By Tim Thompson - Your Hometown Garden Guy

As the days get shorter from now through the end of the year, many central Texas gardeners report that their fall gardens are sometimes easier to grow than their typical spring gardens. Having the warmer temperatures toward the beginning of the planting season does make it more important to make sure your fledgling plants have enough water, but those warmer days will get your garden growing much faster than in the warm-cool-warm temperature swings of spring.

July Vegetable Gardening Tips In Wimberley, Texas

You garden will welcome new crops of tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, corn, okra, eggplants, pumpkins, and other warm season favorites this month. Early August is a better time for green beans and peas, and September and October will mark the time for leafy green crops and Cole crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, and kale.

Wimberley Summer Organic Garden Insect Control

Biting and stinging insects have resumed their annual visits at our house as usual this year. Scorpions, fleas, ticks, chiggers, and fire ant populations have boomed, but you can fight them effectively without damaging the budget or the environment. Lots of bugs take advantage of our summer warmth to swarm and multiply, and you’ll see that evidenced by thousands of identical insect cousins crawling all around a small area in or around you house. Others seek refuge in our homes for the cool air and running water. These are problems that you can deal with safely and effectively. Several principles of pest management apply:

1. Instead of attempting the impossible task of ridding your environment of insects, concentrate on reducing their population and controlling their location.

2. Preventing insect infestation is much easier and less expensive than remediating a serious bug problem once it has ballooned out of control.

3. Using targeted pest control products that will kill or prevent infestations, rather than all bugs including the beneficial ones, will better control the overall pest problem around your house. Examples include Nolo Bait for grasshoppers; beneficial nematodes for outside ants, chiggers, fleas, and other ground-dwelling bugs; and boric acid powder for roaches and ants inside the house. Several companies make liquid boric acid bait packs for safe use in the kitchen and the rest of your home. We also use granulated sulfur to discourage pests around the house, under the deck, and around the barn and well.

 This is the perfect time of year to scout the gardens around town to see which plants are thriving and performing well in our latest stretch of 100° plus days. The native plants that have made it on the little rain we’ve had this year are a testament to the rugged nature of well adapted plants. Water-saving, reliably cold-hardy, faithfully beautiful, and at-home in the Hill Country plants are the hallmark of a successful garden in Wimberley. If you need help choosing some, then ask one of our knowledgeable nursery professionals at the King Feed Garden Center. We have always carried an extensive collection of native and well-adapted plants and everything you need to help them get started and live long, productive lives.

July 2022 Things To Do In Wimberley, Texas

Relentless triple digit days can get tiresome, but Texans have historically accepted that challenge and made the best of it. Patio tables with umbrellas, shade trees sheltering the yard, misting systems cooling the back porch, ice cold beverages to cool the fevered brow, grilling dinner outside instead of heating up the kitchen indoors- all of these are cultural coping tools we use. Don’t forget visiting one of Wimberley’s aquatic jewels to cool off your days. Blue Hole Regional Park and Jacob’s Well Natural Area are just a phone call or web visit away from a reservation to uniquely gorgeous and cold swimming. Check them out- they are absolutely awesome. If you're looking for a Wimberley restaurant with outdoor seating, then you should definitely visit Chill's On The Creek! They are a family friendly restaurant with a huge outdoor patio shaded by beautiful trees. Plus, they have a full bar for adults.

July is your last chance to plant Jack O’Lanterns, pie pumpkins, ornamental pumpkins, and other varieties of squash. They are easy to grow, and our sizzling summer weather is right for them. They just need some decent garden soil and excellent drainage, so planting in hills or raised beds works well here. Since pumpkins are insect-pollinated, it’s important to be careful about the use of pesticides in your pumpkin patch. Plant half a dozen seeds of your favorite variety, then thin them out to the three strongest seedlings after the third set of leaves appear. Leave plenty of room between hills and allow them to ripen on the vine for the best produce. If you want to avoid some of the ground scars on the skin, put a handful of straw under each fruit after they set fruit. Check the number of days to maturity on your favorite variety and count backwards from the date you want to harvest to make sure you plant in time. 

Starting July 2022, all of the Organic Botanical Interest Seeds are 40%! Hurry to grab your while supplies last. Also, check out some of the July popular products at our store!

Stay safe, take care of one another and, as always, spread peace, love, and flowers!

Tim’s Garden Shopping List

For a gorgeous front yard and backyard lawn!

• King's Premium Lawn Food custom blended

 for all Wimberley grasses, shade trees, and shrubs

• Disper-Sul sulfur pellets 

• Sustane 8-2-4 organic fertilizer

• Milorganite organic lawn food

• Ironite 

• King’s native grass mix 

• Sahara Bermuda grass seed

• Fescue seed for shady areas

Healthy ornamental trees and shrubs !

• root stimulator

• compost, manure, or peat moss

• pine bark, cypress, or midnight mulch

• Agriform planting tablets

• pruning shears or saw

• shovel

• rock bar or pickaxe

• bark protector sleeves

• fence material for deer protection

• tree fertilizer stakes

To nurture flower beds:

• flower seeds and transplants

• flower bulbs 

• compost, manure, or peat moss

• root stimulator

• bedding plants, perennials

• tools: rake, garden fork, shovel

• flowering plant food

Growing wholesome, nourishing food  

• vegetable transplants & seeds

• grapevines and berry plants

• fruit trees

• hoses, drip irrigation, sprinklers

• cottonseed meal or blood meal

• bone meal or rock phosphate

• shovel, rake, fork, cultivator

• root stimulator

To be prepared 

• bamboo fabric gloves 

• watering wand, and sprayers  

• garden tools

• frost protection fabric and spray

• pots, planters, hanging baskets

• thermometer and rain gauge

• potting soil, topsoil, manure, sand, compost, mulch, soil conditioner

• weed blocking landscape fabric

• deer repellants

• fencing supplies: posts, fence fabric, post clips, fence staples

• weed control

• insect control

• raised bed garden frames

• flea & tick control  

• pruning paint

• whimsical iron garden décor 

The best gifts for all the gardeners in your life! You can find several of these products specifically at King Feed and Hardware.

• King Feed Gift Cards

• Music of the Spheres windchimes

• retro galvanized watering cans

• bird baths and fountains

• garden tables and chairs

• garden gnomes  

• tin buckets & planters

• Talavera pottery from Dolores Hidalgo

• glazed pottery in all sizes

• bird feeders for every decor

• iron and wooden trellises & arbors

• whimsical Talavera glazed animals

• copper and zinc plant markers

• garden benches and statuary

• Sloggers® hats and rainboots

• cooling foggers and misters

• garden thermometers & clocks

• garden art and sculpture

• solar garden lights

• Smart Pots fiber planters and raised beds

• ready-to-plant raised bed frames