seeds

September

It’s not too late to get your squash, cucumber and beans seeds in the ground for a fall crop. It’s important to get them up and going before a cold snap.

Mid-September Through Fall

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower & brussel sprouts best planted now from transplant.

Lettuce, kale & spinach can be planted in seed & transplant now through the fall for winter and spring harvest. Same with radishes, carrots & beets.

Mid November

Onion seeds are planted mid October. We will have the onion sets in the store mid-November for planting. Harvest period is January, February and March.

January

We’ll have seed potatoes in the store in January for April harvest.

Our favorite soil amending for veggie gardens is:

For a new garden:
Cotton Burr compost

To recondition an existing garden:
Nature’s Blend (cotton burr compost & manure)

At planting:
Rocket Fuel (bat guano, green sand & more)

Once a month through the season:
Plant Tone (poultry manure with innoculants)

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

A friend texted me this week-end and asked how she can get rid of her winter weeds. Probably like everyone, she’s getting ready for her family to arrive! She has weeds amongst her flowers near her front door. Our recommendation is to

1. Spray with Nature’s Creation Total Weed & Grass Control, 20% Vinegar, best if sun is out. Even better, mix a small amount of Medina Orange Oil with Vinegar.
2. The next day, top dress with Pine Straw or Hardwood Mulch

Before & After!

And like magic, all gone!! Happy Holidays!

-Sally

PS* …and, put on your calendar to install Preen in October and January to stop more weed seeds from sprouting.

Root veggies like carrots, beets, potatoes and onions make for a great fall and winter crop, but there are a few things to be said about them in order to get an excellent yield.

First off, root veggies need a finely granulated and well drained soil. Our inland soil is too heavy; it will not allow root veggies to develop properly and inevitably will lead to less than optimum yield. To remedy this, create a raised bed or use large planters that will provide plenty of depth for veggies like carrots to develop. Use a mixture of sandy loam, peat moss and Espoma Bio-Tone soil starter for the best results. If you live closer to the coast where there is more sand than clay, you can plant directly in the native soil, though it would be wise to mix garden gypsum with the sand to counteract the sands salinity as well as using the previously mentioned additives.

For potatoes, you can use a raised bed, or the ground if its sufficiently amended, but I hear a 15 gallon planter works great. With potatoes, as their foliage becomes more abundant, it’s good to add an inch or more of additional soil over the roots to increase your potato yield. When planting potatoes, they usually come as whole potatoes and should be cut at the very least in quarters before seeding. Last and very important, after cutting, they need dusting sulfur on cut surfaces to prevent potential fungus problem.

The second and most interesting part of this blog has to do with the moon.

We know the moon controls the earth’s tides, but did you know it controls the way plants grow? Mind blowing, right? This all has to do with the way gravity works!! So when the moon is waxing, there is less gravity pulling down towards the earth and when it’s waning there is more. Sooooo… with root veggies, it’s an excellent idea to do your plantings and liquid fertilizing when the moon is waning or losing light. The moon works on many other levels than plants. Fishing, deer hunting and even when to pour concrete are just a few other times to think about how important lunar cycles are next time you look up at the night sky!

Happy Gardening!

PS: You can get Carrot, Onion, Beet, Turnip, Parsnip, Radish seeds now at Gill’s. Onion sets will be in last week of November and Seed Potatoes will be here first week of January!

-Matt Pinkerton

Lawn’s green, no weeds, so why do anything?

Our lawns are so green after all this rain! You’re probably thinking “Well shoot, do I have to fertilize or worry about weeds?” The answer is “Yes you do!” Mother Nature gave us a boost with beneficial rains; with a few easy steps your lawn can be healthier. Read on and come see us. We’ll help you tend to your lawn and garden!

First, Fertilize Now

Anytime between now and mid November is prime time to fertilize your lawn, trees, shrubs, vines and groundcovers with Gill Lawn and Garden, Medina Growin Green, or Milorganite. Fertilizing while it is still warm is best because plants are still in their active growing season and taking up the nutrients provided. Once the weather starts cooling down plants begin going into dormancy and therefore are not as likely to take up nutrients. Remember to water in your fertilizer with at least a half inch of irrigation.

Second, Pre-emergent

The pre-emergent is a granule that prevents weed seeds from germinating. We carry two different ones depending on the weed problem you may have. Gallery can be used in the lawn to prevent most all broadleaf weeds and some grassy weeds, but cannot be used in the flowerbeds. Dimension is the other one that will control broadleaf weeds as well as crabgrass and sand burrs. Dimension can be used in the flower beds around established plants listed.

Third, kill existing weeds that are up and growing, with a post emergent.

Weed B Gon will kill broadleaf weeds without hurting your St. Augustine, including Floratam, as long as temperatures are mid 80’s or lower. But do not apply Weed B Gon around trees or shrubs. If Dollarweed or sand burrs are your main problem, use Image.

