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Gill Garden Center + Landscape Co.

Corpus Christi, TX Garden Center

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The slow, soaking rains this week followed by slightly cooler temps make for excellent planting weather. We dare say it’s feeling a little fall-ish! Even though it’s still warm out, right now is the time to plant your fall veggie garden to ensure you can get a good harvest. Here’s our guide to growing the best veggies this fall – plenty for you and plenty to share. 

1. Pick Your Plants – Know Your Timing!

Last chance to plant tomatoes and peppers! The average tomato needs 70-80 days to mature and produce fruit. That means they’ll be ready around the mid-late November if we plant now. Similarly, most peppers need 60-80 days to maturity. Be sure to get them planted now or very soon so you can get a good harvest before we have chances of cold weather which tomatoes and peppers can’t handle. While we’re reaching the end of the window to plant tomatoes and peppers, cool weather veggies like broccoli, cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, and cauliflower are just arriving! Even though these can handle cooler temps, you still need to get them in the ground in September to ensure you’ll get a good harvest. Radish and carrot seeds should be started this month as well. Take a look at our Fall veggie planting schedule. And save space for citrus trees, figs, and other fruits! They’ll all be arriving this week and next!

2. Prep and Amend Your Soil

Corpus Christi clay soil and sandy soil in Rockport or on the island both need a boost to make them suitable for growing veggies. Very simple – add compost! Whether you’re in clay or sand, we recommend 1 bag of Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr compost per 12 square feet to establish a veggie bed. Just work the compost into the first 6-8 inches of the native soil and you’ll have a nice loose and bioactive mix ready for planting. You can use the same rough formula when filling raised beds, or use our Gardener’s Magic soil blend which is formulated for raised beds and already has the compost and other nutrients mixed in – just pour and plant! You can add even more life to your veggie soil by supplementing with earthworm castings, dried molasses, and Bio-Tone starter fertilizer with mycorrhizal fungi. Think of these as probiotics for your soil. Just like our gut microbiome keeps us healthy and balanced, an active soil microbiome will help your veggie plants perform optimally…bigger root systems and more fruit!

3. Give Your Plants Good Spacing and Support

If you’re following this guide, get ready for big growth!  Be sure to give your plants adequate spacing to grow to their mature size. For example, tomatoes should be planted a good 4 feet apart, peppers should be 2.5-3 feet apart, and cucumbers, squash, brocolli, and cauliflower should be planted 18″ apart. Good spacing not only gives them room to grow to their full potential, but also ensures good airflow around the plants and helps prevent pest outbreaks. While plants are small, add/build your support structures! We carry tomato cages, wooden trellises, pre-made bamboo trellises, and bamboo poles or t-posts if you want to build your own. And be sure to have some good flexible garden tape!

4. Water Wisely

New veggie plants need water every day, preferably in the morning. Once established, you can water some plants less frequently. The best thing to do is to check your garden every day. You’ll get a good sense for which plants are thirstier than others. Soaker hoses can be a big help. Just snake them through your veggie beds and turn on the tap or use a timer. When watering by hand, think like a soaker hose – water slowly and gently at soil level. Watering over the top of your plants or splashing soil up onto the plants invites fungal disease and pests. A good mulch layer can help prevent soil from splashing up onto your plants, plus prevent weeds and help retain moisture. We love pine straw mulch for veggie gardens because its so easy to work with and it does a better job at suppressing weeds. 

5. Fertilize Regularly

If you want your veggies to feed you, you gotta feed them! Plants require LOTS of energy to produce fruit. If you take anything away from this blog, remember DeAnna’s organic fertilizer regimen:  granular Plant Tone on the 1st of the month, followed up by liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. The granular fertilizer will slowly break down and feed your roots, while the liquid Hasta Gro sprayed over the leaves will make the foliage thick and strong. If you want strong plants and amazing veggie production, follow this schedule!

6. Be Ready for Pests

Insect pests in the veggie garden are pretty much inevitable, but controllable. Just like watering, the best way to control pests in the veggie garden is to inspect your plants every day and catch any problems early. We recommend having these 3 organic products on hand:  Bt for caterpillars, diatomaceous earth for crawling insects like ants, and spinosad soap for beetles, aphids, and spider mites. If you’re not sure what’s eating your veggies, send us a photo or bring in a sample and we can identify and help you control. 

