Lawn Care

Living With Snakes

First and foremost, I want to say that gardeners should love snakes! Snakes are a very important part of our ecosystem, and they keep away rats, mice, and other pests from our houses and gardens. With all this rain, you have a much higher chance of running into snakes in your yards and garages (hopefully not in your house). Most snakes are good, but there are a few that you should watch out for. In our area we have coral snakes (red-and-yellow, Kill-a-fellow!), rattlesnakes, and water moccasins. If you see a snake near you, the best thing is to leave it alone! If it’s a garden snake, then it’ll keep your garden in top shape by deterring unwanted rodents. If you’re unsure if a snake is venomous, please call Animal Control (361-232-5627) BEFORE you try to relocate/dispose of it. –Marta

Make Room For These Friendly Snakes!

Time for vinca?

We all love our vinca (a.k.a. periwinkle) and the time is finally right for them!! With the rainy spring this year we delayed bringing them into the garden center. They are susceptible to Phytophthora Stem Blight and Root Rot Fungus primarily caused by heavy rains. Preventing fungus is always better than curing it once it appears. Water management is the main preventative measure. Frequent watering, even in moderate to dry sites, can make conditions favorable for development of branch blight and root rot. It is also important to provide excellent drainage. When preparing a planting bed, thoroughly dig up the entire area adding plenty of organic matter such as Cotton Burr Compost.Treat the area with Actinovate, a biological fungicide to help prevent the disease. Space the plants 8-10 inches apart and mulch heavily with Hardwood Mulch to prevent water from splattering off the soil. Also never water over the top of the plant. Always water slow and thorough on the ground below the plant. It looks like we’re going to have warm dry days ahead which is what makes vincas happy!! –DeAnna

Organic gardening is much more than merely a method of growing tomatoes and other food crops. It’s about growing all plants a more natural and safe way. It’s a way of life. It’s about paying attention to nature. It’s about understanding how everything in nature is related. It’s about working within nature’s perfectly designed system.

Here are the basics of growing organically.

[container][column type=”one-half” first=”true”]Chemical Approach:

Mow low and often.
Catch grass clippings.
High analysis fertilizers 4 times/year.
Synthetic fertilizers – no organic matter.
Fertilizer based on plant needs.
Fertilizers have few or no trace minerals.
Attempt to control nature.
Treat symptoms (insects & diseases).
Use chemical pesticides at first sign of pests.
Poisons used on a calendar.
Discourage the use of beneficial insects.
Use only university-tested products.
Plants require frequent watering.

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[column type=”one-half” last=”true”]Organic Approach:

Mow higher and less often.
Leave clippings on the ground.
Low analysis fertilizer 2 times a year.
100% organic fertilizer- no fillers.
Fertilizer based on soil needs.
Fertilizers loaded with trace minerals.
Attempt to work with nature’s systems.
Treat soil and cultural problems.
Use natural pesticides as last resort.
Prevention through soil improvement basis as preventative. and foliar fertilizers.
Use beneficial insects as a major tool.
Use food products, teas, and homemade mixtures where appropriate.
Watering can be cut by 50%.

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Each week I will try to introduce you to an organic product to help make your gardening easier as well as safer for you and the family. Once you begin working with nature, you will be surprised how much happier and healthier your plants are. You will also see how your job is easier. Less watering, less spraying, less fertilizing and yet, beautiful plants. Lets enjoy our gardens, not be a slave to them.

-Deanna

A Few Summer Tips

If your watering hose is in the sun, make sure to let the water run through for a little while before watering your plants. Hot hoses make for hot water!
Caladiums last longer if you pinch off the bloom stalks, which are always great for bouquets.
If your tomatoes or cucumbers remind you of Jack and the Beanstalk, use Takiron stakes and jute twine to lengthen your cage and keep those veggies contained.
You CAN give perennials a haircut in the summertime if you need to, but please nothing too drastic. Shearing blooms and gentle pruning are great ways to keep perennials looking fresh.
Weeds love to encroach on your garden beds in the summer. Walk your beds once a week! Pulling up small weeds now is always easier, and can save you a lot of sweat.
If you have to spray insecticides or fungicides, do in early in the morning or late afternoon, not in the middle of the day! Water droplets have this nasty little habit of acting like magnifying glasses in 90 degree weather, and can cause burns.