Fourth, remember to alter your sprinkler systems to only once a week until mid-November, then turn to the off position and only turn on as needed every 10 days to 2 weeks if we get no rain.

With the shorter days and the dormant season upon us the lawn does not require as much water. You also do not want to encourage fungus due to excessive moisture. Come see us with any questions you may have about your lawn!

-DeAnna

Yes, it is time to begin preparing the vegetable gardens for your tomatoes and peppers!

Work in Cotton Burr compost or Natures Blend to enrich your garden for the new season. A good dose of Espoma Bio Tone containing mycorrhizae worked into the soil before planting will help to develop a strong deep root system for healthier plants this Fall season. After 2 weeks of having your vegetables planted, work Worm Castings into the soil to help guard against whitefly, aphids and spider mites. After 2 more weeks, you can begin fertilizing monthly with Espoma Plant tone.

Timing is a key to your garden success. It’s the time to plant tomatoes, peppers, squash and many other warm season crops. Watermelon, Cantaloupe and Pumpkins need to planted now if you have the space. They need a lot of room to spread. Stop by and pick up a Nueces County planting guide to help you plan what and when to plant your favorite veggies. Then you can check out the new Botanical Interest Seeds for 2018/ 2019. With a great selection of veggies, herbs, flowers & sprouts; most are certified organic & they’re all non-GMO.

It’s too early to plant Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower since the temperatures are still too hot but it’s right around the corner so plan now. You will also need to wait a little longer before planting seeds of lettuce, carrots, spinach, kale and other leafy greens until we begin to cool down a little in September.

So get planning, get your hands in the dirt, and grow your own veggies. Nothing tastes better than homegrown!

View Nueces County Vegetable Planting Schedule

-DeAnna

I get my green thumb from my sweet, sweet grandma. She was an avid organic gardener long before the term was coined. Her beautiful vegetable and flower gardens mesmerized me and instilled a love and wonder for the beauty of nature within my soul. I bet she chuckles in heaven, accepting that I am usually too busy to adopt her old fashioned ways of planting from seed. I usually begin with starter plants, but a busy girl has to do what a busy girl has to do.

My Grandma Atkinson always did everything the old-fashioned way, meaning plants were propagated from cutting or by seed and everything got a good dash of rich, smelly cow manure from time to time. She even saved seeds from her beloved garden babies and set them aside for future generations.

A couple of years ago I decided to grow sunflowers, my grandma’s way, from seed. Once they were up and blooming, even my husband Mike fell in love with them. That year the smash hit ended with us harvesting the seeds for the birds!

This year Mike purchased some sunflower seeds from Gill’s at the end of May. I started numerous varieties, more babies than I had room to plant in my garden. So many that I was able to share some with Gill staff! I staggered the seed plantings so the plants would set bloom over a period of weeks. The seedlings this year were sown in starter flats. They also can be successfully started in other types of containers like recycled milk cartons (Grandma’s favorite) or even straight into your flowerbed. The key to success is water. Keep the soil damp enough that the seeds are able to break out of their heavy shells and emerge as seedlings. Once they emerge, don’t splash water on their foliage because that can cause downy mildew. Find that sweet spot where they do not drown from being kept too wet, and yet never allow the soil to completely dry out.

Prior to my second set of seedlings being transplanted to the ground, I did a show and tell with them at Gill’s at one of my garden talks. After the talk, it was time. My seedlings were large enough to endure being transplanted, so into the garden they went. I mixed Plant Tone into the soil for good organic matter. I was rewarded with a ton of rain shortly thereafter. They started growing by leaps and bounds.

The week of July 4th, they started revealing their happy faces one by one all over my backyard almost as if to announce, “Summer is here!” As a result, my Facebook page was filled to the brim with happy sunflowers that warmed everyone’s hearts and vases were filled with sunshine flowers I shared with friends.

Gill’s has sunflower seeds now and no, it’s not too late to plant for a beautiful fall harvest! Hope you enjoy them as much as my family has!

-Grace

Even though your lawn has filled with weeds it is not too late to apply a pre-emergent. The weeds you have now will put on a flower and drop seeds to sprout more weeds. A pre-emergent will not kill the existing weeds but will prevent more from sprouting. Broadleaf Weed Control with Gallery is recommended for most broadleaf weeds and Weed and Grass Stopper with Dimension will kill some broadleaf as well as grassy weeds like sticker burrs.

Once our weather warms up to 70-80 degrees with no rain for 5 days or more it will be time to apply Weed-B-Gon for Southern Lawns to kill the existing weeds. It is safe for Floratam St. Augustine and Bermuda. Give it 2 weeks to fully work and then it should be time to fertilize the lawn as well. Remember that fertilizer is taken up with active growth, so until we are mowing consistently every week for 2-3 weeks it is too early to get the full benefit of lawn food. Be patient with your spring lawn care. We all want to see results and have a pretty lawn again this spring.