Happy New Year everyone!  Another season of holiday shopping and eating has come to a close.  Fun and festive they are and I always am a little melancholy when all the decorations come down and our home looks...well a little plain.  I think this is the perfect time to have another look at our surroundings to make a few changes; after all it is the New Year and never too early to plan new garden projects.  Spring might be just around the corner.  Watch for our pre spring seminars early February along with January specials to help you get started in the garden.  See you soon!

Thank you again for the Best Of The Best  Readers Choice Award from the Caller Times.  This is the 16^th year you have bestowed us with your vote of confidence.  This honor and our A+ Better Business Bureau rating provide you with our promise to offer you the best quality products and service.  We look forward to another wonderful New Year and new garden friends.

Working in the yard and garden can help with those extra pounds we get from our feasting.  Simple tasks like raking, digging, and weeding get us out of the house, moving around, and burning calories, too.  "You're gonna get sick working out in the cold" is just not true.  In fact, there's research that shows you can burn more calories in the winter.  Just be sure to drink fluids to stay hydrated. 

Lawn Care:

·        Now is the time to apply pre-emergent weed control to your lawn.  Here is the one that works for us: Green Light Amaze controls some broad leaf and grassy weeds including sand burs.  It will not kill already growing weeds; rather, it keeps the seeds from germinating.

·       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 50 Lb. bags.

·       Do not think about fertilizing until your lawn begins actively growing.  Generally this is around early March.

Some of the most fascinating plants put on their best show in the wintertime.  These are called short day plants because they need less daylight and more darkness to stimulate their bloom cycle.  Among many are the well-known poinsettia, kalanchoe, bougainvillea, orchid, aloe vera and  succulents.  You can see many of these plants around town full of blooms midst the gray of winter.

Plant:

·       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, violets,

·       All containerized, bare rooted, and ball in burlap hardy trees, shrubs, vines, fruit trees (not citrus) and roses

Fertilize:

·       Established citrus trees (3 years or older) with ammonium sulfate 21-0-0 available in 4 to 40 Lb. Bags, organically with Medina Growin Green, Ladybug Lawn and Garden, Citrus Tone or Hasta Gro.               

·       Cool weather vegetables with ammonium sulfate, organically with Medina Growing Green, Ladybug Lawn and Garden, Hasta Gro, or Plant Tone.

·       Cold weather annuals with water-soluble fertilizer such as Miracle Gro, organically with Medina Growing Green, Ladybug Lawn and Garden, Hasta Gro, Maestro Rose Glo, or Plant Tone.

·       Do not fertilize tropicals.  They need to rest.

January is the perfect time to prep your outdoor space for the spring season.  Pruning hardy trees and woody ornamentals during winter dormancy is like a good haircut.  Only remove limbs and branches that improve the growth and look of the tree or shrub.  Remember that most plants begin their new growth just above your cut.  Not sure what to trim and when?  Come in and our knowledgeable staff can help guide you.

Prune:

·       Fruit trees - peaches, apples, plum, pear lightly to shape (do not prune citrus)

·       Hardy dormant trees - oak, mesquite, cedar elm, crape myrtle, Chinese tallow, soapberry.  Do not top trees!

·       Perennials that have finished their bloom

·       Pick spent flowers from annuals to prolong their bloom season

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.

Watch Out For:

·       Scale insects on hardy trees and shrubs.  Spray with Neem Oil spray or Dormant Oil

·       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

·       Treat Take All Patch with Fertilome Systemic Lawn Fungicide. Organically with Nature's Blend Organic Compost, or Peat Moss

·       Treat Brown Patch Fungus with Bayer Lawn Fungus Granules, organically with Serenade or Actinovate

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

Check out our web site for more tips:  www.gillnursery.com