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Corpus Christi, TX Garden Center

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October is the month to do your fall lawn fertilizing and weed prevention. After that it is getting late to have maximum effect. If weeds are a problem every winter and spring, use a pre-emergent to prevent the weeds from sprouting. Amaze granules or Weed and Grass Stopper with Dimension are the best to use in October to prevent winter weeds and again in January to prevent spring weeds. An organic alternative is Corn Gluten. These chemicals only last one season, so be sure to re-apply in 3 months. If you have any other questions on Lawn care for the fall and winter, come see me at the Airline Store on Saturday October 10th from 10:00-11:00, for our fall Garden Talk.

deanna-DeAnna

Starting your first cutting garden may be much easier than you would think. Planning your garden is the best way to start: a 3 foot x 10 foot garden bed will produce more than enough flowers to make a bouquet for yourself and a friend each week. Your garden plot must be in a place that receives at least 6-8 hours of sunlight every day. If you are unsure about the amount of full sun a certain spot receives each day, dedicate a day to checking the same spot hourly: from 8am until 5pm. Take notes each hour on what the sun conditions in that spot are. This may sound menial, but when planting near trees, the sunlight can be tricky! The next thing to consider is the location of your garden in reference to a viable water source. Keep it simple for yourself rather than having to constantly drag a garden hose. The final thought in choosing a location for your cutting garden is to place it out of sight. This may sound crazy to you, but will you be able to cut the beautiful flowers if you can see them from your favorite spot in the house or on the porch?

Creating your garden bed is the most important part of starting to grow any plants, especially cut flowers. You will need enough compost to add 6 inches to your 3’ x 10’ bed and enough mulch to cover 3-4 inches to cover your 3’ x 10’ bed. Feeding your plants with fertilizer is not the same thing as feeding your soil, you must plan to continuously add compost to be feeding your soil. You should be mindful of the hundreds of thousands beneficial microbes in the top 6 inches of your soil and your goal should be to constantly feed them and keep them in your garden as they are helping to keep the bad bugs away and to keep your garden soil aerated and stronger. By continuously adding organic matter, you are setting your garden up to become more self-sustainable each season.

 

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My sweet boy, Baylor, always loves to inspect my freshly prepped garden beds. Photo courtesy of The Honey Bee & the Hound

To start making your 3’ x 10’ garden bed, first you must clear the designated area of any vegetation. Burn Out and Horticultural Vinegar are great organic herbicides. Once your bed area is free and clear of grass and weeds, you will start turning the soil in your bed simply by using a shovel. You will dig down as far as you can and place the shovel-full of dirt and make a pile of the dirt you have dug out. You should be digging out 3”-6” of soil. Next you will need a fork to put in the very bottom of the bed you have dug out to aerate and open the sub-soil. Your goal should be to make as many little holes in the very bottom of the bed as possible. Now you will need to get some compost, such as Cotton Burr Compost, to add about 3” of compost to the bottom of the newly dug-out bed. After you have added some compost, you will now add back in the soil that you have dug out to begin with. To top off your bed, you will add another 2”-3” of compost. Your end result should be a 3’ x 10’ bed that is raised about 6” above the ground. While this method of “double-digging” is much more labor-intensive than using a piece of machinery such as a tiller, but it more beneficial for your garden in many ways: it protects the beneficial insects and tiny microbes living in the top six inches of your soil that protect your plants from harmful pests and keeps the soil a healthy, living, necessary part of your healthy, happy flowers. It also helps to keep you accountable for your care of your garden – when you put that much work into starting a garden, you are bound to keep it up and to love and care for it often!

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My favorite activity these days is riding around to find someone to share my flowers with! Photo courtesy of The Honey Bee & the Hound Cut Flower Farm

Next is the fun part: picking out the seeds to plant in your brand new garden bed! My three recommendations would be a Zinnia (Pumila Cut & Come Again), a Basil (such as Petra), and a
Sunflower. You will plant all of your seeds on a 6” x 6” grid. This will give the plants enough room to fully grow in while utilizing every bit of your space. With this combination of flowers you will easily have flowers for a bouquet that smells good and will come back week after week in your garden.

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Fresh bouquets of zinnia and basil – photo courtesy of The Honey Bee & the Hound Cut Flower Farm

In order to maintain your new cut flower garden, you must stay on top of the weeds! The easiest way to get ahead of the weeds is to begin mulching your garden when your seedlings have grown 6” tall. Add 3” of mulch at a time using grass cuttings and old leaves that you have collected. This should allow you to have a whole season of no weeding necessary!

