Rebuilding a garden

at the same time, what's happened in your yard? Do you have a question about your lawn, your trees, your flowers, your herbs, your vegetable garden or even house plants. What is of interest to you. We're here to help with that. I always like to say that gardening is a fun hobby, and it should be and we shouldn't have to worry about whether we're going to fail at gardening or not. You don't fail at gardening. You can only give up, which I hope you don't do. So, in other words,

you just try it again. Nature throws us a curve every year. I mean this year it was two storms too early really to be honest, and it's been a doozy. Last summer was incredible drought and heat. We so far, knock on wood, have not experienced that this summer. But that's how nature is. You never know. It can change in a minute, and as gardeners, we just learned how to ride with it. We know how to respond to things, We know how to water gardens when it doesn't rain.

We are able to choose plants that want to grow here in Southeast Texas and also choose plants that are going to be very resilient when it comes to pests and diseases and droughts and other things like that. And that's kind of how we put the whole thing together. I like to say that here on Garden Line, we want to help you have a bountiful garden and a beautiful landscape. That is the goal, a bountiful garden and a very very beautiful landscape. And for example, the arbor Gate,

they are all about the same thing. You know, you go out to the arbor Gate and talk about Beverly and Kennon and the whole team out there, and they have got the advice you need. They've got the plants you need. They it's just a complete package. And if you haven't been out there in a while, you need to go. They're off on twenty nine to twenty just to the west of tom Ball, just a little distance to the west. And the way to park there though, is something that if you haven't heard me say it before,

I almost say it again. You turn down Trish Road, which it is a loop that goes behind Arburgate. So whichever way you're coming to Arburgate, when you see Trishel, you turn turn down that road, go behind Arburgate. And if you get to Arburgate and you didn't see it, well there's gonna be another Trishel Road right after that coming back in because it is a loop behind it.

The parking lot in the back is all weather. I mean it can range six inches and that thing is easy to drive on, easy to walk on, and takes you right on in there. And when you get in, what you're going to find is a wonderland of all kinds of plants. Every time I go there, I see plants I'd never even grown before, never even seen before, because they're always coming up with new things. They're always bringing in new things and their experience helps you to

have success. So you walk in and you go, you know what, I've got a shady area. I need some help with it. They can provide the palette of plants to show you, and you choose what's appealing to you, and then they give you the advice on what to do about them. Maybe you bought a plant weeks ago and you're struggling with it for whatever reason the past. It is he who knows what. You go in and you talk to him about it and they'll give you

advice on that, bring them a picture or whatever. It's a complete independent garden center package all in one there at Arborgate, and I will promise you every time you go, you're going to have a good time and you are going to find a lot of really cool stuff to turn your garden into something that's more beautiful and more bountiful. Well, you are listening to garden Line this morning, and since we are a call in show, wouldn't it be a good idea if I gave you a call in number?

I think you would seven one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. Give us a call. We'll talk about the things that are most of interest to you. Now, these storms that we just went through have been brutal. That we had the one a while back that wasn't connected to a hurricane, and I mean it knocked power out all over the place. Trees were down. Sometimes I

wonder that there's still a living tree in Houston. After the effects of these two storms, it really wiped them out. And then we had a hurricane barrel come through and again lots of trees destroyed, lots of power outages and things like that. It is important to get ready for future storms because look, we live here on the Gulf Coast. It's just part of hurricane season, which runs June through November.

But remember that first one wasn't even a hurricane. We can have heavy storms that do heavy damage in any time of the year pretty much. It is not just part of the package here. But what you can do is you can choose trees that are very strong, that are not the grow fast, dye young trees that often get sold and shouldn't that are trees that are stable,

that have strong branches. You can train them properly, have people prune them, who know what they're talking about out properly, so it gives them the best chance of all of letting that excess wind get through the through the canopy of the tree and yet still had that strongest possible branch structure to do the best job possible during those storms. And that's what Affordable Tree does. Martin Spoon Mooret Affordable Tree.

Uh you know, I I love sending people to Martin because I know the kind of work that they do. An Affordable Tree is there. You know, it's easy to get a hold of them. Just seven one three six nine nine twenty six sixty three. Let me give you that again seven one three six nine nine two six sixty three. If you want to go to the website, it's also very helpful to go that route Afftree Service dot com. I cannot express enough the importance of proper

tree care. We got a lot of storm season and this is one where they're predicting quite a few hurricanes this year. Don't mess around. Get Martin out there telling me your guardenline listener. That helps you get toward the front of the line, which is important because he stays busy because he does good work that's just how that works. People know the kind of work that Martin does. Affordable Tree Service seven one three six nine nine two six

sixty three, get those trees properly pruned. I drive around town all the time, and I see hack jobs and trees almost look like hat racks. When some of these uninformed let's give him the benefit of the doubt, uninformed tree services get in there and just chop things up. Just because you want to pick up in a chainsaw does not make you a tree service or a tree specialist in any way, shape or form. You have got to hire somebody that knows what they're doing and does

a proper job. That is very important because listen, when you miss prune a tree severely, and you know, get that chainsaw in there and do a lot of very ill advised cutting, that tree is now weakened, if not ruined for life. It is hard to grow your way out of a butcher job on a tree. Well, I'm gonna take a little break here, we'll be right back. Hey, here's the number if you want to get on the on the boards with Chris seven one three two one two k T r H seven one three two one

two k T r H. I'll be right back. Would you like to talk about today. Let's figure that out and let's solve some problems, identify some plants. Maybe there's some diagnosing we can do to help out. We're happy to do that. You know, if you go online to my website Gardening with Skip dot com Gardening with Skip dot com, you can find my two schedules on there, and you will find one is called the lawn Care Schedule. The other one is the Disease, Insect and Weed Management Schedule.

And these two schedules I've put together after a lot of research, visiting with various kinds of specialists and entomology and plant pathology and soul science and you name it. Uh And they're a wealth of information. I've got them color coded so it's really easy to follow them along. So, like if you're going to fertilize, let's say there's two rows across from January to December that tells you exactly when to apply fertilizer. One is if you're using synthetic products,

one is if you're using organic products. And also in there is the trace mineral supplement. Now, the trace mineral supplement that would be azamite. We put asmite down to provide trace minerals that the turf needs. What is a trace mineral, Well, you can call it a trace mineral, you can call it a micro nutrient. Doesn't matter how what you call it. The bottom line is it's something that is essential for plant growth, but in tiny amounts. So you know, just because it's needed in small amounts

doesn't make it essential. And the way I explain it to people is if you could take every molecule of zinc out of the soil, or if you could take every molecule of you know of iron or any tiny trace mineral out of the soil, a plant cannot grow because it's essential. So our goal is to make sure the soil bank account has an adequate amount of all these nutrients. And that's why we have asamite. Asmite is

a product that is mined out a Utah. It is widely available through the Houston area, not a problem finding it. You don't need to use it every time you fertilize. You just once a year is enough and if you get a soil test that'll helpe guide you as well when it comes to as might application. What is needed,

what isn't needed in those kinds of things. But the key thing to remember, by the way, if you want to learn more about it, you can go to azamitetextas dot com, azmite texts dot com find out more about it. But it is widely available and you should have some on hand because you're gonna want to apply it periodically to the soil, especially when you see certain kinds of

deficiencies there in your turf. But also on the schedule when you're looking at it, there is aeration, there is proper mowing that you're thinking, I need to be told how to mow my lawn. I know how to start a lawn more and run around. Well, this goes into more detail than that. It talks about how high you mow and basically the frequency and the importance of all of that. Also, watering is on there. I've got the historic average inches of water that a Houston lawn needs

through the year. Now historic versus what actually happens this year are always two different things. But at least you know that you don't have to apply an inch of water a year, a week, every month of the year. We just don't need that. But it kind of guides you in that, and then there's a list of all the different products. So you can take the schedule with you when you go shopping and say this is the

one I want, where is it in your store? And people can be you know, garden Center, these Hardware, Southwest Fertilizer, the feed store, wherever you go to buy your stuff, they're going to be able to direct you to it.

