bees

Because we have a lot of flowers and reservoirs of water at Gill’s, we also have a wonderfully large population of butterflies, dragonflies and bees.

This past 4th of July, I walked into our accounting office and found 8 bees buzzing around our ceiling fluorescent lights. I had never seen so many bees in our office and honestly, wasn’t quite sure what to do. Our buyer, Debbie walked in and immediately had the solution. She directed me to turn off all the lights & close the doors to get the room as dark as possible. Then we opened a window that had good natural light coming from outdoors and the bees, within seconds, began filing out through the window one by one.

I was so happy and amazed at how smart they were. Another example of the WONDERS OF NATURE!!

-Sally

You may have asked yourself at some point in your botanical endeavors, what makes the plant world go around, especially for blooming plants?

Bees are the answer, and are undeniably the most important insect on the planet! They allow us to enjoy all the bounty of our vegetable garden, the bounty of our fruit bearing plants and all the colorful flowers of our landscape. Bees primarily carry out the pollination process, and the impact alone involved in them landing on a flower will sometimes help to start that cycle. Bees harvest pollen by gathering it on their backs and will transport it from one flower to another. This is critical for vegetables like squash, which have both male and female flowers.

To attract bees, you guessed it, you will need flowers. Flat or shallow blossoms like Zinnias, Salvias, Daisies and Asters will attract the largest variety of bees. I’ve found through my experience that bees also love Magic Mountain Basil. Unlike your other basils, you’ll want to keep the flowers on this one. There are many other flowering plants you can choose from and here at Gills, we have most of them in stock, readily available.

If you are running out of room in your garden like I have, you can also consider this alternative: I have found that if you go out and tap all the blooms of your vegetables or fruit bearing plants with your finger, you can transport pollen the very same way. So the next time you get scared when you see a bee, don’t be. We probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them. Bee friendly!

-Matt Pinkerton

Dennis Gray with the Coastal Bend Beekeeper’s Association reminded us this week that Texas Sage plants are one of our local bees main source of food this time of year.

Some of the cultivars we carry are Greencloud Texas Sage, Desperado Sage, Silverado Sage & Rio Bravo Sage. Debbie just ordered some more in the week and they’re pretty!

Image.

-Sally

Growing Fresh Food Part I, Part II

Photos from Debbie’s Last Fall Veggie Garden

We talked about watering and fertilizing last week. Now the fun stuff – watching your garden grow! Each day as you walk the garden, keep an eye out for seedlings emerging and harmful insects and disease, especially as your veggies grow.

Now I must tell you that there will be lots of insects in your garden, most of which are not harmful and many beneficial. Spiders, bees, ladybugs, lacewings, are your garden helpers eating many of the harmful insects. Toads, lizards, and even wasps will prey upon the nuisance critters. So be careful and use caution when using insecticides or fungicides.

In the multitude of choices, I always recommend an organic or non-chemical approach to start. Most common issues are caterpillars, aphids, spider mites, & stink bugs. These are easily controlled with organic products like Thuricide for caterpillars, Neem Oil for aphids, and Spinosad for stink bugs. Serenade is a natural fungicide that controls things like powdery mildew on squash, blights on tomatoes, and black spot on berry plants. A light application of Nature’s Blend around your plants will suppress fungus spores that can splash onto the leaves. Snails and pill bugs (rollie pollies) can be controlled with Snail & Slug Bait or a pan of beer. Of course, You can always be the control….squish!

Nature happens in your garden; lots of good and some not so good but don’t angst too much. It’s ok to have a few bad bugs and few marred leaves. Pick them off, throw them out and treat if necessary. When in doubt, bring us a sample of what’s happening and we’ll help you with the best solution for your situation!

Happy Growing!

-Debbie

Mexican Flame Vine is a wonderful vine with a long blooming period until the first good frost. It has deep green leaves back-dropping beautiful orange daisy flowers. Very easy to grow in full sun to part shade with little to no serious pest issues. It is considered the best nectar vine for Monarch butterflies. It is also one of the best butterfly plants attracting Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Gulf fritillaries, Hairstreaks, Painted ladies, Pipevine swallowtails, Skippers, Sulphurs, Queens, Zebra Longwings and more. It also attracts hummingbirds, and is a pollinator plus plant attracting bumble bees and honey bees. It can also be grown in a pot on a small trellis or tomato cage for support. We have one next to our office building. It is a great addition to any sunny landscape.

DeAnna

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Hope Pettibon, the 2016 Texas Honey Queen, will speak with local gardeners on Friday, August 5, 2016 at 4 PM at Gill Nursery 2810 Airline Rd. She will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps ordinary gardeners can take to benefit directly from honeybees. Local gardeners are encouraged to bring questions about how to maximize the use of honeybees in our area and improve the performance of their own garden.

