mums

Fall will be here before you know it! So now’s the time to prepare your beds for fresh Fall color. We have garden mums, marigolds, dianthus and petunias, and we’ll be getting cooler season annuals in soon. So if your Summer flowers are looking spent, make sure you put fresh compost down, like Cotton Burr Compost (or Nature’s Blend, on sale), and use Biotone to add great microorganisms to your flower beds. Go ahead and get your fertilizers now too (while getting some lawn food)! Blood meal is a staple for pansies, and Rocket Fuel does wonders for Marigolds to get them started. If you plan now, your plants will thank you for it!

-Marta

Oh my goodness, our nurseries are filling up with beautiful mums & marigolds!

Marigolds come in oranges and yellows and grow to around 10″-15″ tall. They love the sun and do great in pots around your garden or in the ground. If planting in a pot, plant with our MiracleGro potting mix and then fertilize with Hasta-Gro Plant Liquid Fertilizer through the growing season.

Turn your garden from summer to fall with our mums, available in reds and yellows and oranges and purples. They also love the sun! In November when the blooms look tired, take a pair of hedge shears and lightly trim off spent blooms to encourage new growth and blooms. Mums also like the Hasta-Gro Plant Liquid Fertilizer.

-Sally

The fall season brings a whole new garden of flowers to enjoy. Plus it is great fun to get your hands dirty! So here’s a few tips to help you transition to the new cool weather annuals coming in now!

Decide “sun or shade?” All flowers have their best growing conditions, if you have sun well you need to plant sun loving flowers, shade, plant the shade lovers. Watch the area you are going to plant or set your container.
Prepare the soil. Most annuals have fine hair-like roots that require rich loose soil with good drainage. Turn the soil with a digging fork or tiller, add Cotton Burr Compost and mix, rake area, top dress with Natures’ Blend and you’re ready to plant. The Nature’s Blend acts as a natural fertilizer and helps with controlling certain disease possibilities. If you are planting flowers in containers, use a good potting mix like Miracle Gro Potting Soil or Landscapers Pride Potting Soil.
Pick out your flowers. Most annuls for fall and winter will last from now until mid-March-April next year. Some of our favorites for sun are petunias, snapdragons, calendula, alyssum and mums. Shade favorites include impatiens, begonias, and dianthus.
Start planting! It’s important to know how close or far apart to plant your flowers. Most annuals need some space between each plant so they can grow to their potential. We can help you determine the plant spacing when you come in. Set out the plants in a zig zag pattern, equal spacing between each plant, to fill the area. Don’t worry if they’re not in perfect lines, in a few weeks you won’t see the ground anymore. We find it best to use odd numbers for containers depending on the size of the pot…..you’re almost done!
Mulch, water, fertilize. Mulch makes your new planting look great, helps with weed control and reduces watering. Water the area well with a gentle shower of water; you don’t want to beat up your new young plants. Fertilize with Hasta Gro every week or Rose Glo every month.

Now go wash up and take a break. Check your new planting every day for water for at least the first couple of weeks, cutting back as the plants grow and temps cool down. If you get worried or just not sure, we are always here and ready to help!

Debbie

Don’t give up on your mums before they’ve had a chance to live out their season! Sally explains how to trim your mums for new growth throughout the fall:

1. Use a sharp pair of head shears to remove the bulk of the blooms.
2. Spot trim with pruning clippers as needed.
3. Mix up some Hastagro (1 oz./1 gal. of water) and apply to soil.
4. Place in bright sun and enjoy!

Planting Season!

Fall is Our Best Planting Season!

Trees, shrubs, and perennials get a great bonus when planted in fall. South Texas enjoys relatively warm soil temperatures through fall and winter, and cooler air temperatures direct the new plant to grow roots all through this time. So, a plant put into the ground in fall will grow twice as fast the following spring as one planted in spring due to having developed twice the root system, and it will also suffer much less stress in its first South Texas summer. We are lucky that we can garden year round here, but fall is our best season for planting!

Plant

Vegetable Seeds

Beet, carrot, cilantro, collards, lettuce, mustard, onion, parsley, radish, Swiss chard, spinach, and turnip.

Read: Best Timing for Popular Fall Veggies, Keith’s Swiss Chard Success Story

Flower Seeds

Bluebonnets and other wildflowers, larkspur, sweet peas, nasturtiums.

Read: Fall is Wildflower Planting Time!

Vegetable Transplants

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, strawberries, parsley, cilantro, and other herbs.

