You can grow food just about anywhere in just about any container! Join James Gill as he discusses the benefits of container gardening and demonstrates how to get the best harvest. We’re very excited to present this video in collaboration with Grow Local South Texas.
Video
Lawn Care
Weed Control
Spot treat existing weeds growing now with natural horticultural vinegar or Captain Jack's Deadweed Brew. Both will burn any foliage so take care to not spray your plants or lawn.
Prevent weeds with Hi Yield Weed & Grass Stopper or Weed Beater Complete
Bare Spots & Brown Lawns
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 10 to 50 lb. bags.
Do not think about fertilizing until your lawn begins actively growing. Generally this is around early March.
Note: You cannot apply both winter rye and pre-emergent weed control in the same lawn. The seed will not sprout.
Read: Why Won't My Weed Killer Work?, Our Secret Ingredient for a Happy Lawn
What To Plant
All containerized, bare rooted, and ball in burlap hardy trees, shrubs, vines, fruit trees (not citrus) and roses.
Use Nature's Blend to prepare the garden soil and frost blankets to protect tender veggies from the cold nights.
Vegetable Seeds
Beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Swiss chard, collards, lettuce, mustard, radish, spinach and turnips.
Start pepper and tomato seeds indoors to transplant into garden later.
Vegetable Transplants
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, onion sets, seed potatoes, and spinach.
Tomato transplants can be nurtured in pots now and set in the garden in February.
Flower Seeds
Petunias, alyssum, carnations, larkspur, nasturtium, poppy, dusty miller, stock, calendulas and bluebonnets.
Flower Transplant
Pansies, petunias, alyssum, dianthus, snapdragons, and violas, flowering cabbage & kale.
Read: Flowering Cabbage & Kale - Another Winter Treasure
Houseplants
Give your indoor plants a checkup. Look over the foliage, remove any old or dead leaves to freshen their look and keep them healthy.
Be sure to set your plants in the proper light indoors but watch that the heater and/or AC vents do not blow directly on them. Windows provide good natural light - open blinds and curtains during the day.
Read: Indoor Gardening: EZ as a ZZ!
Water when needed, but plants will not drink as much during Winter months. Remember you can add more water, but hard to take out!
Fertilize houseplants organically with ½ strength Hasta Gro.
If your plants look unhappy, they might need re-potting. Be sure to use a good all-purpose potting mix.
Fertilize
Established Citrus Trees
Fertilize organically with Medina Growin Green, Citrus Tone, or Hasta Gro; or with conventional fertilizer ammonium sulfate 21-0-0.
Cool Weather Vegetables
Fertilize organically with Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro, or Plant Tone; or with conventional fertilizer ammonium sulfate.
Cool Weather Annuals
Fertilize organically with Medina Growin Green, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone; or a water-soluble fertilizer like Hasta Gro.
Do not fertilize tropicals. They need to rest.
Watch Out For
Scale Insects
Watch for scale insects on hardy trees and shrubs. Spray with Neem Oil or Dormant Oil spray
Read: Organic Gardening 101 - What's Buggin Ya?
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.
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Treat Take All Patch organically with Natures’ Blend Organic Compost or peat moss; or use conventional Fertilome Systemic Lawn Fungicide or Scotts Disease Ex.
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Treat Brown Patch organically with horticultural corn meal or Nature’s Blend compost, or conventionally with F-Stop Fungus Granules.
Read: Protect Your Lawn: Recent Take All Root Rot Sightings (TARR)
Prune
Fruit Trees
Prune peaches, plums, and figs lightly to shape. Do not prune citrus.
Hardy Dormant Trees
Prune oak, mesquite, cedar elm, & crape myrtle. Do not top trees! Prune from the bottom up.
Perennials
Perennials that have finished their bloom.
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.
Be sure to check your sprinkler system and adjust accordingly.
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 frost blankets (which we sell), sheets, household 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.
Read: Some tips on preparing for a freeze in last week's "Freeze Alert"
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 frost blankets (which we sell), sheets, household 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.
Read: Some tips on preparing for a freeze in last week's "Freeze Alert"
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!
Plant
Vegetable Seeds
Beet, carrot, cilantro, collards, lettuce, mustard, onion, parsley, radish, Swiss chard, spinach, and turnip.
Read: Best Timing for Popular Fall Veggies, Keith’s Swiss Chard Success Story
Flower Seeds
Bluebonnets and other wildflowers, larkspur, sweet peas, nasturtiums.
Read: Fall is Wildflower Planting Time!
