vegetables

Hopefully we have seen our last big cold snap of the season, so it’s time to get tomatoes in the ground.

rocket fuel — *Rocket Fuel will help your plants get off to a great start.*

espoma plant tone — *Feed with Plant-tone once a month throughout the growing season.*

Tomatoes need full sun for their entire growing season. Once frost is done, put them in a bed enriched with compost. A couple tablespoons of Rocket Fuel under the roots will help your plants get off to a rapid start. Feed them with Espoma Plant Tone monthly through the growing season.

I like to put my tomatoes in a cage as soon as they are in the ground and wrap that cage with row cover fabric, top to bottom. Ours is called Grow Web (12ft x 16ft). Cut the fabric to size and cloths pin the sides together. The fabric will protect the plants from cold nights and, more importantly, harsh spring winds that can dry them out in no time. Don’t worry – it doesn’t block water or sunshine.

Remove the cloth when the plant reaches the top of the cage. If it starts blooming before then, remove the cover from the top of the cage and shake the cage gently whenever you walk by. That will encourage pollination from the top of the plant down to the bottom. Row cover can also be used to protect Peppers, Squash, Beans and all the tender spring vegetables in the garden.

–DeAnna

Garden Troughs are a great way to grow vegetables in a raised bed.

They are bigger than most pots but easier than working in the dirt and can be placed anywhere in your garden, preferably with half a day of sun or more for food crops. Our troughs are galvanized, originally designed for storing water for livestock; they are tough! EASY, EASY, EASY!!

Just select your drainage method, add potting soil and plant! We have 5 different sizes, oval and round, 12″ tall and 24″ tall, beginning at $139. Come See!!

-Sally

For years I’ve requested an APLD (Assoc. of Professional Landscape Designers) Conference in Boston. I’d heard it was a beautiful city with lovely architecture and I knew there had to be fabulous gardens. This year my dream came true and I traveled to Boston to view gardens in peak July bloom. Fellow designers living in the area were show casing their work at client’s properties and their own homes. On the first day, in the first garden, I knew I’d come to the right place at the right time.

Now, you may ask what I could gain touring gardens with plants that won’t grow in South Texas? The answer is inspiration, design details and renewed appreciation for plants and objects we might consider common place. For instance, I never expected to see Mexican metal garden animals occupying center stage on pristine New England lawns! Likewise typical Corpus Christi garden tropicals – Hawaiian Ti, banana and canna lily were prominent accents displayed in pots for the summer and returned to greenhouses for winter.

The “icing on the cake” was a chance to view the privately owned, newly restored “Blue Garden” designed by Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. in 1908. This formal estate garden contained numerous blue and white annuals, perennials, trees and decorative objects that most South Texas homeowners could use to create their own cool, serene blue garden….no estate required!

And what can I say about the secret garden tucked away at a rural Rhode Island farmhouse except, “I want one!”

Join me at Gill Nursery on September 30th at 9:00 a.m. and I’ll take you on a photographic tour of these gardens. You too, will be inspired to create a new garden experience at your home. Thanks Boston!

-Kathy Hubner

Saturday, September 30th, 9:00am
GARDEN TALK!

Boston Gardens: Growing Strong

with Kathy Hubner, Landscape Designer APLD, TCNP

Kathy will give a presentation showing fresh landscape ideas from the best gardens in Boston, MA. You’ll be inspired by gardens with new takes on growing vegetables, flowers, and creating fun whimsical spaces that make you smile. And if you’ve always wanted a secret garden, you won’t want to miss seeing a secret garden gem hidden in plain sight on a Rhode Island Country Road.

View Our Garden Talk Schedule

What To Plant

Vegetable Seeds

Beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, collards, dill, lettuce, mustard, parsley, Swiss chard and turnips Herbs, onions, & seed potatoes

Garden Guide: Updated - Vegetable Planting Dates

Vegetable Transplants

Tomatoes any time this month, peppers, squash and watermelon at the end of the month. Protect these from late freezes. We carry frost blankets!

Read: Growing Fresh Food, Pro Planting Tip: Not Too Deep

Read: Organic Gardening

Flower Transplants

Petunias, alyssum, dianthus, snapdragons, dusty miller, begonias, gerbera daisy, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds, phlox and bluebonnets

Garden Guide: Spring/Summer Annual Planting Guide

All hardy trees, shrubs, vines, fruit trees, fruiting vines, citrus (protect from freeze) and roses.