7. Harvest Consistently!

If you follow this guide, you’re going to be set up for a bountiful harvest! It’s very important to harvest regularly so you get to enjoy all your efforts. Some veggies, like beans, squash, and cucumbers will need to be harvested daily! If you’ve grown cucumbers before, you know that one day they’ll look perfect and ripe, then the next day they’ll be twice the size and beyond their prime – huge and fibrous and flavorless. Keep in mind too that birds, bugs, and other critters like ripe fruit too. Harvest it before they do! When you harvest regularly, you’re also helping the plant redirect energy to producing more fruit. 

 

Fall is OUR ABSOLUTE BEST TIME for planting veggies, trees, flowers, and just about everything else! Some rain in the forecast…and some cooler temps…fall is shaping up beautifully. But time is of the essence! A lot of the things we do in the garden this month will set us up for success for seasons to come. Here are our top must-do’s for October.

Check out our October Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Plant Trees Now for the Best Start – Citrus Too!

We’ll say it again… planting trees is all about growing roots. Trees planted in fall grow more next spring & summer because they spend time all fall and winter working on their root system. Having that established root system also helps prepare them for hot temps next summer. Live Oak, Burr Oak, Magnolia, Anacua, Cedar Elm, & Wild Olive are some of our South Texas fav’s and we’ve been getting some gorgeous specimens, big and small. And don’t forget about citrus trees! We have a nice fall crop of lemons, different lime varieties, kumquats, mandarins, and more. For years we’ve been trying to source larger citrus trees and it finally happened! In addition to our 5gal citrus, we’ve got some larger 15 and 30gal! Planting a small 5gal citrus tree is great, just know it will need a couple of seasons of growth before it can support bearing fruit. The larger 15 and 30gal citrus trees can start giving you fruit right now! 

Read: The Advantages of Fall Planting

2. Plant Your Fall Veggies

Some of the best… Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuces, Cabbage, Carrots, Beets, Radishes, Cilantro, Artichokes, and the list goes on! October is our window for planting! Remember – veggies are heavy feeders, so it’s important to keep fertilizing throughout the season. We recommend using BioTone Starter when you plant, followed by a good organic granular like Medina Growin Green or Plant Tone on the 1st of each month, then supplement with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th of each month. Set these reminders on your phone/calendar and you’ll have BIG harvests with plenty to cook and share. 

Watch:  Coastal Bend Veggie Gardening Guide

3. Plant Fall Flowers Galore

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. Since we don’t experience dramatic changing of the seasons here in South Texas, we create that fall feeling with gorgeous fall colors!

4. Ready, Set, Fertilize Your Lawn + Prevent Weeds

Fertilizing lawns this month is essential for developing strong roots and healthy growth next spring and summer. We emphatically recommend 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. If you want to prevent weeds, now’s the time to apply preemergent Weed Beater Complete or Hi-Yield Turf & Ornamental Weed & Grass Stopper. Remember this:  treat for weeds, wait 2-3 weeks, then fertilize. Do not use “weed & feed” products! 

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 and on. We have been covered in hummingbirds here at Gill’s!

 

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. 

 

 

Now it’s safe so say…Spring has SPRUNG!! After a cold and cloudy February, sunshine and gorgeous weather feel so good! The birds are chirping, people are smiling, and plants are coming out of winter dormancy and starting to grow. Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this March – time to get planting!

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Get Your Veggies Going Now!

We must say…our veggie and herb section is looking mighty good right now! We’ve got tons of different tomatoes, jalapenos, super hot Carolina Reapers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, lemongrass, lemon balm, and lots more ready for your garden. Be sure to get your tomatoes going early this month so they have time to produce before it gets too warm. The rest of these can be planted any time this month, but you don’t want to wait much longer. Take advantage of the perfect weather!

