KTRH GardenLine | 5-27-23

Skip takes your calls all morning long!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
KTRH Garden Line does not necessarily endorseany of the products or services advertised on
this program. Welcome to KTRH GardenLine with Skip rictor so Crazy Trip.
Just watch him as so many seacrazy but not a sign. Well,

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good morning on a good Saturday morningfor gardening. The weather is here,
Today's going to be beautiful. Ican't wait to get outside after the show.
But for now, we're gonna talkabout gardening four hours of your calls
and maybe even a couple of commentsand thoughts by me, which I'll just

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start off doing a little bit ofthat to begin this morning. First of
all, I want to remind youguys, and I'll remind you a bunch
today about this. But today isthe day where, or the weekend where
we have Texas Water Efficient Products salestax holiday. What does that mean,
Well, it means that anything thathelps the soil retain moisture, that prevents

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water waste is tax free this weekendonly, this weekend May twenty seventh and
twenty eight. That would include allplants, all soils, all mulches.
So summer's coming and here's your opportunityto save a little bit of money on
it. Just by not having topay the taxes on those kinds of purchases.
It's a tax free weekend for thingswe buy that help conserve water out

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in the garden and landscape, sothat would be plants, soils, mulches,
and so on. I'll talk moreabout that as we go forward,
but I just wanted you to beaware of that. It's another like we
didn't already have enough good reasons toget out there and enjoy the visiting a
garden center and stocking up on plantsand supplies. Well, now you even

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got another one. I hope youtake advantage of that. This past week,
I was noticing that the lawns haveIt's almost like they shifted gears again
and just took off growing even faster. Hopefully you've you've done your summer fertilization
by now. If you haven't,it's not too late. It's not too

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late. Go ahead and you canget it done. We'll talk about some
some good products that'll do that foryour lawn. The goal this summer,
goal of every summer and in thelawn is to provide enough nutrition, especially
the nitrogen which is what really pushesthe growth, to stimulate good even growth
all through the summertime. And whenyou know there are places for every type

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of fertilizer from immediate release to slowrelease. But the immediate releases, they
give all the nutrient when you applythem, a dissolve a way you think
about it like I don't know mixingtable salt or sugar and water. I
mean, it dissolves and it's it'sthere, it's available. The slow releases,
it takes them a while to breakdown, and there's a lot of
different chemistries that are used for that. First of all, natural products or

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slow release because microbes have to geta hold of that material that was once
living matter. That's why it's anorganic product, and they have to break
it down and release the nutrients outfor your plants to be able to eat
and so or to take up.And as a result, natural products give
you a natural slow release that's anormal, a normal thing. On the

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other hand, if you have asynthetic product, there are various chemistries that
are used to provide a gradual releaseover time for the plants, and that's
that's the goal again. We wantto provide a good gradual release. So
when you apply one of those kindsof fertilizers. Basically, what you're doing

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is you are putting a nutrient outthere that week by week, in some
cases even month by month, aregoing to be gradually made available to the
plant. So that gives you aneven growth. You don't have to mow
three times one week and you knowthen it dies back or slows down a
little bit, and you know atthe mow as much we want to gradually

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release. And why is that important? Well, for a number of reasons,
and here's one. When you providea large boost of nitrogen oversupplied amount
of nitrogen, a couple of thingshappen that are not good. One of
them is, well, more thana couple you get to mo more.

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You just mo momo, keeping upwith it. Number two, excessive nitrogen
causes top growth at the expense ofroot development. And we're about to enter
summer when we need our grass plantsto have the most robust root system that
we can possibly have, and soexcessive nitrogen can do that. Another thing
is it predisposes them to some insectand disease problem. So as a result,

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we want to avoid that. Now, when you provide a slow release
nitrogen, something's going to give youan extended release. You smooth things out,
and you want to apply it atthe right rate, and that way
you can have the healthiest lawn youcan because our number one way to fight
weeds is to create a dense,healthy turf. And I'll talk about that

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a little bit more. We're gonnago ahead and start a little earlier than
I normally do on some calls thismorning. By the way, our number
is seven one three two one twofive eight seven four seven one three two
one two fifty eight seventy four,and we're going to head out to Galveston
and talk to Bill. Good morning, Bill, Good morning. I've got

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knockout roses that are about three tofour feet high, and you're starting to
eternal leggy. And my question iswhat's a good time to prune them back?
And isn't okay to do so?It's always okay time to prune them
back. The roses tend to bloomand flushes. You know, you get
a whole bunch of blooms and thenthey they may still be blooming and knockout.
It's pretty good about continuing to bloom, but it sort of dies down

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and that's the time when we wouldshear them back. You could you could
do it individually cutting with the handpruners or some people just you know,
kind of trim the whole bush back. Uh. You want to follow that
up bill with a fertilization and agood soaking of water to move that fertilizer
down into the soil, and you'llget fresh new growth and they'll be blooming

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like crazy again. Okay, thankyou very much. Yeah, and you
can do that. And I usuallydo it about now because you know,
April's the big, biggest spring bloomshow and May is good too, and
then we have a great show inthe in the fall too, So I'll
do it now, and I'll doit again in August, and I might
do it in midsummer, So don'tworry about that. The more you share
them, the more compact they're goingto be, and the more bloom terminals

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you're going to have on the bush. Thank you, thank you, Yeah,
thanks for the call. I waslooking over some of the social media
of some of our local mom andpops and our independent garden centers, and
I was checking out our CW andthey have a lot of they have a

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lot of new cool things there.First of all, this weekend, Memorial
Day, they're going to have afifteen percent off of select trees. Now
fruit trees are also fifteen percent off, but select other trees are fifteen percent
off. So now's a good time. Not only do you have that tax
free weekend, but you can alsoenjoy a fifteen percent off on their fruit

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trees. And r CW is theyare just an outstanding source for trees.
They grown themselves out in Plantersville,you know, fifteen to two hundred gallons.
You pick one out, they'll planetfor you, and do let them
do that unless it's a very smalltree. They know what they're doing.
They'll planet properly, which is important. But r CW is stocked up on

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everything right now, and just it'skind of cool. I love to go
buy and see their hibiscus because theyalways do a really good job of bringing
in some really cool hibiscus, butthe roses and every other kind of plant
you can imagine. RCW Nurseries dotcom if you want to check out more
information online. They're the nursery thereat Tomball Parkway to forty nine and Beltway
eight, and so I hope you'llcheck them out. And this weekends it

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sure is a good time to getthe most for your gardening dollar. Something
golden. Well, good morning ona good Saturday morning for gardening. We

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are still dark outside, but it'sgonna lighten up and we're gonna have a
good day. By the way,if your neighbors are still sleeping, go
wake them up. Tell them they'remissing garden Line. They will thank you,
maybe not today, but some dayafter they've become regular listeners and enjoy
it. Oh my gosh, neighborseverywhere going please don't say that. Please
don't tell them that. Hey,I'm today after the show, I'm going

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to be heading out to clear Lake. What's in clear Lake? Well,
i'll tell you what's in clear Lake. The newest wild Birds Unlimited store,
the seventh store in the Houston areaout in clear Lake. Now, I'll
be out there for two hours.I will spend some time answering your questions.
We will look at sample as youmight have. If you want to
bring some things pictures in on yourphone to look over and get some advice

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on, I'll be happy to dothat. And here, let me tell
you. First of all, we'regonna be giving away some Nelson's fertilizer out
there. Got quite a bit ofit actually, some nice little little plastic
containers that quite an amazing amount.Really, you can take it home and
try it out and see how itworks for you. I'll be giving those
away. But also the wild BirdsStore as part of their grand opening event,

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they're going to give away an advancedpole system. Now that is you
set it up in your yard.You can hang your feeders on it,
and it is a really cool systemwhere you you know, you put it
together. You can hang more thanone feeder on it, and I have
one myself. They work super well. But anyway, I can't believe they're
given one way, but they are. They're also going to have eliminator bird

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feeder that is squirrel proof. Now, if you've ever tried to keep squirrels
out of a bird feeder, youknow that that is no simple task.
Well, the eliminator will do it. And again, I've got one of
those systems, and you know thesquirrels. I've watched a squirrel one day
try to jump up on it andthey couldn't get get past the squirrel poop
proof baffle and they were they werevery frustrated, which made me very happy.

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They're also going to give away atwenty pound bag per month of their
top selling no Mess bird blend.So if you've bought cheap bird feed before
about half of it or more endsup on the ground, you know,
it gets kicked out. The birdsdon't want to eat it. They don't
eat eat the little little red miloseeds that are in there. They don't

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care for that. The the qualityseed is a no mess seed, and
that's what we're talking about here.They're gonna give away if you win this,
that's every month for a year,you're going to be able to go
in and get a free twenty poundbag of their no Mess bird seed.
And that is very efficient. Again, you don't have all the mess on
the ground. A little sprouts comingup. I've got a little sunflower forest

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in the back that is coming upwhere I had some old cheap bird feed
in a feed or a while back, and it still keeps sprouting every year.
Anyway, while Birds Unlimited, I'llbe out there, hope you can
come out eleven thirty to one thirtyand that'll be out in clear Lake.
Let's let's see our phone number.Excuse me seven one three two one two

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fifty eight seventy four, we're goingto head out to Spring Branch and talk
to Judy this morning. Good morning, Judy, Hello, Hello. My
question is about knockout roses. Ireally can't find any information on them all
the long. I know they're sopopular, but what's the care. How
much water do they need? Justa moderate amount to keep the soil evenly

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moist Once one of those bushes isestablished, you don't have to water them
all the time, keep them wetall the time. They just need,
you know, a bank account ofmoisture in the soil because they're going to
have a good, extensive root systemand it can take it up. So
I would say, you know,for the first one two three months,
as you're getting it established, you'reyou're giving it a little more TLC with

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some regular light watering. But thenafter that, with the amount of rain
we get here in this area,you should not have to be pamper in
your rose, your rosebush, knockout rosebush all what about fertilizer moderate amount
and there you know, there's somegood quality bird bird I'm still talking about

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birds. There's some good quality rosefertilizers out there on the market. I
would give them a good fertilization comingout of spring, maybe late winter,
early spring, and then I wouldfertilize them again lightly whenever I prune them
back. And I was mentioning earlierthat I'll I'll often prune back my roses

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about now. I primarily grow shrubtype roses, which is what knockout is
as opposed to the long cut flourroses. But whenever I do a shuer
back on them, a prune backon him, I'll fertilize them. And
I'll do that again in August,getting fresh new growth to come out for
a really cool fall bloom. Sojust small amounts gradually over time do when

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you prune them, how much ofit do you cut back? It's up
to you. Knockout can get tobe really large, you know, I've
seen them over six feet tall intime, but you'll also see them kept
about pocket high, you know,just below waist high by regular pruning.

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So it's kind of up to you. But generally I think of a knockout
as a bush that's probably going tobe about a four foot bush that in
my gardens, that's that's about whereI keep them. And so as they
grow a little bit I just sharethem back again. It's just it's kind
of all dependent on how they're growing. Okay, well, thank you so
much. Yeah, it's it's probably, Judy, it's probably the easiest roads

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you can grow. And that's whyit's everywhere. I mean, you see
knockouts all over the place because they'rethey're just wonderful. I mean they powdery,
mildew, black spot, don't botherthem. They're easy, easy to
care for, pretty blooms. Soanyway, good, good choice. Okay,
well, thank you all right,Judy, thank you for the call.

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I appreciate that. Our phone numberis seven one three two one two
fifty eight seventy four two one twofifty eight seventy four. If you live
down in the Dickinson, Santa Fe, League City, Lamark, Webster,
Clear Lake City, El Camino Real, that whole area, and you don't
know about League City Feed, youneed to now League City Feed is.

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They are standard traditional type of feedstore. Carries your feed out for you.
It carries all the products you needfor your animals, but an outstanding
supply of the garden materials too.That would include the fertilizers, the soils
that we talk about on here.League City Feed is run by the Thunderbergs
Wes and his sister Madison, andthey just have really created that little old

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time feed store. It's I alwaysenjoy going in. I grab some snacks
from my dogs too when I'm ina feed store, and they do have
those as well. Now they're onHighway three, a few blocks south of
ninety six, so if you wantto give them a call, it's two
eight one three three two one sixone two. Now they're closed on Sunday,

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but they're open today and Monday throughSaturday nine am to six pm.
So check out League City Feed.You will be very impressed with the line
of products that they have, thewide variety of things, everything you need
for your home and garden. Iam always interested in new color plants,

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just beautiful color in the summer isimportant and when the weather gets hot.
You may have noticed this, butour landscapes turn into a sea of green,
green grass, green ground, coolgreen shrubs, green trees, and
nothing wrong with the color green.But there are a few other colors out
there, right, and so we'realways looking for ways to get a really

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good quality color into the landscape.And the folks that enchanted Forest and Enchanted
Gardens both have an outstanding supply ofstocked up on color for this weekend.
And I remember this weekend is thetax free weekend on plants and mulch and
soils, things that save save waterin the landscape. And so this is

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a good opportunity. It's just likein and of itself, it's just a
little bit of a break on costsright with the tax free now in Chenni
Gardens that if you're at Richmond headingup toward Katie Way, that would be
Enchanted Gardens. If you're in Richmondgoing up towards sugar Land Way just south
of fifty nine, that's Enchanted Forest, And both nurseries have a wonderful supply.

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I was just looking at a listof the herbs that they have on
hand, and now is a greattime to start either an herb garden or
an herb container, or just mixsome herbs into your vegetables. I kind
of like to do plant things togetherthat I cooked together. So for example,
if you have a tomato bush,why not put an a reganeau ground

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cover around it? Why not putsome basil around it? Right? And
that way, as you're as you'redoing you're cooking. It's just kind of
all there together. No need todo that. I just think it's a
it's a good way to go aboutgo about doing it. But anyway,
check out in Chanted Forest in ChennaGardens. I know you will really enjoy
it when you do. Let's see, I wanted to mention we're talking about

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color plants. The hibiscus, theperennial hibiscus, the big dinner plate size
hibiscus that is a great dependable perennialfor this area and you can get it's
truly as dinner plate size. Nowthey have Typically you're gonna find them in
colors of red and pink and white. There'll be some with kind of a
swirl or a blush or splotchy lookto the colors as they combine. But

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it's it's super easy. Each bloomjust lasts a day, and you need
to pick one of those up thisweekend because they just their show stopping.
And did you know this. Thebloom just lasts today. But you can
pick them in the morning just asthey open up and put them in the
refrigerator. And if you've got anevening gathering and you wanted to decorate with

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some hibiscus blooms, you can bringthem out in the evening and they still
look good. And you would think, well, if you pick it,
do you have to put it inwater? No, no, you don't.
You just set the bloom in therefrigerator. I know some people that
will put like a little fish bowland they'll float them in the fish bowl.
But that's not for the sake ofthe bloom. I mean it'll sit
on a counter and look good fora number of hours. And so if
you want a night or an evening, late day Thai hibiscus bloom, that's

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a little trick. So go aheadand get you one of those. Today.
Well, we are about to headto news and I we we've talked
about the Nikki news networks. Yeah, I think it's time for that,
right. We got sharks, sharks, sharks on a plane, sharks runway
in the water, in the water. Yeah, I don't want to hear
about that. People. Now,now everybody is perked up because it's from

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World Day weekend and people are headingto the beach. Just when you thought
it was safe to go back inthe water, I thought it was safe.
Yeah, all right, let's hearit. We need people. I
need a feed. Good morning,it's a good Saturday morning for gardening,

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and you are listening to garden Line. I'm your host, Skip Ricter our
phone number. Write this down soyou can give us a call seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour, and we are going to head
out to Deer Park and talk toKevin. Hello, Kevin, Hello,
how can we help? Oh?I have a neighbor who I guess has

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some bamboo on the other side ofthe fence, and it's coming through on
our side. Okay, and I'vekind of battled with it a little bit.
What's the best way to eliminate that? Oh boy coming through on my
side of the fifth You you're gonnahave to either dig it or spray it.
Those are your two options. Whatdo you spray it with? You
would use bamboo as a grass,so you could use either a general purpose

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weed killer, you know, aroundup type product, or you could use
a grass killer and that would bethings like there's a there's various versions,
but it's one of two ingredients thatin these products, but their grass only,
so they spray them in flower bedsand it doesn't kill the flowers.
That kills the grass, and sothat would be you you're in Deer Park.