The Texas Honey Queen is the official representative of the Texas Beekeepers Association. She promotes beekeepers and beekeeping across the state. Hope lives in the DFW area on a small ranch with her 10 siblings and parents. Hope served as the CCHBA 2014 Honey Princess, and CCHBA 2015 Honey Queen. She loves to spend her time outside gardening, farming, and has helped her family raise honey bees since 2004. Recently, her honey won 3rd place in the black jar tasting contest at the Texas State Fair. Hope is currently attending a one year Bible college in south Texas and has future aspirations to be an EMT. During her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the piano, cooking, and crafts.

The Coastal Bend Beekeepers is the local arm of the TBA and conducts regular meetings that provide presentations on bees and beekeeping. Their members range from backyard beekeepers to commercial honey producers. You can find their members at Garden Clubs and Farmer’s Markets across the area. Their meetings are always free and open to the public.

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Join Us At Our Airline Store!

“All About Honeybees”

presented by Hope Pettibon, 2016 Texas Honeybee Queen

Friday August 5^th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!

Hope will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps we can take to benefit directly from honeybees in our area. Questions are always welcome!

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If you’re like us, you cannot wait to get outside and get gardening! The cool, damp weather has hung around too long, but there’s lots to do in preparation for blue skies ahead. Here’s what you need to get done this month.

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips and remember that trees, shrubs, and perennials can be planted 12 months out of the year! The only difference is the amount of water they need depending on temperatures & wind!

1. Wrap Up Your Clean-Up

If you still have pruning and clean-up to do, there’s still a little time! Cool temps have delayed the burst of Spring growth a bit. Overwintered perennials like Lantana, Salvias, and Roses need pruning now – cut them back up to 50%.

2. Plant Your Fruits and Veggies

It’s time! We are thrilled to have a big healthy selection of Spring veggies and fruit trees this year. We haven’t seen peach and plum trees this nice in several seasons. One thing we recommend for all plantings, including veggies and fruit trees, is Nature’s Blend compost – the closest thing we’ve seen to ‘magic in a bag’! One bag can amend about 12 sq ft of clay or sandy soil.

3. Bring Back the Birds, Bees, and Butterflies!

Now is a great time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. They need your help finding food and shelter, and you need their help pollinating your blooming plants, increasing your veggie production, and eating bad bugs. Bees are drawn to most anything with a bloom but some fav’s are Gregg’s Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Butterfly Weed, Salvias, & Mexican Flame Vine. Native plants like Turks Cap produce berries for birds, and Hummers love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more!

4. Feed New Plants Now, Established Plants Soon

New plantings need a good start with a good organic plant food. We love BioTone, PlantTone, and Hastagro. Add BioTone to your soil when you plant, then use PlantTone once a month and supplement with Hastagro about every 2 weeks to continue feeding throughout the season. For established plants, wait to feed until they are actively growing – typically mid/late March or early April.

5. Flowers for Right Now

Nothing says Spring like planting flowers! The best choices this month are Petunias, Marigolds, Begonias, and Geraniums. These love the warm days and cool nights of our early Spring. Popular late Spring/Summer flowers like Vinca, Moss Rose, and Zinnias will start to arrive in April as temps stay warmer.

6. Apply Pre-emergent Now + Wait to Fertilize Lawns

Lawns are still mostly dormant and not yet actively growing. Now is the time to apply pre-emergent weed control before the weeds start growing. We recommend Dura Turf Crab Grass and Weed Preventer. Hold off on watering – water once a week at most, depending on rain. And wait to fertilize lawns until you see enough growth to mow your lawn regularly, typically late March/early April. We recommend Medina Growin’ Green or Gill Lawn and Garden Food.

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips!

-Debbie

Last year I planted my hummingbird and butterfly garden with over 30 milkweed, Turks cap, passion vine and native lantana. It grew beautifully in the back corner of my yard, and I pretty much just left it alone. Since now is the time to prune, I rolled up my sleeves, got out my pruners and started to go to town. Oddly enough, as I was whacking back a lantana I noticed in my peripheral vision movement all around me. So I stopped pruning and sat down and started to meditate. After about five minutes of sitting still, I opened my eyes and was absolutely floored! Every bug I have ever seen in my life was there in my garden. There were honey bees and bumblebees, fritillary butterflies and big bold monarchs, assassin bugs, ladybugs galore, orb weaver and large wolf spiders, a praying mantis, mud-dobber wasps, horseflies, house flies and soil gnats. And about 150 monarch butterfly caterpillars! It was like an optical illusion. The more I sat still, the more I saw everything moving around me. Not only were there bugs, but there were toads, lizards, and a bold mockingbird that decided to land not five feet from me. Of course there were aphids and whitefly, but I watched as ladybugs flew down and began to munch them all up, and a praying mantis was going to town on the flies. It was absolutely astounding! All this life was in a 10 foot by 10 foot bed. If you have a section of your garden that you can let be pesticide free and 100% organic, please let it be! You’ll be amazed by what life does in the garden when you’re not looking.

-Marta