2. Fertilize Regularly Starting Now (except for lawns!)

The time to fertilize is when plants are actively growing. That’s when they take up nutrients and get the most benefit from a good feeding. Flowers and veggies are especially heavy feeders because they’re working to produce a bloom and fruit. And you will certainly notice a difference with your landscape plants as well. Apply a good all-purpose organic food like Plant Tone, Medina Growin Green, or Rose Glo once a month for great results. Don’t sprinkle your granular fertilizer right up against the trunk of the plant. Instead, sprinkle at the drip line, aka where rainwater would drip off the outermost leaves. That’s the zone where plants take up the most nutrients. After you’ve applied your granular food, circle back every 2 weeks to supplement with liquid Hasta Gro. Almost everything should be fed starting now, except lawns! Wait to fertilize lawns until late March/early April.

Added bonus: When planting, add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer to the soil when you backfill. It contains all sorts of beneficial organic matter, including mycorrhizal fungi which help stimulate better root growth. Amazing stuff!

3. Whatever You’re Planting – Add Compost!

Whether you’re starting a veggie garden, planting trees or shrubs, annual flowers, or blooming perennials, add some compost to improve the quality of your native soil. We love our Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr Compost, and we’ve added a new one to the lineup:  Expanded Shale and Leaf Mold Compost from Heirloom Soils. The addition of expanded shale helps even more to aerate our heavy clay soil. Whichever you choose, 1 bag improves about 12 sq ft of clay or sandy soil and gets it ready for planting. That’s a good approximate ratio if you make your own compost too. Adding compost not only improves the consistency of your soil, it adds LIFE! All those beneficial microorganisms help turn your soil into the perfect environment for plant roots.

4. Plant Level – Not Too Deep!

When planting this Spring, DON’T PLANT TOO DEEP! Plant level with the surrounding soil (or even slightly higher) and don’t cover the top of the root ball with soil. Plants have tiny feeder roots on the surface of the root ball that are critical for taking up nutrients and for oxygen exchange. If you bury these surface feeder roots, the plant will suffocate and decline. After you plant, use a moisture meter to be sure you’re getting moisture down into the ground when you water.

5. Invite Pollinator Helpers to Your Garden

Now is an important time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, moths, 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 native Gregg’s Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Salvias and Mexican Flame Vine too. Native plants like Turks Cap and Yaupon Holly produce berries for birds, and Hummingbirds love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more! Keep in mind that pollinators need help locating these food sources. Think about planting several of the same plant together to help make them more visible to our pollinator friends. 

p.s. If you want to learn more about bees, join us here at Gill’s this Saturday, 3/1 at 10am for Support the Bees with the Coastal Bend Beekeepers Association!

6. Looking for Drought-Tolerant Color for Your Landscape?

Q:  Can I use far less water and still have a gorgeous landscape bursting with color? A:  Absolutely, you can! Given our drought situation, we’re sourcing even more of the tried and true, top-performing plants that don’t require much water once established. Think about a rainbow of Coreopsis (pictured), native Blackfoot Daisy, Mexican Heather, Bulbine, and all the different color Salvias and Lantanas – all very tough and water wise perennials that will carry you through the seasons. Think about creating some areas of interest in the ground or in pots with Gomphrena, Bluebonnets, and Pentas, all of which thrive with little water. Speaking of pots, even bright sweet potato vine is a low-water winner. 

 

 

One of the most common questions we get from DIY gardeners and landscape design clients alike…”Can you recommend blooming plants for the shadier areas of my yard?” Great question! Most blooming plants want lots of sun, but there are still some great options for shade. Here are 10 of our fav shade bloomers that we have in stock and ready to plant right now!

1. Gregg’s Mist Flower

Do you have shady spots in your yard where you like to hang out and cool off? Would you like to enjoy the company of dozens of butterflies in those chill spots? Then plant a bunch of native Gregg’s Mist Flower! It can handle full sun, but it loves morning sun and afternoon shade.  

2. Shady Salvias, like ‘Black & Bloom’ and ‘Plum Crazy’

We have quite a wide selection of salvias this spring, including gorgeous varieties that prefer more shade, like Plum Crazy (pictured), the darker purple Black & Bloom, and even the native Tropical Sage (Salvia coccinea) which like dappled light under tree canopies.  