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There is a deer Park Ace Hardwareover there on Center Street, and
they will carry those kind of products. So you might just go talk to
them and say, what I needis something that just kills grass. I
would use that because then you knowwith something like a roundup type product,
anything you get it on, it'sgoing to get killed. And so you'd
rather be a little more targeted.Now you can. You can spray it

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on the bamboo shoots coming up,or you could wipe it. Wipe it
on them. You know where you'relet's say you've got your yard is under
it, Well, that's grass.So I wouldn't spray. I would use
some sort of a wiper type applicatorto just get the bamboo shoots wet with
it, and you're gonna have tostay on it. It's one SHOT's not
going to do it. But ifyou stay with it, you can do

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that. And if you want tobe nice about it, you could.
You could go down the line betweenyou and your neighbor and with a sharpshooter
shovel go down and cut roots thatare going the bamboo shoots runners that are
coming across underground there so it doesn'ttranslocate further back. But I think that's
that's probably more of a job thanyou're gonna want to get into. Yeah,

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all right, I appreciate you.Thank you so much. All right,
Kevin, thank you. Appreciate that. Call our phone number seven one
three two one two five eight sevenfour seven one three two one to fifty
eight seventy four. I was thisone of my two do lists that didn't
get done this week but will getdone next week, is to put some

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asmite out of my gardens. Now, as might we normally think as mighte
as something that you you've used tofollow up on your fertilization. You know,
you put the big the big threenumber bags, you know, MPK
out there to fertilize your lawn.But then we follow up with as might
because it's it's all kinds of traceminerals, lots of trace elements that are

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just needed in small amounts, butthey're very important to all plants. I
like to use it my gardens becauseit is the nutrients that my body needs
as well. You know, thereare things we need as human beings that
a plant doesn't need nutrient wise,and so when you when you stock your
soil with those kind of materials,your produce is let's just say it's it's

(23:26):
better for you in a way ofproviding that nutrition. And as might does
that. I meant to get outand do that in the garden. This
week I didn't, but next weekI will. I put about ten pounds
per thousand square feet in a vegetablegarden. But you can also, you
know, just follow up your fertilizationif you haven't got it done yet,
get it done. If you've alreadyfertilized but you didn't put the as might,

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there's no problem with going ahead anddoing the asmite now and then just
watering it in, because I mean, there's a there's not a magical timing
for it. It's just once wegot the fertilizer spreader out and you know
we're going to fertilize, it's easyto just go ahead and do the as
might as well. But you cando as might any time of the year
that you want to do it.If you hadn't, if you haven't already
gotten it done. You're listening toGarden Line and we are here to answer

(24:12):
your gardening questions. So give usa call at seven one three, two,
one two, five eight seven four, seven, one three, two
and two fifty eight seventy four.I mentioned earlier summer color and the way
of breaking up that sea green wewere talking about. The perennial hibiscus comes

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back year after year, big giantblooms on it. That's beautiful. There
are a lot of other excellent summercolor plants, you know. One of
my favorite, I think is Angeloniaangelonia. It goes by the name summer
snap dragon. Now, we arealways calling plants things that they're not.
You know, every vegetable in thesummer that's a green is called something spinach.
You know, Malabar spinach, Egyptianspinach, and so on. They're

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not spinach. Well, this isnot a snap dragon. It's sorta looks
like one little tiny snap dragons ifyou really use your imagination. So let's
just call it Angelonia. Angelonia comesin a wide variety of colors. You
can buy some that are very verycompact, very short and compact. You
can buy some that are get verytall. You know that something that's going

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to be down in a one footrange or something you know, up in
almost a two foot height range.It's just a very dependable color. Plant
zenias are a good one too.If you have not used the betting plant
types of zenias, they do reallybeautiful. Now. I grew up with
the cut flower types, you know, mom through these seeds out there,

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and we had the tall cut flowertypes of zennias. Those are nice,
but the betting plant ones are reallynice as well. And there's a type
of zenia that I just I neverhear people talk about it, but I
see it in the garden centers andit's it's a narrow leafed zenia. It's
a very small zenia, the blue. It's a little bigger than a quarter
maybe about a quarter size. Theytypically come in either yellow, white,

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or orange. That's kind of youroptions. But they're very small and they
deadhead themselves, meaning that after thebloom fades, you don't have this dead
bloom head. It just sort ofdisappears and goes away. It's a very
neat. These things sort of trail, so if I'm planning a container,

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I'll put them around, maybe onearound the outside of the container to trail
over the sides. They're not proneto a powdery mildew and some leaf spots,
which can affect some zennias, butthe narrow leaf zenia, if you'll
ask about that when you go toa garden center, narrow leave zenia.
And remember this weekend is the weekendto go because it's the tax free weekend

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on plants and soils and mulchas andthings like that. Anything it's helping you
save water. It's a good taxfree, tax free weekend for that,
so I hope you take advantage ofthat. The summertime for our lawns,
I already mentioned they've kind of kickedinto faster growth. This is a time

(27:11):
where we need to be really carefuland stay on the mowing schedules. If
you let the grass grow real talland then you mow it way back,
it's very shocking to the grass plant. It's it's like, imagine this,
you have a shrub. You couldcut that shrub off a foot high and
it would sprout out everywhere and comeback right. But that is not good

(27:33):
for a shrub. I mean thatis a super shocking pruning well in a
lesser sense, but still true.When we let our grass grow real tall
and then mow it way back,it's not good for the health of the
plant and it's not good for thedensity of the grass plant. So the
more often you mow, the betteryour lawn looks. And make sure your
lawnmower is sharp, make sure theblade is sharp. That also makes it

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look better. Plus it's easier onthe wear and tear on your lawnmower.
But when you when you mow regularly, and ideally, Saint Augustine, if
you could mow it over five days, that would be great, But we
tend to go a little bit further. But I'll talk a little bit more
about lawns and lawn care when wecome back from break. Give us a
call seven one three two one twofifty eight seventy four and Josh, we'll

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get you on the board and Carol, we see you out there on the
board, will come to you firstwhen we get back. Well, good
morning on a good Saturday morning forgardening. I don't know if you're aware
of this, but Dell Webb isbuilding a new community out at full Sure

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that's off FM three fifty nine,two miles from downtown fullsher Now. Dell
Webb has been building communities for activeadults fifty five and better for over seventy
years. They know what they're doing. They have the inspired designs and the
lifestyle programs that go with those communitiesand designed around you and gardners. Listen
to this. I'm working with themto create a community garden in this new

(29:03):
Dellweb community in full Shure. Socheck out the new Fullshire community, discover
the Dellweb difference for yourself. Youcan go to dellweb dot com slash Houston
for more information or call two eightone four or five nine six o nine.
If you live out in the Kingwoodarea, you need to check out
Kingwood Garden Center and Warren's Garden Centerthis weekend. Remember this is the tax

(29:26):
free weekend for plants and soils,mulches, things that help save on water,
so that would include a lot ofdifferent things. Now they have the
Microlife and the Nelson's Plant food fillingstations for your judge, bring your old
jug back in and just fill itback up again. But I tell you
the amazing thing was I was checkingout on Warren's social media, which you

(29:48):
guys need to subscribe to all theseindependent garden centers social media, Instagram,
Facebook, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. They are doing these mixed plantings that
are just amazing. Like you canbuy a giant container that's already planted with
everything, or you can just gobuy here's a little tip. If you
don't want to buy the whole thing, maybe you want to make one yourself.

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Well, look at the ones they'vecreated, talk to them about how
they do it, and you cancreate something that is beautiful. And they
do an excellent job at Warren's outthere in Kingwood. On that, I'm
going to run to the phones herereal quick. We're going to go over
to Willowbrook and talk to Carol.Hello, Carol, good morning, good
morning. How can I help Well? I have a brand new lawn in

(30:37):
my front yard that is Saint Augustinegrass. I've had it for eight weeks
now. I've been watering it everyday. I have omitted watering it during
the rain season that we have,but it looks beautiful on the top.
What I'm concerned about are two differentthings. The first thing is the grass
came with a base. It's kindof a thick dirt. Okay, is

(31:02):
that going to dissolve itself? Ordo I need to put something like medina
on it? And the second questionis when Should I fertilize it or should
I not fertilize and maybe just putsome kind of a humte on it?
Or Okay, what's your questions?Don't worry about that little black clay that
came with the side. As theplant roots go through it and the organic

(31:26):
matter decompose, it's going to bejust fine. Nothing to worry about it.
But yes, you do need tofertile right And what I'd recommend right
now would be to go with aNelson's Plant Food turf Star line. There's
one call slow and Easy because we'reentering the summer season, and if you
put the slow and easy down,it's twenty two two ten. That's the
numbers, twenty two two ten.It will feed on through the summer season.

(31:48):
It is designed to gradually release andthat'll give you a nice smooth feeding
that won't create top growth at theexpense of root growth. It's probably,
you know, just the ideal wayto spread out that nutrient release. And
Nelson's Plant Foods are excellent about that, especially this turf Star line. But

(32:09):
the slow and easiest one that Iwould recommend, Carol, Okay, And
should I do that now or shouldwait a little bit longer. I'm just
confused. As a brand new loan, I don't know what to do that.
How brand new? When did itgo down eight weeks? I'd fertilize
it. Yep, start fertilizing it. And when you do it slow and
easy, you're not going to needto fertilize again until fall. Okay,

(32:31):
Okay, it's one application, that'sright, that's right. Okay, Well,
that sounds like great advice. Ihave some people that mow for me,
and my son says they need toget their blades sharpened on their mower.
I chose this service because I didn'twant those heavy lawn mowers going across

(32:55):
that new sod. Okay, Andthis service has just like they use just
like a regular lawn more that youwould use yourself. Okay, well,
I think that's a good idea.They just need to sharpen the blade and
you just need to tell them thatif it's not sharp Okay, all right,
all right, thank you so much. All right, thank you for
the call. Hey, if youlive out in the Mont Bellevue area,

(33:17):
you need to know about Texas Feedstop. It's located at ninety five thirty four
North Highway one. Forty six.So it's just north of I ten in
mont Bellevue, So if you're inBaytown, this is really close to you.
Brian and Hope Rhoads have created thatold time feedstore. They carry the
bags out for you. They haveall the products we talk about, you

(33:37):
know, all the fertilizers and soilmaterials and things that it is just it
is just an enjoyable thing to goin there and see the supply of everything.
If you need pesticides, if youneed all the traditional you know,
feed store things, they've got it. But especially when it comes to your
lawn, you're going to find allthe stuff recommended on guard line. They're

(34:00):
at Texas Feedstop. And again that'son Highway one forty six, just a
few minutes north of A ten inMont Bellevue. When we when we're talking
about plants and this weekend, thiswould be a good time to head out
to Nature's Way resources as well,you know Nature's Way. I don't know
if you know this, but theyare traditionally they've been a leader when it

(34:22):
comes to making soils, mulches,composts, things like that. They know
what they're doing. They were theoriginators of the rose soil and the leaf
mold compost. For example. Thisweekend, it's that tax weekend, so
you're going to get tax free yourpurchases of soils and mulches and their native
plants. They're one of the largestselections of native plants in the Houston area.

(34:45):
Two Acres Nursery Garden Center. Theyhave fruit trees, native perennials.
You need to see it. Ifyou haven't been out to Nature's Way in
a while, you need to getback out to Nature's Way. They're just
south of Conro on Interstate forty five, about where fourteen eighty eight comes in
there. But Nature's Way Resources willsurprise you with their new plant selection.

(35:07):
And what a better time to purchaseto improve your soil, both the amendments
and the mulchus for your soil.I want to go to. We're going
to head out to let's see dowe have time for mo in spring?
Let's try that mo. We gotjust a short time here, but let's
see if we can get your questionwell as wanting to know what can I

(35:30):
do for a neighbor. Let's purplehole peas and its green beans come over
all my fence and he he don'teven take care of me. Just lets
some rival offense, and I've beenpicking the heck out of them. Sound
like you got a good deal there. I wouldn't complain about free purple hole
peas. I ain't complaining by mygrandma's been making as much post of well

(35:53):
sounds like an opportunity. You needto suggest what you want to eat for
him to plant next year. Iwas wondered, Yeah, I should do
that, mo. Thank you,thank you for that call. Thank I
appreciate a good laugh this morning.That's that's good if you are dealing with

(36:14):
fleas, if you if you're dealingwith other kind of ground dwelling pests.
Cedar repel a product by nature's creation. It's little chips of cedar. Now,
it's we can go off the wayback to Greek and Roman times where
they realized that cedar repelled insects,and these little tiny cedar repel chips can

(36:34):
be spread around an area. Youcan put a little a little border,
let's say a little sprinkling of itaround your foundation or around the patio or
something like that so they don't wantto come crawling up in there. One
or three quarter cubic foot bag coversup to three thousand square feet. So
check out Nature's creation. Cedar repela very natural way of going about talking

(36:58):
insects into going somewhere other than yourplace. It's available at RCW Plants for
all seasons, Wabash Moss Nursery,Quality feed and Houston Garden Centers here in
the Houston area. Well, weare going to go to a break and
I just want to remind you thattoday at eleven thirty I'm going to be

(37:19):
at the Wall Birds Unlimited at clearLake. It's the new store, the
seventh store in the area. Youcan go to WBU dot com forward Slash
Houston to find the Wallbirds Unlimited allover the Houston area. But come out
to see me at the grand openingout there at Wahbirds Unlimited and clear Lake.
We're going to give away or they'regoing to give away an advanced pole

(37:40):
system for your backyard feeders. They'regoing to give away an eliminator bird feeder
that is squirrel proof, and somebody'sgoing to win a twenty pound bag of
their top selling no Mess blend ofbird seed per month for a year.
Now. These are quality feeds.They at quality products while you're out there,
bring me your pictures, maybe someplant samples or insect samples. Put

(38:04):
them in a bag. We'll takea look at them, help diagnose and
give you some recommendations. And I'mgoing to be given away a little jug
or jar of plastic jar of Nelsonplant food when for folks coming out as
long as those lasts, so don'tdelay. We'll be giving away the free
Nelson plant food as well. Ihope to see you out at Wallbird's Unlimited
out in the clear Lake area.The newest store. KTRH Garden Line does

(38:35):
not necessarily endorse any of the productsor services advertised on this program. Welcome
to KTRH Garden Line with skip rictorjust watch as well. Good Saturday morning,

(39:02):
on a good day for gardening.Lighting up the sky here we're looking
outside and tell you the this isthe time of year when I just say
everybody's a gardener because if if youhave a pulse, the weather is wonderful,
everything is blooming and beautiful. Imean, this is the time.
And what a good weekend for ittoo, with that tax free break on

(39:25):
the plants and the compost and thesoils mulches, those kinds of things.
Everything that saves water is going tobe tax frey this weekend, so you
don't take advantage of that. We'regoing to head out to Magnolia and we're
going to talk to Terry this morning. Good morning, Terry, Good morning,
Skip. Hey. I've been along time listening to the garden line.

(39:45):
I just keep learning. Thank you, well, thank you. We
are. We just built a houseand I had a friend highly recommend a
grass seed that she used at herhome in the Montgomery called centipede, and
it's the tiff Blare variety. Itlooked on an m website and it really

(40:07):
recommends it more for East Texas northof here, but I wasn't if you
knew anything about it, I do. It looks if you haven't seen centipede
before, it looks sort of likea Saint Augustine that's a little less green,
a little more toward a Chartrussi greenrather than an emerald green. Centipede

(40:27):
is a smaller looking plant than SaintAugustine. So imagine a Saint Augustine blade
that's about two thirds size that that'scentipede. Centipede likes acidic sandy soils.
That's its ideal it will grow ona clay soil, but it likes them
and it doesn't need much fertilizer.In fact, if you fertilize it too
much, it's not good for it. The drawback you need to be aware

(40:47):
of on centipede is that in thewinter it turns tawny tan color. It
does not maintain the green color aswell. Especially once we've had a good
coal snap. It goes, itloses its color. It's not a grass
that's at the on the top threefor our southern grasses, but it has

(41:09):
its place. Okay, okay,got something to think about here. Yeah,
it is one you can plant fromseed, which is an advantage of
it. But I tell you,starting grass from seeds a little bit of
a challenge because you've got bare soiland you plant the seed and now all
the weeds are coming up too.So you got a little bit of a
challenge there for a while. Okay, Yeah, Well, it would just

(41:32):
be a lot less expensive than hiringsomebody to lay side it would melt.
It would be you do want someoneto come out and get your soils smoothed
out all levels. You know,you want to get any weeds that are
there in fact, I might evensay, you know, let let rainfall
or irrigate the dirt and get theweeds to come up, and then spray

(41:53):
and kill the weeds, and thena week later put your seed out without
disturbing the soil. And that way, all those seeds that at the top
that we're inclined to sprout will sproutand you'll get rid of them. And
then you can put your centipede seeddown and get a little bit of a
hash start, gotcha, And theseed can go down anytime as long as
we keep it watered. Yes,yes, you just want to. It's

(42:15):
a tiny little seedling plant and itcannot dry out, so you don't need
to put an inch of water down, just a light watering, just a
light watering. And as the biggerthe grass plant gets, then you can
move toward that once a week orsomething like that. Right right, okay,
all right, thank you for thecall, Terry. I appreciate you.