Garden Guide: Planting Trees, Shrubs & Groundcover

Prune

Don't Prune:

Early spring bloomers such as azaleas, Carolina jessamine, Indian hawthorn, Mountain laurel or Redbud. Prune these after they bloom.

Do Prune:

Fruit trees – peaches, apples, plum, pear lightly to shape (do not prune citrus)
Hardy dormant trees – oak, mesquite, cedar elm, and crape myrtle – Do not top trees!
Perennials that have finished their bloom.
Pick spent flowers from annuals to prolong their bloom season.

Read: Looking Sharp For Spring: How to Sharpen Your Tools

Pruning Roses – do it now!

Prune established garden roses early to mid-February. Remove dead or small twiggy growth, leaving strong healthy canes to a plant height of about 18”. Try to prune back to an outward facing bud to maintain spreading, open growth. Don’t prune climbers until after the heavy spring bloom, then removing only the oldest canes and cutting back healthy, vigorous canes no more than 1/3. Cut the flowers throughout the year. This will encourage new buds to form to cut and enjoy again.

Houseplants

Give your indoor plants an inspection for insects. Most common are mealybugs, spider mites (not a spider), and scale.

White cottony stuff on the backs and crevices of the foliage: mealy bugs.
Spotted leaves with a sandpaper feel & tiny red specs: spider mites.
Black mold on foliage with waxy bumps on leaves: scale

All of these can be controlled naturally with Neem Oil or Spinosad Soap. It’s a good idea to spray/treat your plants outdoors then bring them back in once they’re dry.

Fertilize your indoor plants with organic Hasta Gro liquid and add nutrients with Worm Castings.

Give plants a gentle wash either outdoors or in the tub or sink to remove dust

Repot anytime with good potting mix.

Invest in a moisture meter to help with watering decisions.

Fertilize

Annuals & Perennials

Fertilize organically with Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone.

Established Roses

Fertilize organically with Maestro Rose Glo or Plant Tone.

Established Citrus Trees

(3 years or older) Fertilize organically with Citrus Tone, Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro, or Plant Tone, or conventionally with ammonium sulfate 21-0-0 available in 4 to 20 Lb. bags.

Cool Weather Vegetables

Fertilize organically with Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone, or conventionally with ammonium sulfate.

All granular fertilizer should be watered in well.
Do not fertilize tropicals - they need to rest.

Water

Only as needed – but dry cold fronts, high winds, and low humidity can dry plants quickly. Established lawns only need water every couple of weeks, provided we don’t get rain.

Garden Guide: Good Water Practice for Established Trees, Shrubs & Lawns

Watch Out For

Lawn Fungus

This can be a major problem after long periods of wet, cool weather. There are 2 major lawn fungus – Take All Patch and Brown Patch.

Watch: How to Collect a Grass Sample

Read: Protect Your Lawn – Recent Take-All Root Rot Sightings

To Treat: Treat Take All Patch organically with Nature’s Blend Compost or Peat Moss, conventionally with Scotts Disease EX Lawn Fungicide or Fertilome Systemic Lawn Fungicide.

Treat Brown Patch Fungus with Fertilome Systemic Lawn Fungicide, or Fertilome F-Stop Granules.

Watch: Brown Patch Fungus

Scale Insects

Found on hardy trees and shrubs.

To Treat: Spray with Neem Oil Spray or All Season Oil

Leaf Chewing Worms & Insects

To Treat: Thuricide, Spinosad or Dipel Dust

When or if temperatures dip below freezing:

Move tropical potted plants inside or group them together in a protected area so they may be easily covered.

Mulch and water newly planted trees and shrubs well; water tropicals and potted plants.

Cover tropicals and tender plants with sheets, blankets or plastic. (Note plastic can burn the outer foliage it is touching)

Bring fabric all the way to the ground allowing heat from the soil to be trapped around the plant.

Uncover all plants as temperatures rise to prevent the foliage from scorching.

We carry frost blankets!

Lawn Care

You can still apply pre-emergent weed control to your lawn to prevent more weeds from sprouting. We recommend Hi Yield Weed & Grass Stopper with Dimension

You can overseed your lawn now with winter rye grass seed (or fill bare spots with this seed) at the rate of 1 lb. per 100 sq. ft. We have it in 5 to 10 lb. bags. Just remember you cannot use a pre-emergent when planting seed.

Fertilize your lawn when it begins actively growing. This is usually late February to mid March. We recommend organic Medina Growin Green. All fertilizers require water to work, so plan on watering after you apply.

