veggie gardening

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

Over the years we have tried different seed companies and have found Botanical Interests to be our favorite. Being family owned and operated, we share a common goal of inspiring and educating gardeners.

Botanical Interests carry the highest quality seed available and their seed packets are designed to give you the information you need to be a more successful gardener. Their selection includes over 600 varieties including heirloom, micro greens and sprouts and a large selection of Certified Organic seeds. All seeds are untreated, no GMO seeds.

Their seed packets are beautifully illustrated and include the common and botanical name of each variety. The packets themselves can be used as a plant tag to label your planting areas. Each has details on when and how to start seeds.

Inside the packets you can find recipes, growing and harvesting tips, how to avoid insects and disease, botanical facts about each variety and a drawing of the seedling so you don’t mistake for weed.

We just our received our fresh, fall seeds! Also to help with your fall garden, pick up one of our Nueces County Vegetable planting guides at Gill’s!

Check out this guide, How to Read a Seed Packet – click to expand!

-DeAnna

This guide describes the tomatoes we carry, number of days to harvest (yum!), whether they produce all at once or over a period of time and what disease resistances they have. Hopefully this will help you select the best tomato variety for you!

(click to expand/download!)

-Debbie

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 have customers of all ages. Maybe two of our youngest gardeners, very active gardeners, are brother and sister Kai & Isla. Kai is a third grader and Isla a first grader, both attending Windsor Park Elementary.

It’s no surprise, they’ve grown up watching their parents and grandparents garden. And it seems they all love to experiment with what they plant, where they plant it and how they take care of it.

I asked the kids what they are thankful this Thanksgiving. Kai said he is thankful for nature and camping; Isla for being outside, NOT watching TV & NOT eating fast food!

For starters, they prefer raised beds. They use sandy loam topsoil mixed with Nature’s Blend from Gill’s and then they add compost between crops. Kai says their compost is made up of kitchen scraps (veggie peels, egg shells, strawberry tops, etc…) mixed with leaves and grass clippings.

The kids have three different growing areas in their backyard. One garden is behind the garage along the back fence where they grow veggies on a string trellis. They have a crop of green beans ready to harvest right now!

The second garden is along the side of their house where they have huge tomato plants mixed with marigolds and lots and lots of basil.

Their third garden is in the back corner where Jeff, their dad, built a L shaped raised garden. It was a gift to his wife Erika! It’s the largest garden and has the most diversity with different greens, radishes, herbs, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, pumpkin, broccoli & Bok Choy.

And to top it off, they have a big pot of beautiful fresh spearmint on their patio next to a pot of pineapple and a grow bag with potatoes they’re experimenting with!

I asked them if they liked to eat what they grow. Yes, they do! One of Isla’s favorite recipes is fresh kale from the garden mixed with olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic and lemon. Yum! They also love simply munching on leaves while playing in the backyard!

I thought my visit was going to just be about plants, until they asked me if I wanted to see their chickens. They have four chickens, soon to be producing eggs. One of their fun pastimes is picking worms off their greens to feed their chickens!

Kai & Isla both seem to love digging in the dirt, watching veggies grow, and eating healthy food! So this Thanksgiving week, one of the many things I will give thanks for is parents that share the miracles of nature, gardening and good old healthy living with their children!

-Sally

Tomatoes are by far the most sought-after fruit in the country, and we are lucky to have two growing seasons to enjoy their goodness! It’s time to get your spring tomatoes planted and we’ve got a great selection from cherry to beefsteak slicers. The list below describes our varieties available.

Tomatoes need good sun for their entire growing season. Plant them in a bed enriched with Cotton Burr Compost. You can also plant them in pots but make sure the pot is large enough; tomato plants get big. Use a good potting mix for your containers. As you plant add a couple tablespoons of Espoma Bio-tone under the roots. This will help your plants get off to a rapid start and develop a strong root system. Feed them with Espoma Plant Tone monthly through the growing season or John’s Recipe containing fish emulsion, molasses, and seaweed every two weeks.

It’s a good idea to put your tomatoes in a cage as soon as you plant them and then wrap the cage with row cover fabric. Cut the fabric to size and pin the sides together on the cage. This will help protect plants from cold snaps and our harsh winds. We carry Grow-Web and N-Sulate fabric.

Remove the cloth when the plant reaches the top of the cage. If it starts blooming before then, shake the cage gently to encourage pollination from the top of the plant down to the bottom. Row cover can also be used to protect all you tender spring vegetables.

See You Soon!

View our Tomato Chart for details on the varieties we have available this year.

-DeAnna & Debbie

You may have asked yourself at some point in your botanical endeavors, what makes the plant world go around, especially for blooming plants?

Bees are the answer, and are undeniably the most important insect on the planet! They allow us to enjoy all the bounty of our vegetable garden, the bounty of our fruit bearing plants and all the colorful flowers of our landscape. Bees primarily carry out the pollination process, and the impact alone involved in them landing on a flower will sometimes help to start that cycle. Bees harvest pollen by gathering it on their backs and will transport it from one flower to another. This is critical for vegetables like squash, which have both male and female flowers.

To attract bees, you guessed it, you will need flowers. Flat or shallow blossoms like Zinnias, Salvias, Daisies and Asters will attract the largest variety of bees. I’ve found through my experience that bees also love Magic Mountain Basil. Unlike your other basils, you’ll want to keep the flowers on this one. There are many other flowering plants you can choose from and here at Gills, we have most of them in stock, readily available.

If you are running out of room in your garden like I have, you can also consider this alternative: I have found that if you go out and tap all the blooms of your vegetables or fruit bearing plants with your finger, you can transport pollen the very same way. So the next time you get scared when you see a bee, don’t be. We probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for them. Bee friendly!

-Matt Pinkerton

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 alwayseasier, 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