(42:36):
I have not had a centipede question. It's just been a long time.
But that's that's cool. It usedto be a grass we talked about
a lot more, and now itjust seems like the others Bermuda Saint Augustine's
Oisia have kind of taken over there. There are the ones, but I
appreciate that call from from Terry Buchanan'sPlants done in the Heights is one of

(43:00):
the premier places where you're going tofind a wonderful selection of Texas natives.
Is that is kind of like,you know, their mainstay. I mean
when I say that, you know, if you want tropicals, perennials,
trees, shrubs, roses, indoorplants, succulents, they've got everything,
all of that kind of stuff.I was checking out their road. There

(43:22):
are herbs the other day. Stillgot a good selection of herbs out there.
But one thing when I mentioned theyhave a table that is just dedicated.
They have several tables in sections,the whole section for native plants,
but there's this one table that's dedicatedto Harris County natives. These are plants
that you can find wild here.And you know, sometimes we see natives

(43:43):
and it may be native in CentralTexas or whatever, but these are Harris
County natives. So if you wantto get that specific, they've got it.
They're on East eleventh Street and theHeights and you can go online to
Buchanansplants dot com Buchanansplants dot com.But sign up are like their Facebook and

(44:04):
their Instagram. They have a constantflow of information. You can stay up
to date on what's going on.They also have a newsletter that they send
out by email that you can signup for its free and just find out
all kinds of good things. Buchanan'sNative Plants on East Elevens and the Heights.
It's really really fun place to goand visit. And remember, as

(44:24):
I keep saying today, this isthe tax free weekend, So what a
great time to buy a native plantand not have to pay tax on it.
Because it is a water saving featurefor sure in your landscape. I
was talking about the lawn care andthe importance of a sharp mowing and mowing

(44:45):
regularly so that regular mowing creates thedensity that we're looking for. And if
you have not fertilized for summer yet, you need to. And one of
the prime products is Nitrofossis super Orfrom nineteen four ten. Nineteen four ten
gives that gradual release. Now theytriple guarantee it basically that it's going to

(45:07):
keep the grass greener longer, andit will. I mean for twelve to
sixteen weeks of green from this summerfertilization, You're not going to mow as
much because it's gradually feeding your grass. And then thirdly cutting down on brown
patch in Saint Augustine, when weput a lot of nutrient down, get
a flush of nitrogen on grass,and especially as we head into brown patch

(45:30):
season or large patch season, whichis the fall that just makes it worse
late summer, the chinch bugs willthank you if you over fertilize your lawn
with nitrogen. You want something slowrelease, and Nitrofoss Superturf does that.
And you're going to find nitro fossat all kinds of places. You know,
a tascaseda Ace arbigate and in tomBall Fisher's Hardware down South Houston,

(45:52):
Laport area, Lake Jackson Lake Hardwarein a clute near Lake Jackson that nitro
foss products are easy to find andthe nitrofis Superturf. That's a silver back,
outstanding, outstanding product. I'm goingto take a break here in just
a moment, but I do wantto remind you that I am going to
be at Wilbird's Unlimited in Clear Lake, Texas today at eleven thirty. Now

(46:17):
that's at fifty five forty El Dorado. El Dorado Boulevard, so which you're
at the store. It faces clearLake City Boulevard, but El Dorado and
clear Lake City Boulevard where they cometogether. That is the newest Wilbird's Unlimited
store out in clear Lake. Ihope you'll come out there and see me
and we can visit and talk aboutwhat you're interested in and answer the questions

(46:37):
you have. We're good morning,good Saturday morning. You're listening to garden
Line. I am your host,Skip Richter, and our phone number.

(46:57):
Write this down seven one three twoone two five eight seven four. Always
listen to garden Line with a penand paper handy, because we give out
phone numbers and emails and all kindsof things. And maybe I'd mentioned a
product and later you're going, whatdid he say? Well, write it
down, you'll have it and beeasy to remember. This is the beginning

(47:21):
of our summer season, and whenthings start to heat up. We want
to make sure that we are takinggood care of all the plants that we
have. We want to make surethat they're being watered properly and taken care
of in that way. And youknow this is that water efficient product sales
tax holiday this weekend May twenty seventhand twenty eighth. Anything that helps soil

(47:42):
retain moisture prevents water waste. Thatincludes all plants, soils, and mulches.
So if you want some tips onsaving water in your garden, I
would say number one, mulch.You need a couple of inches of a
good mult maybe more depending on howcourse it is, and that holds the
moisture in the soil. It preventsweeds from stealing your moisture, and it
avoids erosion of the soil as well, and it moderates soil temperature. Secondly,

(48:07):
if you've got a low spot inyour landscape, you know we always
talk about plants needing good drainage,Well turn it into a rain garden.
A rain garden is an area that'sfilled with plants that can take wet feet.
They don't mind wet feet, sodaylilies would be an example, iris,
especially Louisiana iris. A turk's capwill put up with that from time
to periodically at least. Rain gardensare a good way to turn lemons into

(48:31):
lemonade in your landscape. And thenfinally native plants. Native plants or they
just are from here. They knowhow to live in the climate, in
the soils that we have in thisregion, including the typical rainfall for our
region, that would all those allthree of those things are a good way
to save on your water supply.Now, there are other ways to For

(48:53):
example, when you amend your soilwith compost. When you mix a quality
compost mix in your soil, youare going to create a better root zone,
a deeper root zone. You knowyou've got these plants in your flower
bed, just thrown them into whateversoil you have on the spot without any
preparation. That's not the way todo it. You want to amend them

(49:15):
well with a quality mix. Andif you live south and west of the
Houston area down Sandy Point, Pomona, Fresno, Manville, Roescharon, all
those areas out in the Sienna Plantationarea, you need to check out CNA
Mulch. You can go to SiennaMulch dot com to learn more. They

(49:35):
are just north or Rochcharon on FMfive twenty one, near where Highway six
and two eighty eight come together.They've got the mulches in bulk and they've
got it in bags. They've gotthe soil amendments, the compost that I'm
talking about, the rose soil,organic compost and so on that is today's
This weekend is a good time togo do that because first of all,

(49:58):
they're closed on Sunday. I shouldn'tsay this weekend today is a good time
to get out to CNA Malts ifyou want to take advantage of this tax
free weekend. And the products theysell are all gonna be products that can
help your landscape be more water efficient. They carry all the fertilizers we talk
about here as well. A CNAmal it's just a wonderful place to go,
Viz. I always love to goout there and see what they've got

(50:20):
going on. Now, that wouldbe the amendments. Drip irrigation is another
thing that is very good for savingwater. It's a very efficient way you
put the water right where it needsit, and that's on the soil where
the roots are that take it up. You avoid spraying and wetting the foliage
and increasing disease problems. A hoseend timer, now there's a good idea.

(50:42):
I can't tell you well, Iwon't tell you how many times I
have turned the water on in theevening because I got home from work and
something needed water, and I forgetabout it. And the next thing you
know, I come out in themorning and the kids have canoes out in
the street at curbside, thanking mefor the river that I created for them
to play in. A hose endtimer, simple inexpensive way to avoid that

(51:05):
you water for just as much asyou need to water. And one other,
one other great idea for a watersaving tax free weekend is a tree
hugger sprinkler. I talk about theseall the time, but if you're going
to buy a woody ornamental, geta tree Hugger sprinkler. It's a small
investment to make sure your significant investmentin that woody ornamental stays alive and not

(51:27):
just stays alive, but thrives.Now you can go to tree Hugger Sprinklers
dot Com to learn more, butyou're going to find them all the places
that we talk about. All oursponsors, you carry the tree Hugger sprinklers.
I've got a seven inch, I'vegot an eleven inch, and I've
got a fifteen inch version. Youcan turn them on just a little bit
when you have a new plant,just to water the base of that plant

(51:49):
to help you get roots out intothe soil. You can crank it up
a little bit more to water ayoung tree, and you can even turn
it on even higher and water amuch much larger area. But tree hugger
sprinkler help target the water and they'rea water saving device. As a result
of that, I want to headout. I think we're gonna go out
to League City and we're going totalk to John V. Well. Good

(52:10):
morning, John V. Good MorrieSkip, Good morning everybody. Yes,
my question is on dragon fruit,and yes it's something that can grow down
here in Texas. Yes they can. And could you if your radio is

(52:30):
on in the background, or ifyour phone's on speakerphone, we're getting a
little feedback from something there. Butyou can apologize. It's the international landline
Country's calling and we call out,so I apologize. I'll be back on
my other phone just after June first. Yeah, okay, all right,
we'll bear with it today. So, yes, you can grow you can
grow dragon fruit here. They're nota super cold hearted plant, so you're

(52:52):
gonna have to be able to bringthem in, have a container that you
could put it to a protected spotwhen we're going to have really cold weather.
So it's similar to the mango complicationswith the cold weather. Yeah,
any kind of the real tropical typesof things that can't take a hard freeze,

(53:13):
then you're gonna need to bring themin. So that would be that
would be my suggess. Okay,wonderful, Well, thank you, You'll
have a wonderful day. All right, thank you, John V. I
appreciate that. Go, let's seewe're gonna go to unless we're going to
head out to Richmond and talk toBrian. Hello, Brian, it's good

(53:36):
Morning's good power, You'm well,thank you, hey man. So I'm
having a ven using weed beater forthe crab ground or the mormuda grass that's
creeping up into my garden and flowerbeds and blueberries and blackberries and um such
hammer for the nut grass. Butthey're both so slow to kill, and

(54:00):
the wheat beaters labeled for all that. So is there any other over the
top that I can use? Itwould be faster than wheat beater. And
do I well a non ionic umum madge evan work or do I really
need a methylated seed oil. Ohboy, I don't know on the non

(54:23):
ionic surfactants um as to those particularproducts. I would have to check that
out. You might want to check. The label should tell you if if
a surfactor is suggested to go withthe product. But are you go ahead
by say, does say use methylatedum use methylated seed oil. I don't

(54:44):
have any. I've got them thenonionic stuff. I was just curious if
it was much difference. Yeah,and I've used the boneye product for the
nut grass, but my permutograph doesnot like the doesn't like the boneyed product
very much. It kind of burnsit. Yeah, the su chamber works,
It just takes it a week orten days to start killing stuff.

(55:06):
And I would like to be ableto spray it weekly so that I can
get the new stuff. I can'ttell the new stuff from the old even
using the dye that my sprinklers washedthe die away after a couple of days.
Okay, well it ought to itast start just coloring a little before
a week. But you know,here's the problem. Both the nuts edge
is hard to kill, and soanything that would work fast is probably it

(55:28):
means it's not translocating down into thenuts underground and doing a more thorough job
for you. And so I don'tknow a fast nuts edge product. Now
you can burn the top off ofit, but I don't know a fast
product that truly kills it. Andthat's what you're looking for. It's truly
the BONEYE said gender or whatever it'scalled. It starts killing it in two

(55:51):
or three days. But it justmy bermudigrash just doesn't like it. I
mean, it's it's specifically for it. But if you don't know anything else,
you don't know anything else. Andthat's what we got to work with.
So it's just hey, hey,waiting for that stuff to grow up
in my blueberries and biteberries. OhI know, I know. It's a
mess. It is truly a mess. So when you say it doesn't like

(56:12):
it, is it like yellowing itor what are the symptoms are saying it
yellows my bermuda grass lawn when I'mspraying the nuggrass and my lawn. Okay,
all right, Well, I don'tknow where else to take you manage
an image image will even yellow SaintAugustine, I don't know if it yellows
bermuda that's it. I have tocheck on that. But when you're you

(56:35):
know, when you're in there,have you where you shop if you ask
them about any other options that theycarry, because there's a lot of different
products on the market. Yeah,I shop at the Ace of Rosenberg and
the two that they have or aresedgehammer and the bonite product okay, sedge
beater or whatever it's called. There'salso a sedge ender I think product sedge

(56:57):
that's the one that's the one Iwas thinking. And they also carry image.
Yeah. Well, I think asfar as I my knowledge is that
you're you're kind of doing what youneed to do, and I think that's
just just the nature of it.Brian, I wish we had a better
solution. All right, thanks verymuch. Appreciate you. Yes, sir,
thank you for the call. Appreciatethat. Let's see, let's head

(57:19):
out before we do that. Now, let's head out to talk to Clark.
Good morning, Clark. Yes,hey, thanks for taking a call.
I got a question from the freeze. The past couple of years,
I had centris feed trees out inthe backyard, and of course they all
die. So this year be andmy wife we determined that we're going to

(57:44):
get some centris tree, Well,I need some recommendations as far as growing
them into container h. You know, for simmoned and some of the orange
tree H terms of what science container? And you know how that careful as
you say, okay, well,I wouldn't try persimmon in a container.

(58:06):
It just it just wants to betoo big of a tree. But the
citrus, if you went with asatsuma and you put it in a very
large container, let's say the equivalentof a large whiskey barrel. But don't
use a whiskey barrel because it'll rotout over time. But satsuma could be
grown in that. But the lemons, the mare lemon, the various types

(58:29):
of limes um let's see kumquats wouldalso do good in a very large container.
You just want to be able tomove the container around because when cold
cold weather is threatening, you wantto be able to wheel that thing into
the garage. And so I alwaysI use a little hand truck or dolly
to do that. But just beprepared to do that. So as large

(58:52):
container as I can say to ahandle would be good for the And you
write the mare livings and changerine.Yes, okay, and for simmon,
take my chances in the ground againwith them this year. Yeah. Yeah,
as long as it's good drainage,you're gonna do fine on the percimmon
in the ground. Just make surethat that the area drains well. They

(59:13):
don't want to live in a swamp. So all right, all right,
thank you very much, Well,thank you. I appreciate the call very
much. Well, I believe it'stime to talk about the news. And
uh, let's say we just wesurvived sharks. We got through the sharks.
Now I'm listen, I'm eavesdropping onyour conversation. In every context.