3. Celosia

The problem with doing a general web search for gardening tips is that the info rarely applies to our area specifically. Celosia is a good example – most gardening sites will recommend full sun, but they don’t mean South Texas full sun! In our area, Celosia makes a bright and fun addition to shadier spots in the garden with blooms through spring into early summer. 

4. Blue Plumbago

We like to call Plumbago the South Texas Hydrangea. We can’t grow Hydrangeas very well in our area (wish we could!), but Plumbago thrives here and gives you a similar effect in the landscape with TONS of big, gorgeous blue blooms. Think part sun/part shade spots. There’s also a white version if blue’s not for you. 

5. Begonias!

Begonias might be our fav annual flowers for shade. They’re awesome in the ground or in pots, and can even be brought indoors. And there are tons of varieties to choose from with different foliage and different blooms. 

6. Firespike

Here’s one we don’t see too often – Firespike! Excellent 4-6′ tall and wide shrub that hummingbirds and butterflies adore. We wouldn’t recommend it for deep shade, but it’ll be happy and bloom in some shade.

7. Blue Daze

It’s a bit tricky to find a low-growing, heat-loving, drought-tolerant plant that can bloom in the shade, but Blue Daze checks all those boxes. This Texas Superstar thrives in our area and makes an excellent groundcover. Great in pots too!

8. Turk’s Cap

Texas Native Turk’s Cap is one of the most versatile and easy landscape plants there is. You can plant it almost anywhere, including deep shade, and it will bloom like crazy. Plus, it’s a magnet for hummingbirds. Did you know that Turk’s Cap is part of the mallow family and that the fruit and all parts of the plant are edible? 

9. Texas Betony

Texas Betony is another native that hummingbirds and butterflies adore. And it’s an excellent shade bloomer. We don’t see it super often, so it’s a treat to have some in the garden center right now. 

10. Shrimp Plant!

How could we talk about shade bloomers without mentioning the South Texas classic, Shrimp Plant! It comes in different colors, hummingbirds love it, and grows to about 4′ tall and wide. 

 

 

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!

Yay for May! Everything’s growing and blooming and we hope you are too! May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is a good time to think about the peace of mind that gardening brings us. Gardeners know that all the research is true – gardening is good for you! Here are our Top 7 Must Do’s this May to keep you and your garden feelin’ good.

1. Join Us for Garden Talks and Events!

We’ve got a big May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, May 3rd with a fun cyanotype printing event with the TAMUCC Student Art Association. Stop by and create your own cyanotype prints using leaves and flowers! Then next weekend we’re inviting kids to come pot up a flower for Mom for Mother’s Day. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Click here for more info and tickets!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established in May so they are rooted and acclimated to withstand warmer temps this Summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Lantana, and tons more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming trees like Vitex, Retama, and Wild Olive are looking great right now. Crape Myrtles will start blooming soon too. Added bonus:  blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant all kinds of peppers, zucchini, squash, melons, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the Summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early Spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or very soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad – safe for food but takes care of bugs. Remember to keep watering your veggies as the weather warms up to maintain depth moisture. 

4. Mulch for Many Reasons!

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. 

5. Transition Your Lawn to Summer

Feed with Natural Fertilizers:  Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. 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. 

Watering:  Homeowners can collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns, which is a great option. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here.  If you do so, keep in mind that 1,000 gallons can water 1,621 sq ft of lawn at a nice 1” depth or 3,225 sq ft of lawn at ½” depth. 

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches. Buzzing lawns shorter than that will cause lawn stress, and stressed lawns are more susceptible to pests, weeds, and disease.

Watch for lawn insects & treat when needed. Grub worms & chinch bugs are easy to control when caught early but there’s no need to treat unless you have them. BioAdvanced 24-Hour Grub Killer or Season-Long Bonide Insect and Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Diatomaceous Earth, Spinosad, or Cyonara takes care of chinch bugs. Reminder, you can bring us a grass sample any time you suspect a lawn disease or pest. We’ll diagnose (using our microscope if needed) and get you what you need to knock it out.