can attack. Typically they the worst of them comes a little bit later than we are now, but I mean we are on the doorstep of it. And you can have a chinchbug problem in your lawn at any point in time in this season. They like hot weather, and so what do you do about them? Look at the schedule. The insects are all in yellow. The insect information is all in yellow. You go to the bottom of the page and it gives you all the controls for insects in yellow in the box at the bottom. Do you

want to do it organically? Do you want to do it synthetically? Do you not care? It's all there for you to pick it out as you want it. And when it comes to insects, especially those chinchbugs that are you know, we're in their time of the year nitrofuss. Bug Out Max is a product that you put on as granule and you spread it out. Follow the label. Always follow the label. It is on there for a reason. It is important. And do not believe that if a

teaspoons good, a tablespoons better follow the label. Apply it evenly to your lawn. You water it in and it is going to continue to provide control. It'll be it'll knock them out within forty eight hours the pests that you got there, but it'll continue to provide you to control all through the summer growing season. And I trust. Bug Out Max is easy to find around town. You're going to find it in places like plants for all

seasons up on two forty nine. You're going to find it in place like plants and things out there in Brennum or maybe aspas ace up in the woodlands. All of those are examples of places that carry nitrofoss products. If you'd like to give us a call here on garden Line, the number is seven to one three two one two k t r H seven one three two one two kt r H makes it easy, easy to give us a dial and we can help you with

the kind of things you're interested in. I want to talk a little bit about some of the issues that we're having. First of all, we've had quite a bit of rain, a lot of rain. As a matter of fact, when we had a lot of rain, we see in our lawns an increase in gray leaf spot in this summer season. A gray leaf spot is a disease that you notice it from a distance, is like the grass is yellowing. Then you get up close and you know these spots on those grass blades, the yellow grass blades,

and gray leaf spot is best if treated promptly. You can certainly have something in the turf that's preventing it. Some of the systemic type products that are in the turf prevented. But anything we can do to minimize the frequency and the length of time that our turf is wet. So if you have an irrigation system and you're watering three times a week, you need to change that. Our turf does not need to be watered three times a week.

I've got areas of my lawn that I have watered once this year, once in the sun once and it w was number one. We're getting good amount of rain. But my point is that if you've got a sprinkler running all the time, you're probably watering too shallow, or you've got a swamp. You're spending money on drinking water that you don't need to be spending, and you're making

diseases really happy. And they're already pretty happy to be living here in the Greater Houston area because of all the rain we get and the temperatures we have and whatnot. But watch for that gray leaf spot. Look for it and anything you can do to brighten an area. If we get in deep shade and you get a lot of frequent moisture that's just constantly staying on the grass plant, then gravy spot takes over and there are fung again,

that's on the schedule. That's on the schedule. There are funge of sides, and there are cultural price just as we can do to help avoid or control gray leaf spot. But that's something you're going to be seeing right now whenever we get into the summertime on the One of the key cultural things we do to avoid turf issues is number one. Don't mow too low, especially something like Saint Augustine. You don't see golf course screens made out of Saint Augustine. It is a wonderful grass for the

places we use. It's most shade tolerant, one of the most shade tolerant grasses we have. But you don't want to mow it too low. I would say two and a half inches to three inches to three and a half inches is all good range for Saint Augustine. I keep mine on the taller side, and the taller it is, the less often you have to mow to cut off one third of an inch one third of the leaf blade. But anyway, avoid super low moing heights. Do not apply

excess nitrogen. You hear me talk about our slow release fertilizers here in the summer time, Excess nitrogen causes fast top growth, which means you got to mowmore. It actually creates top growth at the expense of root growth. Did you know that when you overdo nitrogen on the lawn, you actually have less of a root system than if you fertilized properly. Fertilizing is good, it creates density, it makes good green color and all of that, but don't

overdo it. That's why I like slow release fertilizers. Don't water so frequently. The more often you water, the more problems you have. And excess nitrogen and excess water is one of the reasons why what used to be called brown patch people still call it that, but the name now is a large patch. That's one of the reasons you see those big circles in the fall and in the spring is we're promoting it with excess water and

excess nitrogen. Aeration is always important when you have a compot, when you have a compacted clay soil is very important in order to keep the root system with plenty of oxygen a heavy clay soil, oxygen just can't move down in the soil. It can get very wet and there's just no oxygen down there for roots. Aeration changes that add some compost top dressing to it to fall down in the hole, you create a better and better root zone.

And the better you create a root zone for your Saint Augustine grass, the more your lawn is going to thrive. That's true of any plant. A plant with a very shallow, very limited root system is going to be prone to drought. It's going to be prone to all kinds of things because it doesn't have the development of an extensive root system where you can draw on it for water and for nutrients. So aeration and compost top dressing is very important.

That also helps with promoting the microbial activity and the lawn. And the more that we do to create optimum health by building good soil and yes, even in an established lawn you can build soil. You're not using a rototiller, but you are using aeration, compost, top dressing and other practices. The more you minimize disease issues that you might have, and the more you develop a deep, resilient, deep rooted, resilient grass plant. So when you have a little drought,

you've got a better root system to withstand it. When a few grubs come along and chomp off a few roots, you still have a very good, extensive root system for that grass to thrive. That's what we're talking about. You know, we talk here a lot about here's what you kill that weed with, or here's what you kill that insect with, or here's what you kill that disease with. But the foundation is always on cultural practices, selecting plants that don't

get sick whenever possible. And right now in the industry, you will not find Saint Augustine de class up turf. Well, there are a few obscure places that will sell you just general old time Saint Augustine that gets the virus that can't be cured, Saint Augustine de client. But it's been bred. Resistance has been bred into our modern Saint Augustine varieties. Doesn't it make sense to have something that doesn't get sick rather than going, Okay, how do I

control this problem? And that's what we aim for. When I say cultural practice, I mean setting the plan up for success. All Right, we're going to take a little break. Here. Our phone number if you'd like to give Chris call, be first up. When we come back. Seven one three two one two k t RH. Hey, we are here to talk about gardening. Whatever is of interest to you. Feel free to give us a call if you like.

Seven one three two one two k t r H. Seven one three two one two k t r H. I was discussing some principles of taking care of your lawn and some of the issues that lawns are gonna have and are already this summer here in the Greater Houston area. And whenever we start dealing with lawn problems, we just always need to remember again just to reiterate cultural conditions. Cultural practices are so very important. The more

often you mow alawn, the better it looks. And think about this if you had a head, because when you mow alawn, what you're doing is you're hedging your lawn. That's that's an analogy that I think helps explain how things work in the lawn. If you have a hedge and you were to go back and shere it twice a year and let it grow way out, and then you share it way back, way out, and then you share it way back, it would be ugly. First of all, after you shared it, it'd be all brown and sticky.

Then it'd have to twiggy is what I'm saying. That theo the hedge would have to regrow. You'd get these new shoots, it start looking good again, and then it grows and grows, and then you share it. That would be a horrible way to take care of a hedge. It would look terrible. It wouldn't be good for the plants, and it certainly wouldn't be good for us. Your lawn is similar to that. Let it grow up real, real tall and then cut it way way back, and let it grow a real tall and cut it way way back.

That's stressful to the grass plant and it looks bad. But the more often you mow the better. And so regular mowing with a sharp mower is important. And I say a sharp more and you probably that probably just kind of flies by and doesn't reregister. But that's important. And here's a couple of reasons why. Number one is less strained or your lawnmower. That is important. But number two, when you cut grass blades with a nice sharp mower,

it makes a nice clean cut. When your more gets really dull, basically it's just slashing off the end of the grass blade, leaving it all frayed and split. And torn up instead of a nice clean cut scissor like cut. And so when you end up with that, you have brown areas that are bigger on the end of each grass blade. So go with me on this just for

one second. So if you take those brown areas and think of them as pixels on a screen, and you have the screen full of green, and then you just fill it with about you know, twenty five percent brown pixels, what's it going to look like? Less green? Right? You may not notice specifically the brown, but the overall appearance of the lawn is not as good. And when you multiply times a billion grass blades, it makes a difference.