(59:34):
The word cum quat is funny.It is, it is, I don't
know, it's it just sounds funny. It just sounds funny. Don't know.
Squat get a coume quat. Allright, But good morning. It

(59:57):
is a good day. Oh mygosh. The sun is out and they're
just watching the trees waving in thebreeze out there outside the studio. You
know that that reminds me seeing thetrees. We are coming up not too
long on the hurricane season here inthe Greater Houston area, and it is
a good time now to do somehurricane preparedness on your trees. It may

(01:00:21):
be some limbs that need to beremoved. Just making sure that the structure
and everything looks good. You can. I like the folks at Affordable Tree
Service, we talk about him allthe time, Martin and his wife Joe.
They Martin will come out and he'lltake a look at the trees you
can harm to come out and doa little bit of an assessment, a
little consultation. What needs to betrimmed, what needs to come out,

(01:00:44):
and what is fine just the wayit is, And that is how it
is with Martin. He's not goingto say you need to do something you
don't need to do just because hehas a chainsaw and wants to use it.
Right, that's the guy that stickshis business card in your door.
Run away from that stuff. ButAffordable Tree they know what they're doing and
they're honest. They do good work. They you know, it's worth calling

(01:01:04):
a professional when someone trims your tree. They either know what they're doing and
it builds the beauty and strength ofthat tree over time, or they don't
know what they're doing and it ruinsit. One bad pruning can be such
that the tree never recovers from it. It always is going to be a
problem and it's probably more likely tobreak when they don't prune it right.
That is what is important. Maybeyou need to clear some limbs out where

(01:01:28):
you've got some power lines coming intothe property. Maybe they're limbs rubbing on
the eaves of your house or onthe shingles of your house. That is
an expensive damage, so you wantto get those out of there. If
you've got any trees by the waythat you're waiting on them to leaf out
and just giving them a little extratime. If they're not leafy now they're
not going to be leafy, They'regone. They need to come out,

(01:01:50):
or maybe there's just some limbs thatneed to come out that are that way.
Don't delay, go ahead and getthat work done. Martin at Affordable
Tree can do it, and thatis aff Tree Service dot com. Afftree
Service dot com or give McCall sevenone three six ninety nine twenty six sixty
three seven one three six nine ninetwenty six sixty three. I've talked about

(01:02:15):
being out at Wallbirds Unlimited, andI'm going to be there at the clear
Lake store today. This is thenew store, the newest of the seven
locations now in the Houston area.And by the way, wherever you are
in Houston, there's a Wall BirdsUnlimited near you. You can go to
WBU dot com forward slash Houston andfind the store near you. I hope

(01:02:37):
you'll come out and see me todayat the Wallbirds out at clear Lake on
El Dorado Boulevard fifty four forty Ibelieve Eldorado Boulevard. That's at the corner
of El Dorado and clear Lake City. So the store when you come out
of the Wild Bird Store, itfaces clear Lake City Boulevard. I'll be
out there from eleven thirty to onethirty. Let's talk about plant problems,

(01:02:58):
let's talk about whatever you're interested in. You need to check out the stores
or grand opening and they're going tobe given away a lot, a lot
of stuff. This is a thisis a time when you can get a
free one will be given away.Advanced pole system for your bird feeders,
an eliminator bird feeder to keep thesquirrels out and they work, believe me.

(01:03:19):
And they're going to give away twentypound bag one per month for the
next year of their top selling noMess blend bird seed. So you win
this and each month you can comein for a twenty pound bag of their
no Mess blend bird seed. Wow, what a deal. I'll be giving
away some Nelson plant food also outthere lots of good reasons to come out
to the wild Birds Unlimited out inthe Clear Lake area. I had been

(01:03:45):
visiting with folks with Dell Webb talkto him a while back, and they
were visiting with me about a newfull Share community that they're putting in and
I'm going to be helping them createa community garden at that community. Isn't
that call a community garden at thenew Dell Web community, which is less
than two miles from downtown fullsher onFM three fifty nine. Now, Dell

(01:04:10):
Webb's been building communities for active adultsage fifty five and better for over seventy
years and they are very distinctly inspired. I mean, the lifestyle programs that
are designed around you that are partof those communities amazing. Go to dellweb
dot com for Bridge slash Houston toget more information, or you can call
two eight one four five nine sixo nine. You're listening to garden Line

(01:04:35):
and I'm your host Skip Richter,and we are here to answer gardening questions,
talk about whatever you're interested in regardinggardening. Our phone number is seven
one three two one two five eightseven four seven one three two one two
fifty eight seventy four. If you'vegot weed problems in the lawn, it's

(01:04:56):
because those the lawn was thin andsunlight at the soil and nature was able
to plan a weed there. Weavoid that by putting down a pre emergent
and barricade is that kind of product. Nitrofoss is barricade. We'll control both
grassy weeds and broad leafweeds. Aten pound bag covers up to five thousand
square feet. Barricade pre emergent preventsthe problem before it starts. Now you're

(01:05:19):
gonna find barricade like you find othernitrofost products all over the place. DND
feed out in Tomball plants and things, and Brenham Knmas Hardware and Kingwood.
In fact, many of the ashhardware stores are going to carry barricade by
Nitrofoss. Let's take a moment andgo to Spring Branch and we're going to

(01:05:41):
talk to Herta this morning. HelloHrta, good morning, Thank you for
being there for us. My sonProvos say, he gave me a Texas
mountain Laurel. Now I grew upthe say antonia, and it's rocky soil.

(01:06:03):
How long can I leave it inthe container? And can I still
plant it? Is it too hardor is it getting too late? Well,
you can plant it, and it'sprobably better to plant it than to
just leave it in the container ifyou wait until like the fall, when

(01:06:25):
we plant a lot of woody ornamentals. I just think it you're you're unlikely
to always remember to water it adequately, and I think it's going to be
a stressful summer for that plant ifyou leave it in the container. Now,
the nurseries that grow them, they'vegot automatic systems at water them.
But I would get it in theground. But heard you need to get
it on excellent drainage, even ifthat means bringing in soil and making a

(01:06:47):
big Picture's mound there, you know, for them to grow on. But
just make sure that it never issaggy wet around that plant. It will
grow here and it will do wellhere. But you're right, I mean
they grow out of limestone outcroppings inthe hill country and they're very happy with
that. What they're not happy withis a clay soil that holds water and

(01:07:08):
is overwatered they either by rain orirrigation. They're not happy with that.
But isn't it a great plant?Oh? I love it? And the
fragrance of those blooms in the spring. How close can I? I have
so many trees in my yarm,I mean pine and oak, full grown

(01:07:30):
tall. How close to any competitiveplant can I put it? Well,
here's the thing. You want thatMountain Laurel to never lack for good sunlight.
Okay, all right, So ifit can get morning sun up to
at least maybe six hours of sunat least, that's okay. But you
know in the hill country you've seenthem. They're growing in bright, bright

(01:07:54):
sun. So we just have togo oh, yes, yes, okay.
Thank you for the call, andI hope you really enjoy that plant.
That's great to hear. We're gonnatake a little break now our phone
number seven one three two one twofifty eight seventy four. Give Josh a
call and he'll get you on theboards when we come back from break.

(01:08:14):
Love is deeper than strong. Well, good morning, what a great day
it is today? Great day tobe out in the gardens, great day
to go visit garden centers. Bythe way, this is the tax free

(01:08:36):
weekend on water saving products, whichincludes plants and soils and composts and malts
and things like that, so takeit, take advantage of that. Speaking
of composts and molts and stuff,Heirloom Soils of Texas. You you probably
have seen their products everywhere you shop. I mean, they their bag products
are just widespread. Lots of goodproducts too. I mean we're talking about

(01:08:59):
things like rose soil. There isa veggie and herb mix that I really
like that a lot. There's aleaf mold compost, and just on and
on. They have lots of products. They also offer the super Sacks.
That's a one cubic yard sack thatthey set on your driveway. They deliver
it and put it on the driveway. You can go to Airloom Soils of
Texas dot com and find out aboutthat. And remember this is the tax

(01:09:23):
saving weekend. So if you're thinkingabout buying malture, if you're thinking about
buying compost, now's the time todo it. Today and tomorrow are the
days that or you can get thetax free on your purchases so airlom Soils
of Texas. If you don't knowhow much soil you need or how much
compost you need, they have acubic yard calculator on the website Airloom Soils

(01:09:45):
of Texas dot com. And onthe website you can click on it and
you know the dimensions of the areayou want to cover and how deep you
want to put it. You canfind exactly how much that you need from
Airloom Soils of Texas. We're goingto head out to Magnolia now and visit
with Mike. Good morning, Mike, Good morning, Skip. How can
we help today. I've got threedrumming red maple trees that I bought from

(01:10:12):
RCW a little over two years ago. They've been in the ground probably twenty
six months, and I was wondering, what's sort of protocol to remove the
stakes from around these guys. AllRight, Well, if if you brought
them from r CW, they werewell grown and those plants are going to
be well anchored in the ground.Uh. You know, there where the
plant enters the ground, there'll bea little bit of a flare at the

(01:10:33):
base of the trunk and the idea. Now, when they've been staked,
have they been staked tight or havethere been a little bit of room for
them to move just a little bit, there's been just some slight room to
move, Okay, that that movementis important because that helps the trunk tissues

(01:10:54):
to strengthen. In a tree thathas been mistaked too tight, I really
recommend loosening them and leave them loosefor a month or two before you fully
take them off. But once atree has been in the ground about six
months, it ought to be establishedenough to where you can just take the
stakes away that you might take awire loose and kind of move the trunk

(01:11:16):
and and just see is it justis the whole thing moving at the ground,
you know what I'm saying, Likeit's still wobbly in the in the
hole. I doubt that's the case. But if it was, lead them
a little bit longer. But ingeneral, about six months they shouldn't need
steaking anymore. That sounds perfect tome. So how do you how do

(01:11:39):
you like that tree? By theway, Mike oh Man, it's probably
in two years has doubled in heightened, quadrupled in width on the on the
triplane excellent, excellent, Yeah,beautiful. I bought a Mexican sycamore from
them too about a year ago whendoing the same. I mean, it's
it's wonderful tree. That is thatis a very very beautiful tree. I

(01:12:02):
grew up with sycamore. It's thebig giant white trunks, you know,
towering up in the sky. That'san awesome tree. Yep, yep.
And when you go to that's whatsold me on. It was when you
go to RCW, they've got acouple of huge ones just all their property.
Well, it sounds like you madea good decision, all right,
Well, I appreciate the advice.I have a morning project. Sounds like,

(01:12:26):
all right, have fun with thatproject. And I thank you for
the call. I've mentioned ACE Hardwarea million times here on the show,
and it's just because I'm enthusiastic aboutACE Hardware. I mean, there's thirty
nine of them here in the GreaterHouston area. For crying out loud,
I mean, you don't even needto get in your car, just walk
to the nearest as near to you. Hey, you can go to ACE
hardware dot com, go online toAce hardware dot com. They've got a

(01:12:49):
store locator and you can find theones that are closest to you, and
they're gonna be more than one that'sclose to you. ACE Hardware carries all
those products we talk about, youknow, we talk about the fertilizers and
the mulches. They're going to havea herbicide, fungicide, pesticide, her
all that, all that section amazingwide variety of all kinds of products.

(01:13:13):
Their associates are friendly and they're helpful. They have everything you need. So
it mean you may go in thereto buy, you know, some fertilizer
for your lawn, but you canalso pick up things for the home there.
This isn't your father's hardware store whenit comes to the limited supply.
This is your father's hardware store whenit comes to service. And ACE Hardware

(01:13:34):
is that kind of place, youknow, the local ACE Hardware stores in
our group of thirty nine here,they raised almost a half million dollars for
Texas Children's Hospital in twenty twenty two. I mean, it's just it's just
a win win, win win.When you go shop at ACE, you
get the products you need, youget the service you need, and don't

(01:13:55):
forget their ACE Rewards program where youearn money back on your purchases. I'm
a member myself, and I thinkthat you you definitely need to belong to
that as well. You're listening toGarden Line. I'm your host, Skip
Richter, and we are here totalk about gardening whatever is of interest to
you. Our phone number seven onethree two one two fifty eight seventy four

(01:14:17):
seven one three two one two fiveeight seven four. I was checking out
my lawn this week, looking atyou know, how are things going?
I got the weeds coming here orthere? You know, how's the law
growing or any spots that are ofconcern? And I stood back and I've
used some different kinds of products onmy lawn and this spring I used hast

(01:14:41):
Grow twelve four eight. It's aliquid lawn food plus. So you just
took it, hook it up toa hose in I mean there's a gallon
in larger sizes, but other sizeit's a quart size. You just took
it up to your hose and youjust it takes about ten minutes to treat
an average lawn. But I justtreated one section with the grow because I
wanted to see how it works.Well. It works beautiful green lush green

(01:15:05):
looks really good. Now you cando that with a hast Grow twelve for
eight liquid lawn food Plus. Youcan do it about four times for growing
season if you are returning your clippings, which you should be doing now.
If you bag your clippings, youprobably need to do it about every month.
But hast Grow twelve for eight,we'll give you a quick response.

(01:15:26):
It's a natural food supple that's gotthe Medina sail activator and Humate liquid humus
also in it, and your lawnwill show the difference when you use it.
Why don't we head out to BayCity and we're going to talk to
Mike this morning. A good morning, Mike, Good morning. How are
you. I'm well, thank you? What's up to Okay? Well,

(01:15:46):
I've sent an email, I mean, yeah, an email with some pictures
a week or so ago about aplant that I had, kind of heart
shaped thing. I don't know ifyou got it or not, because I
don't know if I was supposed toget an email back. All Right,
you're gonna answer it on radio.I like to answer them on the radio.
I'm gonna have to have missed you. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna

(01:16:08):
have to find your your email here, and so that may tell me just
a minute, can you tell mea little bit more about it while we're
while I'm looking about the picture.About the email, well I could be
from Mike, but anyway, aboutthe picture. Yeah, it was a
heart shape, a little heart shapeplant and it's coming up all over my
lawn and it's got a little noduleon the end when it's real small,

(01:16:31):
just a little not I don't knowhow it's propagating all through my lawn.
It'll get in my little potted plants. Okay, very small, you know.
And I'm man, they're everywhere andI don't know how they're propagating.
I'd like to get rid of them. Well, that's a little woods Violet.
I found your email, found yourpictures, good pictures about the thank
you, and it is everywhere.Uh. They will eventually have little purple

(01:16:53):
flour on them, but that doesn'tmean that you're gonna like having them in
the lawn, right, So youneed to use a broad leaf weed control
product to kill them without killing yourgrass. Now, the good effective broad
leaf weed control products post emergent,killing existing weeds. They're heart on grass
when temperatures get up mid to uppereighties and above. So if you can,

(01:17:16):
if you you know, I haven'tlooked at the weather, but we're
we're bordering on that. In fact, we're in the numbers. If you
can find today's we're a little milderand go ahead and get that done.
That would be important because those thingsdo have that underground storage, and so
one application may not take care ofit. You may have Yeah, do
you have a recommended broad leaf orjust any other there? You know,

(01:17:40):
there's a number of good ones thatare there. You're seat in the base
cite here there. Bonide has aweed beat or Ultra that is a pretty
good one. Fertilan, oh gosh, trying to remember the fertil product.
That's it's a different group of mixus. One other thing you may need to
think about. This is going tobe a battle that has to go on

(01:18:00):
a little further. There is aproduct called Celsius. It's not cheap,
but our garden centers do carry it. Celsius. You buy a little tiny
pack to mix and water it'll Itcan be used when temperatures are up nineteen
ninety two degrees without any damage.And so you may want to switch to
that one because it's also very effectivefor this weed. All right, okay,

(01:18:21):
all right, hey, thanks forthe call. KTRH Garden Line does
not necessarily endorse any of the productsor services advertised on this program. Welcome
to KTRH Garden Line with skin rictorjust watching as well. Good morning.

(01:18:57):
It is an absolutely list morning outside. Good day for gardening and good day
for going to a garden center aswell. I'm going to be doing a
little bit of traveling around myself thatI've got an appearance out at the wild
Birds Unlimited in clear Lake. Thisis the newest store for wild Birds Unlimited
in our area. They now haveseven stores. You can go to WBU

(01:19:20):
dot com, forward slash Houston findthe stores near you at our location out
there today at the clear Lake location, they're going to be as part of
the grand opening giving away an advancedpole system to help establish your backyard bird
sanctuary to hang your feeders on.They have also to give away an eliminator

(01:19:41):
bird feeder that is squirrelproof, whichis important if you've ever tried to deal
with squirrels in a bird feeder.And somebody is going to win a twenty
pound bag per month for a yearof their top selling no mess blend bird
seed. That is important. I'veused cheap seeds before and they all about

(01:20:02):
half of it ends up on theground just making a mess. And so
there are no mess types. Imean everything in it the birds want.
They don't want to kick it outand throw it on the ground. By
the way, that Wahbird's Unlimited inclear Lake is on El Dorado Boulevard fifty
four forty El Dorado Boulevard. That'swhere El Dorado and clear Lake City Boulevard
come together. Across from the HB. The storefront for the wild Birds faces

(01:20:27):
clear Lake City Boulevard. Just Megaladies. You're free to find it and
get there. You need to checkit out and come see me. I'm
gonna be given away some Nelson plantfood fertilizer. Also got quite a few
of those to give away and firstcome, first served, so don't delay
in getting there. Bring some samplesif you want to talk about plants,
insects, bugs in a bag.If you want to bring some pictures in

(01:20:48):
on your phone, we can lookat those. It's always kind of fun
to help people plan out some stuffthat they're doing in the landscape and get
some ideas. So it would bea great time. I always enjoy getting
out doing those. I've talked aboutthe B Supply out in Dayton before,
but I would tell you that theB Supply and Dayton is a bold statement.

