tomatoes

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

It may not feel like it yet, but Fall is coming! It’s already time to plant your tomatoes and peppers. We want to make sure you get a big harvest with plenty to share! Here are a few key tips.

Tips for Tomatoes

Start tomatoes in a bed enriched with Nature’s Blend Compost, about 1 bag per 12 square feet mixed into the existing soil. You can also plant them in pots, but make sure the pot is large enough; tomato plants get big! Use a good potting mix if planting in pots. As you plant, add a couple tablespoons of Bio-tone plant starter under the roots. This will help your plants get off to a rapid start and develop a strong root system. Tomatoes are one of the very few plants that can and should be planted deep. Plant deep and new roots will grow off the main stem. Key tip: add a tomato cage when you plant! If you try to add it later, you’ll end up breaking branches.

Feed tomatoes once a month with a good organic like Plant-tone or Medina Growin’ Green, and supplement every 2 weeks with liquid Hasta Gro to ensure good production. Set a calendar reminder for the 1^st (granular food) and the 15^th of the month (liquid food) to make this easy.

Be sure to rotate where you plant your tomatoes! This will help in the prevention of root knot nematodes as well as other problems that can occur. Learn more about crop rotation here.

Tips for Peppers

Peppers love warm weather and sunlight, so its important to get them going now to get good production before temps get too cool. Unlike tomatoes, peppers should be planted level with the surrounding soil or slightly higher. Like most plants, they have feeder roots on the surface of the root ball which should not be buried with soil. Otherwise, use the same procedure as tomatoes. Enrich the existing soil with Nature’s Blend Compost and add Bio-tone plant starter when you plant.

Peppers are heavy feeders too if you want good production. You can follow the same feeding schedule: 1st of the month with a granular organic food, then 15^th of the month with liquid Hasta Gro.

Tips for Watering!

Since it’s still very warm out, be sure you have a good plan for watering your garden. New veggie plants will need water every day, at least until they get established. It’s a good idea to position your veggie beds near a water source if you’re planning to water by hand. Soaker hoses are great for veggie beds too. Just snake a soaker hose around your plants in the bed and turn on the water as needed. Soaker hoses also help ensure proper watering – remember that plants should be watered at ground level, not sprayed from above. A good layer of mulch over your veggie beds will help retain moisture. And we’ll say it again…a moisture meter will come in handy and take out the guesswork.

Join us this Saturday, September 17^th at 10:00am for our first Fall ’22 garden talk! DeAnna Baumgartner and Wyatt Page, our garden center managers and expert veggie gardeners will share their tips for maximizing your Fall and Winter veggie harvest. Here’s a preview – see you Saturday!

Soil, Sunlight, and Spacing are Key

Soil nutrients and micro-organisms are critical for healthy veggie plants. That means compost! Prep your beds by working in about 1 bag of Nature’s Blend (our favorite compost) per 12 sq. ft. of space, or a similar amount if you’re using your own compost. Be sure your spot for fruiting veggies, like tomatoes and peppers, gets a good 6 hours of direct sun per day. Leafy veggies can grow in a little more shade. And be sure to give plants proper room to grow. For example, tomatoes should be planted at least 3 feet apart. Proper spacing gives you a better harvest and helps you control any insects or disease issues.

Know Your ‘Days to Maturity’

Warm season veggies like tomatoes and peppers need 60-90 days to mature and produce. That means around mid-September is our last chance to get them planted so they have time to produce before temps get too cool. The second half of September is time to start cool-season veggies like broccoli and cauliflower which need 55-85 days to mature, and Brussels which need 80-120 days. When you get the timing right, you’ll be continuously harvesting!

Feed Your Veggies and They’ll Feed You!

Regular fertilizing is essential for a good harvest. Veggies are heavy feeders. Our tried-and-true method is to feed with a good organic granular (like Plant Tone) once a month, then follow up with Liquid Hasta Gro in between. Set your calendar for the 1^st (granular) and the 15^thof the month (liquid) to make this easy.

Recruit Some Help from Pollinators

It’s a great idea to plant flowers like Marigolds or Nasturtiums and blooming herbs like Thai Basil in and around your veggie garden to attract bees. In order to produce, veggies need to be pollinated! You could get involved and use a Q-tip or small paintbrush to move pollen from male to female flowers, or just let the bees do their thing.

Happy 2023! January is time to get started on garden resolutions. Planning a veggie garden? New landscape beds? More Texas native plants to support wildlife? So many possibilities, and we’re here to help. Here are our top must-do’s this month to set your projects up for success.