So clean cut is important for several reasons, even in some cases for disease related reasons can be affected by that. So just my suggestion is keep that look more blade sharp and mow often. Our goal is to cut off a third of the grass blade every time we mow. So when you do that, when you mow off a third of the grass blade, that's a that is a minor shearing that the grass just gets denser and denser and denser and looks better. And I realize when it

rains for five days you're going to get behind. I have it in mind. Several times this year because of rain, I've bagged my clippings, which is not what I normally do. But I don't put them at the curb side. They're in garden beds, they're in garden walkways that they get they get sprinkled, all kinds of places where they end up helping rely contribute to the soil by releasing those nutrients back into the soil. We're going to go out to the phones now again. The number is seven one

three two one two fifty eight seventy four. We're going to talk to Malcolm. Hello, Malcolm, Malcolm.

going to see needs like chamber butter. Secondly, though, as a pre emergent, will prevent seeds from germinating, that would be another step and you need to do that. Chamber bitter is one to sprout a little later than a lot of other weeds like crabgrass is way ahead of chamber better when it comes to when it sprouts, so you don't have to worry about getting your pre measure down exactly in early to mid February. You can go

a little bit later with it. And then sometimes a second application is needed, Malcolm, because any product you put out like that is going to break down in time, so maybe forty five to sixty days later a repeat application helpful to that. Once it's in your lawn, then you're talking about a post emergent broad leaf control herbicide. So if you can, you can ignore it and mow it. That's always one option. Organic gardeners and not gonna spray

stuff on their lawn like that. They just mow and ignore and work their way out of it by building density over the seasons and years to come. If you spray with a post emergent, I would probably use something called celsius. I talk about that a lot on garden line. Celsius is like the temperature celsius, and it is a product that you can use when the weather is a little warmer. A lot of the other post emergent products, the trimeac types of products that are often used in spring.

In the summertime, they'll really they can damage your Saint Augustine lawn in hot temperature. So even with celsius, I would do it in the morning. But if you get the celsius on the leaves of the chamber Better, it's pretty good at controlling it. But you need to do it promptly because have you ever looked closely at a chamber Better leaf and seeing the little balls underneath the leaf? And I haven't really close, but no, I've got a

lot of it. I can find it. Yeah, Well, when you pick one, it's got that compound leaf with all the little leaflets going down the stalk. If you look underneath there along that little stem that's holding all the leaflets, they're little balls, and that's the flowers and seeds of chamber Better. So once you create a new crop, even

if you kill the old chamber better. You just sentenced yourself to a season or two more of weeding, certainly in a year or two of weeding, so prompt action is important, got you.

you can eat. All right, we're talking about edible weeds. But if you can't beat them, eat them in some cases. But hear me, clearly, don't eat everything in your lawn because there are some some weeds you do not want

to eat as well. You're listening to garden Line. My phone number here is seven one three two one two kt r H seven to one three two one two kt r h the the we were talking about cultural practices and things we do to have success, and I mentioned mowing and how important that is when it comes to our flower beds I have had. I've got some multiple flower beds, but there are some areas I was in a hurry putting it out and I sprinkled around and I didn't get it quite thick enough. And what

is thick enough? Well, how deep should mulch be? What depends on the mult If you had let's say some people use compost as a surface mulch, Well that's very fine textured and it doesn't have to be as thick to block the light from hitting the soil surface, although weeds will land in the compost and they'll grow, so that's just something you have to deal with. But the chunkier your multch gets, the thicker it needs to be

in order to adequately block the light. And I was using a shredded mult was kind of in the medium medium to find texture. But I have some thin areas and I got to go out and do some hand weed pulling yesterday because some sprouts had come up through the multch. It wasn't the mulch's fault. It was the mulch applicator. That would be me. It's the mulch applicator's fault. I didn't put it thick enough. So now that I've pulled those what's going to happen in those areas? More

weeds are going to sprout. I got to put more mulch on top. And I have heard on more than one occasion a collar or someone will say, well, do I need to get that old mult out of there to put the fresh molts in? And I guess I can see how that may sound like a good idea, but don't do it. Think about nature. Let's follow nature's lead. Does do you ever see a deer in the forest raking all the old leaves out so that the new crop of leaves and fall can land on fresh soil. No,

of course, not that that's a Gary Larson cartoon. I'd like to have a T shirt with that on it. But what happens is you drop the new organic matter on top of the old because the old is still helping, and the old is decomposing away and releasing nutrients into the soil and stimulating microbial growth and benefiting the plant. So just add fresh mults on top of the old malt. Don't rake the old stuff out. Wells time, take a

little break here. I will be back again. Our phone number if you'd like to give a skull seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four with us talking about all kinds of things related to lawns and plants and success and cultural practices and whatnot, but just talking about the importance of malts and the molts needs to be deep enough, and the kind of molts you put on, how chunky it is determines how deep it

needs to be to truly block the soil surface. Well Landscaper's Pride has a wide variety of mults and a number of different mulches. One of the ones that I think is beautiful is their black velvet. It is not dyed. It is naturally dark colored, very velvety and dense. It does a very good job through the summertime, and I think it's very attractive. Don't use dye mulch, but you can use this one. I think that's a great one. They have a hardwood mults. It's shredded hardwood. You know,

it's just part of the natural land clearing process. You get these hardwood materials that are shredded up. It's not ground palettes like some of the cheap junk you see on the market. Is this is true shredded hardwood. Great use for walkways too, for flower beds, recreational area. Then they have pine Mark the most popular one. That's the one that again very very attractive, very slow to decompose, so you're not having to top it off as much

because of that. And then Cedar whole Cedar logs ground up beautiful air aroma as it comes in, very nice, beautiful red color as it comes in. And then the Cypress multch is locally sourced Cypress logs and it's known for durability. It kind of when it's wet, it kind of stays in place very well, does a very good job of that. A's supposed to floating all away, very light in color. All from Landscaper's Pride. You can find

it everywhere in bags wherever you shop. Just go online to Landscaperspride dot com and find the store located there where you can find the ones or the places that are closest to you to be able to get some of their quality products. We're going to go now out to Sharon and Hello Sharon, and welcome to guard Line.

TAMU dot E d U UH. Get dig up the boxwood, shake off excess soil, but don't cut off the roots.

don't know that it has a good chemical control. I'm have to look, and I think once a plant has it, it's going to be very difficult to turn that around. But my suggestion would be to get a more lab based diagnosis.

plant will show these signs. And I was just wondering, you know, what I could do to stop it and prevent the other ones from you know, being infected.

you could spread around printing tools. If it were blight, you could use preventative fungicides on the ones that aren't sick. So that is an option, but you're gonna have to spray pretty often. And again, you know, I hate to send you out to buy something and the time and money applying it and everything if we're not going after

the right thing. So that's kind of why I think it's since you have a lot of box woods and there's a lot of money tied up in that, I would rather get a good, accurate diagnosis and then they will if they when they diagnose, they will tell you what to do about it. And there are there are some resistant boxwoods to the blight, so you know that would be a possibility. I guess what what are.

We will be back in a moment. In the meantime, I did want to mention I talked about the importance if you've gone fertilized, the fertilizing with something that is that is a slow release product. And when I come back from break, I want to talk to you a little bit about that. How that works, uh, and how how you go about doing that. In the meantime, have a night, so break with me and we'll be right back.

you've been there. It's one of the most popular garden centers we have in the greater Houston area. And the reason is they've been around since the nineteen seventies and the Flowerty family has developed a reputation of carrying the kinds of plants that do best here, of hiring and training their folks to absolutely be dependable resources of information,

and then finally to give their customers service. If you come in there and you have a bug and a bag, or if you have a picture of a dead plant or whatever, they're going to be able to direct you to the kind of things that you need. And that's what you're looking for. When you go to an independent garden center like Plants for All Seasons, you know that you're going to get something that will grow here and advice on how to grow it here, and if something

ever goes wrong, what to do about it. That is very very important. And I'm telling you to throw your money away at some plant that doesn't want to grow here. That's not going to happen. It plans for all seasons. Unfortunately, there are places where it does be nine Plans for all seasons. You can go to the website Plans for All Seasons dot com or give them a call to eight one three seven six sixteen forty six two eight one three seven six one six four six. We're going

to go now out to Conroe and talk to VICKI. Hello, Vicky, welcome to garden.

the setting that it's growing in. And let me take a look at that, because what you're describing shouldn't be happening on a knockout rows And I just want to see the leaves toward the end of the branch. Any leaves that don't look normal. I'd like to see the little twigs out toward the end of the branch, the growth that's fairly new, and so let me look at that and I'll get back with you then with probably a more accurate diagnosis, because what you're describing I haven't

seen on knockout. So can we do that?