(01:21:09):
I would say that it is aplace that everybody would enjoy going to.
Now, maybe you want to bea beekeeper. Maybe you are a
beekeeper. Well, they've got allthe supplies you need. Of course,
they also have classes beginner classes twicea month out there in Dayton. Now
you can go to the Bee Supplydot Com online and find out more about
them. But if you're not abeekeeper, you don't want to be a

(01:21:30):
beekeeper. You just want to learnabout the fascinating world of bees. They
have honey tours out there, anda honey tour is a great way to
get an exposure to bees and beekeeping. They'll have a little presentation where they
talk about bees. You learn alot about them, and then you'll get
to taste about six different kinds ofhoney. Have you ever tried or in

(01:21:51):
honey? Have you ever tried creamedhoney or BlackBerry honey? You'll get too
on one of these tours. Sogo to the b supply dot Com find
out about it, get a grouptogether and go out and have some fun.
And it is fun. I've beenthere. Cool place. Oh,
they also have the largest, thesecond largest indoor be observation hive in the

(01:22:11):
world. I think you got togo to New Zealand to find a bigger,
one big plexiglass room up in theair where the bees are building comb
and you can watch them work.You can go up a little steps and
walk all around it and see itreally really cool stuff. At the b
supply dot Com. You're listening togarden Line. Our phone number is seven
one three two one two fifty eightseventy four seven one three two and two

(01:22:38):
five eight seven four. Let's headout to pair Land and we're gonna talk
to Kevin Well. Good morning,Kevin, Hey, good morning. Got
a question about coffee grounds. Usedto go to Starbucks all the time and
get a coffee in the morning andthey would give you bags of use coffee
grounds for free, and I'd bringit home and just you know, sprinkler

(01:23:00):
around in the flier beds and whatnot, and then quit going the Starbucks and
kind of quit doing it. Butis there any real benefit to doing that.
I just yes, random thought,Yes there is. Coffee grounds actually
have a decent amount of nitrogen inthem, and they are an organic substance,
meaning that they will decompose back intothe soil. So used in moderation.

(01:23:26):
They're just fine. I wouldn't putthem, you know, four inches
deep all around your plants, butsprinkling a little here and there, working
them into the soil, that's justfine. Yeah, it works pretty good,
all right, appreciate it, brother, have a good weekend. Have
fun with them. Hey. Andby the way, Kevin, when you
use coffee grounds as fertilizer around yourplants, they grow faster because they they're
up all night growing in addition tobeing up during the day. That's a

(01:23:48):
wonderful dad joke, right, thatis a very bad dad joke. And
you know what my kids will tellyou. I've got a bunch of those.
Thanks for the call. Appreciate it. Bye, Oh gosh the phone
number seven one three two one twofive eight seven four ktrh if you would

(01:24:08):
like some more information there. Youknow, if you are wanting a beautiful
color container on your patio, youneed to consider jungle Land by nitrofos.
Jungle Land is a growing mix thatdrains well but holds water well. It
has four different sources of aged organicmatter. It's got micro rhizal fungi in

(01:24:30):
it that really just enhanced the rootsystem. Plants and micro riza go together
very well, and having that ina mix is a good thing. Now
you're going to find jungle land everywhereyou find nitrofoss products. That would be
places like a tascaseda ACE hardware.Fact, many of the Ace hardwas around
Town Lake Hardware and Angleton, Gemp'sHardware. Montgomery jungle Land potting soil for

(01:24:50):
beautiful outdoor plants. They also havean indoor version with water holding crystals to
make it a little easier in caseyou forget to water. It helps the
plants get on a little bit furtheras a result of that. You know,
talking about nitrophi stuff. There areso many products and so many places
you can get them that it's justit's just a real easy It's an easy

(01:25:12):
purchase and easy to find. WhatI'm gonna go out and talk to Ron
and Beaumont run I got about aminute. I think we can get it
done in a minute, Yes orwe can yes or good, I got
I got carpet grass, I thinkyou am, I Saint Augustine. What's
the best treatment for that? Thereis not a way to kill carpet grass
in Saint Augustine. Now, okay, they're just not There's nothing selective to

(01:25:36):
get between those two. Carpet isa little bit rangier grass right, and
a little bit kind of upright tallrangey. I don't know if you know.
I just don't. It's it's alsogrowing on the surface. So when
you pull up a runner of carpetgrass, you've you've gotten rid of that
plant. It's not like bermuda grass. It's also coming up from underground.

(01:26:00):
But I tell you, I don'tother than just killing everything and starting over
our spot, spraying the carpet whereyou see it, and letting the Saint
Augustine creep back into those areas.None of those answers are good ones.
But that's about the best I thinkyou can do. Yeah. Yeah,
the guy the A, M andD is supplying Bowmont told me the same
thing. Yeah. Well, Ithought you might know well, and I

(01:26:21):
want to I want to compliment youon your presentation over the radio. You're
not running seventy five. You're runningdown about fifty five miles an hour.
We'll appreciate it. Folk. Don'ttalk too fast for you. Sometimes I
get a little excited and talk fast. No, no, no, you're
good, Thank you. You're kindto say that. Well, good luck,

(01:26:45):
good luck with your line out there, and Beaumont run. Appreciate you
all right. See, we're gonnaneed to take a break here. Let
me give you the number one moretime seven one three two one two fifty
eight seventy four. Give a Josha call, get you on the board,
and we'll talk to you when wecome back. Good morning on a

(01:27:17):
good Saturday morning for getting outside andgetting some gardening done. By the way,
that was Tina Turner, Queen ofrock and roll, though she passed
away recently, and I just thoughtwe'd throw one of those in. Wow.
What an outstanding performer, especially juststage performer, like like none other.
We you know, I was talkingabout RCW nurseries and I just I

(01:27:41):
was reminded of the fact that theyhave this weekend. By the way,
this weekend is the tax free weekendfor plants, soils, compost, multuous
things that save water. And theyalso have going on fifteen percent off all
fruit trees and fifty percent off selectother trees that they have. So I
mean, it's just like reason uponreason to get out to our CW Nursery

(01:28:03):
this weekend. You can go toOURCW Nursery dot com. They are the
nursery that's there where Tamball Parkway toforty nine comes into Beltway eight where they're
joined together. You're going to findeverything you can imagine at OURCW. And
by the way, when you goby there, tell them that you want
to see the tropical hibiscus that Skipkeeps talking about on the radio. The

(01:28:26):
colors are unbelievable. They just havea Cajun line of hibiscus that is unbelievable.
Telling me to take me and showme where are these hibiscus, and
when you see them, you willagree that wow, I gotta have one
of those. Let's head out toKatie and we're going to talk to Stephanie
this morning. Good morning, Stephanie, Hi, Good morning Skip. How

(01:28:46):
are you. I'm well? Thankyou all right. My question is is
I'd like to expand my garden intoan existing landscaping bed that we pulled all
the plants out Okay, and Iobviously know I need to, you know,
get the mulch out and whatnot.But I'm wondering, we have that
wonderful clay soil, what do Ido? I still use the rose soil

(01:29:11):
and composts that Randy always talked aboutto mix in with that soil, or
is there something else I need touse to convert that bed into a like
a vegetable garden. No, thatthat would be just fine. Uh.
There, that's a good combination andit works good just plants in general.
That's a good combination. Now.I know that airbum soils makes a veggie
and herb mix. That's also agood one that you can use if you're

(01:29:34):
if you're wanting to um, youknow, is this vegetables that you're planting
or is this flowers? No,it would be vegetable. Okay, that's
what I thought, but I justdidn't want to assume. Yeah either way,
but get a good quality mix.Mix it in very deeply, because
what you're gonna do is you're goingto create a huge root zone area that

(01:29:57):
the roots can thrive in. Andthat's how you have success above ground is
by making sure the plants are doinggood below ground. How deep does it
need to deep need to be turnedinto? Well, I mean if you
could get it six or eight inchesdeep, that would be just fine.
Or if you want to mix alittle bit of the mix in and then
bring additional mix in on top,so you sort of have a gradual interface

(01:30:21):
then from the quality mix the rosesoil to compose the veggian herb mix whatever
you use on into your native soil. And you know, it's not just
like you're putting a wonderful mix righton top of let's say clay or whatever
you have there. You're right beneficial? No, Okay, would it be

(01:30:41):
beneficial to also include expanded shale Ifyou have a heavy clay and you want
a long term fix, expanded shalecan help with that. But it takes
quite a bit. You may putabout three or four inches into a clay
soil to turn it into something muchsignificantly enhanced, because you don't just need
like a particle of shale here andthere. You need quite a bit in

(01:31:02):
terms of the volume of the soilthat you have. Okay, let it
lasts a long time. Compost improvesclay too. Compost just breaks down over
time, and so if it's ifit were a bed where I was doing
vegetables, I probably would avoid theshale and just use compost because you're constantly
going to be going and changing outyour crops, and it gives you an

(01:31:24):
opportunity to put more compost down toamend over time with Like if it was
a rose bed or something where youcan't roto till the roses, right,
then you want to use something it'sgoing to last a very very long time,
and that that's where shale would reallyshine. Okay, well that's what
I needed to know. I appreciateit. Thank you, all right,

(01:31:45):
Katie, thank you for the call. I appreciate the call. Let's head
out. We're gonna go to NorthwestHouston now and we're gonna talk to Ralph.
Good morning, Ralph, good morning. It's great to have your programming.
You the best I've ever had.It's simply I've been listening to you
really are knowledgeable, and I thankyou. Oh if in grass I have

(01:32:09):
overrun of the long runner, they'regoing on top of the grass, what
what's what's what's called in that?You know? They just I don't know
that I've got some of that inone area of my yard. I've got
some in the other areas don't haveit. I've noticed in areas sometimes where
the grass is struggled a little bitas it begins to grow back in you
may you may see some of that, but just other than clipping them off

(01:32:31):
or usually the mower will lift thoseup and chop them when you mow over
them, because you know that thatkind of vacuuming of the propeller blades on
the mower sort of pulls things upunderneath there a little bit. But yeah,
it's it's not a disease, it'snot an insect. It's really nothing
that you can do anything about.Having a good thick thatch can also cause

(01:32:53):
a little bit of that because thegrass runner can't get down and put roots
in the soil because it's riding ontop of all that dead runner material that's
at the soil surface. Okay,that's great, appreciate your program. Yeah,
and if you got if you gota lot of that, Ralph,
thank you. If you got alot of that, you might want to
do consider doing a deep tie narrationfollowed with a compost top dressing and that'll

(01:33:17):
help break down that dead organic matter. And it's just good for the lawn
anyway, But that just a tip. Thank you for that call. Our
phone number is seven one three twoone two five eight seven four seven one
three two one two fifty eight seventyfour. You know, talking about lawns.
The Nitrofile Super Turf that's their silverbag, the Super Turf nineteen four

(01:33:41):
ten. That is a product thatis going to gradually release those nutrients over
twelve to sixteen weeks. I meanthat is a long time of feeding.
You put that down now and youdon't worry about fertilizing again until fall.
And nineteen four tens an excellent ratio. It's got a good amount of nitrogen.
So because the numbers higher, you'regoing to use a little bit less
of it than something that has alower number. For example, about five

(01:34:04):
pounds per thousand square feet of lawnwould would be a pretty good rate in
most situations. But you're going tofind Nitrofoss Super Turf nineteen four ten.
Everywhere you find Nitrofoss, which iseverywhere. I mean if you're in Brenn,
I'm at plants and things in Montgomery, and gym's hardware done in Angleton
and Lake Jackson. There's a LakeHardware in Angleton and a lake Hardware and

(01:34:25):
clute on I forty five North RCWand Plants for all seasons are gonna have
it. You get the idea Nitrofosssuper Turf nineteen four ten. It's just
an excellent choice to have a beautifullawn. Do it now, forget it.
You've taken care of fertilizing for therest of summer. I was mentioning
plants for all seasons. There isa place where you can get those nitrofos

(01:34:46):
products. Plants for all seasons isit is a go to garden center that
if you're a green thumb that youtake pride in your lawn in your garden,
you need to visit Plants for Allseasons because it will they have the
selection and the products that you're lookingfor. If you're a brown thumb and
you want to turn your brown thumbgreen, then you need to visit Plants

(01:35:09):
for All seasons. It's a familyowned nursery, full service retail garden center.
They've been going since nineteen seventy three. They're at the intersection of Louetta
and two forty nine and when youwalk in there, you can bring pictures
and samples for diagnosis and solutions.They truly are lawn and garden experts.
I mean the Flowery family. Theyare just an institution when it comes to

(01:35:31):
home, mom and pop local retailgarden centers. You can give a call
at two eight one three seven sixsixteen forty six, or you can go
to Plants for All Seasons dot comand again this weekend tax free weekend by
Plants by Soil by Malt. Theygot all that, by the way,
and anything that's a water saving producttoo, is going to be tax free

(01:35:54):
this weekend, So another good reasonto get out there. To Plants for
All Seasons. You'll see what I'mtalking about. Amazing, amazing place.
Our phone number is seven one threetwo one two fifty eight seventy four seven
one three two one two five eightseven four. I was out on my

(01:36:15):
patio this past week and guess whatI was doing. I was swatting mosquitoes.
Yep, it's mosquito season. Hadthat rain, I've been walking around
the yard looking at where are mosquitoes. Where's the standing water that they're breeding
in? Maybe it's on my neighbors, I don't know, But wherever you
have standing water doesn't take very long, and mosquitoes can complete a life cycle

(01:36:36):
and next thing you know, yourbeautiful, enjoyable outdoor environment has now been
invaded by those low pests. Well, mosquito dunks is the simplest way to
deal with this. Mosquito dunk isa small beige donut. It floats on
standing water and slowly dissolves. It'sa bacterium that's toxic to mosquito larva,

(01:36:57):
so it doesn't bother your ladybugs orthe pet or birds that come to the
bird bath, or other fish forexample. It's an organic product. So
mosquito dunks will control your mosquito problemfor up to a month. And so
that one dunk will cover one hundredsquare feet of water. So you need
to check them out. I meanmosquito dunks. All these places we talk

(01:37:18):
about on garden Line, to theindependent nurseries, the feed stores, the
ace hardware stores, they all havemosquito dunks. Go ahead and buy some
and bring them home so that whenyou need them, you've got them there.
And you just toss a dunk intothat standing water and you take care
of it really simple, really fast, really easy. We're talking about this

(01:37:38):
being the tax free weekend. Hooraytax free weekend. For anything that is
a plant, that is soil,that is mulch, or anything that saves
on water, this is a goodtime to do it. And speaking of
cool things and plants, if youhave a bend of Verdant Tree Farm,
you need to check it out.Now. The original store out there on

(01:38:00):
the west side on Barker Cyprus,kind of near the old extension office that
used to be out there at theflood prevention. I can't even say the
name of a reservoir out there,att Ex Reservoir. Anyway. They also
have one done in pair Land onBroadway Street. They've got one in the
Heights which is at three thirty sevenYale Street at ten. With all those

(01:38:24):
locations, it's not hard to finda Verdant Tree Farm. Memorial Day sail
twenty five percent off all trees andpalms twenty five Did you hear that?
Twenty five percent off at Verdant TreeFarm. So if you're thinking about a
palm, and they know they've gotall kinds of trees, but wow,
do they have a selection of palms, and palms love to be planted in

(01:38:46):
the summertime. I mean, thisis palm planting season for sure. So
check out Verdant Tree Farm save twentyfive percent off this weekend only. Then
this offer ends on May twenty ninth, so do not delay. Well,
Nikki, what are we going totalk about today? We got more news.
I just think it's interesting that whenevera Theatics reservoir comes up, anything

(01:39:10):
about it, our minds immediately goto Harvey. Those two will forever be
connected, they will. And welost our extension office twice. The number
one was a Tax Day flood,which was a year or two before Harvey,
and then Harvey took it underwater forweeks and then we never went back.
It's an abandoned play. In fact, the building's gone now. But

(01:39:30):
Wolf and we had Harvey. Wehad the Tax Day flood, we had
the Memorial Day flood, remember thatone. Here we are Memorial Day weekend.
Got some news coming up. We'regoing to talk about Paxton next.

