Year-Round Advice to Keep Your Garden Beautiful

With mild winters and warm summers, the climate in central Texas is perfect for gardening. If you are looking for some tips to boost your garden all year round, the experts at McIntire’s have compiled this monthly guide. For more detailed gardening tips and tricks, visit our Georgetown location or call 512-863-8243 to chat with our certified nursery professionals. 
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June

We are now easing into Summer & it is time to prepare. Adding mulch can help keep moisture in your soil during drought. Start to change your watering schedule to accommodate things heating up. If you haven’t started a summer garden yet, it is not too late. Tomatoes, squash, peppers, & basil are good examples of what to plant in the garden at this point. 


Hard-to-find, tropical plants are easier to find around the summer months, so if you can find the ones on your list, be sure to grab them. 


Spring has now progressed to the point where the trees and shrubs have leafed out & are looking good, and wouldn't you know it, here come the bugs. Aphids, grasshoppers, whiteflies, and caterpillars of all kinds can be problems. In the past, products like Sevin have been used to control these pests. These products are effective but may not last long and can be a hazard to you and the environment. Here are some different ways to fight these pests that can save you time, money, and the environment. 


Caterpillars can be very destructive in gardens, shrubs, and trees. Dipel (a dust) and BT (a spray) are biological insecticides that can safely kill caterpillars without killing birds, beneficial insects, harming us, or the environment. 


Compare having to spray for aphids every 7 to 14 days to releasing Ladybugs just once. The Ladybugs will attack aphids all season long, so you do not have to. They also feed on small worms and several types of insect eggs. 



Beneficial Nematodes will stay active in the soil for about two years, attacking cutworms, wireworms, sod webworms, mole crickets, maggots, white grubs, and many others. This is a great natural option because it is very difficult to get the right chemical insecticide down at just the right time. Beneficial Nematodes take the guesswork out of controlling many hard-to-control insects. Next time you have an insect problem, compare the benefits of using some of the natural products to the toxic ones, and you may find that they save you money by being more effective over a longer period. 

Mark S. Ney, Certified Texas Nursery Professional #4749