You got some really good ACE Hardware stores in your neighborhood down there. You can go to Ace Hardware dot com find find the ones closest. You may know where they are they're going to carry. They're going to carry stuff like from Nelson plant Food that is a citrus specifically fertilizer. They may have one from Nitrofuss as well that's designed for that or from a microlife. All three of those guys produce fertilizers that are very good for use on fruit and ceterus and those types of plants.

fifty eight seventy four. Scott, glad you're listening today. By the way, thank you for listening to garden Line. It's always great to be able to visit with gardeners in the Greater Houston area, and we certainly get to do that every Saturday and every Sunday from six to ten am. Well ago I said, I was going to talk a little bit about slow release fertilizers and what that's all about.

What it's about is when you take a slow release fertilizer such as nitrophos superturf that's their silver bag in it. The nitrogen in it is in more than one form, and so some of it gets released right away and then some of it gets released gradually over time. They can take nitrogen and put it in forms that are water soluble that would be float immediate release. They can put it in other kinds of forms. There's more than one option. Some of them a bacteria and microbes and

the soil break it down and release it. There just is a number of mechanisms that release it. But it gives you a gradual feeding because your lawn feeds every day. Every day, the lawn is taking up nutrients and small amounts to support growth. It doesn't take a big lunch at the first of the month and then not take up anything else again for the rest of the month.

That nineteen is going to feed, feed and feed and feed over time, and that is an excellent way to produce good even growth. It also it cuts down when you're mowing. It makes it easier, you know, when you're doing your watering and things, you don't worry so much about washing all your nutrient away. Nitropas Superturf, like other night foss products, is available in a wide variety of places. In Chenny Forest carries it down in the Richmond Rosenberg area.

You can find it a growers outlet up in Willis RCW. Nursery on Tombail Parkway where it comes into Sam Houston Beltway is another place that carries night foss products like the super Turf the silver bag from Nitrofos. We're going to go now to the phones and head to Cypress and talk to Ruth. Hello, Ruth, are you there?

of just beauty and bounty and their vegetable section. By the way, it's time to be getting that fall vegetable garden go and we got to get those tomatoes and peppers and eggplants and things like that in. There's a lot of other things coming soon. They've got a wonderful herb selection too, extensive, like basil, several different kinds of basil.

And if you were interested in a butterfly garden or a garden to attract birds or to bring in bees and other pollinators, they have an outstanding selection of plants to do that. A whole region. Of course, there's plants all over the garden center in chanted forests that attract

those kind of things. But they have a whole section just dedicated to butterfly, lauval food sources for example, ad enchanted for So now they're on FM twenty seven fifty nine outside of Richmond, So if you're in Richmond, you're heading Sugarland direction up fifty nine. It's off to the right, FM twenty seven fifty nine. It's always a good day to be out there. I love visiting with them, Clay and the whole team out there. They have really created a lot of beauty and they have the expertise to

help you have success. So if you hadn't been out there, I don't care where you live, you need to drive out there and see this place. It really really is cool and good house plans, good gift shop, all kinds of good things. Let's go back and we're going to give another shot here at Ruth in Cyprus. Are you there, Ruth? Ready, Ruth, If you're talking, I can't hear you, so I'm going to put you back on hold. We'll give it another try here. I'll tell you what, Ruth. But if you

can hear me, go ahead. And just hang up and call back in and we will We'll try this again with a different line. I'm not sure what's exactly going on in that situation. I was out in the yard and my bird feeders are a little low, and that was on purpose. I've got a couple of types of bird feeders I have. The rain can get to them if it's really blowing and splashing a lot. I mean,

they have a little roof over them. And I didn't want to put a bunch of bird seed out there and have it go bad and get moldy, because it'll do that. And if you've got that in your yard, you need to dump those out, clean them out, let them dry, and then put some fresh seed in them. And I've been feeding the birds a little bit here and there as we go. But wild Bird's Unlimited is going to have a selection of everything that you need for that. I like their nesting super Blend. I still

am using the Nesting Superblend. It provides a lot of things that the birds need. It's loaded with sunflower chips, peanuts, dried mealworms, something called bark butter bits, safflower tree nuts, calcium carbonate too, which is important and I'm telling you that I was watching blue jays out there and cardinals at the feeder. I've got another feeder that the little birds tend to hang out at. It's harder for the big birds to get to. But anyway, all from Wallbirds Unlimited.

You can go to WBU dot com forward slash Houston WBU dot com forward slash Houston find the wildbirds in their shoe. They're about six of them are in the Greater Houston area. Also, if you're about to take a little vacation trip this summer, grab one of their seed cylinders. It's a cylinder of firmly packed seeds. Looks like a little candle shape, you know, those little tall candles, thick wide candles. The birds have to kind of pull those seeds out of there, so it takes them a little

while to do it. And when you come back from vacation, your birds are still having something to eat while you're gone. Plus, if you're home watching it, they takes them a little longer to get that seed out, so you get to watch them a little bit longer. I think that's fun too. From Wallbirds Unlimited, we love our birds here. I've got water features from oh by the way, now we've had a lot of rain this summer and birds are doing

okay because of that. But when we're in hot, dry summer weather, you've got to make sure they have a source of water. We keep ours out, keep them not too far away from the feeders, and also where we can watch them. And I've got a couple of different water features that they really really enjoy if they can hear the sound of water, like if it's splashing, like we have a little multi tiered fountain where it's splashing.

I enjoy that sound. It's so soothing and nice. But the birds, it brings them in and they love it. They absolutely love it. Here on Guardline, we love our feed stores too. You hear me talk about feed stores and down in If you're south of Houston, let's say you're in the League City area. League City feed is right there on Highway three, just a few blocks south of Highway ninety six in League City, so that whole area, this is your hometown feed store. Do you live in

Bay Cliffs, San Leon or Lamart. Do you live in Dickenson or clear Lake City or Webster. Do you live in Santa Fe or ohkame Into Realey. League City Feed is your hometown feed store. They carry every fertilizer that I talk about here on Garden Line. They do. They've got them. They've got the soils, you know, they carry the heirloom soils, for example, and they just know how to provide exactly what you need to take care of whatever you have in your lawn. So are your garden

so do you need an insecticide or a fungicide? Do you need an herbicide to fight weeds? Are you looking for organic products? They have those two there. Premium pet food is always available. They're at League City Feed. Do you have backyard chickens? They can get you set up on that and they're going to carry the sacks to the car for you. It's that old time feed service. This place has been around. I think their grandfather built

it over forty years ago in an Okra patch. And anything that starts in an Okra patch can't go wrong. I mean that's my personal opinion because I'm a big fan of Okra. But the Thunderbergs, they've been running this three generations. Now here's our phone number two eight one three three two sixteen twelve. I'll give it to you again two eight, one three three two one six one two Open Monday through Saturday nine to six, so you can stop in after work. Closed on Sunday. So hey,

here's your deal today. Get over there, grab the kind of stuff you need. I'll try one more time here to go to the phones. This time we're heading to Willis to talk to Kirk. Kurt. How are you this morning? We've got a break coming up, and let's see if we can help you before the break or we'll hold you aft too.

We'll be right back. You'd like to give us a call, My number is seven one three two one two k t r H. Seven one three two one two k t r H. Let's help you have a more beautiful garden, more bountiful garden, a more beautiful landscape. That's what we're here for. Whatever kinds of questions indoor or outdoor plants, we'll talk about it. Be happy to do that. Try to get some good diagnosis and advice as we go along.

Speaking of good advice, if you are looking for a product that you can hook up to your garden, hose and spray over the lawn and get really quick results. That would be Medina's has to grow line. They have a has to grow lawn for example, there's regular has to grow. There's a has to grow for lawns. It's got a like a three one two or yeah, three one two type ratio a fertilizer that is exactly what your lawn needs. They also have a product that's newer, new,

it's newer. It's a brand new one that they've got called super Grow Plus. And I think, I think a lot of all of these products, but the Supergrill Plus is a sixteen zero two. That's zero that middle number phosphorus. Phosphorus tends to stick around, and there's not a problem

not adding phosphorus every time we fertilize. In fact, in some parts of the country they are they actually have laws to where you can't just use phosphorus without the equivalent of prescription, believe that or not, because it washes off into places. Florida has a number of waterways are concerned about. Chesapeake Bay up there in the northeast around the DC area is another example of those kinds of places. Well, this one it works great for here sixteen zero two.