(01:39:58):
Well, good morning on Hey,wonderful morning for getting out in gardening,
enjoying the yard, kind of sprucingthings up and whatnot. Hey, I
want to go to the phones.I've got a special guest here. We're
going to visit with, and thatis Jeffrey from Wibird's Unlimited. Hey you
doing this morning? Jeffrey, Hey, good morning, Skip. I'm doing
great. How about yourself? Verygood. We've been talking about your place

(01:40:20):
and the parents coming up out thereall morning, so tell us tell us
a little bit about what you gotgoing on. Well, we're excited that
you're coming out to visit us herein our new location in clear Lake.
Customers are excited. We're just waitingfor you to come out at eleven thirty.
And the birding activity in the areais fabulous. And just a little

(01:40:46):
side note, Skip, I'm notsure if you're aware of this, but
gardening, of course, is thenumber one hobby in the US, and
second to that is birding. Birdingis the second most popular hobby in the
US. Wow. And they gotogether so well? So well they do
they do? Yeah, I'm sittingout on my patio and I'm enjoying my

(01:41:09):
plants, but I'm also watching thefeeder and just all the sound and the
activity there. It's a it's ablast. And you know, we work
in tandem in many ways when itcomes to you know, pollinators, we
encourage bees and bats. Surprisingly ourpollinators as well as you know, other

(01:41:33):
other birds that that we we tryto encourage the installation of nesting boxes.
Yeah, that's that's help us witha little bit of a pest control too,
you know, that's that's very true. One bat will consume three to
five thousand mosquitos in one night.Oh boy, I think I have three

(01:41:56):
to five thousand at my house fromme and out the other day. So
need to need to send a batover there? Well we can, we
can, certainly, you know,are the wild Birds Unlimited shops can can
help customers putting together their bird sanctuaryand installing the nesting boxes and bad houses
too. Well, good good,And I know you guys have unbelievable supplies.

(01:42:19):
I mean, every time I gointo wild Birds, it's just,
oh my gosh, there there's somany fun things. It is. It's
a it's a wonderful hobby. Andand we differentiate ourselves. We have a
quality product. We have expert topeople on staff that know birding and know
what is going to attract the birdsso that you can enjoy, you know,

(01:42:44):
sitting back, especially now with allof this stuff going on around us,
it's always fun to sit back relaxwith a cup of coffee or an
adult beverage. You can listen andwatch the birds. That's true. And
I was talking earlier about your nomadblend bird seed. You know, I
have in the past use cheap birdseed and what a mess in the birds.

(01:43:05):
Half of what's in there, theydon't want to eat. But you
guys have one that and you haveseeds that are designed are packaged for specific
types of birds, so you knowyou can even control you know, if
you like maybe finches or tip mouseor whatever, there's seeds that really are

(01:43:26):
directed toward those birds, right,That is correct. We do tailor a
lot of our seed offerings to specificbirds, finches in particular. And also,
you know, squirrels can be apesky nuisance, and so we have
seed you know that will deter thesquirrels. That would be our hot pepper

(01:43:48):
fiery feast line as well as alot of people aren't aware that staff flour
is a very good one for deterringthe squirrels. Now. Really, staff
flower has a very bitter taste,but you know, the squirrels tend not
to eat it, okay, Andif you're really dealing with squirrels, you
need an eliminator. Yeah, andwell, as a matter of fact,

(01:44:11):
you're giving one away today, right. Well, our grand opening event is
continuing this weekend, and I encouragepeople to come into our shop. We
are on the clear Lake City Boulevardside of El Dorado and clear Lake City
Boulevard, and we are giving awayregistered to win an eliminator squirrel proof mind

(01:44:32):
you that squirrel resistance squirrelproof bird feeder, one twenty pound bag of our top
selling no Mess blend bird seed onea month for a year. Wow.
And also our advanced pole system sothat you can begin and you can establish
your bird sanctuary in your backyard.And those those advanced full systems are really

(01:44:57):
cool I tonight, They're wonderful.And hey, you're at fifty four forty
Eldorado Boulevard, which is kind ofwhere El Dorado and clear Lake City Boulevard
come together out there in clear Lake. Yes, we're across the street from
HB Okay, so we face theclear Lake City Boulevard Highway. All right.
Well, and you know I alwaystell people that when you walk into

(01:45:19):
a place like wild Birds, evenif you're not interested in a particular thing,
when you walk through there. Youcan think of everybody you know in
the family and friends. They wouldlove that. My mom would love that
hummingbird feeder right there. I mean, you're going to be interested yourself,
but I'm just saying it is agreat place to get some really cool gifts

(01:45:40):
too. Yep. And we haveFather's Day upcoming. It's a great place
to come and get dad a newfeeder and let him enjoy the birds as
well. Wonderful, wonderful. Hey, Jeffrey, thanks so much. I
can't wait to get out there.I'll be there at eleven thirty, folks,
and you got it. Yeah,thanks for calling, and all right,
take care. We look forward toseeing you. Take care, yes,

(01:46:02):
sir, bye bye. Yeah,that's gonna be. That's gonna be
fun to get out there and getto enjoy that. You know, Dell
Weeb. You've heard of Dell Weeb. They've been building communities for active adults
age fifty five and better for overseventy years. And I was speaking to
the folks the other day. Theygot a new community coming up in full
Shure on FM three fifty nine,just two miles from downtown full Shure,

(01:46:26):
and they were talking to me.I'm going to be helping them with a
community garden that they're putting in atthis facility. So, hey, gardeners,
if you want a wonderful community withinspired designs, lifestyle programs designed around
you, and a community garden plusall the wonderful trails and it just you
just go to dellweb dot com slashHouston for more information or calumn to eight

(01:46:48):
one four five nine O nine orexcuse me six O nine two eight one
four five nine zero six zero nine. Dell Web can't wait to see that
community garden all come together, andI just think that's gonna be a great
community. If you haven't fertilized yourlawn yet this summer, boy, I'm

(01:47:12):
getting tongue tight here. Slow andEasy from Nelson is the kind of product
that gives you that all summer longfeeding. It's a powerhouse blend it because
it's gradually feeding moless. You don'thave the development of thatch that overfeeding too
much at one time can do goodroot development to your grass, so water

(01:47:33):
consumption, the need to water goesdown a little bit from that. Also,
they have the Bruce's Brew. It'san eighteen four nine. It's ideal
year round, no fuss, andI'm going to be given away Nelson plant
food out at the wild Birds Unlimited. That we're just talking about that being
out there and giving away things andwhatnot. Well, come out to the

(01:47:53):
Wilbirds Unlimited in clear Lake and Iwill be as first come, first serve,
as long as last, given awaysome Nelson plant free jars as well
well. Our phone number is sevenone, three, two and two fifty
eight seventy four. Give us acall, Josh. We'll get you on
the board and we'll talk to yousoon. Good morning, Wow, have

(01:48:30):
you looked outside? This is thisis the day. This is the day
to be outside outside, working inthe yard, be outside, maybe visiting
a garden center. I hope youcome out and see me out in clear
Lake. Be out there eleven thirtyto one thirty at the Wahbird's Unlimited in
clear Lake. A good day toget out and do that. Maybe you've
got some plants you need diagnosed identified, some pest problems. You got some

(01:48:53):
pictures on your phone you can showme to kind of Hey, what do
I do with this area? Howcan improve on this? We'll be happy
to do all that. I'll beout there from eleven thirty to one thirty.
Today. We're gonna start off right. Go into the phones. Our
phone number, by the way isseven one three two one two five eight
seven four. Let's go up toCyprus and talk to Sandy. Hello,

(01:49:15):
Sandy, either skip, good morning. I have a question about my okras.
They had little holes on the leads. Is that normal? Not all
of them, but some of themhave it? Is it is normal?
I've never seen it become a problem. And those okra plants are tough.

(01:49:38):
They can afford to lose some leafarea without any problem. So I don't
think it's something you need to sprayfor or worry about. I believe it's
a beetle that's doing it. Itcould be a caterpillar, but most likely
it's a beetle, a little beetle. Okay. I keep seeing this clear
colored fly looking thing that lands onit. Is that okay for it?
Or is that the thing that's eatingit? You're saying it's a fly?

(01:50:00):
What color looks like a fly?But it's yeah, it looks like a
fly, and it's uh got ared head? Is it? Is it
like a skinny kind of long leggedfly compared to a house fly? That's
a beneficial That is a beneficial insect. It's called a long lead fly.

(01:50:23):
There's a lot of different types.Some of them you'll see the reddish.
Some of them have almost a metallicgreen reflective or metallic green color to them.
But they're predators, so that's agood thing to have out in the
garden. Nothing to worry about.And these oakra seedlings I planted two weeks
ago, they came up and they'relegging. They're like tall and lanky,

(01:50:46):
okay, but they had they hadlike leads, and so I snipped off
the top, the one that wasthe furthest top um. Did I do
it too early? You cut theleaf off? If you're saying, yeah,
the tall one, I left thebottom two leaves that were lower than
the tall one, I left thatone. I mean I kept the top.

(01:51:11):
The one that was on top ofthe bottom leaves I left alone.
Okay, And why were you takingthe leaf off to make it shorter?
No, I thought that year's placedto snip the first set of whatever I
see. I see, No,Sandy, that that's not necessary. I
mean, it wouldn't hurt anything.You did it, But I thought off

(01:51:31):
like the first um nip the topoff when you get leaves. No,
I on okra, I just letmine grow. I don't snip anything off.
So I may not well, Imay not be picturing exactly what you're
talking about, but I can justtell you this, when ochre comes up,

(01:51:53):
just let it grow. Don't worryabout it. It's a tough plant.
It's gonna be just fine. Yeah. Is there a good sunlight?
Is it getting good sunlight? Sandy? Oh? Yeah, yeah, Okay,
I've got it on the sun allright. Well, sounds like you're
off to a good start. You'rehalfway to gumbo. Yeah. On my
blueberries, I've got a bird beater, so I know that it's not the

(01:52:14):
birds. But they're just not turningpurple like there. It's taking them a
long time. And they've got thesenew light colored leaves that have popped up.
Does that mean that it's done producingfor the season. It could be
a nutrient deficiency. If you're seeinglight colored leaves, I know they're acid

(01:52:38):
levers. And I didn't put acidin it for like over a month now,
right, So if the older leaveshave the normal blueberry kind of a
blue green color that blueberries have,and then the younger leaves are looking yellowish
to whitish pale. Maybe maybe theveins are green, but the other's rest
of it is white. That's anarmed deficient. See. So that's one

(01:53:01):
reason why we keep blueberries acidic.It makes the iron more available and they're
happier with that. You could putan armed supplement around them, but I
think just everything you do should beacidifying. In fact, you might want
to get a hold of Microlifs.They have an acidifying fertilizer. It's a
six two four, but it's ina red bag and it is acidifying,

(01:53:24):
and just fertilize with that. It'sorganic, so it's going to decompose into
the soil and improve the soil.But would I would start fertilizing with an
acidic fertilizer more? I think,And every chance you get and encourage some
new growth, because they're going togo ahead and grow, and by the
time we get to the towards theend of summer, they are already setting

(01:53:45):
buds for next year. So youwant to get them as healthy as you
can by then, so next yearyou have a good crop. Okay,
cool, Thank you so very much. I have a great yea you two
Sandy, Yeah, thank you verymuch. Yeah, Microlife. You can
go to Microlife Fertilizer dot com ifyou want to find out where to buy
Microlife, but I can taste basicallyeverywhere. It's widely available. If it's
your lawn, though, you wantto go with the six two four in

(01:54:06):
the green bag and then get yourbag of the purple purple bag. That's
the humates plus, which is likeconcentrated compost in a bag. So you're
adding a lot of minerals beyond thethree, the six two four, the
three numbers on the bag. WithMicrolife, you've got all kinds of essential
minerals that are also included in thatbecause it's an organic product, it's coming

(01:54:27):
from organic materials, and you willyou will see a difference in your lawn.
Microlife Fertilizer dot Com. Let's headout to Southeast Houston and we're gonna
talk to Todd. Hello, Todd, probably not okay, I can hear
you now, I can hear younow, Todd, go ahead. It's

(01:54:47):
weird because I'm I'm here and herewhen I'm not hearing, they're different.
Okay, Todd, I'm gonna we'regonna put you back on hold. I'm
not sure Todd is talking with methere. If we have time, we'll
try to get Todd back back on. You know, yesterday I was in

(01:55:09):
kind of just north of downtown,like north central Houston, but downtown inside
the Loop, and I had toswing by Quality Feed because I love going
to Quality Feed East to go tothem when they're in their other location.
Now they are on Luzon Street eighteenthirteen Luzon, which is near the intersection
of Equipment and a Lesion. Butit's the same Quality Feed. It's that

(01:55:30):
old time feed store. It's beena Houston tradition since nineteen twenty eight and
Ken and Chris have owned it forthirty two years. I was out visiting
with Ken. I was looking atsome of his materials. It carries all
the stuff we talk about, allthe different fertilizers and soil blends and whatnot.
But he also makes a kens Pottingsoil, which is very popular with
his customers. And you just goby there and ask him to see the

(01:55:53):
Kenspotting soil. He's got all kindsof supplies. They're always getting chickens in.
I mean, they're always new groupsof chickens coming along, and just
you can go pick them up bringthem home. Backyard chickens are a real
popular thing right now. But werewe were visiting about the different things they've
got going on there. And bythe way, Quality Feed is open Monday

(01:56:15):
to Friday nine to six, onSaturday from nine to four, and Sunday
from eleven thirty to four pm.So go buy Quality Feed or check them
out online quality feed dot com.Let's head out to southeast Houston and we
are going to talk to Scott.Hey, Scott, we're running short on
time, but let's see if wecan help, all right, great,

(01:56:35):
appreciate that. So I'm calling aboutbottle brushes and alternatives to bottle brushes.
We've had some bottle brush trees inour yard, not very big ones,
but love the flowers, really niceplants like them. But in the freeze,
they really didn't handle it well,even though we tried to do what

(01:56:56):
we could to protect them. Yeah, and so I'm kind of looking to
I'm going to have to replace them, and I'm looking to figure out what
can I replace them with that wouldbe attractive and yet be able to deal
with our with Houston's occasional freezes.Oh my, I don't know anything that
looks like a bottle brush. Mybrain is is skimming the files back there,

(01:57:23):
trying it doesn't need to look likea bottle brush. But I'm just
looking for something ornamental, small tree, ornamental. I would prefer something that
flowers, but just looking for suggestions. Yeah, that's a that is a
good question, and it's my brainis drawn drawing a blank as to you
know, there's always things like they'reburying plants like one of the upright weeping

(01:57:46):
yopas. They're real beautiful. They'reburying plants like that that I think would
be an interesting somewhat bottle brush shapeto the plant, if you will.
There's lots of good flowering trees,especially in spring. The vitex, which
is blue colored. You see thosearound town that goes all summer. It
just blooms and blooms and blooms.If you keep it, prune back,

(01:58:10):
sheer off the old blooms, thenew ones come out. Certainly, crape
myrtles, I mean that's kind ofthe standard of the South. And you
can buy crape myrtles in different sizesso that you get one that's the size
that you want and you don't haveto prune the heck out of it to
try to keep it smaller than itwants to be. That I think would
I would consider a crape myrtle.If you go online and type in skip

(01:58:31):
Richter and crape myrtle. One ofthe top things that pops up is a
little chart I put together with anotheragrilife specialist, and it has from three
foot high all the way up tothirty feet high different crepe myrtles, different
colors. Tells you you know whichones have pretty bark, more beautiful bark,
and disease resistance and all of that. So that might help you nail

(01:58:54):
down the specific one that best fitsthe space and size and color that you're
looking for. Okay, let's thankyou very much, all right. I
hope that's helpful, But you know, it's always a challenge to It's kind
of like the analogy I use assomeone gives you a credit card and says,
go to the mall and buy meclothes, and you know, you're

(01:59:15):
just thinking, oh, my gosh, do you need a bathe and suit?
Do you need an evening gown?What kind of clothes are we talking
about? What do you like?And so on? And there's so many
good plants out there and apologize ofScott that my brain kind of draws a
blank there when I'm trying to thinkin the wide world of plants. But
hopefully it's a few good ideas tokind of get you off to a good
start. They don't forget that.I'm going to be out at the wild

(01:59:36):
Birds Unlimited at clear Lake in clearLake. Now. That is on Eldorado
Boulevard. It's where Elderado and clearLake City Boulevard come together, right across
from the HB. And I willbe there from eleven thirty to one thirty
today. They're going to be givingaway some wonderful prizes. I'll be giving
away some Nelson's fertilizer, first Come, first serve. KATRH Garden Line does

