fall

We’ve been getting a ton of lawn questions spanning all sorts of possible issues from weeds to watering to lingering bugs to fungus to fertilizing – you name it! Yes, we can help you figure out what’s going on with your lawn! Here’s where to start.

Bring Us a Grass Sample

Are you noticing brown or yellow patches in your lawn? Yellow strips near sidewalks? Thin, patchy spots? A sad lack of green? Any of these could be symptoms of serious pest damage or fungal disease. We can sometimes tell a lot from pictures if you want to email us or send us a message to any of our social media accounts, but often pictures lead to more questions. The quickest and best way for us to figure out what’s going on is to bring us a grass sample. Simply take a small shovel-full of grass from an area where good grass meets not-so-good grass. Make sure you get the roots and some underlying soil. Then bring that chunk of grass, roots, and soil to Gill’s in a bag or box. We’ll take a look, determine what’s causing the problem, and get you what you need to resolve. You can take that sample shovel-full and plug it right back into your lawn when we’re done.

Prevent Problems with Good Watering and Maintenance

Healthy lawns with healthy roots are far less likely to be attacked by bad pests or fungus. You gotta water! You can still maintain proper watering even given our current watering restrictions. Once every 2 weeks is sufficient now, and you can water less than that as temps cool. The key is to water deeply to maintain depth moisture. Use empty tuna cans or sprinkler gauges to measure and be sure you’re applying a good inch of water evenly across your lawn. This will ensure you’re getting water down to the roots and forcing the roots to grow deeper. Of course you should adjust your watering schedule if we get a good rain, but don’t count on rain to do the job for you. Always water in the morning – watering in the evening invites fungal issues. When you mow, be sure your mower blades are sharp. Dull mower blades will shred grass blades leaving a dull brown look across the lawn. And don’t cut too short: proper mowing height for St. Augustine is 3″, and Bermuda is 2-2.5″.

Prevent Weeds First, Then Fertilize

If you want to prevent new weeds form sprouting, now’s the time to apply preemergent Weed Beater Complete or Hi-Yield Turf & Ornamental Weed & Grass Stopper. Remember this: treat for weeds, wait 2 weeks, then fertilize. Do not use “weed & feed” products. There’s still time to fertilize, but that window is closing. Fertilizing lawns in October (aka “winterizing”) is essential for developing strong roots and healthy growth next spring and summer. We recommend feeding with organic Medina Growin Green! Amazing stuff! A 40lb bag covers 3000 sq ft of lawn, and for a small fee, we can rent you a spreader which makes it very easy to apply. Not only does Medina Growin Green work wonders on lawns, you can use it in all areas of your landscape, including your veggie garden.

Maybe You Have too Much Lawn?

If you’ve read this far, you might be thinking, “Hmm…this sounds like a lot of work!” You might consider whether it’s time to reduce some of your lawn space and convert it to planting beds or native groundcover plants that require less maintenance and far less water than a turfgrass lawn (St. Augustine, Bermuda, Zoysia, etc.). Turfgrass lawns are often referred to as biological deserts, meaning they’re monocultures that don’t support many species in the ecosystem. A fresh-cut, perfect green lawn might be pleasing to look at, but we’d argue that planting beds bursting with butterflies and birds and color is more fun. You can even create lawn-like open green areas with low-water native groundcover like Frogfruit or Horseherb that you don’t need to mow! You’ve got options and many good reasons to find areas of your lawn to reduce/convert.

In honor of National Pumpkin Day, we invite the kids to come paint pumpkins at Gill’s! We’ll have small/medium sized pumpkins plus all the paint and supplies ready to get wild and get creative! Great for ages 2-12. Come paint pumpkins just in time for Halloween!

This event is free and great for kids ages 2-12. We’ll be on hand to help out. Going to be lots of fun – see y’all this Saturday, October 26th!

Now it’s finally starting to feel like Fall! November in South Texas…one of our most beautiful months! Now’s the time for fall flowers and planting trees. And there’s still time for veggies, too. Good timing this month will keep us looking good through the fall and winter and set us up for showtime next spring. Here are our top must-do’s for November.