It's got a slow release fertilizer in it. About a fifth of the fertile of the nitrogen in it is in a slow release form. It's got iron in a chelated form, meaning the iron has a little bodyguard so the soil can't steal it and tie it up, but the plant can have it. It's got seaweed extract in it. It's got molasses in it, it's got humic acid in it. It's got all the kinds of things to stimulate microbial activity and stimulate your lawn growth.

If you're bagging your clippings, probably need to do it about three times. During the summertime. But supergrow plus for Medina, a product that works, a product that I personally can vouch for. You are listening to Guardline and our phone number if you wish to give us a call is seven to one three two one two kt RH seven one three two one two kt RH. You know the the garden centers in the Houston area, the Independent, we

call them Mom and Pops. Those garden centers are outstanding here and I'm telling you I've been, you know, all over Texas to garden centers, and I love when I travel. I am a gardening or horticultural tourist. You know, I'm going to find the the garden centers in a town. I'm going to find the botanical gardens in a town and visit them. I was out in North Carolina at the Ralston Arboretum in the University of North Carolina and it just outstanding. Love to do that. Well, here in Houston,

we've got more than anybody. I'm telling you that. I mean, I've been to these big cities, north, south, east, West, and central. Here in Houston we have places that are worth driving for and people drive a long way. I've run into people all the time that if from out of state, maybe they're visiting family, or maybe they drove from Austin to get over here to go to see some of our outstanding garden centers. Example of that is Buchanans Native Plants done in the Heights, right in the

big middle of town. Buchanan's Plants Native Plants is on Eleventh Street in the Heights. Their website and this is please write this down because it is an outstanding website, Buchanansplants dot Com. There's advice there, there's videos there, there's lists of plants there, there's descriptions of plants. Buchanan specializes in natives, but they have everything. They have everything. Do

you want house plants? Go check out their selection. You will agree that it is one of the absolute best selections of house plants you're going to find anywhere in the region. Buchanansplants dot Com on Eleventh Street in the Heights. Do you need the fertilizers I talk about on guardline. They're there, high quality plants, educated, helpful people and a really fun shopping experience too. Of Buchanan's Plants in the Heights.

Remember website, Buchanans Plants dot com click around that thing, and you'll see why I think so much of it. You are listening to garden Line our phone number seven one three two one two five eight seven four seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. Okay, we're going to have a quick garden Line quiz for those of you who've listened to garden Line more than once, because I say this every time. What is the most important thing that we do to have success with plants? Now,

there's a lot of important things. It's important to get plants that want to grow. Here, it's essential to get plants that want to grow. It's important to put plants in the amount of drainage they need. There are a few plants that can take a swamp. Most of them can't. It's important to, uh, let's see, get plants the amount of light that they need. It's important to fertilize. But what is the most important thing we do when we're going to have success? And the answer is build the soil.

I like to say it this way. Plants live in their roots, and if you think about it that way, you'll reckon.

Ferguson in Ferguson up in Nature's Way. They they've known this a long time. John was Nature's Way Resources.

a pickup, get a bulk amount of it. If you want to load up on bags, you can get it, and around town a number of our places carry their bags as well. It doesn't matter what kind of a mix you're looking for. Nature's Way Resources has it, and they've got they've got some great deals going on. They've got a deal right now that if you tell them that you heard about it on guarden Line, you're going

to get a significant discount. And this includes the soil, blends, the composts, the multius covers the whole nine yards, and you need to don't forget to mention you heard about them on guarden Line. Here's a number nine three six three two one sixty nine ninety nine three six three two one sixty nine ninety They're open eight to five Monday through Friday today eight am to two pm. Close tomorrow.

So here's your chance. Whatever you do, if you want to have success, you've got to start with the soil. You may the soil right, and that means organic matter, that means drainage, that means nutrients that the plants need. You get that right, and it's gonna look, it's gonna make everything. You got a green thumb, you just have an informed thumb, an informed thumb that says, fix the saw first for success with plants natures. Will hope you

do that. We're gonna take a little break here and I will be right back if you want to get on the boards. We've got to open board here. Wo'd be a good chance to get in without having to wait seven one three two one two kt r H. Hold all right, folks, that's just a little bit of a kickback remembering Randy Lemon. That band is called the lemon Heads, And I know Simon and Garfuncle did Missus Robinson,

but like that little upbeat version by the Lemonheads. Uh, we fondly remember our friend Randy Lemon, who held this seat for many, many years, just was an icon in the greater Houston area. I know that I very beloved and really one of the reasons that Garden Line has become the show that it's become, as through the many years of Randy's work as well as the people that came before Randy. This this show has been going on since the nineteen fifties. That is an unusual run for

a gardening show to be able to have. And I do not hold that lightly. I promise you for sure. We are going to now head straight out to the phones. A segment, and we're going to go to cot Road to talk to Larry. Hello, Larry, Good morning.

pest problems and things would include red oaks. If you are in a very good, well drained soil, shoe mard s h u m a r d schumard red oak is a good one if you are in a soil that sometimes is a little on the soggy side, not only for soggy sauce, but this one can take saggi sauce. Is the nut tall red oak n utta. I think it's one L. I need to look that up. Nut tall n u t t a L. Let's just say that's close. That one would be a good one. The Chinese elm. Chinese elm has beautiful You've seen these all

around town. Especially they put them in parking lots because they're so tough, but you can put it in. It's got a kind of a rusty colored and gray, splotchy bark. It breaks off in little chunks, very thin, kind of like a crape myrtle doesn't have real thick bark. It's smooth. This one is kind of like that, and it little flex breakof and it's it's rusty and gray. It's very beautiful bark. So even in the winter. I think it's

a pretty tree. Gross grows pretty fast and spreads out really well, casts a life shade, which I like because if you want to grow grass or other things underneath, it can do that, but it's still a shade that will keep you cool. Those are the ones I remember talking about. I'm trying to think what else I might have.

on on tree places of urden tree farms. Another good one.

too up there at the soul surfits. It's got that in it, and it's got those those chemistries that allow a gradual release of nitrogen over time. Nutri Star line by Nelson Plant Food things like the Hibscus and flowering tropicals like the nutri Star for indoor plants. Many different nutri Star in their color Star line and these are these come in the low canisters or also some of them by the bag as well, and you they're widely available and they're all excellent products by Nelson plant Food.

Visiting with Dean the other day talking about some of the new products and some of the things going on there, and they're always up to improving and creating more new quality things there at Nel some plant food. We're going to head out now to College Station, Texas and talk to Andrew. Hello, Andrew, Hey.

beautiful density. But if you let it grow and then cut it way back, it's like you're cutting off the green, which tends to be at the top of the grass plant, and then you have all this brown, twiggy stuff. It'll regreen, but it looks bad when you've missed a mowing. So you got to mow regular The shorter you mow, the more often, you know, and if you get real short Josh Andrew, you're going to be probably using a real type mower, one of those candy cane blades as opposed

to a propeller blade. That's what they do on the golf courses for the top quality.

like that. When you go to in Chenne Gardens, you know the plants are going to be in top shape. They are going to be species and varieties or cultivars that want to grow here. You know that people that wait on you, that come talk to you are going to be friendly and they are going to be knowledgeable, and they're going to help you have success. Now in Jenny Gardens, if you haven't been there, it's on FM

three fifty nine. So if you're in Richmond and you head toward Katie, that is the direction you want to be FM three point fifty nine north of Richmond. Here's a website, Enchanted Gardens Richmond dot com. It's an excellent website. You need to check it out. Enchanted Gardens Richmond dot com. It's an unforgettable experience to go to visit their garden center. Their selection of plants, trees and shrubs, their knowledge it's

just unmatched in the Katy area. And so all of you that are looking for some special plants, some maybe some bling to go with your garden, like a fountain, a chimes, a whimsical garden art. They've got that and so much more. When you walk around there, plan some time for your visit because it is a wide spread out, beautiful place and it just like you just need time to take it all in because there is everything you

possibly want. They're going to carry the fertilizers I talk about on Guardline, They're going to carry the soils I talk about on guard Line, and the mulches I talk about on garden Line. They're open Monday through Saturday, eight to five on Sunday from ten am to four pm, so you can get out there today and tomorrow as well and pick up some of the things that will help you have success. And one of the things you pick up when you go to Unchanted Gardens is quality, advice,

ice and instruction. If you got a problem, put it in a bag, bring it in, take a picture of whatever, show it to them so they can help you have success. They've been doing that since nineteen ninety five when the Lindermann family, uh, you know, when in Chenny Gardens opened up. It's a place that you do need to visit. And I'm telling you people know and they take their friends

there there. The other day and somebody from Austin, Texas was over there shopping because they'd heard about it and they wanted to see it, and their mouth was hanging wide open. That's the effect that has on people. All Right, you're listening to garden Line our phone number seven one three two one two fifty eight seventy four. We're going to go out to Josh in Spring Branch, Texas and talk to Josh. Hey. Welcome to garden Line.

