Jesse Jenkins

My two goals for my garden are to only use organics and to constantly be eating!

Check out the harvest: wax beans, eggplant, cucumbers, banana peppers, tangerine peppers, purple string beans, jalapenos, San Marzano tomatoes (great for pasta and pizza sauce), and sun bright tomatoes.

If you want good veggies, prepping the garden beds is the most important thing. I amended my soil with organic compost and used Medina Growin’ Green to fertilize. I sprinkled both on the surface of the soil, then used a tiller to work both into the existing heavy clay soil.

Since I’ve re-done this bed a few times, the soil has gotten closer to a nice sandy loam. It gets a lot softer and easier to work with each year.

Other than making sure you prep your beds and amend your soil, keeping everything mulched might be the next most important thing to do. Mulch helps a lot with watering – it helps retain moisture. Since I don’t want to use any chemicals, mulch is also important for helping control weeds.

Pro tip: plant your entire veggie garden first, then go in and fill small spots with wax bean seeds since they produce a lot and don’t take up a lot of space.

-Larry

Feeding your lawn and garden during Fall (mid-September thru early November) provides the nutrients needed for Fall & Winter; AND a healthy start for next Spring.

While the soil is still warm, plants and lawns are actively growing. They take up and store food, but not so much as it gets colder. Fall fertilizing helps your lawn and landscape look their very best now. Prime time is passing quickly so don’t put this off.

We highly recommend our Gill Lawn & Garden Fertilizer. Around here we call it Gill Food. It is specifically blended for our area. It combines fast, slow, and organic forms of nitrogen with micronutrients. Think of it as a great meal for your landscape!

Also high on our list is Medina Growin Green Organic Fertilizer, made from humate, poultry manure, & molasses. It provides balanced nutrient supply, improves soil health, and nutrient availability.

Both of these need to be watered in to work. So plan to water with at least ½ inch of irrigation. And please don’t wait for it to rain… we all know that’s dependable… or not… LOL

See ya soon!

-Debbie

Over the years, my trough garden has seen mostly flowers and herbs. I’ve tried tomatoes a few times, but this year I decided to try kale.

I started eating kale when I read it was the #1 food source for healthy eyes. It wasn’t my favorite tasting green, but I found that it’s great mixed with blueberries in a smoothie. Plus, it’s easy to grow and lasts longer into the season than other greens.

I planted five kale plants about a month ago, fed lightly with HastaGro weekly, and starting this past week, I’ve had enough production to harvest smoothie greens most mornings! If the plants start looking a little too thin, I supplement with HEB’s organic spinach & kale mix. Yum!

Here’s the recipe:

Blend first:
– 2-3 oz Pomegranate juice
– 2 tbsp Lemon juice
– 3-5 Kale leaves, chopped
– 2 tbsp Ground flax seed
2 tbsp Yogurt

Then add:
– 1.1.5 cup Blueberries, frozen
– 1/2 Banana, frozen
– 1 scoop Protein powder

Sometimes I add fresh grated turmeric too. Hope you enjoy!

Please share some of your favorite recipes from your garden and we’ll pass some on in our garden blog in preparation for Thanksgiving! Send recipes to info@gillnursery.com.

-Sally Gill

Take-All Root Rot (TARR), or Take-All Patch, is a serious fungal disease affecting St. Augustine and Bermuda grass lawns in the Coastal Bend. I have diagnosed 4 cases in the last 7 days, with lawn damage ranging from a few small dead spots up to an 80% dead lawn overrun by weeds, which last year was a great source of pride to the now-dismayed owner.

High soil pH, soil compaction, too much or too little fertilizer, too much or too little irrigation, or herbicide injury are all stress factors that can make lawns more susceptible to TARR. TARR is related to but different from Large Patch (Brown Patch), which we commonly see in Fall and Winter. Large Patch results in temporary brown roughly circular patches during Winter but the lawn revives in Spring, whereas TARR kills roots and runners completely and the lawn will not recover on its own.