Check out our November 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 and wind!

1. Fill Pots and Spots with Fall Flowers

Here’s our list of Fall/Winter flowers – tons of choices for outdoor color to redo pots & inground plantings. Flowers take a little time to grow and bloom. Plant early this month so they can be WOW for the holidays! Many of these fall flowers, like Snapdragons, Lobelia, Violas (our longer-lasting alternative to Pansies), and Geraniums will look great through the winter and look their very best next spring. Good reason to plant now! Once they’re all planted, give them a good meal of granular organic Plant Tone, Rose Glo, or Medina Growin Green. To keep them growing and blooming through the fall and winter, they’ll need regular feedings about once a month. For an extra boost, follow up with liquid Hasta Gro every 2 weeks in between your monthly feedings.

2. Plant Trees and Shrubs Now for Better Growth Next Spring

Now is the very best time to plant cold-hardy shrubs and trees! They focus energy this fall and winter on building a good root system, which allows them to explode with growth next spring, and prepares them to withstand hot weather next summer. Other benefits to planting now – easier digging and not as much watering as during warmer seasons! Always fertilize when you plant and follow our watering instructions.

3. Still Time to Plant Veggies and Holiday Herbs!

We’re still bringing in lots of fresh cool-season crops like broccoli, kale, lettuce mixes, Swiss chard, spinach, cauliflower, beets, onions, and more! Plus all the herbs like rosemary, thyme, cilantro, sage, and dill that you need for holiday cooking. Three big tips for fall/winter veggies and herbs: 1) Mulch well to help protect tender young plants 2) Water well, but not too much 3) Keep feeding! Organic Plant Tone or Medina Growin Green once a month, followed by liquid Hasta Gro every 2 weeks for a bountiful harvest!

4. Last Chance Lawn Care

Early this month is our last chance to fertilize aka “winterize” lawns for strong roots and healthy growth next spring and summer. Our tried and true favorite lawn food is organic Medina Growin Green. November is also the time to prevent spring weeds in your lawn by applying Weed Beater Complete or Hi-Yield Weed & Grass Stopper with Dimension.

Read: Fall Lawn Care

5. Feed Your Landscape Too!

Landscape plants, including trees, perennials, and hardy shrubs need food early this month while they are still actively growing. Just like lawns, the idea is to give them a boost before they head into dormancy this winter. We love organic granular fertilizer Medina Growin’ Green for trees and shrubs, and Rose Glo or Plant Tone for blooming perennials.

6. HO HO HO! Fresh Christmas Trees Coming Very Soon!

We are beyond excited for fresh-cut Christmas trees and holiday plants to begin arriving this month! Look for our Noble, Nordmann, and Fraser fir trees around the week of November 18th, then poinsettias the following week. Amaryllis and Paperwhite bulbs are already here and Christmas cactus will arrive any minute!

Need to do some peaceful, non-stressful holiday gift shopping? Come take a stroll at Gill’s and pick out a few gifts for the green thumbs on your list! We’ll help you find the right plants, useful tools, nature-related holiday ornaments, holiday cards, and all kinds of other unique and fun gifts to help connect your loved ones to the outdoors. Here’s our gift guide for gardeners!

1. Gifts that Grow

Now is a great time to plant winter flowers like petunias, geraniums, and snapdragons, and they’re quick and easy to plant! Easy for Santa to sneak in and secretly plant a few flowers.

Roses, herbs, and onions are all great to plant right now too. Or if you want to make it a truly memorable holiday, plant a tree! Remember that trees benefit greatly from being planted in fall and winter, including these gorgeous large citrus trees that already have fruit on them! And if you don’t want to do any hauling or digging, we’ll deliver and plant it for you.

2. Poinsettias and Other Holiday Classics

Poinsettias are THE classic holiday décor and centerpiece for holiday meals. They make great gifts for teachers, bosses, coworkers, and friendly acquaintances – they just make people happy!

A blooming Christmas Cactus or Kalanchoe is great too, or a small living holiday tree like a juniper, Norfolk pine, or rosemary. We can gift wrap these for you. Easy wow!