is it's going to stimulate new growth. Peaches produce on one year old wood, meaning the shoots that are growing this year will fruit next year and then they'll never fruit again. Branches that come off of those next year will fruit the following year. So every time you prune back, if you can, rather than just hack it off like the end of a broom handle, find a side shoot and cut it back to that. Like think of it as a highway system where you're going to block the highway,

so you do it just past an exit ramp. That's kind of what we're looking at visually on these branches, and that is a better way to prune. And as you stay with that, you can keep it in bounds. But just remember there's sometimes when you take a branch all the way back to where it attaches off the main scoffolds, and new branches will grow because you're always wanting to produce new wood toward the inside of the tree. That's why we don't let stuff go up in the

top of the tree to shade out the interior. That interior ought to be getting like so that it can be fruitful. Yea, all right, well, good luck.

I appreciate the call. You bet take care. You know, we talk about the importance of getting a quality fertilizer down in your garden, and I talk about slow release products all the time because they gradually release over time. Sweet green from nitrofoss is not slow release. It will release, go ahead and dissolve and release away. But here's what

you do with sweet green. Sweet green is an organic type fertilizer that really stimulates beneficial microbes because it's a molasses based and organic gardeners have known for a long time. Molasses stimulates the microbial activity in the soil, being a carbon source that those bugs. If you will need in the soil, sweet green, you just take the application of it.

It's about ten percent nitrogen, about eleven percent nitrogen. Cut it in half, put about five pounds on now if you haven't fertilized in a while, and then wait about six to eight weeks up to two months, and then put the other five pounds on and that spreads that release out over time. You get much more even growth, but you get sweet is a wonderful, wonderful fertilizer works well, wonderful fragrance to it and it provides that boost that

your lawn needs. Just remember when you apply it, let's spread it out in a couple and you put in three applications if you want it, but just a little bit over time to help support that good growth. We're going to have to take a break here for the news. Alan in Beytown, you will be the first when we come right back. Welcome back to Guardline. Good to heavy with us. We are here to talk about the things that help you have a more beautiful lawn, a more

bountiful garden, a more beautiful landscape. By the way, if you want a beautiful landscape on day, who can do it? And that is Peer Scapes. You got it. Let me just give you their website first thing, because you've got to go see it. I can describe it, but when you see it, it's like wow, pierscapes dot com. That's easy, isn't it. Peerscapes dot com. You can go to peerscapes dot com. See the work they do. They do all

kinds of things at peer scapes. They will do irrigation work for you, they will do drainage work for you. They can do hardscapes. You know, like stone walkways and patios for example. They can do landscape lighting. They can do quarterly bed maintenance. You know, come in. You just go look these beds. I can't get them. I can't keep them up. They're not looking right. I want you to come in. I want you to weed them, to

fertilize them. Check the irrigation, do any trimming needed, put some malts down, change out the flowers season as seasonally, you know, to do it twice a year, three times a year, four times a year, whatever you want, and have them come in and do it with Peerscapes. Peerscapes dot com. That's the website. Here's a phone number two eight one three seven o five zero six zero Peerscapes. We're going to go now out to Baytown and talk to Allen. Hello Ellen, and welcome to Guardline.

But Slugo plus, as Spinos said, and the bait as well. Uh, and with the Spino said, in the bait, it'll also get some other insects that are out there as well. But one of those two, there are other slug baits. You know, you go to an ACE hardware store. You've got several ACE hardware stores there in the Cypress area. One on Jones road. You know, M and D is a low further north up in the Cypress area.

and I've never seen cucumbers like that. I like them. They're real crisped and they taste good. But can you tell me what those are so I can buy some next year? Or alternately, how would I treat my seeds so that I can just save some seeds and grow the next year. Yeah.

But I do I do a search for it.

on the one that are round. You do that two or three times and you probably end up with a pretty stable seed seed.

in there because they'll help with that. And then refrigerator storage is fine. You should get several years out of cucumbers and stored in the refrigerator. Just remember when you take it out, let it warm to room temperature before you open it up. Otherwise it'll be like anything cold. You pull out the refrigerator, you start to get condensation on it, and you just defeated. You're trying to keep it dry. So let it let it hit room temperature before you open it up.

And when you go into ACE, you know you're going to find insecticite, fertilizer, funge, your side herbicide to control weeds. You're going to find all the tools you need. You're gonna find a lot of other products, organic, synthetic. It's all there at ACE, as well as folks that'll greet you, smile and point you in the right direction. ACE Hardware is the place. By the way, after this rain, fire ants will be boiling up out of the ground. You'll see the mounds start to appear. Get you your fire

ant bait from ACE and be ready to go. Treat them. Now's the time. After this rain, mosquitos will be breeding and they will be everywhere. Get your mosquito dunks and your mosquito repellents or your fogers or whatever you need from Race Hardware store Acehardware dot Com. Find the store locator and you can find one of those forty stores close to you. We are going to now head to sugar Land and talk to Johnny. Hey, Johnny, welcome to

garden Line. I got about a minute before I have to take a break here, but we'll hold you over if we need to. Yes, So, miss h about side.

you do. You head out of ten, you turn north on Katie Fort Ben Road crossover and you're just right. It's right there on the right hand side, easy to get to. Now you know, they're known for the water garden. They're nationally known for their water gardens, disappearing fountains and waterfalls and oh my gosh, all kinds of things. They'll come do it, create that kind of thing at your property, and believe me, it is so wonderful to have the sound of water and the beauty on your property. They'll

help you if you don't do it yourself. They can provide you some materials and guide you tell you a little bit about how you go about it to do itself. You won't do that. They got the fish, They got the water, plants and everything else you need. By the way, right now out there Nelson Water Garden and Nursery. Don't forget that nurse because they have a lot of great plants. Their fruiting trees and shrubs are half off fruiting. This is your chance to get a really good deal on

some fruiting trees and shrubs. Specifically, the citrus is even a little over a half off. Lots of varieties. They have a huge selection oft crius. Last time I was out there, I was really impressed and surprised just how much they had. Nelson Water Garden and Nursery just north of itown on Katie Fort Ben Road. Go to Nelsonwatergardens dot com. You can find out more information there. We're going to head now to back to talk to Johnny and sugar Land. Hello Johnny, Hello, how you doing.

radio to communicate how much. But the war shade you get, the less sun energy the grass gets, and the less sun energy it gets, the slower it is to recuperate to fill in to get thick, and so there's the trade off. So more shade shade and more shade less energy, less energy, less energy.

first time we've done this. People are now interested in generators. They got our attention right. It matters where you buy a generator, it matters quality. Home Products of Texas has Generaic generators, high quality generators right now. They got five hundred dollars off and zero percent interest for eighteen months. Or if you've got a portable generator, trade it in, just bring it in. They'll give you fifteen hundred dollars for it, no matter what condition it's in. Fifteen hundred

dollars for no portable generator. Now GENERAK. The reason that I say you need to call them is because of the service that they provide. Over fourteen thousand and five star reviews. Listen, they've served over seventy seven thousand homeowners that people go there because of their reputation. Eight times they've won the most prestigious Customer Service Award the Better Business Bureau gives. When you sign up their turnkey, they take you from the beginning and picking out the generator

you need. They talk with you. They discussing there's a lot of factors and what kind of generator do you need and what do we need to do so that when the power goes off it comes on twenty four to seven three sixty five customer service. It's just visiting with some of the folks from Generak the other day and as they began to spill their knowledge out about all these details, like for example, some places just come in and drop a lot thin slab on the generator,

plops down on it. There's no protection from a lawnmower coming by and bumping it. It's going to over time. No, they pour a slab steal reinforced slab that sticks out beyond the generator to keep the lawnmower away. So why am I going into that? That's just one example of how Quality Home is different. I could give you one hundred examples of how they're different. Qualitytx dot com is a website seven to one three Quality that's the phone

number everybody's interested in generators. Don't delay. We got a long hurricane season coming, uh and so now it's your chance to give them a call. Quality home seven to one three quality. We're gonna now head out to Tomball, Texas and talk to Amy. Amy. I got about a minute, but let's see if we can get it done or need to hold it over after the part.