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Enlisting your feathered ladies to help keep the weeds and pests down is always a good idea as long as they do not try to sit on your seedlings! – Photo courtesy of The Honey Bee & the Hound Cut Flower Farm

Lastly, when you go to cut your flowers be sure to do it in the cool part of the early mornings or late evenings. If you cut during the high noon sun, your flowers will likely wilt. Allow your flowers to sit in a bucket of water for at least six hours before beginning to arrange them in a bouquet. This allows them to get maximum hydration. Once you have gone through a season with your first cutting garden, I encourage you to begin looking for the seeds of the flowers that your mother and grandmother grew. This is what helps to make me feel so connected with my cutting gardens – I can cut the same bouquet that my late grandmother used to put on her dining room table and it makes me connect with her in a very special way. Enjoy!

To learn more, be sure to come to Gill’s on Airline this Saturday (September 10, 2016) for Emily’s Garden Talk:

”From Beginning to Bouquets – Cultivating Cut Flowers”

If you would like to connect with a local cut flower farm, visit

www.thehoneybeeandthehound.com

screenshot-2016-09-08-11-32-29-Emily Capule, Flower Farmer and Gill’s Landscape Design Assistant

For years I’ve requested an APLD (Assoc. of Professional Landscape Designers) Conference in Boston. I’d heard it was a beautiful city with lovely architecture and I knew there had to be fabulous gardens.  This year my dream came true and I traveled to Boston to view gardens in peak July bloom.  Fellow designers living in the area were show casing their work at client’s properties and their own homes.  On the first day, in the first garden, I knew I’d come to the right place at the right time.

Now, you may ask what I could gain touring gardens with plants that won’t grow in South Texas?  The answer is inspiration, design details and renewed appreciation for plants and objects we might consider common place.  For instance, I never expected to see Mexican metal garden animals occupying center stage on pristine New England lawns!  Likewise typical Corpus Christi garden tropicals – Hawaiian Ti, banana and canna lily were prominent accents displayed in pots for the summer and returned to greenhouses for winter.

The “icing on the cake” was a chance to view the privately owned, newly restored “Blue Garden” designed by Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. in 1908. This formal estate garden contained numerous blue and white annuals, perennials, trees and decorative objects that most South Texas homeowners could use to create their own cool, serene blue garden….no estate required!

And what can I say about the secret garden tucked away at a rural Rhode Island farmhouse except, “I want one!”

Join me at Gill Nursery on September 30th at 9:00 a.m. and I’ll take you on a photographic tour of these gardens. You too, will be inspired to create a new garden experience at your home. Thanks Boston!

-Kathy Hubner

Saturday, September 30th, 9:00am
GARDEN TALK!

Boston Gardens: Growing Strong

with Kathy Hubner, Landscape Designer APLD, TCNP

Kathy will give a presentation showing fresh landscape ideas from the best gardens in Boston, MA. You’ll be inspired by gardens with new takes on growing vegetables, flowers, and creating fun whimsical spaces that make you smile. And if you’ve always wanted a secret garden, you won’t want to miss seeing a secret garden gem hidden in plain sight on a Rhode Island Country Road.

View Our Garden Talk Schedule

We had a great garden talk last Saturday about plants for the indoors from Margaret Hicks, owner of  Charlie Cook Associates in Dallas.  Below are some of her top tips and picks.

Margaret recommends talking to them,  not loving them to death with too much water and fertilizer. Most indoor plants can go 2 to 4 weeks between watering. It’s not the soil at the top but the soil in the lower part of the container to check. When it’s dry, then you water. Water them well, then let dry. We use a moisture meter to help us here at the nursery.

Light is important to all plants, unless you’re a mushroom. A great way to tell how much light a plant would need is the darker the leaf, the less light required. The more variegation in the leaf, the more light required. It’s not an absolute rule but a good guide.