Check out our January 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. Prep Beds for Spring Planting

January is our month to plan and prep for Spring. Clean up, remove weeds, and prep your garden beds by adding some compost! We love Nature’s Blend Compost for veggie and landscape beds. A good ratio is 1 bag per 12 sq. ft. of space. If you make your own compost, that approximate ratio works well. It doesn’t have to be exact. Turn the compost a few inches into the soil with a shovel or garden forks for a good full-body workout!

2. Yes, You Can Plant in January!

Trees, shrubs, and perennials will build healthy root systems during their winter dormancy making for stronger, healthier plants in Spring and Summer. Just a few days after the freeze, we planted a butterfly garden with Texas Lantana, Mystic Spires Salvia, Texas Frogfruit, Skeleton leaf Goldeneye, and more. Yes, we plan to cover it if we get any more cold weather, but those plants are getting a head start now and will be ready to burst with growth this Spring!

3. Feed Your Citrus Trees

Meyer Lemons on the left with fertilizer, Meyer lemons on the right without!

Fertilize your citrus trees in January for more blooms, again in May/June for better fruit set, and again in September/October for nutrients. We recommend fertilizing with Espoma Citrus-Tone – all organic. Remember to fertilize trees, including citrus, at the drip line. That means spread fertilizer in a circle where the rain naturally drips down from the leaves, not right up against the trunk.

4. Start Veggie Seeds!

January is time to start tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, onions, carrots, beets, parsley and more from seed. We carry seed-starting trays, peat pots, and special cutting/seedling soil for starting seeds indoors or on a protected/covered patio. A good rule of thumb is that once the seedlings have made their first true set of leaves, they are ready to be transplanted into a larger container outside or directly into the garden bed.

Check out our full Spring planting guide here.

5. Start Your Post-Freeze Clean Up, but Not Too Much Pruning!

Remember – wait to do any major pruning of freeze-damaged plants until February. You don’t want the plant to think its time to start putting on new growth since we still may have another cold snap. However, there’s definitely some clean-up that can be started now. As a general rule, if freeze-damaged plants are mushy and slimy, go ahead and clean out the mushy parts. If freeze-damaged plants are dry and crunchy, leave them alone. That dry, crunchy foliage will help insulate against any more possible freezes.

Ornamental grasses, like Pink Muhly or Purple Fountain grass, are an exception. They should be cut back this month. Trim them straight across (no cupcakes) 3”-4“ from the ground. Use a bungee cord or piece of rope to gather them up, then cut straight across.

6. Spend Time with Your Houseplants

Most houseplants will need more light and less water this month. Keep their leaves clean to help them take up sunlight and prevent bad bugs. Experiment with lighting/placement, and take them outside for a sunny day or 2.

FYI – the Gill team (Ori, Debbie, and Jesse) are headed to the Tropical Plant International Expo in Tampa this month. We can’t wait to tour houseplant growing operations and get the scoop on new varieties!

Spring in South Texas starts around February 15^th– only 33 days away! We may or may not have another cold snap ahead of us, but it’s time to start planning our Spring projects and starting veggie seeds. The first day for planting Spring seeds is January 15th give or take a few days – aka RIGHT NOW! We are expanding our selection of seeds to include lots of open-pollinated and heirloom varieties like rainbow beets from Sow True Seed and Bosque blue tomatoes from Baker Creek, plus tried and true staples from Botanical Interests.

Simple Method for Starting Seeds

Starting veggie seeds indoors is great because you can keep the tiny seedlings protected until they’re ready to move outside. I’ve tried a few different methods for starting seeds but have been most successful using a damp paper towel, then folding the seed inside the towel and placing it in a sealable bag or dish. This will create a “mini greenhouse” effect and will help the seed germinate. I leave them in the bag for no longer than 24 hours, then plant them in light and fluffy seed/cutting soil in a seed starting tray or peat pot. When planting new seed be sure the soil is damp at the time of planting and always water with a light sprinkle. This will prevent your seeds from floating/washing out of the soil. I make the hole about a fingernail’s depth, gently place the seeds in the hole, and cover lightly with the damp soil. Check out my video demo of this process – quick and easy!

After the seeds sprout, you can slowly acclimate them to outdoor sunlight by moving them to a covered patio or other protected area. Be sure to keep them damp so the tiny roots don’t dry out. Then, a good rule of thumb is that once the seedlings have made their first true set of leaves, they are ready to be transplanted into a larger container or directly into the garden bed out in the sun.

Seeds to Start in January

Tomatoes!
Cold Crops and Greens: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, and mustard greens
Root Crops: onions, carrots, beets, and potatoes
Herbs: parsley

Check out our full Spring planting guide here.