That's just nature doing what nature does, and that's taking organic matter and turning it back into quality soil. Okay, great, thank you, you bet, thanks for the call. Appreciate you call it. By the way, they are fine. If you've got a golf club to go after them with, you don't have to get rid of them. And that won't get rid of them, my god, think, oh my gosh. All right, all right, maybe take care of there in

tom Ball. Appreciate, appreciate your call. We're going to take a little break here for the news pamin Lake City. Will you'll be first when we come back. It's good to have you with us today. I always brag on our garden centers, our quality independent garden centers here in the Greater Houston area, and RCW is an example of that. I was talking about talking to someone just a minute ago about getting a tree, and I was saying, yeah, RCW.

They're located where Tumball Parkway, which is how we two forty nine for those of you new to the area, comes into Beltway eight. But they have a place of Plantersville where they grow trees and they know the kinds of trees that do well here in Houston. They just the quality of what they grow, the species they choose, and everything. It's top notch. And RCW Nurseries is the kind of place where you're always going to go and find whatever kind of plant you're looking for do you need?

You know, there's during the seasons we plant vegetables and things, herbs. They've got that, the flowers, they've got that. Roses outstanding. They have a huge selection of roses right now that are on It's an excellent sale.

There it's scroll down a ways, but you can see what I'm talking about. Cajun Hibiscus corded fifty percent off beautiful beautiful plants rcwnurseries dot com. Tomball Parkway at BELTWAA. They're open Monday through Saturday eight to five. Sunday Tomorrow they'll be open from ten am to five pm. Take advantage of that. We're going to head out now to the phones and talk to Pam in Lake City. Hello, Pam, welcome the garden line.

doesn't surprise me. You could go ahead and do a fungicide treatment on it. When you do that for brown patch large patch kinds of things, you don't fix the spots, but you prevent additional infections. Okay, if it's yeah, if it's the brown patch, the runners are still alive and it'll regrain and you've got time for it to regreen, but you would go you would go ahead and put

that fungicide down. Uh, And that way you kind of have a just it soaks into the tissues of the of the grass and it provides that ongoing protection for it.

called Eagle. Those are both chemicals that fight it from an organic standpoint, getting it to quit raining would be nice because when it rains and rains, it's just going to set us up for diseases. We can't control that. But aeration with compost stop dressing will be very helpful. Microbially enriched fertilizers done over time will be helpful. And the one that Microlife makes is called Microlife brown Patch.

I an example of that kind of thing, and it's going to have again microbially things to help that because when you get down to the plant level, there's a disease that's attacking the tissues, and you can put microbes on there to make it a less hospitable place for the disease, to out compute the disease, to crowd out the disease and things, and that would be the organic approach. But again, those we need to be doing ahead of time in order to have.

tools eighty foot wall of tools. They carry organic, they carry synthetic, and they know what they're talking about. You bring them a sample of a plant, you bring them pictures of plants. What is this. They'll put you in touch with the product. If one is needed, that we'll control it. Southwest Fertilizer dot com. That's the website corner of this nut and runaway. If you've never been there, you need to go just to see what I'm talking about. By the way, when you get buy there, lest I

drag as on will music is playing. They have a thing called the folding knealing batch that I think is outstanding. It'll change your gardening life. I mean, I really mean that. Uh if you sit on it as a bench and move it around with you very lightweight, and flip it upside down and you can kneel on it and then what was legs now or handles to get back up.

When you're north of forty getting up and down eight hundred times on a good saturday working in the yard, you wake up in the pre natal position next morning. What I'm talking about talk about ask for that olding kneeling bench to take a look at, or promise they become your favorite tool.

microbes there to help fight bad microbes. There are many examples in nature of instances where that happens, and it's important and Microlife has built their products around that. When you by a Microlife product, you're not just getting the numbers in the bag. You're getting it chalk full of all kinds of microbes, including microhizal fungi that grow in or around the root and then reach out and bring food to the root. I need a micro hizal fungi in my life that just kind of hangs out and

goes and gets me stuff out of the fridge. That's what I need anyway. That's how microbes microhyzol can work. There are many other beneficial essential microbes that are there, and whether it's their standard six y two four green bag kind of the main one that we think of when we're thinking about lawn fertilizing or the humans plus concentrated compost in a bag, the zero zero four, those products are all going to do that. There are many liquid blends. There are the Ocean Harvest that is this

fish based product. There is a seaweed based product. There is the Orange label that I use for my houseplants, which is an excellent product for furling is all kinds of things I use for housebunfs. Go outside, when you plant a plant, drench the soil with that product. You're going to get the same good results from it. Microlife's widely available. You're going to find it all kinds of places.

For example, if you're if you're up in the Conroe Montgomery County area, certainly over in the Montgomery area, well, Ana Plants and Produce carries microlife. You know an A. You drive past them all the time. They're right there on the on the north side of one oh five, just on the Conro side of Montgomery, Texas. And when you go to A and A you're going to find

a nice selection of everything. Any fertilizer I talk about here, anything you need to control diseases and weeds and pests in your lawn, and an excellent selection of plants and some really cool landscape bling from iron structures you know, arches and so on, to chimeneas to put out there on the patio to enjoy the evenings. Uh, just lots of stuff at Ana Plants and Produce, including microlife. Bitch,

they have an outstanding selection of microlife right there. Ana Plants and produce on the east side of Montgomery on Highway one oh five, just north of the road. Stop in, say hey to them, and always check back because they are changing what they get all the time. There's always new stuff coming in. There's always this time of the year. You're gonna find some really good deals on some really

good plants as well as good advice. We're going to head now out to let's see, We're going to go to Friendswood and talk to Brian.

Some people will just use a extent, you know, a post emergent we control product that kills everything, like a glafe of state like product, and the just kill it all with the basket grass and all and then replant in that area. That's an option, but it's a mess and a lot of areas of the country it gets out in the woods. It's very invasive, taking over state parks and other things like that. And we certainly experience

it here in the Houston area. Like you're like, you're talking about I don't know a selective herbicide for it. You might Is this a huge area you said, not just a.

And they talk about hand removing, I mean that is that's a job, but clearing all of it out as much as you can, getting as much as the roots because it breaks off, that is a legit way to go about it. But the other would be just to use a non selective herbicide product, knowing that whatever you get it on it's going to kill it. There are there is another option where you would use a granular pre emergent product like barricade to shut that down from

re sprouting from seed. But that's not going to kill the existing plants that you have.

we have, uh. And it might work on basket grass. Off the top of my head, I can't promise you that it would, but I think you ought to look into that and see because it if it would, that would be a way that you could sprinkle something that is not going to kill your Saint Augustine, but would kill the weed. It's pretty good that that agrolon is pretty good on on a lot of kinds of weeds. Not cheap and you're buying little canisters, but a ten

by two. Uh, that that's very reasonable to use it for that.

don't water it again. Those those plants can take a period of drying out, not extended drought.

all that kind of stuff. Us know this that if you're anywhere in that region like ro Sharon, Meridian, First Colony, Lake Olympia, or maybe Fresno, Quilla Valley, Sweetwater, Pearland, do you get what I'm talking about in your Brizespen State Park, Sandy Point or Cola, Iowa Colony. This is your local multch and soil provider and they have quality composts. They have veggiean herb mix from Maryland Soils for example. They've

got quality mulches as well, bulk by the bag. They deliver within about twenty miles if you need a bulk delivery. They're open Monday through Friday seven thirty to five and Saturday from seven thirty to two. And people that know quality soils go to Siena Mulch. You know we I was just talking to the other day about B and D Turk Pros super high quality compost top dressing aeration company. They get their stuff from Cienamulch because they know Siena