-Marta

Got webbing on your trees?

It is not webworms! Webbing on the bark of trunks and branches is a good thing. Don’t spray!! Bark lice is natures clean-up crew. These tiny creatures are scouring the bark for plant, animal, or fungus life which they eat, and while they perform this housekeeping chore, they spin this web for protection. Usually the web will disintegrate in two or three days and will disappear almost a suddenly as it appeared. Leave them alone and let them do their job of cleaning up your trees or shrubs. Thank goodness for good bugs!

-DeAnna

Did you know that soil is a living thing? We have all heard of microbes. The real deal is that without soil microbes, we would all die. The work they do in our soil is incredibly complex but it all boils down to this: microbes eat, thus we eat. Plants are unable to take from the soil the nutrition they need without microbes working in the soil.

Microbes are alive, and must have nutrition to survive, and that nutrition comes from organic matter. As they consume the nutrients they need, microbes create foods like nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace minerals for our plants. It is the microbes that convert the NPK and minerals in the soil into a form our plants can use to grow and produce food and flowers for us. Organic fertilizers feed our soil which is why they are so important to use instead of synthetic fertilizers which have little to no benefit to our soil.

We carry 3 different organic fertilizers for lawns & gardens. Milorganite which is made in Milwaukee from bio waste sewer sludge. It contains 4% iron and is non-burning. It does not have to be watered in immediately, but is activated once watered. Covers 2500 sq. ft. Medina Growin Green is made in Texas from kelp meal, humate, poultry manure, molasses, and green sand. Covers 3000 sq. ft. I usually recommend the one that meets your square footage needs. With all the recent rains and summer upon us, it is time to think about fertilizing the lawn and all your tropical shrubs again.

-DeAnna

Mealybugs are here! Look on the tips, stems, and undersides of the leaves for these white insects clustered together. If they go unnoticed for a short period of time , they will produce a protective cottony barrier over their bodies to protect themselves. Many times we hear “I have a white fungus on my plants”. Insecticidal Soap or Neem Oil can be used to kill these pests. Multiple applications may be needed. Thorough coverage is a must, and I usually recommend spraying once a week for 2-3 weeks to make sure you have killed them all. If you only have a few clusters of them at the tips of your plants you could smash them with your fingers and rinse, or cut off the affected tips and throw away the bugs in a sealed bag. Be a bug scout. Keep your eyes open and search. These pests usually last most of the summer.

-DeAnna

Back in the late 70’s, when we first opened our Airline store, we met Henry. He was strikingly handsome, riding his beautiful horse, and had an amazingly warm and wonderful smile. And still does as shown in this picture taken in May!
Henry, upon returning from the Vietnam War in the late 60’s, joined his dad, Connie Brooks, in the family landscape and maintenance business. When he was trained and ready to go out on his own, his dad gave him a lawn mower, and edger (remember them?), a few rakes and brooms. And for the last 40+ years, Henry has been making Corpus Christi beautiful. He has long lasting relationships with many multi-generational families in our city. Henry compares his job as a landscaper to that of an artist, creating art outdoors by planting trees, shrubs and flowers, and then keeping his work looking good with regular care.
Henry’s hobby is training and racing quarter horses – his own horses. He’s raced in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. And that gets back to when I first met him in our parking lot, a long time ago.
When I saw him today at our Alameda store, he asked me if I was working hard or hardly working. I said of course I am working hard, that it seems we are both still working hard. His comment was, “Why would I sit at home doing nothing when I could be out taking care of my customers and making gardens prettier?” I agree! Thank you Henry, for your kind, gentle spirit, your beautiful warm smile, and our decades long friendship.

