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Have y’all seen the forecast for next week?! Gardening weather will be back very soon! Join us this Saturday, 2/22 at 10am *INDOORS* for a super informative talk – all about starting your spring veggie garden! Wyatt Page, Gill’s Asst. Manager and expert veggie gardener will cover everything from planning your garden to starting seeds to bed prep to harvesting and eating! Click to watch Wyatt’s invite video and we’ll see you Saturday! This talk is free and open to everyone, and we’ll be doing some fun giveaways!

Each year in January and February, I give my pre-spring “Get Ready for Spring” garden talk. I always start the talk with pre-spring pruning and the importance of sharp tools.

You may want any pruning saws sharpened professionally, as it can be a little difficult and tedious. But pruning clippers, loppers, and hedge shears are easier to do-it-yourself if you are inclined to. Pruners, loppers, shears, as well as shovels and hoes all perform better with a good sharp edge. Less effort and strain when trimming or digging, and clean cuts that heal faster than ragged cuts; that’s our aim.

We have carbide sharpening tools in stock that do a fast job on pruners and shears and take up very little storage space. Metal files are more appropriate for the harder steel edges of shovels and hoes. Diamond sharpening rods or whetstones can give the very finest edge to pruners if you are a perfectionist. For those far from perfectionist, I have sharpened my shovel enough to make a big difference in transplanting a shrub just by finding a rough spot on the concrete street curb and rubbing the cutting edge back and forth until dull is gone and cutting edge is on.

When sharpening pruners, be sure to watch a video or read instructions before beginning, as a simple proper sharpening makes pruning easier and more fun, but sharpening the wrong edge will ruin a tool forever. Once you’ve sharpened your tools, you can keep them sharp longer and prevent rust by wiping on a thin layer of lubricating oil, such as boiled linseed oil, tung oil, motor oil, lamp oil, or cooking oil.

-James Gill

It likely is not working properly! Just like your mower needs the sparkplug adjusted, oil changed, blade sharpened, and maybe a wheel or starter rope replaced, things will go wrong with your irrigation system. But since it operates while you are in bed, you don’t know what needs fixing. I had not operated my sprinkler system since October last year due to the rains, and before starting it up last week, I did a maintenance check. I have Program D on my controller programmed with no start time , 2 minutes on the first valve, and 1 minute on every other valve. I turn the dial to Program D and manually activate, then go around the yard with a pad and pencil and note all problems. Some newer controllers have a test function built in, very handy.

This is what I found in my yard:

Valve 4 had a head that was grown over with grass, and could not rise up, so all water was just running over the curb (quick fix, just cut around with a serrated knife to sever the grass runners).
Valve 7 had a head with a nozzle twisted 90 degrees (another quick and easy, grab the nozzle with Channelock pliers and twist it back so all water is going on the lawn, instead of half of it into the street).
Valve 12 had a head with a nozzle plugged with a bit of trash, so the head would pop up but no water coming out. This was a much more technical fix, that is, bopping the popped nozzle on the head gently but persuasively with the afore mentioned Channelocks until the trash was ejected and a good flow resumed. If this fails, you will need to keep a hold of the head as the water flow is shut off, screw off the plugged nozzle, and clear it by blowing back through the orifice, or poking a thin wire or broom straw back through it.

I recommend performing this test once a month, to most efficiently utilize water and to avoid discovering sprinkler malfunctions by finding dead patches in your lawn. You should also seasonally adjust your controller from one day a week operation in summer to once every two weeks in fall, and then turn it off for winter, only activating manually every 3 or 4 weeks if there has been no rain, or immediately preceding a forecasted hard freeze event. Replace your program backup battery as needed. Otherwise at any power outage your program, including the current date and time, will be lost and you will need to reprogram. This video from Texas A&M on the Cycle Soak Method describes how to set your timer for best utilization of water, but recognize when he says 5 to 6 minutes run time, that is for spray nozzles, and you will need a longer run time for the valves that supply water to rotors or drip tube.

-James

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Hope Pettibon, the 2016 Texas Honey Queen, will speak with local gardeners on Friday, August 5, 2016 at 4 PM at Gill Nursery 2810 Airline Rd. She will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps ordinary gardeners can take to benefit directly from honeybees. Local gardeners are encouraged to bring questions about how to maximize the use of honeybees in our area and improve the performance of their own garden.

The Texas Honey Queen is the official representative of the Texas Beekeepers Association. She promotes beekeepers and beekeeping across the state. Hope lives in the DFW area on a small ranch with her 10 siblings and parents. Hope served as the CCHBA 2014 Honey Princess, and CCHBA 2015 Honey Queen. She loves to spend her time outside gardening, farming, and has helped her family raise honey bees since 2004. Recently, her honey won 3rd place in the black jar tasting contest at the Texas State Fair. Hope is currently attending a one year Bible college in south Texas and has future aspirations to be an EMT. During her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the piano, cooking, and crafts.

The Coastal Bend Beekeepers is the local arm of the TBA and conducts regular meetings that provide presentations on bees and beekeeping. Their members range from backyard beekeepers to commercial honey producers. You can find their members at Garden Clubs and Farmer’s Markets across the area. Their meetings are always free and open to the public.

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Join Us At Our Airline Store!

“All About Honeybees”

presented by Hope Pettibon, 2016 Texas Honeybee Queen

Friday August 5^th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!

Hope will talk about best practices to help support local honeybee populations and steps we can take to benefit directly from honeybees in our area. Questions are always welcome!

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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!

Watch this video from James to help you identify & prevent Brown Patch Fungus. With shorter days and cooler, damp nights, your lawn is susceptible to this disease.

How to heal your lawn from a long summer: identify and treat damage from Chinch Bugs and Sod Webworms; apply pre-emergent to prevent weeds; fertilize in fall for healthy roots come spring.

Also, keep an eye out for the fungus among us. Watch James’ video on Brown Patch Fungus for more info.

If you are ever unsure, just dig up a chunk of the problem area and bring it in to us for help with a diagnosis.

Further reading: Top Five Tips for a Beautiful Lawn.

Not flies, not moths, whitefly are about the size of gnats. If you see these little clusters of flies when you brush through your foliage, you need to control them.

Whitefly sucks the sap out of the plants – resist damage organically with Neem Oil. Mix your Neem oil in a sprayer, and spray all over the plant. Don’t miss the undersides of the leaves.

You’ll need more than one treatment – apply again in a week and then a week after that. Neem oil will also help with a variety of other soft-bodied insects like aphids and spider mites.

Happy gardening!

Video

“All About Honeybees”

presented by Hope Pettibon, 2016 Texas Honeybee Queen

Friday August 5th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!

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Friday August 5^th 4 to 5pm, Gill’s At 2810 Airline Rd. Free & Held Indoors!