3. Custom-Planted Pottery

Let us help you put together something totally unique! Choose the pots and plants and we can pot it all up for you, or you can make a mess here at our potting shed. Houseplants, flowers, herbs, native plants for pollinators, and lots more can stand alone or be combined in the right pot.

4. Quality Garden Tools

We don’t carry a huge selection of tools, just nice tools that are made to last – the tools we sell are the tools our pros use. Pruners, loppers, kitchen/herb shears, or even a quality sharp-shooter shovel make great gifts. Working with quality tools makes gardening a lot more fun.

5. Soothing Wind Chimes

Lots of different tones and styles for relaxing in the garden, including our favorite chimes of all time, Music of the Spheres. Hand-made and hand-tuned here in TX.

6. “Gordo” Birdhouses + Birding Supplies

These Gordo birdhouses have been a huge hit this fall. People love them and birds too! Or go with a nice stone bird bath, quality bird seed + feeders, and some bird-attracting plants and you’ll make the birders on your list very happy.

7. Handmade Ceramic Snakes

These snakes are so cool! They come in a variety of colors and shapes, some are made to hang on the wall, and some are great for slithering into potted arrangements indoors or out.

8. Animal Pot Hangers

Cats, bunnies, gators, turtles, snails, birds, and so many more! Gardeners young and old (and medium old) love adding fun critters to pots.

9. Cosmic Herb Seed Kits

These herb seed kits make awesome stocking stuffers. Choose the herbs that align with your loved one’s astrological sign, or seeds that grow inside a beautiful ceramic mug – or both!

10. Houseplant Cutting Jars

Our cutting jars make great gifts for houseplant lovers. We collect interesting glass jars and use LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate) + water as the growing medium for cuttings that we take from rare mother houseplants. You can keep them growing like this long-term, or choose to transfer them to bigger containers whenever you wish. Beautiful, elegant, and alive!

11. Nature-Themed Children’s Books + Vintage Gardening Books

Have you browsed our new bookshelf yet? We’ve been collecting new and vintage gardening books and nature-related children’s books that your gardeners will love.

12. Nature-Themed Holiday Ornaments

We have such a cute collection of nature-themed ornaments this year. Come take a look!

13. Handmade Frog Houses + Bee Watering Cups

Did you know that Gill’s Asst. Manager, Wyatt Page is a ceramic artist?! He sells his cool frog houses and bee/butterfly watering cups here at Gill’s! Invite more of these beneficial creatures into your veggie garden by providing shelter and water.

14. When in Doubt – Gift Cards!

Can’t go wrong with a Gill’s gift card! Purchase in store or online here. Good for plants, supplies, and services too. You could give the gift of landscape design, a food garden next spring, a planted tree, or anything else we provide. We can help you with ideas too!

Landscape plants, trees, and lawns are waking up for spring and putting on new growth, which means…time to fertilize!! Using a good organic fertilizer makes big difference: healthier, stronger, more disease and pest-resistant, more drought-tolerant, and more beautiful plants. Now that Stage 3 watering rules have been revised, we can water in fertilizer for landscape beds and trees without issue. But should we still fertilize lawns if we can’t water lawns?

The short answer is yes! Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

Homeowners can also collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here. Gill’s plans to provide this service as well, but the permitting process for businesses takes a while longer. Once we receive our permit, we’ll get the word out.

Another great option is to collect rainwater or recycled gray water at home. If your washing machine is in an accessible location, it can be as simple as connecting a water hose and having it drain into a rain barrel or water tank. Just 1 single washing machine load can produce 15-30 gallons of water. Talk to a plumber about setting this up if your washing machine is not as accessible. Dishwasher too! As long as you use the gentle “free and clear” or fragrance/chemical-free detergents and soaps, your gray water will be great for the lawn.

Very important: We do not recommend using chemical lawn fertilizers, especially when water is limited. With chemical fertilizers, you get a quicker green-up and more top growth, which requires more water to maintain. Whereas with a good organic, you get deeper roots that can withstand less water. Also, don’t try to treat for weeds and fertilize at the same time. It doesn’t work! That’s why we don’t sell and don’t recommend “weed and feed” type products. Treat for weeds first, wait a couple weeks, then fertilize.

