kids

Bring the kids this Saturday, October 12th any time from 10am-2pm to make wildflower seed balls! It’s time to plant wildflowers and seed balls are such a fun and easy way to do it. We’ll have stations set up with all the supplies, including native wildflower seeds, for kids to make their own seed balls. Here’s a preview – see you Saturday!

What are Seed Balls?

Seed balls are simply balls formed with our native clay soil + compost, some sand, a little water, and Texas native wildflower seeds. We’ll be using the recommended ‘Native Texas Mix’ from Native American Seed. Rather than just scattering the wildflower seeds, the seed balls help to protect them from the elements. All you do is place them on the ground in a spot where they have contact with dirt. No digging required. They’ll break down and ‘plant’ themselves this fall, then you’ll get to see them bloom next spring!

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 you Saturday!

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!

We have customers of all ages. Maybe two of our youngest gardeners, very active gardeners, are brother and sister Kai & Isla. Kai is a third grader and Isla a first grader, both attending Windsor Park Elementary.

It’s no surprise, they’ve grown up watching their parents and grandparents garden. And it seems they all love to experiment with what they plant, where they plant it and how they take care of it.

I asked the kids what they are thankful this Thanksgiving. Kai said he is thankful for nature and camping; Isla for being outside, NOT watching TV & NOT eating fast food!

For starters, they prefer raised beds. They use sandy loam topsoil mixed with Nature’s Blend from Gill’s and then they add compost between crops. Kai says their compost is made up of kitchen scraps (veggie peels, egg shells, strawberry tops, etc…) mixed with leaves and grass clippings.

The kids have three different growing areas in their backyard. One garden is behind the garage along the back fence where they grow veggies on a string trellis. They have a crop of green beans ready to harvest right now!

The second garden is along the side of their house where they have huge tomato plants mixed with marigolds and lots and lots of basil.

Their third garden is in the back corner where Jeff, their dad, built a L shaped raised garden. It was a gift to his wife Erika! It’s the largest garden and has the most diversity with different greens, radishes, herbs, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, pumpkin, broccoli & Bok Choy.

And to top it off, they have a big pot of beautiful fresh spearmint on their patio next to a pot of pineapple and a grow bag with potatoes they’re experimenting with!

I asked them if they liked to eat what they grow. Yes, they do! One of Isla’s favorite recipes is fresh kale from the garden mixed with olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic and lemon. Yum! They also love simply munching on leaves while playing in the backyard!

I thought my visit was going to just be about plants, until they asked me if I wanted to see their chickens. They have four chickens, soon to be producing eggs. One of their fun pastimes is picking worms off their greens to feed their chickens!

Kai & Isla both seem to love digging in the dirt, watching veggies grow, and eating healthy food! So this Thanksgiving week, one of the many things I will give thanks for is parents that share the miracles of nature, gardening and good old healthy living with their children!

-Sally

Our Top Plant Picks For Summer

Of all the plants that we sell throughout the year, there are always those the really rise above the rest for each season. For summer these are the plants we think outshine many for their blooms, toughness, carefree maintenance, and best of all, they will look beautiful in your landscape during our hot summer months! Plant these now, so that they bloom in your garden all summer long!

Crape Myrtles
Poincianas
Bougainvilleas
Lantana
Coral Vine (before it blooms)
Periwinkles
Esperanza
Texas Sage
Red Yucca
Rock Rose
Turks Cap
Firebush

-Marta

JUST LIKE MAGIC!

Few weeks back, Grace, James’ landscape design assistant, got to spend her morning with several hundred 2nd & 3rd graders at the Early Scholars Academy next to London School. Grace taught kinder through 8th grade in Banquette before she joined us at Gill’s, so this was like “old home week” for her. Grace spoke to the kids about her job at Gill’s. They were fascinated that Grace could be given a pencil drawn rough sketch and she could transform it into a colorful scaled landscape using an computer aided drafting program. Just like magic!

-Sally

Here’s a fun project kids can do to attract birds to your landscape. Take natural pinecones, roll in peanut butter, and then roll in bird seed. It’s a little messy….just right for kids! Attach a hanger and place them in your trees. Birds come and feed on them and everyone gets to enjoy watching!

-DeAnna

Gillian is my neighbor and her older brother, Michael, works at Gill’s. The other day her mom, Ann, sent me a photo of a fairy garden in a hanging basket Jillian designed and built with help from Whitney at our Alameda store. Just had to share it with everyone! I asked Jillian if I could interview her for this blog, and she cheerfully agreed, Friday at 5pm. She greeted me at the door; we quickly moved to her back yard where all the action was. Our first stop was a basil plant she was excited about; she loves basil! Her mom makes a soup in a special “bullet”, mixing squash, celery, basil, broth & topped with cheese. Gillian gardens at school too! She and her classmates are growing parsley, yellow squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and dill. We then moved to her special fairy garden, hanging from her playscape. She has a pig and a rabbit and toadstools and a fairy house that lights at night (and yes, you can get one at Gill’s!). She and her best friend, amazingly also Jillian (spelled with a J), started their interest in fairies from a book, and it’s grown from there. Finally, I asked Gillian what she thought she might like to do when she grows up. Her response was quick and sure. She wants to own her own restaurant and plans to make dishes with only garden fresh ingredients! Wow, I was impressed, and am anxious to be her first customer! Go Gillian!

-Sally

Last week I had the pleasure and absolute delight of giving a tour of our Nursery to Girl Scout Troop 9638. As I lead the girls and one boy (younger brother) around, it gave me a chance to see what our Nursery looks like from someone else’s eyes. We talked about how fruit develops from a flower, what’s so important about soil, and how we can use plants in our daily lives as medicine, aromatherapy, and surprising edibles. Watching them get excited about breaking open an Aloe plant or pick their own Purslane “weeds” and munch on them woke me up to how important it is for our kids to garden, and to get their hands in the dirt! I am happy to announce that all the girls from Girl Scout Troop 9638 who came to Gills are on their way to getting their ‘Flower Badges’ and hopefully we piqued their interest in exploring gardening on their own and with their families.

-Marta

Meet Elliott, my grandson from Denver, Colorado. Last year, at the ripe old age of 10 months his favorite thing was digging in the dirt. He’d happily dig in a plastic box of planting soil for an hour, using child sized garden tools from Gills. Now, at almost 2 years he’s advanced to planting and tending his first vegetable and herb garden.

Elliott’s garden has radishes, carrots, squash, lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, mint, and basil. Yes, he really planted them himself! The rows aren’t perfect and more seeds are grouped closer to the edges where he could more easily reach. He doesn’t care. It’s his garden and he’s already reaping and eating its bounty.

The radishes are fast growing and he loves to eat them freshly picked and washed. He enjoys picking mint leaves to chew while playing in the back yard. Soon there will be tomatoes to snack on, then carrots to eat.

I suggested to his mom for next year’s garden, mixing carrot and radish seeds together. It’s a tip I heard on Justin Butts’ radio program. The radishes come up first and their fast growing leaves provide a living mulch for the carrots, which grow more slowly.

We’ll see what Elliott thinks about that!

-Kathy

kids

Our Top Plant Picks For Summer

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JUST LIKE MAGIC!