Read: How to Keep Your Vegetable Garden Healthy This Fall, Get Your Greens! Sally’s Kale Smoothie Recipe

Flower Transplants

Alyssum, begonias, bluebonnet, calendula, chrysanthemum, dianthus (pinks) dusty miller, flowering cabbage and kale, geraniums, gerbera daisy, impatiens, lobelia, marigolds, pansies, petunias, phlox, salvia, snapdragons, stock, verbenas, and viola.

Read: Success with Fall Flowers, Marigolds & Mums!

Flower Bulbs

Begin refrigerating bulbs that require chilling such as paperwhites. Amaryllis can be planted now.

Read: Amaryllis & Paperwhites

All container grown trees and shrubs

Read: Burr Oak – an Awesome South Texas Tree
Read: Best Tips of Planting Trees This Fall

Indoor Plants

Check the window lighting for your indoor plants. The sun is moving with the change of the season and may bring more or less light indoors.
Heater vents can cause blemished foliage and dry plants out more quickly. Watch your placement of any new plants coming indoors.
With cold fronts coming, plan to move your house plants indoors, if you have moved any outside during warmer weather. Provide adequate lighting & adjust watering.
Let this be your last feeding for your outdoor tropical plants that are becoming houseplants for the winter. They need to rest.
Keep watch for any tagalong critters or insects & move them back outdoors. Treat if needed.

Fertilize

Read: Organic Gardening

Winterize Your Lawn

Winterize your lawn with organic Milorganite or Medina Growin’ Green.

Tropicals

We recommend: Organic Maestro Rose Glo, Hasta Gro, or conventional Hibiscus Food

Roses

Organic: Maestro Rose Glo

Poinsettias

Organic: with Maestro Rose Glo

Blooming Annuals and Perennials

Organic: Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro or Maestro Rose Glo

Conventional: Hibiscus Food, or Osmocote 14-14-14 Time Release

Read: Success with Fall Flowers

Vegetables

Organic: Hasta Gro, Medina Growin Green, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone

Conventional: Hi Yield Ammonium Sulphate, or Osmocote 14-4-14 Time Release Granules

Christmas Cactus

Organic: Hasta Gro

Read: How to Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom!

All plants that are especially stressed, or recently transplanted

We recommend organic Hasta Gro.

Read: It’s Time to Fertilize for Fall!

Lawn Care

Apply conventional Fertilome F-Stop as a preventative to brown patch fungus, which shows up as temperatures drop during fall and winter months.

Apply organic Nature’s Blend or Peat Moss to lawns prone to Take All Patch Fungus, or conventional Scotts Disease X.

Read: Protect Your Lawn: Recent Take All Root Rot Sightings (TARR)

Continue to water deeply every 1 to 2 weeks if little rainfall.

Read: Top Five Tips for a Beautiful Fall Lawn, Fall and Winter Lawn Care

Watch Out For

Masses of worms eating your oak tree.

Treat with organic Spinosad or Thuricide or conventional Cyonara

Read: Oak Tree Caterpillars

Grub Worms in Lawns

Treat with Bayer 24 hour Grub Control Granules

White Flies on tropicals and perennials, especially lantana and hibiscus.

Treat with organic Spinosad Soap, Bee Safe 3-in-1, Neem Oil, or conventional Eight Garden Spray Tree & Shrub drench, or Bonide Systemic Garanules.

Chinch Bugs in Lawns

Treat with organic Diatomaceous Earth, Spinosad or conventional Cyonara

Mealy Bugs

Treat with organic Neem Oil, Spinosad Soap, or Bee Safe 3-in-1, or conventional Cyonara, or Bonide Systemic Liquid or Granule

Read: Mealy Bugs are Here!

Mosquitoes

Use Mosquito Beater Liquid for quick kill or Mosquito Beater Granules to repel

Read: Mosquito Solutions

Fleas and Ticks

Treat lawns with organic Spinosad, or Diatomaceous Earth Crawling Insect Killer or conventional Cyonara

Powdery Mildew on Crape Myrtles & Roses

Use organic Neem Oil or conventional Fertilome Systemic Fungicide

Note: Please, Please, Please, don’t kill the bees!

They are one of the best sources we have to pollinate our fruits, vegetables, flowers, and shrubs.

Read: Best for Bees!

Water

Water your newly planted vegetables and bedding plants regularly, but take care not to overwater with cooler nighttime temperatures.

Cut back on watering your established plants and lawn as temperatures cool down, since they use less water. If you are unsure when to water, use a moisture meter to take out the guesswork.

Prune

Your hardy, woody ornamentals and tropicals only to shape, not severely.

Summer perennials.