Eliminate broadleaf weeds with Image, Ortho Weed-B-Gon for Southern Lawns.

Control growing weeds naturally with Horticultural Vinegar or Captain Jack's Deadweed Brew treating only the weeds. It will burn all plant foliage.

Lay new sod anytime.

Watch: How to Collect a Grass Sample

Plant

September is vegetable and seed month.

There are numerous selections of vegetables to be started in the garden or in containers. Come in and pick up our fall vegetable guide.

Tomatoes & Peppers

Tomatoes and peppers can be planted through the middle of the month.

Planting Guide: Our Tomato Varieties
Read: New! Grape Tomato ‘Ruby Crush’
Read: Fall Tomatoes

Herbs

A large selection of herbs will be ready to add spice to your garden.
Garden Guide: Herbs

Bluebonnets & Other Wildflowers, Nasturtiums & Fall Marigolds

Plant by seed or transplants.

Read: Fall is Wildflower Time!, Benefits of Marigolds in Your Veggie Garden, Nasturtiums – Super Pretty & Easy (Yummy Too!)

Don’t plant pansies or snapdragons until temperatures have cooled down!

There is still time to add quick summer color such as zinnias, coleus, purslane, moss rose and periwinkles.
Read: Success with Fall Flowers, Best Tips of Planting Trees This Fall, Organic Gardening, Fuel For Your Hungry Hummers

Fertilize

Tropicals

We recommend organic Maestro Rose Glo, or conventional Hibiscus Food

Vegetables

We recommend organic Medina Growin’ Green, Hasta Gro, Maestro Rose Glo or Plant Tone, or conventional Hi Yield Ammonium Sulphate.

Roses

We recommend organic Maestro Rose Glo.

Poinsettias

We recommend organic Maestro Rose Glo or Hasta Gro.

Blooming Annuals and Perennials

We recommend Organic: Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro or Maestro Rose Glo, or conventional Hibiscus Food.

All plants that are especially stressed, or recently transplated

We recommend organic Hasta Gro Organic Fertilizer or Super Thrive

Christmas Cactus

We recommend organic Hasta Gro.

Read: How to Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom!
Read: It's Time to Fertilize For Fall!

Prune

Continue removing faded flowers from annuals and perennials to encourage new blooms.
Faded blooms and seedpods from crape myrtles to promote additional blooming.
Rule of thumb for fall pruning is no more than 1/3. Wait until January for heavy cutbacks.

Read: Sharp Tools for Fall Pruning!

Lawns

Apply organic Nature's Blend or Peat Moss for lawns, or conventional F-Stop granules as a preventative to brown patch fungus, which shows up as temperatures drop during fall and winter months.

Watch: Brown Patch Fungus

Apply organic Nature's Blend, Peat Moss or conventional Hi Yield Iron Plus to yellowing lawns.

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

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

Wait to apply fall fertilizer until October!

Watch: How to Collect a Grass Sample

Water

Check all newly planted material for water every day.
Check pots, containers and hanging baskets often as they dry out quickly and need more water.
Apply mulch as needed to help conserve moisture.
Make arrangements for someone to water if leaving for more than 2 days, especially with new plants.
Follow City Guidelines.

Read: Summer Watering 101

Weed Control

Spray only growing weeds with Captain Jacks Deadweed Brew or Horticultural Vinegar. These products kill all vegetation; so protect plants from drift or over spray.

Apply organic Corn Gluten meal, or Weed and Grass Stopper with Dimension in the fall and spring to prevent seeds from sprouting. It will not control already growing weeds.

Weed B Gon or Image can be applied once we cool down into the 80’s temps. An organic option is Captain Jack’s Lawn Weed Brew.

Watch For

Masses of worms eating your oak tree.

Treat with organic Spinosad or Thuricide, or conventional Cyonara. Read: Oak Tree Caterpillars

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

Treat with organic Insecticidal Soap, Neem Oil, Spinosad Soap, Bee Safe 3-in-1 Spray, or conventional Cyonara or a long acting drench like Fertilome Tree & Shrub

Watch: Yucky Whitefly

Fleas and Ticks

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

Mealy Bugs

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

Read: Mealy Bugs are Here!

Caterpillars or their damage (chewed leaves).

Spray organically with Spinosad or Thuricide.

Read: Not All Caterpillars are Bad!

Mosquitoes

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

Read: Mosquito Solutions

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.

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!