FYI: If you want to skip seeds and start transplants outside now, you totally can! We’ve got broccoli, cauliflower, celery, spinach, onions, potatoes, and lots of herbs that are ready to go. We even brought in a few early tomatoes this week 🙂

-Wyatt

Are you as ready as we are to get outside and garden?! If the Mesquite trees are right, Spring is just around the corner. Here’s our top 6 to focus on in February to kickstart an amazing Spring season.

Check out our February 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. Be Ready for Cool Weather and Start Planting!

Keep your eye on the forecast for cold snaps like we’ve had this week, but don’t delay your planting projects. We are already seeing Mesquite trees start to bud up, which almost always means no more hard freezes! As James Gill shared with us at his garden talk last weekend, he’s only seen 2 years out of almost 70 where the Mesquites were wrong on this. That’s a lot more accurate than the weather man!

2. Start Your Veggies!

Beloved tomato growing is rewarding and can be challenging. Planting them early this month is important. Tomatoes need cooler nights to have good fruit set. When you plant tomatoes, be sure to install a tomato cage while they’re small. It can act as a frame for cold weather protection (a bag or blanket) if needed and a frame to support your plants as they grow. You can go ahead and start other favs like squash, cucumbers, beans, & lettuces/greens either by seed or transplants too. Stop by and we’ll help you plan your veggie garden and get you everything you’ll need for a bountiful harvest!

3. Come Learn and Share Houseplant Tips This Saturday!

This Saturday, 2/4/23, we’ll be inside greenhouse here at Gill’s, having an open and interactive discussion about how to care for your indoor plant friends. Join us for Houseplant Jungle with Ori Roldan, Gill’s houseplant connoisseur and assistant buyer. Ori will share lots of care tips and demonstrate easy ways to propagate. Bring your questions or share your plant knowledge as we hang out and talk about everything houseplants. One attendee will win a $100 Gill’s gift card, and we’ll do some other giveaways too!

4. Feed Veggies & Flowers

Blooming plants need food! Veggies are especially heavy feeders – they need to be able to sustain blooming and producing fruit. We recommend mixing in a little Bio-Tone Starter when you plant, which contains mycorrhizal fungi that promotes root growth. Then feed with a good organic, granular plant food like Plant-Tone or Medina Growin Green once a month, and supplement with liquid organic Hasta Gro in between. An easy way to remember this is to set an alarm or calendar event for granular feeding on the 1st of the month, then Hasta Gro on the 15th. These will add nutrients to your plants and keep your soil alive and healthy too.

5. February = Time to Prune!

February is the time to get plants cut back to make way for big spring growth! Most perennials like Lantana, Turk’s Cap, and Salvias need a good pruning back to about 4-8″ – don’t be shy! For any plants with woody stems/branches (like Esperanza and Hibiscus) that look dead or damaged, do the scratch test before pruning. Start up high and scratch with your fingernail, a dime, or the back side of a knife. Don’t scratch too deep. If you see the bright green cambium layer (like the photo), that means it’s still alive! If you see brown/gray when you scratch, keep working your way down the plant until you see green. That will tell you where to cut. As always, contact Gill’s if you’re not sure or have questions about whether or how to prune specific plants.

6. Keep Watch for Winter Insects

Scale is a hard bodied sucking insect that looks like a brown booger stuck to the leaves of plants. Some of their favorites are Burford Holly, Bird of Paradise, Flax Lily, & Irises. They are easily controlled with a spray of organic All Seasons Oil Spray, but it must be done now. The oil spray literally coats and suffocates the the eggs that are waiting for spring to hatch. It’s also good for treating indoor plants that may have scale or spider mites.

Check out our February Garden Guide for more tips!

We’ve been blown away by the amazing Spring blooms at Gill’s this week! We’re always on the go, but no plant person can resist stopping to smell fresh roses or to brush against a Copper Canyon Daisy to release the wonderful scent. If you want to bring some fragrance to your landscape, here’s what we’d recommend planting now.

Sweet Mademoiselle Rose

The cool weather this week really brought out the color of our Sweet Mademoiselle Rose blooms! This is a new variety bred for the color and excellent disease resistance. The scent is soft, delicate, and unique – sort of like a rosy tea.

Almond Verbena

Almond Verbena blooms might be our favorite scent in the garden. They really do smell like sweet almonds, and when the wind is just right, you can smell them all the way across the garden center! Great cold hardy, tough, and drought tolerant plant for shady/partial sun spots. Easy to prune to your desired shape, and to encourage more blooms.

Maid of Orleans Jasmine

Maid of Orleans aka Arabian Jasmine is a vining evergreen shrub with wonderfully fragrant flowers that are used for tea and in the perfume industry. The fragrance is similar to Star Jasmine – sweet and intense! Hummingbirds and butterflies love it too.