Consider reducing your lawn space! Does all this lawn stuff sound like a lot of work? It can be! Many of us are reconsidering whether we really even want all that green lawn space. Why not start converting small portions of lawn to planting beds filled with blooming perennials that benefit the environment and use far less water? One way to start would simply be to deepen existing landscape beds to reduce some lawn. 

6. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, spray organic Cedar Repel on your lawn, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which also help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

7. Gifts for Mother’s Day and Graduations

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, quality garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, plantable greeting cards, gardening books – lots of options. You can purchase Gill gift cards online here and we’ll gift wrap and mail them to your loved one. Or come find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Spring has sprung!! Look around and you’ll see lots of happy and healthy plants enjoying the sunshine and putting on fresh new growth. We hope you feel the same way! Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this month – time to get planting!

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Fertilize Regularly Starting Now (except for lawns!)

Spring’s here and plants are actively growing. That means they need food, just like us! Flowers and veggies are especially heavy feeders because they’re working to produce a bloom and fruit. And you will certainly notice a difference with your landscape plants as well. Apply a good all-purpose organic food like Plant Tone, Medina Growin Green, or Rose Glo once a month for great results. Don’t sprinkle your granular fertilizer right up against the trunk of the plant. Instead, sprinkle at the drip line, aka where rainwater would drip off the outermost leaves. That’s the zone where plants take up the most nutrients. After you’ve applied your granular food, circle back every 2 weeks to supplement with liquid Hasta Gro. Almost everything should be fed starting now, except lawns! Wait to fertilize lawns until late March/early April with Medina Growin Green.

Added bonus: When planting, add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer to the soil when you backfill. It contains all sorts of beneficial organic matter, including mycorrhizal fungi which help stimulate better root growth. Amazing stuff!

2. Whatever You’re Planting – Add Compost!

Whether you’re starting a veggie garden, planting trees or shrubs, annual flowers, or blooming perennials, add some compost to improve the quality of your native soil. We love our Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr Compost. One bag improves about 12 sq ft of clay or sandy soil and gets it ready for planting. That’s a good approximate ratio if you make your own compost too. Adding compost not only improves the consistency of your soil, it adds LIFE! All those beneficial microorganisms help turn your soil into the perfect environment for plant roots.

3. Plant Level – Not Too Deep!

When planting this Spring, DON’T PLANT TOO DEEP! Plant level with the surrounding soil (or even slightly higher) and don’t cover the top of the root ball with soil. Most plants have tiny feeder roots on the surface of the root ball that are critical for taking up nutrients and for oxygen exchange. If you bury these surface feeder roots, the plant will suffocate and decline. After you plant, remember that plants need long, deep drinks of water. Watering often does not equal watering well. Use a moisture meter to be sure you’re getting moisture down into the ground when you water.

4. Invite Pollinator Friends to Your Garden

Now is a great time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, moths, 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 native Gregg’s Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Salvias and Mexican Flame Vine too. Native plants like Turks Cap and Yaupon Holly produce berries for birds, and Hummingbirds love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more! Keep in mind that pollinators need help locating these food sources. Think about planting several of the same plant together to help make them more visible to our pollinator friends.

5. Looking for Freeze-Tolerant Winter Warriors?

So many of us are rethinking our landscapes after 3 freeze years in a row. The most common question we’re hearing so far this spring is, “what can I plant that won’t freeze?”. We love this idea – creating the bones of your landscape with cold-hardy trees, shrubs, and blooming perennials that won’t be phased too much when our temps dip down. Think about classic shrubs like Indian Hawthorn or Dwarf Yaupon Holly. Think about Foxtail Ferns and Leopard plants. Think about ornamental grasses and salvias. And think about our wide variety of native plants. They’ve weathered freezes in Texas for hundreds or even thousands of years! Once you have some good bones, add seasoning with annual flowers and tropicals that you can have fun updating and replacing more often.

6. Lay Out Your Space – Give Plants Room to Grow!

A little planning goes a long way in the garden. Keep in mind the mature size and growth habit of plants you find here at Gill’s. We include this information on our plant signs to help you decide on that perfect spot. If you bring pictures of your planting areas with rough measurements, our Garden Coaches can sketch up a simple layout on graph paper and help you select plants that will thrive in your space, compliment each other, and not be too crowded once they’re fully grown.

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