Vegetable Transplants
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, strawberries, parsley, cilantro, and other herbs.
Read: How to Keep Your Vegetable Garden Healthy This Fall, Get Your Greens! Sally’s Kale Smoothie Recipe
Flower Transplants
Alyssum, begonias, bluebonnet, calendula, chrysanthemum, dianthus (pinks) dusty miller, flowering cabbage and kale, geraniums, gerbera daisy, impatiens, lobelia, marigolds, pansies, petunias, phlox, salvia, snapdragons, stock, verbenas, and viola.
Read: Success with Fall Flowers, Marigolds & Mums!
Flower Bulbs
Begin refrigerating bulbs that require chilling such as paperwhites. Amaryllis can be planted now.
Read: Amaryllis & Paperwhites
All container grown trees and shrubs
Read: Burr Oak – an Awesome South Texas Tree
Read: Best Tips of Planting Trees This Fall
Indoor Plants
- Check the window lighting for your indoor plants. The sun is moving with the change of the season and may bring more or less light indoors.
- Heater vents can cause blemished foliage and dry plants out more quickly. Watch your placement of any new plants coming indoors.
- With cold fronts coming, plan to move your house plants indoors, if you have moved any outside during warmer weather. Provide adequate lighting & adjust watering.
- Let this be your last feeding for your outdoor tropical plants that are becoming houseplants for the winter. They need to rest.
- Keep watch for any tagalong critters or insects & move them back outdoors. Treat if needed.
Fertilize
Read: Organic Gardening
Winterize Your Lawn
Winterize your lawn with organic Milorganite or Medina Growin’ Green.
Tropicals
We recommend: Organic Maestro Rose Glo, Hasta Gro, or conventional Hibiscus Food
Roses
Organic: Maestro Rose Glo
Poinsettias
Organic: with Maestro Rose Glo
Blooming Annuals and Perennials
Organic: Medina Growin Green, Hasta Gro or Maestro Rose Glo
Conventional: Hibiscus Food, or Osmocote 14-14-14 Time Release
Read: Success with Fall Flowers
Vegetables
Organic: Hasta Gro, Medina Growin Green, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone
Conventional: Hi Yield Ammonium Sulphate, or Osmocote 14-4-14 Time Release Granules
Christmas Cactus
Organic: Hasta Gro
Read: How to Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom!
All plants that are especially stressed, or recently transplanted
We recommend organic Hasta Gro.
Lawn Care
Apply conventional Fertilome F-Stop as a preventative to brown patch fungus, which shows up as temperatures drop during fall and winter months.
Apply organic Nature’s Blend or Peat Moss to lawns prone to Take All Patch Fungus, or conventional Scotts Disease X.
Read: Protect Your Lawn: Recent Take All Root Rot Sightings (TARR)
Continue to water deeply every 1 to 2 weeks if little rainfall.
Read: Top Five Tips for a Beautiful Fall Lawn, Fall and Winter Lawn Care
Watch Out For
Masses of worms eating your oak tree.
Treat with organic Spinosad or Thuricide or conventional Cyonara
Read: Oak Tree Caterpillars
Grub Worms in Lawns
Treat with Bayer 24 hour Grub Control Granules
White Flies on tropicals and perennials, especially lantana and hibiscus.
Treat with organic Spinosad Soap, Bee Safe 3-in-1, Neem Oil, or conventional Eight Garden Spray Tree & Shrub drench, or Bonide Systemic Garanules.
Chinch Bugs in Lawns
Treat with organic Diatomaceous Earth, Spinosad or conventional Cyonara
Mealy Bugs
Treat with organic Neem Oil, Spinosad Soap, or Bee Safe 3-in-1, or conventional Cyonara, or Bonide Systemic Liquid or Granule
Read: Mealy Bugs are Here!
Mosquitoes
Use Mosquito Beater Liquid for quick kill or Mosquito Beater Granules to repel
Read: Mosquito Solutions
Fleas and Ticks
Treat lawns with organic Spinosad, or Diatomaceous Earth Crawling Insect Killer or conventional Cyonara
Powdery Mildew on Crape Myrtles & Roses
Use organic Neem Oil or conventional Fertilome Systemic Fungicide
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.
Read: Best for Bees!
Water
Water your newly planted vegetables and bedding plants regularly, but take care not to overwater with cooler nighttime temperatures.
Cut back on watering your established plants and lawn as temperatures cool down, since they use less water. If you are unsure when to water, use a moisture meter to take out the guesswork.
Prune
Your hardy, woody ornamentals and tropicals only to shape, not severely.
Summer perennials.