Night Blooming Jasmine

Night Blooming Jasmine is not a true Jasmine, but it gets its name from the fragrant white blooms. It’s actually part of the Solanaceae family which includes potatoes and tomatoes. The blooms open at night an emit a very strong (in a good way) scent. Think of Night Blooming Jasmine as more of a sprawling woody shrub than a vine. Once established, they’re cold tolerant down to about 25 degrees.

Copper Canyon Daisy

Copper Canyon Daisy aka Mountain Marigold is native to the Southwest US and Northern Mexico. The bright yellow flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies, but its the foliage that smells so good. The fragrance that’s released when you brush against the plant is difficult to describe. Maybe fresh rain + a hint of lemon?

Arp Rosemary

We rarely meet a rosemary variety that we don’t like – they all smell great, and they have subtle differences in scent and flavor. We’re excited about Arp Rosemary this Spring because it’s cold hardy down to 20 degrees! Great in the ground or in a pot with an upright growth habit.

Citronella Geranium

Some would call the scent of Citronella Geraniums pungent, and others adore it. The most common use of the plant and it’s strong scent is to repel mosquitoes. Place it near the door or along walkways, and periodically disturb the foliage with a broom to release the fragrance.

Texas Kidneywood

Kidneywood is a Texas native shrub/small tree with delicately fragrant blooms and leaves. Kidneywood likes a location with dappled light (some sun/some shade) and is both cold hardy and drought tolerant. The blooms attract bees and butterflies and the wood is sometimes used for dyes.

Mexican Mint Marigold

Mexican Mint Marigold aka Mexican Tarragon or Texas Tarragon is an aromatic herb with beautiful flowers and a fragrance similar to anise or licorice. Great for a full-sun location, and makes a great potted plant since it needs good drainage. You can use it in the kitchen as you would tarragon with chicken, fish, compound butter, etc. And we think it makes the BEST salad dressing.

Sansevieria??

Did you know that Sansevieria sometimes bloom?! This is rare, but we have 1 here at Gill’s right now that’s about to flower. If you’ve never smelled a Sansevieria bloom, be sure to stop by in the next few days. We plan to keep it here until the blooms fade so everyone has a chance to smell the incredible (and incredibly strong) fragrance. If you want to encourage your Sansevieria to bloom, keep the roots constricted in a small pot and give it more light. No guarantees, but it’s magical when it happens.

May means Mom’s Day, graduations, and more BBQs and family holidays outside! May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. As gardeners, we know growing plants and being outdoors are necessary for our wellbeing…and so much fun! As one of our customers put it recently, “I believe that people who garden are the most hopeful and positive individuals.” Here are our Top 6 Must Do’s this May to keep you and your garden feelin’ good.

1. Join Us for Garden Talks and Events!

We’ve got a fun May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at Be My Neighbor Day! This is a community event at KEDT Studios at 3205 S. Staples from 9am-1pm. Gill’s will have a booth with seeds, plants, and goodies for kids who attend. Then every Saturday in May, we’re hosting garden talks and events here at Gill’s. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Stay tuned for more info!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s still time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established now so they are better adapted to withstand warmer temps this Summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Jatropha, Lantana, and more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming trees like Crape Myrtles, Vitex, Retama, and Wild Olive are looking great right now too. Added bonus: these blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant peppers, zucchini, squash, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the Summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early Spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad – safe for food but takes care of bugs. Recent rains have been great for veggie gardens. Remember to keep watering as the weather warms up and dries out to maintain depth moisture. Soaker hoses are great to snake around your plants keeping water close to the ground and root systems.

4. Tend Your Lawn

In Spring and Summer, water your lawn once a week unless we have rain. Invest in a sprinkler that’ll do the work – we have them. Hand watering the lawn may feel therapeutic, but you won’t get good coverage and depth. Once a week, nice and deep for a healthy lawn.

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches.

Feed with Natural Fertilizers: Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. These feed the lawn and the soil with great results. Water in to get them started.

Watch for lawn insects & treat when needed. Grub worms & chinch bugs are easy to control when caught early but there’s no need to treat unless you have them. Bayer Season-long Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Cyonara takes care of chinch bugs. Reminder, you can bring us a grass sample any time you suspect a lawn disease or pest. We’ll diagnose (using our microscope if needed) and get you what you need to knock it out.

5. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, spray organic Cedar Repel on your lawn, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which also help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

6. Gifts for Moms and Grads

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, gift cards – lots of options. Check out this new cyanotype print kit – take cuttings and make cyanotype prints using sunlight! Or find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Visit our May Garden Guide for more tips! Happy gardening!