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We are now pleased to offer Nature’s Creation Organic Potting Soil with Mycorrhizal Fungi for our 2019 garden season!

Some of our good friends in the green industry, Mr. Bob Webster, KTSA South Texas Gardening Show host & garden center owner in San Antonio along with his business partner Ms. Roberta Churchin were instrumental in the formulation of this potting soil.

Nature’s Creation readily absorbs water and holds moisture without becoming saturated. The soil dries evenly which all but eliminates fungus gnats and mold. It contains no peat moss but is a blend of weed-free and naturally sterilized compost plus coco fiber which resists clumping and adds porosity. In addition, the blend includes pecan mulch, perlite, mushroom compost, molasses, and native recycled biomass. Finally, Mycorrhizal Fungi is added to the mix to benefit your plants by increasing drought tolerance, water and nutrient uptake, and disease resistance.

This potting soil is more biologically active and will make your plants happy!

-DeAnna

Mangave, a hybrid of the Agave and Manfreda, is a beautiful and easy plant that stands out, requires little maintenance, and does not have any spines or points. They are available in a variety of colors and forms, with the potential for unique spotting as well as wavy and cascading foliage.

Mangave can provide an excellent focal point in your garden or landscape and can be potted or planted in the ground. Barbara, our accountant since the early 90s here at Gill’s, does not consider herself a plant person, but here’s what she has to say about her Mangave:

“I’ve never been great with plants; my husband jokes that my house is where plants go to die! So, the Mangave we had installed in our front porch bed has been a nice surprise. The day I walked out and saw a spike growing up out of the middle of the plant, I felt like a proud Mama! That spike (which started out looking like giant asparagus) has continued to get taller and taller. It is currently about 7 feet tall! I can’t help thinking about Jack and the Beanstalk every time I walk past it!

As it grew, clusters of buds began to appear on the upper portion of the stalk. My fear was that it would be so tall when it bloomed that I would need a ladder to see what it produced, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The buds have begun opening into unique spiky ‘flowers’. It has been so much fun watching this process, and it will be interesting to see what else it has in store!”

-Barbara Elliott

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

We’ve met so many kids over the years (as young as 10 months old) who really get a kick out of gardening. While kids and teachers are on a much-needed break from school next week, and the weather warms up, try a fun gardening project at home!

March is the perfect time to plant vegetables from seeds, including beans, okra, radishes, pumpkins, and watermelons. Now is also a great time to start small tomato plants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and strawberries. You don’t need to be an expert or have a ton of space to get started – these fruits and veggies can be grown in garden beds or in containers. Kids love watching their plants start to grow and getting to eat their fresh and healthy food once its ripe!

Fruits and veggies are fun and so are flowers! Plant Cosmos, Zinnias, and Sunflower seeds now to get beautiful color and attract butterflies and birds. Marigolds and Petunias are nice and easy!

We have child-sized gardening tools and gloves, colorful flags, bird houses, bug houses, and all the seeds, plants, and supplies you might need to create a fun space for kids to enjoy gardening.

-Jesse

Spring is here again, and as plants and flowers wake up, so do unwanted guests such as aphids and fleas. Some of the most effective ways to eliminate these pests and many others is to use beneficial bugs. We keep Ladybugs, Beneficial Nematodes, and Earthworms on hand here at Gill’s to get rid of pests and improve the health of your lawn and garden.

Ladybugs

Fun facts about Ladybugs- Ladybugs aren’t really bugs at all, they’re beetles. There are almost 400 different kinds of ladybugs in North America.

Female ladybugs can eat as many as 75 aphids in one day. They also like to eat scale, mealybugs, and spider mites.

Ladybugs smell with their feet and antennae. A ladybug’s jaws chew from side to side instead of up and down like our jaws. The color of a ladybug’s spots begin to fade as it gets older.

Ladybugs are most active when their body temperature is 75 degrees or warmer. A ladybug’s bright color warns birds that it does not taste good. When a ladybug flies, its wings beat 85 times every second. Female ladybugs are larger than male ladybugs.

Aphids are the first pest to hit in the spring and they love the new growth on plants. Buy your ladybugs now and keep them dormant in the refrigerator till your first outbreak of aphids, then release a few hundred at a time.

Use Ladybugs to help eliminate:

– Aphids
– Scale
– Mealybugs
– Spider mites

Beneficial Nematodes

Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic creatures that live in soil where they feed on the eggs and larvae of soil borne-pests. They’re voracious predators of fire ants, flea larvae, and white grub worms (the grubs that eat plant roots).

Beneficial Nematodes are the ideal organic pest control because they’re a naturally occurring predator of pests, but they don’t harm plants, animals, or people. They’re completely non-toxic and they’re easy to use.

You mix the nematodes with water, and then put the solution into a watering can or sprayer. A hose-end type sprayer is fine, as city water is fine to mix with the nematodes.

Speaking of water, beneficial nematodes do need rain or supplemental watering in order to live and reproduce in your soil, so they’re not appropriate for dry land farms or completely xeric landscapes.

Use Nematodes to help eliminate:

– Fire ants
– Fleas
– Grub worms

Earthworms

Earthworms, or Red Worms, are popular due to their many useful applications. Each Red Worm ingests its weight in organic matter every 24 hours.

They excrete a highly effective fertilizer called castings, which are high in nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, potash, and calcium, which are all great for your soil, grass, and plants!