I asked Margaret what she thinks are the top 5 picks for houseplant success:

Hoya is her top choice. Hoya can go virtually anywhere in your home there’s light. No natural light is required and very little water. Plus they bloom a cluster of star shaped flowers that look like wax. Very cool.
Aglaonema aka Chinese evergreen are good for low to medium light depending on the leaf color. They add interest with patterned leaves. They do not get too tall so are good as table accents.
Dracaena Janet Craig compacta is a rich dark green color with more rigid leaves, another low light low water plant.
Sanseveria aka snake plant or mother in law’s tongue have tall or short rigid blades that look like sculpture. They are patterned or solid colors and will grow with minimal care.
Tillandsias aka air bromeliads truly need no soil and low light. Perfect for hanging, driftwood, or holey rocks. Just give them a spritz of water every couple of weeks.

Want more? Come in, we can help!

–Debbie

An International Landscape Conference Worth Traveling 3,000 Miles to Experience!

That’s right, last week I flew 3,000 miles round trip to Toronto, Canada to meet with 137 landscape design colleagues from the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Saudi Arabia. We bonded with a “full mist” experience at Niagara Falls, wearing our Canadian red rain ponchos.

Then we promptly dried off and got down to business exploring the Niagara Botanical Gardens. I re-discovered old garden favorites such as amaranthus, copper plant, and strawberry fields gomphrena re-imagined in an unusual tapestry of hot summer colors. The plants were alive with birds, butterflies, and bees!

 

Over the next two days we toured 15 gardens of all sizes and styles. One of my favorites is a tiny 4 year old garden showcasing diversity through materials. The materials came from far and wide, contributing to the result… lumber from a barn in southwest Ontario, a reclaimed mask from New York city, ledge rock from a church in Cambridge, building stone from north eastern Pennsylvania, windows from the home that previously existed on the site and even perennials from the designer’s mom’s  garden that were ‘just the right item for that corner’.

 

Fast forward to the Toronto Botanical Garden where Paul Zammit (renowned garden container designer) told me the benefits of using parsley in garden containers. That’s right, PARSLEY!! I’ll share the “why” and “how tos” with you at my Garden Talk, Saturday September 29th, 10 am, Gill’s, 2810 Airline Road!

 

-Kathy

Each year in January and February, I give my pre-spring “Get Ready for Spring” garden talk. I always start the talk with pre-spring pruning and the importance of sharp tools.

You may want any pruning saws sharpened professionally, as it can be a little difficult and tedious. But pruning clippers, loppers, and hedge shears are easier to do-it-yourself if you are inclined to. Pruners, loppers, shears, as well as shovels and hoes all perform better with a good sharp edge. Less effort and strain when trimming or digging, and clean cuts that heal faster than ragged cuts; that’s our aim.

We have carbide sharpening tools in stock that do a fast job on pruners and shears and take up very little storage space. Metal files are more appropriate for the harder steel edges of shovels and hoes. Diamond sharpening rods or whetstones can give the very finest edge to pruners if you are a perfectionist. For those far from perfectionist, I have sharpened my shovel enough to make a big difference in transplanting a shrub just by finding a rough spot on the concrete street curb and rubbing the cutting edge back and forth until dull is gone and cutting edge is on. 

When sharpening pruners, be sure to watch a video or read instructions before beginning, as a simple proper sharpening makes pruning easier and more fun, but sharpening the wrong edge will ruin a tool forever. Once you’ve sharpened your tools, you can keep them sharp longer and prevent rust by wiping on a thin layer of lubricating oil, such as boiled linseed oil, tung oil, motor oil, lamp oil, or cooking oil.

-James Gill

It’s time to transition our gardens as we leap into Summer! Here’s our top priorities for June, which include joining us for DeAnna’s garden talk this Saturday, June 4th at 10am. Bring your questions!

Check out our June 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.  Join us for ‘Summer Garden Tips’ Garden Talk

This Saturday, June 4th at 10am, DeAnna Baumgartner, Gill’s manager, master gardener, and Texas Certified Nursery Professional with 40 years of Coastal Bend gardening experience will share her best tips for Summer gardening. She’ll cover Summer planting, proper watering techniques, identifying and treating pests and other issues, fertilizing, and lots more. Bring your questions – DeAnna’s got answers. One attendee will win a $100 Gill’s gift card! 

2. Plant heat-loving Summer color!

Revamp your old Spring annuals with some eye-popping, die-hard flowers for Summer. Flowers like Purslane, Zinnias, Moss Rose, Periwinkles, and Sweet Potato Vine will need water but thrive in our Summer heat. Try adding spineless Prickly Pear, Texas Sage, and other Summer-lovers that add color and form to landscapes.

