It is time for planting pansies. Pansies like well-drained soil, cool weather, and full sun to partial shade. The well-drained soil should include expanded shale and compost in the bed. Expanded shale application rates are all over the place. How much you put in a bed depends on what’s going in the bed. Since we are talking about annual plants I use 1 bag of shale for every 40 to 50 square feet and add 2 cubic foot of compost. If you do this every time you change plants (crops) you will have plenty of expanded shale in a year or two. Don’t forget the fertilizer. I’m a big fan of Blood Meal (12-0-0) or Bat Guano (10-3-1) as a fertilizer. Follow the manufactures application recommendations.

I love the look of pansies around the house, in salads and have seen folks decorate cakes with the blooms. Different varieties have different flavors so taste them before using them. Make sure that they haven’t been sprayed with any chemical pesticides or fungicides. Should I really remind folks to wash them before eating?

Unfortunately the rabbits like the taste of the pansies also. That brings us to fox urine. Fox urine is a predator scent that is available in liquid and granules. Both are effective but the granulated is easier to apply. A good pair of dishwashing gloves is a sound investment if you go with the liquid. The liquid fox urine is poured into an applicator (a cotton ball in a plastic bottle with holes in it). With the cotton ball soaked, place the applicators about 10 feet apart. The smell of fox urine will last several hours to us humans but for the urban wildlife, it will last about a month. Then, just refill the applicators. The granules you shake out in the area to be protected. If the granules get wet you must reapply them.

Pick up freshly brewed Garden Tonic compost tea at Wells Brothers! Our plan is to brew Garden Tonic until November 17th this year. However, if it looks like it’s going to freeze, we’ll stop brewing until next Spring 2019. Keep an eye on Facebook and we’ll keep you posted! 

We have reformulated our Garden Tonic compost tea. It now has NO animal products in the mix. It is not a fertilizer but should be used as a soil amendment and for foliar feeding. Wells Brothers Garden Tonic (our version of compost tea) is made fresh weekly and is available Friday and Saturday only. Directions are simple: use straight, do not dilute, shelf life is approximately 48 hours. Price is $4.99 a gallon if you bring your own jug. Ziplock baggies are not a good choice. We do sell the very glamorous Wells Brothers gallon jug for $1.00.

Gardeners all know compost is terrific stuff. But there’s something even better than plain old compost, and that’s compost tea. As the name implies, compost tea is made by steeping compost in water. It can be used as either a foliar spray or a soil drench, depending on where your plant has problems. Talk to our experts about all your gardening needs.

Garden Tonic compost tea is fresh brewed weekly and available Friday and Saturday. Keep an eye on Facebook and we’ll let you know when it’s ready.

In this area of North Texas, it’s important to know when to plant fall gardens. Even though the thermometer still says summer, it’s time to get your fall garden started. Onions and garlic should be here around mid-September. Their arrival will be posted on Facebook. A lot of our customers ask me when to plant specific crops. Onions and garlic can be planted as soon as they are available. It can be a little risky but you can plant tomatoes and peppers in September. Choose tomato varieties with less than 65 days to maturity labels and keep a good eye on the weather.

When it comes to beans and peas I am, or I try to be on the early side of the planting guides. For the other fall/winter crops, I tend to be on the late side of the planting guides. I have found it easier to protect plants from the cold than the hot and dry. Towards the end of September, I plant lettuce, spinach, radish, beets, mustard and turnips, kale, chard, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and Brussel sprouts. Actually, I never plant Brussel sprouts. I hope you get the idea if I forgot to mention a specific favorite vegetable.

If it is still hot when you are planting these cool season seeds, here are a couple of tricks. Furrow (trench) the row and soak the inside of the furrow with water. Sow the seeds and cover with dry dirt, to the correct depth, as you normally would. You can also cover the rows with water soaked burlap bags. The burlap bag works very well but you need to check the row daily. Once a seed breaks the top of row remove the burlap.