(02:00:01):
not necessarily endorse any of the productsor services advertised on this program. Welcome
to KTRH Garden Line with Skip Rictord. Just watching moving well, good Saturday

(02:00:25):
morning. I'm a good day forgardening. Wow, look at the weather.
This is awesome. I love it. I love it. I love
it, I love it. It'sa good day to be outside right now.
It's a good day to be inside. Listening to garden Line. You
got a radio you can carry alongwith you and listen while you work.
We are in our last hour thismorning. We hear at All at ten
o'clock. After that, I amheading to Clear Lake. I'm gonna go

(02:00:45):
to the wild Birds Unlimited, bethere from eleven thirty to one thirty.
I hope you can come out andjoin me out there. If you want
beautiful plants on your patio, ifyou have outdoor containers and you want a
quality mix to put in them,Nitrofosts jungle Land fits the bill. Nitrofoss

(02:01:06):
jungle Land drains well. It holdsmoisture, but it drains well. That's
a combination that is very important ifyou want success with plants. It's mixed
with a blend of Canadian blonde peat, four different sources of decomposed organic matter
and the micro rhizal fungi that workin harmony with the plant roots to make
the roots even more efficient. Andit really helps the plants to have the

(02:01:30):
micro rhizal that are associated the microrhyzing that are associated with the plant roots
themselves. Now indoors, they've gotthe indoor with water saving crystals, and
that is another jungle land product.For indoor plants. It works really well.
Now you're gonna find jungle land everywhereyou find nitrofosts, and that is
pretty much everywhere. I mean,you've got nitro FoST products and bearings hardware

(02:01:53):
up in Bisonette and maybe bearings hardrout on Westheimer. You go out to
Richmond Rosenberg, enchanted Forest and enchantedgardens and plantation Ace. All those places
carry nitrofos products, including the nitrofisjungle land. So don't just go out
and buy a plant by a beautifulpot, but also by a quality mix

(02:02:15):
to put that plan in, becauseit all begins in the soil. If
you don't prepare your soil ahead oftime, if you don't pick a quality
mix for a container soil or raisedbed soil, your chances of success go
downhill, less bounty, less beauty, and that's not what you're getting into
the gardening to do. Right.You want to be able to enjoy that

(02:02:38):
dndie feet up in Tumble. They'reabout three miles west of Highway two forty
nine. I don't know if you'vebeen by there, but they've already expanded.
They've got a bigger facility now wherethey can put even more products like
they already didn't have enough. Theyare stocked with all of the fertilizers and
the potting mixes and things that wetalk about here on Garden Line. You're
gonna be able to buy plants outfront as well. Beautiful plants sitting out

(02:03:00):
front. They have the high qualitydog food like Origin, Diamond, Victor
and Star Pro, and food forall your pets, food for your livestock,
and your horse care products. Ifyou've got a problem with pass or
with rodents, for example, theycan help you with that as well.
We talked about mosquito dunks earlier.They carry those, even pool cleaners.
I mean, there's a lot ofreasons to stop at D and D Feed,

(02:03:24):
three miles west of Tumball on Highwaytwo forty nine. I think what
we'll do now is we're gonna goand start on the phones out here.
We're gonna go to Texas City andtalk to Sharon. Good morning, Sharon,
Well, good morning, how areyou. I'm well, thank you?
What's up today? Well, I'vegot two beautiful egg plants, the

(02:03:46):
little Japanese ones that make the longegg plants, and they're blooming. The
plants are beautiful, but the bloomsdyeing. They're not producing any egg plant.
What do I need to do forthem? Well, eggplant. A
lot of our plants in that family, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, they

(02:04:08):
have some trouble setting during the heat, but eggplants usually one of the better
ones for that. So I don'tthink we've hit a point where we can
blame it on the heat on theeggplant. So it must be a pollination
problem for some reason the plant.You fertilize the plants, I assume,
and you're water and them regularly.Oh yeah, yeah. The plants themselves
are beautiful, but they're and they'reblooming, but the blooms not. You

(02:04:31):
know, it is possible to overfertilize, especially with nitrogen, and and it
just it seems to promote vegetative growthat the expense of good bloom setting.
So I'll just throw that out thereas a possibility. I don't know how
much you've fertilized, and it's kindof hard to figure it out over you
know, over the phone here,but that maybe watch that you don't overdo

(02:04:57):
the fertilizer. Other than that,it's just kind of waiting it out.
Have you noticed any bees on theblooms. No, Okay, well maybe
I don't know. Maybe there's somethinggoing on with the pollination, But it
sounds like you're doing everything right basedon your description of the plant. So
I think I would just give thema little bit more time and see if
they settle down. Don't give upon them, though. Eggplant is a

(02:05:20):
good summer, tough plant, andthey should be performing better for you with
just the proper care. Just justwatch that excessive fertilizer. Okay, Well,
I've got tomatoes. Um, it'sit's a big raised bed, and
I've got tomatoes in the same dirt, same fertilizer, everything, and they're

(02:05:45):
doing fantastic and putting on tomatoes likecrazy. Yeah, but the egg egg
plants just sitting there looking at me, that is, I don't know.
That's kind of a stumper. Uh. You know, you obviously know how
to grow vegetables, and so,um, the eggplant ought to be it

(02:06:05):
had to be setting better than tomatoes, especially as we get into some hotter
weather here coming up. Well that'swhat I'm thinking too. I don't know
what's going on with it, butI was hoping maybe you could tell me
now you just need to give hima good talking to. That's that's probably,
that's probably the last resort. They'reright. Have you tried putting the

(02:06:27):
radio out there and playing garden linefor the plants that they I'm sorry,
I'm just messing around with you thatnow. I'm guys, give him some
time, is my best. Mybest answer on that one. I can't
think of a cause that you wouldfix at this point on those egg plants.
Okay, well, I appreciate it, Thank you, all right,

(02:06:50):
all right, thank you, andI hope you get into some baba ganoosh
with your egg plants here real soon. Thank you. Let's go to Dickinson
and we're going to talk to Dale. Hello, Dale'll hire you this morning.
I am very fine, sir,thank you for taking my call.

(02:07:10):
I have a monerary oak about twentyfive feet tall that I purchased for our
new home. And it I gota three years ago, beautiful tree,
perfect tree. Two years ago.During that cold snap that we had,

(02:07:31):
you know, those four or fivedays, the trunk split, okay,
from the from the ground up maybesix feet, And of course I've been
very concerned about this tree ever since. And what if anything I can do
to heal that split in the trunk. I've been told to put insecticide soap

(02:07:59):
on it, which I have done. But that's the only thing I've been
able to do to this tree.Okay, now you know this spring,
the leaves are out and it's it'sbeautiful, but that trunk is still split
and it's black. Hey, Dale, I'm gonna have to take a break.
I want to give you some timeon this call, So would you

(02:08:22):
hang on and we'll be right backwith you after break. Sure seven one
three two and two five eight sevenfour. If you'd like to call in,
doctor, doctor, give me thenews. I gotta batcakes. Loving
you some good music right there bythe way. I got some music I

(02:08:46):
bet you've never heard in your lifebefore. Coming up after the next break,
stick around. It's worth it's worthhearing. I promise you you never
heard this song before in your life. We are Garden Line. I'm your
host, Skip Richter, and ourphone number is seven one three two one
two fifth seventy four. Listen ifyou want to kick your lawn into high
gear. Maybe it's struggling from lastyear's drought. Maybe you had to take

(02:09:07):
all root rod or chinch bugs orsomething that kind of took it backwards.
You need to consider having a goodquality core aeration and compost stop dressing.
And the folks to do that aregreen Pro. Green Pro. They are
the experts in the field of composttop dressing. They've been doing it for
fifteen years. I'll tell you onething about Greenpro that is I think is
a distinction. When they leave yourplace is clean and neat. There's not

(02:09:31):
composts and stuff all over the driveway. It's not a mess. They're not
tracking it around. They know whatthey're doing, they know how to do
it right, and they use ahigh quality leaf mold compost that is fine
textured so it falls down in thoseaeration holes and it just improves your soil.
Go to green Pro Texas dot comor dial two eight one three five

(02:09:56):
one green to get a hold ofthe folks at green Pro. We're gonna
go back now. We were inconversation with Dale about the split in the
tree, and Dale, I cantell you this the Monterey oak. I
love Monterey oak, Mexican white oaksanother name for it. It is on
the less hardy side of all ourrecommendable trees that we have, and when

(02:10:16):
a freeze hit like the one wehad there that I can see why that
was a little hard on that tree. They're using the soap though in the
cracks and the trunks. None ofthat's necessary. What it needs is whatever
makes it vigorous so that it canclose that wound over. Have you noticed
dale on each side of the crack, any callous tissues starting to form,

(02:10:39):
moving toward closing the area over?A little, very little, very little?
Okay, Well, those longitudinal splitsare a slow heel compared to a
branch pruning. But I just wouldsay, continue to use a good quality
fertilizer, get those get that treein as vigorous a state as you can.

(02:11:03):
I wouldn't fertilize after about August,though, we don't want to push
it into lush growth late in theseason because you get another freeze and you've
helped the plant and I get readyfor winter rather than get ready and so,
but I would get a good qualitymix if whatever fertilizer you use,
I mean, you could even usea lawn fertilizer if you want, or
there's a lot of companies that makefertilizer for trees and shrubs, those are

(02:11:24):
great too. But for every inchof trunk diameter, just kind of put
your thumb up there and how manythumb widths across. Give it one to
two cups of fertilizer for each inchof trunk diameter, and sprinkle it through
an area as wide as a branch, spread and watered in. Really good.
If it's got grass up to thetrunk competing against it, get that

(02:11:45):
away, give it a little molsterarea, and you'll get faster growth out
of it as well. But thoseare the things that are in your power.
Now, as you look dale atthe canopy of the tree, is
there a lot of dead wood upin there? Or is it all?
It's all been removed, wasn't he? Well, there was very little to
be removed. There was one therewas one branch on the lower part of

(02:12:09):
the tree that I did cut thisyear, But other than that, no
very little dead wood at all.Okay, Well, I would just say,
you know, when we get intosummer and it hadn't rained for two
weeks and it's upper nineties, agood soaking you get you out. I'd
use a tree hugger sprinkler because they'reso good for that. Because they put

(02:12:30):
the water right where you want it, but run it and soak that soil.
Well, you don't have to doit every don't do it every day,
don't even do it every other day. Just when head and rained in
a couple of weeks, give thema good soaking. You just want the
soil to be adequately moist and youwant to have good nutrition. And that
that's all that you can do.And it's up to the tree from there

(02:12:50):
to take off and get growing whereit can heal over faster. Well a
question, you know, I paida fortune for that tree to have it
planted here. And why are species, if you will, of like this
tree or other trees that don't dowell in this area because of these infrequent

(02:13:16):
freezes, why are they even soldhere? Well, I think that I
think that's kind of a harsh judgmenton this tree. I would even recommend
the trees here. And you knowthe freeze that got your tree, that
was that was a very unusual occurrence. I mean, it wasn't something that
you would foresee coming. And wecan't if we just planted plants that could

(02:13:39):
not be hurt by any weather conditionthat ever might show up, well,
it would it would limit our optionsa lot. But Mexican white oak is
a great oak. It's resistant tooak wilt, it grows very fast for
an oak. It is a good, long lived tree. It's an attractive
tree, and I would plant themhere. I just think that that tree

(02:14:01):
got caught not prepared for the kindof freeze that hit, and that was
not a normal, normal freeze.We have a number of species that are
good species. Some of the elmsthat I think a lot of the oh
gosh, what's the other fall colorChinese pistache trees were hit pretty hard by
it, and I even it's alllive oaks that were hit by that freeze

(02:14:22):
in some places. So yeah,I wouldn't say it's a species that shouldn't
be planted here at all. Okay, all right, thank your question.
Yes, I also planted a peartree in our backyard, same thing,
same scenario. You know what thatfreeze that this pear tree is just now

(02:14:45):
starting to sprout leaves? Is thatnormal? No, that's kind of unusual.
But the fact that it's sprouting isgood because I would have said if
it still didn't have leaves, Iwould have said it's it's dead. But
it sometimes plants can be a littleslow to come out of winter. I'm
not sure. I don't know whatto think about that pear tree just coming
out now. I mean, ifyou had some other symptoms, maybe we

(02:15:09):
could delve a little deeper into it. But just the fact that it's slow
to come out, usually that's achilling related issue, and that's not going
to be the case with that pair. We can eliminate chilling is the cause.
Okay, yeah, all right,you got some unusual things going on
around there, saying well, well, good luck, good luck with them

(02:15:33):
though, no, thank you forspeaking with me. I appreciate it very
much, you bet, I appreciatethat. Calldale. Hey, I'm want
to tabot a product, actually aseries of products up at the Arbourgate and
tom Ball. Now, if youhaven't been to Arburgate, you gotta go.
It's on FM twenty nine twenty justwest on the west end of Tomball,
just a little bit west of town. You can go to www dot

(02:15:56):
Arburgate dot com Arburgate dot com findout more about it. But here's what
I'm talking about, talking about theirone two three system. Now, with
a one two three system, youget a compost that is a high quality,
high quality compost. You get asoil that fits any situation, any
application you have, and then youget a food that feeds anything with roots.

(02:16:18):
And the food is organic food Complete. It's a four four three.
It's an organic product. It alsohas calcium in it, it has micro
rhizal fungi in it. And theycan even tell you every setting on you
know, the setting on whatever kindof fertilizer spreader you have to properly apply
it. It fits all of thoseOr if you're looking for a quality organic

(02:16:39):
food, Microlife organic Food Complete fourfour three. Part of that three part
system that said microL What am Italking about? Arburgate that three part system
is just it's just a win winAnd like all the Arburgate products that they
have out there, if they sellit there, you know it's going to
do well here in the Greater Houstonarea. One of those destination garden centers.

(02:17:03):
Folks that know what they're talking about, quality plants, quality products,
And I'm telling you it's just fun. Go out and you will spend a
couple of hours they're just wandering aroundlooking at all of the things that are
available out at Arburgate Arburgate dot com. We were talking about taking care of

(02:17:24):
your plants and making a beautiful landscape, and I talked about the sea of
Green earlier today. And you wantcolor in your landscape. Now, you
can do that by buying plants.But if you look at your landscape and
it's just like there's something missing,I don't know. I buy plants,
I plan them, but it justdoesn't look right. You need to contact
the folks at Peerscapes. Peerscapes isour preferred landscaper here on garden Line,

(02:17:48):
and they're a one stop shop.They do it all new gardens, rock
borders, walkways, drainage issues,on and on. They know what they're
talking about. Experienced professionals, verytrained employees. Go to pierce Scapes dot
com and have them design that showplace that your place can be for you.