We carry a few different fertilizers that do slightly different things for different plants, but you really only need one – Medina Growin Green! One 40lb bag of Medina Growin Green covers 3,000 sq. ft. of lawn and you can use it on everything else too! It’s all organic and works like magic on lawns, veggie gardens, trees, shrubs, flowers, blooming perennials, you name it.

Recent rains + lots of sunshine + a cool front coming this weekend = AMAZING time to garden! We’re all busy planting, re-designing, fertilizing, and getting ready for holidays and weekends outside with family and friends. Here are our top tips for making the most of a very important month in the garden.

1. Feed Your Plants, Trees, and Lawns Too

Feeding your plants this month is a must. This includes lawns, trees, and most plants. Everything is actively growing, which means they’ll need more food to continue looking their best. Medina Growin Green is a great multi-purpose food for landscape plants, shrubs, trees, veggies, lawns, you name it! For blooming perennials, annual flowers, and veggies we really like using a good organic granular food like Medina Growin Green, Plant Tone by Espoma, or Rose Glo in combination with Medina Hasta Gro liquid. Feed with the granular on the 1st of each month, then follow up with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. Add these reminders to your calendar and you can’t go wrong!

Yes, you can still fertilize your lawn, even though our lawn watering is limited. Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

Homeowners can also collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here.

2. Watering Wands Win!

Hand watering with a watering wand that has a cutoff valve is the most efficient and best way to water, especially for new plantings. Watering plants low to the ground keeps water from escaping via wind and evaporation and keeps water off the leaves which can invite fungal issues. Watering slowly (by turning down the pressure on your watering wand or kinking your hose) ensures that more water gets down to the roots instead of running off the surface.

Keep in mind that hand watering and drip irrigation are allowed during current watering restrictions. You can hand water any day before 10am or after 6pm, and you can supplement with drip irrigation once every other week. We carry the pro watering wands that we use here at Gill’s as well as moisture meters, timers, and soaker hoses.

For any new plantings, including turfgrass, you can apply for a temporary exemption to watering restrictions and use sprinklers and irrigation systems in order to help get plants, lawns, and trees established. We can help you file for the exemption if you like – it’s a straightforward process.

3. Plant Blooming Perennials for Pollinators

April is time to add some blooming perennials to attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds to your garden. You support pollinators (and the planet!) and in return they help you have more blooms, better production on your veggies, and a more vibrant landscape! Remember – April is when we start seeing hummingbirds! We’ve just seen our first hummingbirds of the season here at Gill’s this week! Add a few of their favorites like this native Salvia greggii, native Flame Acanthus, or firebush and make your backyard a preferred stop.

4. Plant Your Warm Weather Veggies

It’s time to plant hot peppers, squash, zucchini, basil, beans, and more! When starting veggies, the trick is to get the soil as active and alive as possible. Amend your existing soil with Nature’s Blend Compost (about 1 bag per 12 sq. ft.), then add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer with mycorrhizal fungi and a good handful of worm castings when you plant each plant. Then follow our trusted fertilizer schedule – Plant Tone on the 1st of the month and liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th! Remember that veggies use a lot of energy and need these regular feedings to produce. Plus, strong, vigorous veggie plants are less susceptible to pest damage.

5. Mulch! Not Just for Good Looks…

We all know that fresh mulch is like a fresh coat of paint for your garden – instant makeover! But did you know that applying a proper 3” layer of natural mulch keeps underlying soil temps more than 20 degrees cooler?! A good mulch layer keeps weeds at bay, and as it breaks down over time, it add nutrients to your soil. And perhaps most importantly right now, a good mulch layer retains moisture, which means big water savings.

6. Get Ready for Guests

Get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather and prep for gathering with family and friends! For the quickest and easiest impact outdoors, think hanging baskets full of Impatiens, Vinca, Purslane, Geraniums and more overflowing with color. Some pops of color plus fresh mulch in your beds and you’re ready to host! For indoors, our favorite flower arrangements are those cut fresh from the garden and landscape.

Check out our April Garden Guide for more tips!