3. Water… don’t go by the calendar!

With recent rains AND warmer weather, we need to be extra mindful of watering properly. That means we can’t rely on the calendar to tell us when to water. We need to pay closer attention to plants and check to be sure they need water. Pro tip:  Use a moisture meter! We carry them and can show you how easy they are to use. They’ve saved many plants! When it’s time to water, do it in the morning before 10am. Keep the water on the plants, soil, lawn, flowerbeds, not in the gutter, sidewalk, or street. Sprinkler systems are great for established lawns and landscapes but turn them off when we get rain, so you don’t over water and encourage fungal issues. Summer lawns need about 1 inch of water once a week.

4. Houseplants Inside aka Tropical Plants Outside!

Houseplants are beautiful indoors & help rid the air of pollutants from fabrics, carpets, paints, and other household items. They also look spectacular outside on a shady patio set in pretty pots. Check out Sansevieria, Philodendron, & Hoya varieties for easy care and big impact! Pro tip:  if you have a sad houseplant, try moving it to a shady spot outside for a few days to get some fresh air.

5. Watch for Summer lawn bugs!

Yes, they will be around more during the Summer. Treat the lawn with Bayer Season Long Grub Control if you see brown areas in the lawn that are easily pulled up, usually a sign of grubs eating the roots of your grass. Chinch bugs love hot dry areas in lawns. They make the lawn look dried out along sidewalks and pavement. Treat with Cyonara in easy ready-to-spray bottles. For organic control, use Spinosad or Diatomaceous Earth. Remember that healthy lawns are less susceptible to damage from bugs, heat stress, and common lawn disease like Take All Root Rot. Water lawns deeply (a good 1”) once a week this Summer and fertilize every 3 months. If you fertilized in April, wait to feed again in July.

6. Crape Myrtles – Choose While Blooming!

Crape Myrtle trees are just starting their Summer bloom cycle. Best to choose your color now while they’re in bloom, then plant and enjoy them for years to come. You must plan to water them or check them every day during this Summer. Crape Myrtles are water-needy when first planted. 

Fall is OUR ABSOLUTE BEST TIME for planting veggies, trees, and just about everything else! It just feels good! Here are our top to-do’s in the garden this month. PLUS – to kick off October, James Gill is giving a Garden Talk this Saturday, October 1!

Check out our October 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. Don’t Miss James Gill’s Garden Talk!

Join us this Saturday, 10/1/22 at 10am for James’ fall gardening Q&A. James is mostly retired these days, which means he has more time to surf and share gardening wisdom with all of us! Bring your plant questions, or just come listen and learn. One attendee will win a $100 Gill’s gift card 🙂

2. Plant Food

Some of the best… Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Cabbage, Carrots, Beets, Radishes, Cilantro, Nasturtiums, and the list goes on. Remember – veggies are heavy feeders. We recommend feeding with organic Plant Tone on the 1st of each month, and again with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. 

Watch:  Coastal Bend Veggie Gardening Guide

3. Plant Fall Flowers

Take advantage of the weather while the days are still long. It’s the perfect time to start cool weather Impatiens, Marigolds, Snapdragons, Violas, Petunias, Calendula, Begonias – the flowers and colors that say, “FALL!”. Warm days help flowers develop roots so they can look their best during the cooler months ahead.

4. Feed Your Lawn + Prevent Weeds

Fertilizing this month helps develop strong roots for healthy growth next Spring and Summer.  We recommend organic Medina Growin’ Green or our Gill Lawn & Garden Fertilizer. Both can be used in all areas of your landscape. Prevent weeds in your lawn by applying Weed Beater Complete or Crabgrass & Weed Preventer.

Read: Fall Lawn Care

5. Plant for Hummingbirds and Migratory Birds

Right now is a great time to plant all kinds of blooming plants that hummingbirds and other migratory birds need. Some of our favs for South Texas are native Flame Acanthus (aka hummingbird bush), Salvias (like native Salvia greggii and Salvia leucantha), Cape Honeysuckle, native Turk’s Cap, native Beautyberry, native Loquat, Firecracker plant, Coral bean – the list goes on!

6. Plant Trees for The Best Head Start

We’ll say it again… it’s all about growing roots. Trees planted in Fall grow more next Spring & Summer. Live Oak, Burr Oak, Magnolia, Anacua, Cedar Elms, & Wild Olive are some of our South Texas fav’s.

Read: The Advantages of Fall Planting

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