(02:18:09):
They can do that. Two eightone three seven zero five zero six
zero. I'm visiting with Jason Gartyout there at pier Scapes a while back,
and I just tell you their expertise, their knowledge, it's it's impressive.
And when you go see the workthat they've done well, then it

(02:18:31):
all begins to make a whole moresense. You were listening to garden Line
our phone number seven one three twoone two fifty eight seventy four. Give
a call. Josh will get youup on the boards and we will be
happy to talk to you about whateverquestions that you have. By the way,
coming coming out, coming out ofthis break, I've got a unique

(02:18:52):
song that I promise you've never heardbefore. You know, I always say
we try to stretch your musical whatearworms or tastes or whatever. We do
that here on garden Line. Andyou've already heard everything today, that's all
across the board, but you haven'theard what's coming up, So hanging around
for that. Southwest Fertilizer has beena Houston lawn and garden tradition since nineteen

(02:19:18):
fifty five, I mean back inthe Dewey Compton days. In fact,
I'm the fifth garden Line host tospeak for Southwest Fertilizer. And they've got
every kind of fertilizer. We talkabout every kind you can imagine. They
even have their own Southwest Premium Gold. If you want organic products, you're
not going to find a better selectionthan Southwest Fertilizer, all herbicides, fertilizers,

(02:19:39):
fungicides, expert advice. When youwalk in there with a picture or
a plant problem, they put theireyes on it and they take you to
what you need to fix the situation. Because you know, it's one thing
to just go in and say,I have an insect, I need an
insecticide. It's another no, no, which one which insect is it?
Maybe it's a beneficial insect. Folksat Southwest Fertilizer they can direct you go

(02:20:01):
to Southwest Fertilizer dot com and findout more about them. You know,
they're down there on the corner ofBissonette and Renwick in Southwest Houston. Southwest
Fertilizer dot com. Well, Nikki, we uh, we've been talking about
all kinds of things plants today andI know you do you right? Who

(02:20:22):
who'd have thought about that? Butit is news that this weekend is tax
free on all water saving things,which includes plant sales, includes compost sales,
that includes molt sales. That's bignews. Two days where the state
of Texas doesn't get a little bitof your money. So that's like a
sale right there. There you go, tax free weekend. This is your

(02:20:52):
moment of sound. You can thankful. That's enough Fronzel. I don't know
a better yodor than that guy.Pretty amazing. Maybe it's not your gig,
but hey, we're trying. We'retrying. We're trying to spread the

(02:21:15):
musical taste out a little farther andwider. I'd just be glad you didn't
grow up in my household. Mykids were subjected to everything from that to
barbershop to you name it. Ifit was a musical style, we gave
it a shot around the house.You're listening to Garden Line, not you
know, Polka Hour. It's sevenone three, two one two fifty eight

(02:21:39):
seventy four. I'm your host,Skip Richter, and we are here to
answer your gardening questions. If youlive up in the Late Conro Montgomery area,
you need to check out an APlants. They are your backyard nursery
right up in that area. Theyare just on Highway one oh five,
just on the east side of Montgomery, and they carry all the products we

(02:22:01):
talk about, the fertilizers, youknow, the soils and things that we
talk about here. They do somelandscaping up in that area and in do
some delivery up in that area aroundthe Lake Conrow area as well. So
you need to check them out.They've got all the plants that you need.
I mean, that's for sure,Like three anchors. You can wander
through everything, shade trees, fruit, nut citrus, berries, vegetables,

(02:22:22):
herbs, perennials, annuals, palmtrees, cactus. Have I read enough?
I mean, they're all there.Plus they have an amazing amount of
bling, you know, whimsicle yardart, concrete, statuary, gazebos,
arches, topiaries, maybe a chiminaiafrom the patio that is that is ana
plants in produce. So check themout. You will. You will be

(02:22:46):
amazed. If you haven't been inthere, you will be amazing. I
used to go a long time agothrough there, and then by the last
couple of years, I've been goingback again to see it, and it
is it just keeps getting better.It is. It is really really cool.
I'm gonna ask go ahead and headto the phones. Here. Let's
talk to Don up in Menville.Hello, Don wait, Skiptan pre taking

(02:23:09):
the call, sir, Yes,sir, I've got a comment and in
a question. The comment is Nikkiyou see my favorite broadcaster, Okay,
and then my question, Yeah,she's really good. I like her a
lot. My question is one wouldbe the last day that I should be
able to put my tomatoes in theground. I know what I'm going to
plant are the little romas. Ithink they're about a seventy five day to

(02:23:31):
maturity. Yeah, we're a littlelate. We're a little late for that.
In fact, that roma is okayabout setting in the summer. It's
not as bad as the big slicers, but it's not as good as the
little cherry types. You know.I'm trying to think what I would do
if I had a tomato right now. When we get to about July,

(02:23:52):
it's time to put them in again. I was just wondering. I guess
you could plan them. You're you'renot gonna see yield until the weather breaks
the fall, and that's why wesometimes do a fall planting a little later.
But give them a shot. Maybethey'll prove me wrong. Give them
a well, let me ask you, Let me ask your questions when I
do plant them. Should they belike semi sunny I mean? Or can

(02:24:15):
I plant them all in the sunthe sun is going to hit them all
day? Or should I How shouldI do that? Well, it's just
the air temperature. It's the nighttimeand daytime air temperatures. When night when
daytimes are up in the nineties andnighttimes are in the upper eight upper seventies,
which welcome to summer in Houston.Uh, that is just it's hard
on the plants. They don't thepollen clumps, and it doesn't pollinate well,
and you don't get good fruit sut. So I would if you got

(02:24:41):
them, I would put them ina spot. If you can choose a
spot that has morning sun for atleast six hours and then some afternoon shade,
maybe that'll help a little bit.But it's not going to change the
air temperature. And so give it, give it your best shot, and
then call me back and tell me, you know, especially if they end
up doing okay, I'd like toknow that because I I've not tried planting

(02:25:01):
roma that late. So well,what would you suggest instead of room of
I'm not stuck on those. Whatdo you think would do better? Maybe
the little cherries, yea, thebig boys or what the little cherries and
grapes do better in the summer.They don't like it in the summer,
but they'll they'll set better. Theyset fruit better in the in the summer
time, so I mean something,well, that's something that we have in

(02:25:24):
common. I don't like the summerdown here either. Yeah, and not
the truth. So yeah, Imean if if you just need some tomato
flavor and things, you know,in the summer, the skin gets a
little tough on those on those andsay you eat the cherry tomato and then
you spit a little red cellophane outof your mouth. That was the skin.
So but anyway, yeah, ifyou want to want to try one,

(02:25:46):
I would, I would, Iwould do that. Okay, don
yes, sir, thank you.I'll give it a shot. All right,
good luck with that. Now you'veprobably heard of Dell Web Communities.
I mean they've been building communities foractive adults age fifty five for over seventy
years. Well, they got anew community going in State of the Art
less than two miles from downtown FullSure on FM three fifty nine. They've

(02:26:09):
got the inspired designs and the lifestyleprograms that you would expect from Dellweb Plus
and gardeners hear this. I'm workingwith them to create a community garden on
site at that community for the residents. So go to dellweb dot com Slash
Houston to get more information or givehim a call two eight one four or
five nine six o nine. Checkout the dellweb difference for yourself. If

(02:26:33):
you have not gotten your pre emergentfertilizer, fertilizers herbicide out and you've got
an ongoing weed problem, you mightwant to consider a barricade application. Now,
barricade is not going to kill weedsare existing. It's a pre emergence,
so it prevents them from coming up. So maybe you've prepared a soil
area and you know the weeds you'reworried about weeds coming up in it,

(02:26:58):
Well, barricade can hold those down. Just remember that it stops the broad
leaf and the thin grassy weeds andit'll go a long time. One ten
pound bag goes over five thousand squarefeet. You're gonna find barricade everywhere you
find nitrofost products. If you're upin the Taska cedat the ace hardware there,
if you are on plants for allseasons up on I thirty five,

(02:27:20):
if you're up in the woodlands direction, I'll spash ace in the woodlands and
shades of Texas, all places thatyou can get barricade products. Well,
let's head out. We're gonna gonow all the way out to Crosby and
talk to Delilah. Hey, Delilah, good morning, Hi, good morning.
Um. I have a oak treeand it used to drop a lot

(02:27:41):
of acorns, and after the freezeit's stopped. Okay. Is it a
live yes, yes, sir,and it's about twenty five years old.
Okay, Well, I wouldn't worryabout it. Different things can affect the
cycle of acorns under an oak,and you know, the different types of

(02:28:01):
oaks produce them on a different schedule, some every year, some every other
year, and so on. ButI well, I know we had got
them every year, and we don'thave a lot of squirrels in our neighborhood,
so they were all over under thetree. And then, like I
said, just after the freeze,Yeah, we have not gotten them since

(02:28:22):
then. I can't connect up tothe freeze, but I don't know why
that is. But I'm sure they'llbe back. Yeah, okay, all
right, all right, definitely notmuch, you bet, definitely not a
problem with that oak tree. We'regonna take a quick break here. The
number seven one three, two onetwo fifty eight seventy four, called Josh,
get on the boards. We'll talkto you when we come back in

(02:28:43):
Charles in Texas City, you'll befirst up. No body, I got
some. I just got shots too. Well, good morning on a great

(02:29:07):
Saturday for gardening, for talking aboutgardening. It's just an inspired day,
I tell you this is this isthe kind of weather that turns landscapes beautiful
because it catches everybody's interest. We'reout there buying plants, planning plans,
fertilizing plants, taking care of them. That's why we're here advise you on
those kind of things. You're listeningto Garden Line our phone number seven one

(02:29:28):
three two one two five eight sevenfour. Let's head out to Texas City
and we're going to talk to Charles. Hello Charles, Well, I'm lucky
again I get to speak with you. This is a continuing saga. Can
harmon me? Continuing saga of thestink bugs? Bugs? Do you think

(02:29:52):
that the guy to feed store anywhere? Uh? Do you think the mallet's
ion would would help or maybe eradicatethe problem with those sting bows on the
tomato plants? Yea, nothing's goingto eradicate them, but a malifane will
kill stink bugs. Um, Iam very fortunate I have bees are available.
I mean they got pollinators. Well, malion kill bees if they're coming

(02:30:18):
around. If I spray with malthan, yes, if you if you spray
a bee, or if you spraythe plant and then the bee lands on
the plant um, then malifan istoxic to bees, that's for sure.
Now tomatoes, tomatoes are not beepollinated. They are pollinated when the blossoms
move and the pollen falls within theflower from the the anthers to the to

(02:30:41):
the female parts of the flower,and and so. But that's you wouldn't
want to kill bees anyway. Butanyway, that no, sir, Yeah,
that's the case. Stink bugs arejust tough. You know, learning
what they look like when they're inan egg stage and when they're in their
little nymphs stages. That's the bestthing that tomato rour can do. Because
you're out there looking at your tomatoplants and if you see a cluster of

(02:31:05):
eggs, you know what a stinkbug egg or their cousin, the leaf
footed bug, which is also essentiallya stink bug, what they look like.
You can just you can just snipthem out and throw them away.
When they're little nymphs, they tendto hang out in herds. They don't
have wings yet, and so it'sreally easy. I mean, somebody doesn't
want to spray, you can justswat them into a pale of soapy water
because they don't need wings to flyaway once they got wings, and they're

(02:31:28):
everywhere like you probably have now,Charles, Uh, I mean you're putting
out a lot of pesticide. That'spretty strong stuff to try to get ahead
of stink bugs. Yeah, andthese are those black ones with the yellow
bands are and they just they arethey are just as thick as flies out
there. Oh I know, Iknow that is the leaf footed bug.
And yeah, they are a problemthere. You know, it's probably not

(02:31:52):
going to help you this year.But another strategy, there's things they like
even as much or more than tomatoes, and that is they like sunflowers,
the kind that have the seed,big seat heads on them. They like
what do they like the not artichokecardoon, a little cartoon has a little
blooms on them. They like blackeyed peas, and so some people will

(02:32:16):
put a planting in just to attractthe stink bugs to it, and then
they'll spray them on that planting andtry to get in ahead before they move
into your tomatoes, for example,before the tomatoes start to come on.
They're and they're doing that. That'sa little bit of a timing trick.
But I know there's some research doneby the Extension Service over in Alabama on

(02:32:37):
looking at trap crops for stink bugs, and that's basically what they're doing.
They're trying to draw them off.They've used they've done that, and it's
probably more than you will know,but they've done that in pecan orchards,
planted black eyed peas around the peripheryand then they just spray the black eyed
peas and try to stop the stinkbugs before they move up into the pecan
trees to do the damage there.That's well, we got about sixty or

(02:33:03):
seventy plants, So it's sir,Yeah, it's it's terrible. Yeah yeah,
it's it's stuck and grabbing, smashing, Yeah yeah yeah, Charles.
Once they get wings, you've kindof lost the battle at that stage.
I mean, yes, there arethings you can nuke them with, but
basically, um I would I wouldback up and come up with some other

(02:33:26):
strategies for the next next round ofthe tomato season. Uh and and and
try to come up with someone thoseif somebody build a crap like I get
for the flies that well, yeahsthey have natural enemies. But apparently natural
enemies aren't doing their job very goodbecause they are a garden annual problem around
here. Yeah. Yeah, Iain't daddy, Okay, Well, I

(02:33:48):
just want to make sure for Idid what was suggested. And yeah,
because I don't want to hurt nobees. Yeah, their problems. Yeah,
i'd p that's that's true. That'strue. All right, you take
care, thanks to me, andkeep doing what you're doing. Put it
well, thank you. That meansa lot. I appreciate that thought.
You know. Ace Hardware is everywhereyou are, thirty nine stores in Houston.

(02:34:13):
I mean, go to Ace Hardwaredot com look for their store.
There's a place you click for thestore locator and you can find the one
near you, And there is onenear you. Ace Hardware carries the products
we talk about all the time.So if you need a beautiful garden and
a bountiful landscape, Ace Hardware's gotit. They got the fertilizers, they
got the soils, they got theproducts that you might need to spray for

(02:34:37):
controlling pests and diseases and weeds andthings like that. Ace Hardware has got
one of the largest grilling selections onthe market. I mean Webber, Tragger,
Big Green Egg, and more.I mean it is. It is
a wonderland to walk through an AceHardware and see all that they have.
And if you knew the Ace Hardwarefrom years and years ago, you need
to see the new. Ace Hardwarestill got that serve us that we love

(02:35:01):
from a good old hometown hardware store. But with Ace Hardware, in addition
to the service, you get aselection that is just unbelievable. Go to
Ace Hardware dot com and find thestore near you. We're going to now
head out to East Houston and talkto Tom good Morning. Tom good Morning,
serves a beautiful day for Accepted bycall. You're bat. My question

(02:35:26):
is I'm going to buy a vegoa raised bed good for you? And
and yes and uh. Earlier inthe in your show, you mentioned a
soil company that provided the specs ofhow to how to calculate how many qbic

(02:35:48):
feet of soil I need for mygood? Could you please, could you
you spoke real fast there have aPN I guess, but could you repeat
that for me please and all theother listeners. I would be happy to
That is airloom soils. They're outin porter, they deliver through the area.

(02:36:11):
But airloom soils of Texas dot Com, heirlooms soils plural of Texas dot
Com. And that the qbcard calculatorson there, it's it's the best one
I've ever seen. It's because Imean, like literally, if you wanted

(02:36:31):
to know how many five gallon bucketsof soiler in a qubic yard or how
many wheelbarrows of soil, they'll giveyou a real good rough estimate on that
calculator. It's pretty cares that airloomof Texas airloom. Let me just I'm
gonna spell the whole thing out becauseI want everybody to get them. It's
h E I R l O OM S O I L S O F

(02:36:58):
T e x S heirloom soils ofTexas dot Com. Oh air h yeah,
heirloom like a like a family heirloom. Okay, Lau of Texas Okay,
good, all right, you goodluck. Yeah. I have fun
with that. Have fun with thatvego bad Those are super cool. Hey,

(02:37:22):
Can I ask you one other question? Yes, sir, okay,
I know tomatoes have a deep root, and so right now I have been
large containers. Okay, probably Tim, Tim gallant that you're doing it right.
And uh, but when I getmy vego they come in seventeen h

(02:37:48):
high or two two foot high,I believe, yes, check out my
specs. Is uh, I knowtwenty four would be better than seventeen.
Is it would there be that muchdifference in the preparation of Yeah, okay,

(02:38:09):
tom are you putting this bed onthe ground or are you putting it
on like a sidewalk or okay,So the roots, the tomato roots are
going to go down in the ground. So what I would do is the
seventeen is fine, that's enough.That's enough. So you just want to
break up the soil and kind ofmix it with the bed mix that you're
going to put in there, andthen fill it with bed mix and you'll

(02:38:31):
be good to go. The tomatoroots will get down in that soil and
it I mean in the soil belowas well, so you'll be fine.
The soil is hard clay, well, that's why I spread a little bit
of the bed mix and mix itwith the hard clay so you don't go
from a transition from this beautiful bedmixed soil to the hard clay. You

(02:38:54):
heard. I think it's funny,absolutely is you bet well? You've been
listening to Garden Line Goodness. Theyflew by. We are going to be
out. I will be out atclear Lake at the wild Birds Unlimited at
clear Lake. They're going to begiven away an advanced pole system. They're
giving them away, an eliminator birdfeater that's squirrel proof. They're going to
give away. Somebody's going to wina twenty pound bag of their no Mess

(02:39:18):
bird seed blend per month for thenext year. Now, go out to
El Dorado Boulevard, corner of ElDorado and clear Lake City, across from
HB storefront faces Blair Lake City Boulevard. I'll be there from eleven thirty to
one. I hope you'll come outand see me today. Looking forward to
talking to you.