 20% OFF one item purchased that day! (Excluding bulk soil yard products and sale items. Discount cannot be combined with any other offer.)

Classes are free, and no registration is required. All classes are held Saturday mornings at 9:00 a.m. unless otherwise specified. Most classes are about one hour long. All are subject to change- please call to confirm. Classes are held outdoors under an open air canopy, so be sure to dress for the weather. Arrive early for best seating. Seating is limited- you are welcome to bring your own folding chair.

September 17 – Lauren Woodward-Stanley, of Stanley Studio, presents “Green Roofs: Austin, Texas.” What are green roofs and why do they matter? What is their potential in Central Texas? These vegetative architectural wonders take many forms, colors, and sizes. Especially in the context of drought and urban growth in the region, it is important to examine the role of green roofs as one piece of Austin’s green infrastructure. Green roofs are an exciting opportunity to make our community more resilient and more beautiful! Lauren Woodward Stanley, of Stanley Studio, shares her experiences and comments about green roofs in our area. Lauren is an AIA member and Masters Graduate of UT’s School of Architecture, who cut her teeth on green roofs while in Seattle.  She and husband Lars Stanley, a blacksmith and architect, have been growing their design practice and young family on a 2-acre “rurban” compound in central east Austin, complete with a studio green roof.  Lauren is a member of the Green Roof Advisory Group initiated by Councilmember Chris Riley to help establish a best practice approach and appropriate incentives for green roofs in Austin.  She is also a co-founder of GRoWERS (Green Roofs: Working Expertise, Regional Solutions), which aims to facilitate the design and installation of small green roofs of all varieties across the city.

click here for more info!

I’ve not had a lot of time to get into the Austin news I missed while I was gone, but did find this Statesman page with some fun gardening events coming up.  Here are a few that are most pertinent to being green by growing your own food:

• Do-it-yourself day: Vegetable gardens and rain gardens. Master Gardener Tommie Clayton and landscape architect John Gleason speak, followed by a tour of the Zilker Green Garden. 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 27. $10. Registration required. Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. 974-2550, www.ci.austin.tx.us/green
garden/ggc_training.htm.
• “Experience the Fun of Planting Seeds in the Fall.”Georgetown Garden Club meeting. 1:30 p.m. Sept. 1. Georgetown Parks and Recreation Community Room, 1101 N. College. Free. 512-746-2076, www.
georgetowngardenclub.org.
• Austin Herb Society meeting.Annual members luncheon and general meeting. 9:30 a.m. to noon Sept. 6. Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road. www.austinherbsociety.org.
• Keep Austin Wild classes. Become a Certified Habitat Steward and learn to garden for desirable wildlife and help create, maintain and restore wildlife habitat as part of the City’s Keep Austin Wild initiative. Thirty hours of classes from Sept. 8 through Oct. 6. $40. 974-4009, www.cityofaustin.org/parks/wildlifehabitat.htm.
• From the garden to the table. Williamson County and Cities Health District offers free cooking, nutrition and gardening course. 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sept. 13, 20 and 27. WIC Clinic, Round Rock WCCHD Office, 211 Commerce Cove, Round Rock. E-mail cabels@wcchd.org to register.
• Home fruit production seminar. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 17. A seminar presented by the Travis County Master Gardeners on growing fruit at home. Limited seating. Register and pay online at agriliferegister.tamu.edu, keyword search: Fruit. Room 1130, Austin Community College, 1820 Stassney Lane. $25. 854-9600, www.tcmaster
gardeners.org.

 SEEDS: Start seeds indoors under grow-lights or in a greenhouse 6-8 weeks before you intend to plant outside. Press the seeds into moistened seed starting mix or straight vermiculite. Yogurt cups or paper coffee cups work fine as pots. Poke several holes in the bottom for drainage. Keep seed pots moist and warm (between 70 and 80 degrees) until seeds germinate. To keep seeds warm, set pots in a sunny window, on a seed heating mat (or ordinary heating pad) or a warm spot on top of the fridge.

Meee! I haven’t had a lot of success with winter gardening, things have not been growing very fast at all, but I did finally have enough kale to make some delicious Italian soup, like the kind they serve at the Olive Garden.  It’s not very healthy and it’s not vegetarian, but at least a small fraction of it came from my back yard.  Here’s a link to the recipe - I didn’t use any bacon and used less cream than recommended, and I probably used 5 cups of chopped kale.

I made some shrimp gumbo with all of the okra I’ve been getting from my garden.  I had to buy all of the other ingredients I used, so it was only a slightly “local” dish, but still exciting since usually I don’t get enough from my garden to make much.

We’re also getting a few oranges which is very exciting. We didn’t realize that they are ready when they turn yellow, so a few went bad and turned brown while we were waiting for them to turn orange.  But the ones we’ve had have been pretty good – not very big or sweet, but still tasty.

Over the weekend I went to the Natural Gardener again and went a little crazy. I picked up some cabbage, kale, and broccoli, and also a few drought resistant, deer resistant plants for a side garden I’ve been working on.

Over the weekend someone came and ate a couple of kale plants completely, and also ate most of the leaves off of some beet plants I’ve been growing.  So sad! Also, caterpillars have been eating my cabagges - I had been picking them off by hand last week, but I bought some spray at Natural Gardener as well, so hopefully that works more efficiently.