Multch means quality stuff. And what is the most important thing we do for success with plants. Prepare the soil brown stuff before greens. When you go to Cienamaltch, you get everything for the brown stuff. That includes the compass. It includes all the fertilizers I talk about on guardline. They're all there. When you drive off from Ciena malt you have everything you need to make a foundation for success. I don't care if you're growing vegetables, herbs, fruit, flowers,

you name it. They've got it at cnamals cianamalts dot com. I'm going to head now out to Cleveland to talk to David.

for flowers, impatients, kalladiums and wishbone flower are three examples. Uh, they need some decent amount of light, but they don't need direct sun in order to perform well. And then of course there's shrubs and that grow in that area, but those would be a few off the top of my head ideas.

to go to Scott in Montgomery. Hello, Scott, Hey, good morning, sir. I'm well, how can we help today? I'm doing that. How can we help today?

there all the time right now in your yard. If you don't see a single mushroom, there are fungi living in the decaying organic matter on top of and underground, and when the weather is right, you get these things popping up. And there are many kinds of hundreds and hundreds of kinds of mushrooms we can have around our landscape. That's part of how nature turns organic matter into soil. Think about a forest. It's been there for one hundred thousands of years. You think about that, and how does

that not be two miles deep in tree trunks. You can thank fungi for that. We'll be right back.

temperatures that. Now on the on the squashing things, I can't think of anything that would eat a bud off of a squash plant because well they don't they don't have buds per se. They they either have a little baby squash that hadn't opened the flower and been pollinated yet, or have a male flower.

most people ignore it. They pick off the little whiskery rotting squashes and throw them away somewhere and go on. And when the temperature, when the rain and stuff stopped, then you start getting regular squashed. You can spray for it ahead of time, but most gardeners don't want to apply fungicides all the time just in case it might show up.

I'll take a look at them and see what I might be missing. But that's pretty much, Bob, what I'm able to tell you. Now, just hang on just for a second. We're going to get you here on hold. For those of you up in the Tombol area, you're looking for a feed store, and it's out west of Tombald twenty nine to twenty. There's a lot of new neighborhoods going in out there. D and De Feed is your hometown feed store. You're going to find Nitropos fertilizers there.

They're going to have things like sweet Green that you heard me talk about, or super Turf or the Imperial and a lot of other things. They're gonna have the barricade. They're going to also have things like leaf moore compost and heirloom rose soil, and fruit and berry and citrus mixes, and veggie and herb mixes from heirloom soils. They're going to carry the microlife products pretty much what you would need for your garden. You're going to find it. D

and DE Feed. Their phone number is two eight one three five one seventy one forty four. When you're in there, you hear me talk about snail bait. Earlier I talked about you know, we're talking about all funge asides for this last call. All of that at D and D Feed. They're west of tombul on twenty nine to twenty, just a little bit out of town there on the left

hand side. You need to stop in. They have a selection of plants from time to time out front and it's just a great place to shop and they treat you right. That's really really important. I want to head out now to Huffman, Texas. We're going to talk to Jerry. Hello, Jerry, Hey, how you doing. I'm good sir. How can we help?

So you got to be careful with that as you're doing all you bet absolutely, Hey, thank you for the call. All right, folks, we're going to go to break here if you like the number seven one three two one two kt r A a beautiful, bountiful garden and landscape. That is the goal. And you know we I say on garden line all the time, there's no such thing as brown thumbs. There's uninformed thumbs. And our goal here is to inform your thumb and you can watch it

turn green when you have the facts. When you know how to plant, when you know how to start with the soil, remember, and you know how to pick good plants, and you know basically the simple things that plants need to have success. You just get greener and greener in that thumb, it just gets better and better. That's why we're That's why we're here. That's what we're trying to do because gardening is a fun hobby. It ought to be enjoyable. Some people say, I tried gardening and I failed. No,

you didn't fail. You quit. We all have times who fail. One of the most well known horticulturists in the country from the over east of here in North Carolina direction. He said, to be a good horticulturist, she got to kill a lot of plants. And I would agree with that. That's how that's part of how we learn. And sometimes nature throws us a curve. But you don't fail, you just quit. So don't quit. We can help you have success.

Give us call seven one three, two one two fifty eight seventy four and we can help you do just that. Now you've heard me talk about ACE Hardware stores before. Ace Hardware is all over the Southeast Texas area. In factor, in the Greater Houston area, there's forty Ace Hardware stores. It's really easy. You just go to the website Acehardware Dot com find the store locator, it'll well know, can I use where you are and say yes, and it'll

give it to you. Or you can type in a zip code or something and it'll show you all the stores around you. And ACE Hardware is where you're going to find every fertilizer I talk about on guard Line. It's where you're going to find the pest, disease and weed management, whether it's organic or synthetic. On guard Line, where you're going to find tools, where you're gonna find everything you want to make that outdoor area enjoyable. Quality barbecue companies like Big Green Egg and Treyger and Weber

and others. There's all kinds of equipment to go with that. There's everything to make that outdoor sitting area wonderful, including right now then rain and right what does that mean? Two things. Mosquitos are on their way. It doesn't take them long, just a few days and next thing you know, you got to new crop and fire ance. They'll pop up out of the ground. When you see this kind of rain. What you didn't even know you had a colony underground and all of a sudden, here comes the

soil up high. As they're building up above the water to come up. ACE can cover it. Get a good quality bait. Start with a bait for fire ants from ACE, and you can shut those things down. You just put a sprinkle here and there. There's synthetic baits and organic baits, but even the synthetics, you're putting so little product out and it's such a low level. It didn't if it was strong in sex sight, it would kill the ant that picked it up and it would never make it

back to the colony. But it's a very slow, gradual acting shut that queen down. Shut things down. ACE has got that. Ace also has mosquita dunks to put in water to stop the mosquito larva from turning into adults. ACE has got foggers. Ace has got you know, any kind of repellent. They have it all. Ace is a place makes your outdoor area even more enjoyable, and with forty stores, it's not hard to find one near you. So those mosquito dunks are an important one.

You haven't fixed yet, where water stands, mosquitoes are breeding. Put them underneath the catch bases. Put them in your bird bath. I mean, wherever you got a little pond that doesn't drain well, back in the area it's poorly drained soil, throw some mosquito dunks or some break them up into granules and throw them in there, and you will shut it down. It's a great product. I mean, there are very few products that are safe as mosquita dunks. We're going to head now out to Memorial and talk

to a Lane. Hello, Elaine, Welcome to garden Line.

in a lot of places around the landscape. If you don't want to see it sitting there and don't have a place to put it like that, then you can also try to filter out some of the chips and just get the soil out of it. It depends on how much trouble you want to go to a lane. Tell what I did is I built a little I took two by fours and made a little frame that sits on top of my wheelbarrow. So a picture a capital letter H, except two bars in the middle instead

of one, and they're separated. So those long ends sit on the sides of the wheelbarrow and the box is inside. And I put a half inch hardware cloth underneath it. That's the stuff they put underneath the rabbit cage for the rabbits to hop around on. Half inch and I'll use it to screen compost. I'll use it to screen. I think you could put those chips in there. You set them in. You just take shovelfuls of it, shake it around and then dump the stuff out of the screen.

That's all wood chips, and you can use it around your landscape and then the soil you've sifted out. So there's a lot of options depending on how much trouble you want to go to. But that is it's probably good soil, and it's certainly a good mulching top material.

you know, it really comes down to a lane. How much? Yeah, well it comes You said it was going to be simple, and I made it complex. But it all comes down to how much wood, what percent would what percent soil is in that pile?

a third annual one. It's an organic fair and workshop. It'll be Saturday, August tenth from eight am to three point thirty pm. It'll go all day. They're going to have all kinds of excellent speakers there. Brad Phillips and Arborist will be there. Doctor Mila McManus very into understanding health and our bodies and how what we eat affects

us Chaz Doughdary. Doctor Joe Novak. Doctor Novak, he was my vegetable professor when I went through a and m Neither Joe or I'll talk about how long ago that was. But doctor Novak will be there. You will not find anyone that knows more about organic Gardening and Vegetables and doctor Novak, Glenn Ols and Diana Liga, John Ferguson from Nature's Way Resources. The Man himself will be there, Brianna Burns and Diana Wilson, Mike Saram from micro Life Fertilizer,

Aaron Mills, Chris Christy Doolan. I don't have time to go into all these Justin Duncan Doctor Moore, borden Brugen. I can't say borden Brugen. H he is the expert on eating wild things. What can you eat that is in nature?