TARR, like Large Patch, can be spread by mowers, foot traffic, birds, and wind. TARR cannot be cured or eliminated, but it can be suppressed by cultural practices or by fungicide use. We prefer to treat organically by spreading one 3.8 cubic foot bale of Canadian peat moss over 1000 square feet of lawn in October or November, followed in March by Natures Blend compost at one bag per 50 square feet of lawn. We have had good results in restoring lawns with this method. Or you can choose to apply Fertilome F-Stop fungicide granules in October, November, December, and January, once a month. For patches 3 feet across or more, I recommend plugging Floratam St. Augustine into the dead areas, with a little Natures Blend compost beneath and on top.

First visual symptoms of TARR are yellow patches or strips, followed by thinning brown patches of lawn with a few unhealthy tufts of green, showing some dead brown runners and darkened, weak, unhealthy roots. Confirmation of TARR requires a microscope to observe a network of black filaments running over the surface of infected stolons (runners). Bring in a sample of diseased but still living runners (not completely brown and dead), and we can advise you on best cultural practices to have the best lawn possible.

– James Gill

If your lawn is showing symptoms of this disease (see last week’s blog), you can treat with Disease EX fungicide with the active ingredient Azoxystrobin. Or treat organically by top dressing with Peat Moss in the Fall followed by Natures’ Blend Compost in the Spring. If you suspect any problems with your lawn, we can diagnose and help find the right solution. Watch Wyatt’s video on how to collect a grass sample.

Our son Trevor flew in this week from the Northwest for a week of family time. One of his favorite pastimes in Portland, Oregon is disc golf. Who knew, Ingleside, Texas has two good disc golf courses at Live Oak Park.

Early Sunday morning James, Trevor, our dog Callie, and I loaded up to spend the morning watching Trevor play the very challenging 18 holes.

Wow – what beauty! Winding trails, old windswept Oaks, Yaupon Holly bursting with berries, blooming grasses, American Beauty Berry loaded with purple berries, Redbays and Palmettos blanket the park. It was a sight to see for us and is a very important food source for our local & migrating birds and other wildlife that live in the area.

We have so many natural treasures around us – the Welder Wildlife Refuge, Goose Island State Park, Botanical Gardens of South Texas, Oso Bay Wetland Preserve, Mustang Island, National Seashore, and Live Oak Park! And no better time to visit than now, with crisp Fall air and cool temperatures! Happy Thanksgiving!

–Sally Gill

We love this time of year here in the garden center, and we want to make sure you get the very best out of your holiday favorites! So, we made a list of quick care tips to help you out:

Poinsettias

Place in indirect sunlight, indoors or out
Water every other day to every 3^rd day by setting in sink to soak, then drain or place 4-5 ice cubes per day in pot
Fertilize every 2 weeks with Hasta Gro
Periodically freshen up by pulling old leaves

Christmas Trees (Fresh Cut)

Avoid placing tree in draft of heater or air conditioner
Keep water reservoir filled! Tree will drink a lot at first and then slow down once the tree is hydrated

Living Christmas Trees

Limit the amount of time they are indoors – up to 2 weeks is good
Water when dry, about every 3 days depending on size of root ball
At end of season, when moving back outdoors acclimate to full sun

Christmas Cactus

Keep in indirect sunlight, indoors or out
Water when dry, about every 4-5 days
Fertilize every 2 weeks with Hasta Gro

English Ivy Topiaries

Keep in indirect sunlight, indoors or out
Water when dry, about every 7 days depending on root ball size and air humidity
Again, fertilize with Hasta Gro every few weeks
Trim as needed to shape our tuck new runners into the topiary form

Blooming Amaryllis

Keep in good indirect indoor light
Keep soil moist but not wet
Once bloom fades, trim and plant in garden, leaving center of bulb above soil level

Blooming Cyclamen

One more time…keep in good indirect indoor or outdoor light
Water when dry
Trim spent blooms to encourage new blooms
Best outdoors in pots once holiday season is over

Even though I love flowers in the garden all year long, for sure Fall and Winter annuals are my favorite. I think it’s because they thrive in cooler temperatures (just like we do), they don’t take much care, and I love their strong colors and soft, sweet scents.

I had an aha moment yesterday when I took a pause from my long “to do” list to go out into the garden – I immediately felt better! The deep green foliage, the brilliant colors – the purples and reds and oranges and yellows – gave me peace. It was a reminder to me to slow down, get outside, and enjoy God’s gifts.

– Sally Gill