-Sally

We’ve covered organic fertilizers and organic insecticides. This week we will talk about organic fungicides. Serenade Garden Disease Control can be used on roses, vegetables, fruits, flowering plants, trees, shrubs and lawns. Use prior to disease development or at the first sign of foliar disease infection. Serenade prevents and controls black spot, leaf spot, powdery mildew, anthracnose, gray mold, scab and early blight. With all the recent rains black spot and powdery mildew are a problem, especially on roses. Actinovate and Actino-iron are also organic fungicides used for soil borne pl ant root rot and damping off fungi. Can be used to control diseases on vegetables, roses, trees, shrubs and lawns. It is a must for the control of phytophthera fungus which kills periwinkles. Actino-iron can be worked into the soil prior to planting or Actinovate can be mixed with water and sprayed or drenched around your flowers to prevent disease after planting and through the growing season. Horticultural Cornmeal is another natural substance that stimulates beneficial microorganisms to feed on pathogens such as brown patch in St. Augustine, damping off in seedlings, phytophthera and other fungal diseases. It also helps to build the soil. Remember all diseases are easier to prevent than to cure. Isn’t there an old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

-DeAnna

I’ve always known Cherry Green is an avid gardener. Year round, no matter how hot or cold it is, she remains a gardener. Whenever I see her about town, she asks if we have this or that, and most of the time it’s not your ordinary ligustrum or Asian jasmine. A few weeks ago, she was in the store looking for pink gaura, one of my favorites, but again, not a typical Corpus Christi landscape plant. In conversation, I asked if I could come tour her garden. What a treat!

Cherry & her husband Hix moved from the Dallas area in their 20’s to a neighborhood off Ocean Drive and have been there ever since. Cherry immediately went to work designing the garden and Hix assisted her in creating her dream landscape. As with many, their original plant choices leaned toward the East Texas varieties. Through trial and error, and a few hot and humid summers, they’ve migrated to more natives, more drought tolerant, hardier plants. Interestingly, when she acquires a new plant, she enters it in her data base by common and scientific name. In addition, she photographs her succulents since sometimes they are difficult to differentiate. I also think that could be a great way to record plant performance, bloom cycles, etc…

Cherry & Hix’s garden is truly an amazing collection of plant species. Their front yard is anchored with oaks and Natchez crape myrtles; beds are filled with bird of paradise, foxtail fern, Red Wave hibiscus, jasmines, chrysanthemums, Japanese yew, yellow plumbago and more. Their side yard includes Drift roses, Mexican oregano, exotic day lilies including Black Ambrosia & King’s Point, plumeria, hamelia, a way cool groundcover periwinkle, hibiscus and a great collection of succulents in pots by the side entrance to their home. Their back yard has beautiful mesquites, one with night blooming cereus growing up it. There are crape myrtles, a mountain laurel and a grapefruit, specimen plumeria, durantas, firecracker plant, irises, altheas, pride of Barbados, porter weed, night blooming jasmine, Indian carnation, milkweed, a beautiful specimen white bird of paradise, beautiful blooming gomphrena and a nice assortment of vines on their back and side fence. Again, they have a great collection of succulents in an interesting collection of containers. She jokes that her lawn is disappearing as her garden beds get larger.

Cherry has no qualms, when a plant becomes too big in its current location, to move it or dispose of it. She’s all about trial and error. A few days before our visit, she dug up an iris that had gotten too large for its space, divided it, and was readying them for planting in a more appropriate spot.

I was most entertained by where Cherry has acquired her plants. I’m proud to say many of her plants have come from Gill’s, but I’m not sure it’s a majority. It seems many of her plants have been given to her by friends and family. Gloria Swantner has shared many, as well as B.J. Kershaw, John McKeever, Laurie Mintz, our dear John Anderson, Judy Henderson and on and on. Cherry has purchased plants from our South Texas Botanical Gardens as well as other non-profit gardens, taken a few clippings here and there from hotels (for instance, one of our favorites on Congress Street in Austin). Her daughter, Lacy, is always scouting for her mom in her travels. Bonnie Cohen even brought a suitcase of cuttings from her mom’s garden in East Hampton, New York. I’m sure these plants, given to her by friends and family, hold a special place in her heart. And you can be sure, Cherry has reciprocated in plant giving!

Cherry joked, toward the end of our visit, that she tries to garden the two days prior to trash pick-up so her neighbors don’t have to look at her yard debris for too long. I feel sure they are grateful to have her in the neighborhood (anyone would with such a beautiful landscape), as I am to have her as a friend and a member of our gardening community. Thank you Cherry!