These castings can also help repel chewing and sucking insects like aphids, whiteflies, and hard-shelled plant bugs; the chitinase (an enzyme) from the worm castings, which is absorbed by the plant, kills the bad bugs when they eat the plant leaves.

Use Earthworms and their castings for:

– Improving and aerating soil
– Fertilizer
– Starting compost
– Repelling chewing and sucking insects
– Fishing bait!

Now is a great time to get some good bugs and worms (ladybugs, beneficial nematodes, and earthworms) – before the bad bugs (aphids, fleas, mealybugs, whiteflies, fire ants, spider mites, and grub worms) arrive!

-DeAnna

As the spring equinox arrives, I’m wondering if Mr. Sunshine is ever coming back from his southern hemisphere vacation? Well, there’s no time to wait for the sun; I’m making hay without it! So, I’ve started pulling up the winter garden and sharing our final harvest.

The cool cloudy days make working in the yard wonderful! The plants are happy, the pets are frisky, and I’m not having a heat stroke in March. Gardening is an instant boost to the gloomy moods of cloudy days. Tons of research supports those words, but still the best is to get out and “see for yourself”.

Here’s some tips for instant “feel goods” in your garden. No sun needed!

Plant Some Color!

Spring flowers make me smile and my soil has not been too wet to plant. I’m adding color to my pots with new flowers and coleus. We have a new potting mix at Gill’s called Premium Potting Mix. It’s made by Back to Nature and I can’t wait to try it! Every plant’s getting a dose of Hasta Gro plant food.

Trim-Clean-Weed

Trimming off damaged branches and ugly foliage is helping my plants and me. I’m getting a great workout and they’ll be healthier with the spring flush of new growth.

Pulling weeds in our courtyard gets me face to face with my dogs; always a happy place!

Plant Tomatoes & Spring Veggies

The cool and clouds have prolonged tomato planting time. I’ll be putting in mine this coming weekend, rain permitting…LOL. I’m planning for peppers, squash, tomatillos, basil, maybe cucumbers, and eggplant. The cool cloudy days are keeping the bugs at bay too! At least so far…can I get an Amen?

Mulch It

Fresh mulch around your trees and flower beds makes everything look really good…really! I love hardwood mulch and pine straw. It’s a matter of taste; black, red, cypress, cedar, rock…they’re all available at Gills.

Bring It In!

If the weather just won’t let you get outside, there’s always something for your indoors. For instance, I did this air bromeliad project last weekend while it was raining. I bought a piece of our new driftwood, several tillandsias, a bag of royal pool moss from the nursery; dug out my old glue gun and had a blast putting this all together!

Happy Gardening Anytime! Rain or Shine!

-Debbie

I have had several customers bring me Tussock Moth Caterpillars they found munching on their oak tree leaves.

The creamy white hairs on the caterpillar are long and bristle-like and spread out in tufts down the sides. Two long, sharp black pencil like hairs protrude near the front and rear and these hairs are connected to poison glands, which excrete venom on contact. Contact with the venom may result in itchy irritation.

You can spray your tree with Hi Yield Thuricide Concentrate or Natural Guard Spinosad Hose-end. Both of these products are organic and safe to use on all plants. Thuricide reacts with the cells of the stomach lining of the target pest causing them to not be able to feed within hours of ingesting. Spinosad is a contact kill, but still safe and organic for all plants.

(photo via ocala.com)

-DeAnna

April is here! We’re cruising right into a beautiful Spring – there’s lots to do to make the most of all this sunshine and new growth! Here’s our list to get done this month.

Check out our April 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. Feed Your Lawn and Plants

Fertilizing/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. For lawns we love organic Medina Growin’ Green or our Gill Lawn and Garden Food. Growin’ Green is great for shrubs and trees too. For blooming perennials and annual flowers, we really like organic Plant Tone by Espoma and Medina Hasta Gro liquid.

2. Anchor Your Landscape with Trees and Shrubs

Trees and shrubs are like the bones of your landscape. They provide structure for you to embellish with all sorts of other textures and color. You can plant most trees year-round, but these favs will greatly benefit by planting now: Citrus, Crape Myrtles, Mountain Laurels, Wild Olive, and Bottlebrush. Classic shrubs like Boxwoods, Ligustrum, Viburnum, Pineapple Guava, Eleagnus, and Texas Sage are all great to plant right now too. Planting now gives them time to start growing and you more time to enjoy.

3. Attract Helpful Guests

Add some blooming perennials to attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds to your garden. You’ll enjoy watching them work and they’ll help you have more blooms and better production on your veggies! Think all kinds of Salvias, Butterfly Weed, Lantana, and Mist Flower for butterflies, anything that blooms for bees, and natives like Turk’s Cap that produce a fruit or berry for birds.

4. Plant Your Warm Weather Veggies

It’s still time to plant hot peppers, squash, zucchini, basil, beans, and more. Tomato time has almost passed, but if you still really want to plant a tomato, choose a cherry tomato that can still set fruit in warmer weather.

5. Share Tips with New Gardeners

One of our favorite things about Spring is meeting folks who are new to gardening. There’s so much to share! Chances are, if you’re a regular here at Gill’s, you know a thing or 2 about gardening. Now is a great time to share tips for success (or lessons from failure) with friends and neighbors. You can always connect with us on Facebook and Instagram or send questions & pics to info@gillnursery.com. Help us encourage new gardeners to subscribe to the Gill Garden News!

Check out our April Garden Guide for more tips!