April

Spring brings the fireant back into the landscape. You can control fireants with the Two-Step Method. The two steps are a broadcast treatment over a large area combined with individual mound control. You can use several things for the broadcast treatment.

STEP ONE: Use beneficial nematodes for treatment of the larger area. There are thousands of different species of nematodes. The nematode for fireant control is sold under the name ANTidote. It attacks the fireants at the larval stage. It is very effective and can last for years.

STEP TWO: Use a mound treatment that consists of compost tea, molasses, and orange oil. You can buy concentrates of this. Look for Garden-Ville's Auntie Fuego Soil Conditioner, or you can buy Garden-Ville's Garrett Juice and add the orange oil to it. You can also make your own by making compost tea and adding orange oil and molasses to your homemade tea. See our "In the Garden" page on how to make compost tea. To this tea, add 4-6 ounces of orange oil and 4 teaspoons of molasses, per gallon, to make your own mound control juice.

You can plant the following vegetables this month:

• Lady Bugs: These little orange bugs with black spots feed on soft-bodied insect pests. Aphids are their favorite meal. Their larvae are often confused with the pest that may be causing the problem. Be sure that you know what the larvae of the ladybug looks like before you spray! You can purchase several hundred lady bugs for a few dollars.
• Lacewings: One of the most beneficial insects. It is the larvae of the lacewings that do all the work. These larvae are called aphid lions or ant lions. You will find them available in the egg form. Their preferred appetite includes aphids, mealybugs, many worms, red spider mites, thrips, and scale.
• Big Eyed Bug: Another of the most beneficial insects. Sometimes mistaken for chinch bugs, they are bigger with a wider body and move more rapidly. They are light, yellowish green and about ¼ inch long. They will control aphids, whiteflies, caterpillars, thrips, red spider mites, leafhoppers, corn earworm, and many other plant pests.
• Giant Wheel Bug: You can recognize this beneficial insect by the large 'wheel' that is located on it's back. It is large, being one to one and one half inches long and gray in color. It controls moths, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and webworms.

You can learn about these and other insects by purchasing the best book on bugs written by two Texans. Malcolm Beck and Howard Garrett have written the Texas Bug Book, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It is filled with great pictures and descriptions.

Soft-bodied worms find their way back to our landscapes this time of year. You can easily control them with an organic product called Bacillus thuringiensis. It is a naturally occurring bacterium that only affects chewing insect larvae. Look for it as Bt or Thuricide. It kills the worm on contact or when they eat the foliage that has been sprayed with Bt.

Red Spider Mites begin to be a problem with the return of the heat and humidity. They are very small mites that can be barely seen with the naked eye that leave spider webbing on the underside of leaves. The tops of the affected leaves will turn yellow with brown spots. You will find them often on the lower regions of your growing tomato plants. Liquid seaweed will control them! Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves that are affected. Liquid seaweed is also a great foliar spray for your plants.

Garlic-Pepper Spray can be very effective as an insect repellant. See our "In the Garden" page for the instructions on how to make this homemade remedy.

• April is the month when you find the largest availability of native and well-adapted perennials. These are the plants the return year after year to give your landscape all that spring thru fall color. It is what we claim to specialize in so come see the usual and the hard to find.
• This is the month to get those perennials in the ground. Spring is when you will find the biggest selection of perennials at the nurseries. Be sure to set yourself a budget before you get to the nursery! The beauty and selection has been known to overcome the pocketbook!
• Rabbit Hill Farms has a new Native Plant Food. Perennials don't always need the rich soil amendments that you might use for your annual flowers or vegetable gardens. Give this new product a try in your spring soil amending for your native and perennial flowerbeds.

• Fall is the best time to plant trees and shrubs. With that said, spring fever sets in and you want to plant! You can still plant trees and shrubs in the spring, but get them in the ground as soon as you can. Their roots need time to get somewhat established by the coming heat of summer. Two products will help them establish quicker.
• Liquid Seaweed: This product is a natural source of Vitamin B1, a natural rooting stimulator that will help your plants establish quicker. It also contains over sixty trace minerals. It comes as a concentrate that you mix with water and then use a soil drench after planting. For a five gallon tree or shrub, pour three or four gallons of this solution around the root ball when planting.
• Mycorrhizal Fungus: This is a new product on the market. This beneficial fungus is found in all healthy soils. It has a symbiotic relationship with plants. The roots of your plants release a gas from their roots that this fungus uses as its sustenance. In exchange for this, the fungus protects the plants roots from disease and insect attacks and also reaches out and brings water and nutrients back to the plant. You can now purchase this product to use when you plant most anything. It has to be applied in the root zone, so you mix it with the soil backfill when you plant. Even though it is found in healthy soils, by applying when you plant you will give your new plantings the immediate benefits of this wonderful soil amendment.

• Have a soil test done by the folks at Texas Plant and Soil Lab. They do a very complete test and recommend how to amend the soil organically with their analysis and interpretations.
• Plant summer blooming bulbs now. Divide those bulbs that are growing too tightly.
• If you wanted to transplant or move some of your perennials, do it while spring is still young.
• For those native and perennial beds that you will not be changing much this year, now is a good time to work some compost and other good organic soil amendments into the soil. 1. Go ahead and prune back the dormant perennials if you haven't done so already. Prune back until you see green growth in the stem's vascular system.
  2. Rake the old mulch and leaves back, spread one inch of compost across the top of the soil.
  3. Add an all-in-one fertilizers, such as Medina Granular, at the recommended rate.
  4. Gently work the compost and fertilizer into the soil with a spade fork.
  5. Drench the ground with a soil activator such as the Lady Bug Natural Brand's Terra Tonic.
  6. Finish off with 2-4 inches of mulch to reduce the spring weeds from coming back