Garden Guru Emilio "Elmo" Telles Archives

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

By Guest Blogger Wednesday, October 24, 2012

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News & General Info

Garden Guru: Fall planting from seeds in the Southland

Now’s the time to get those winter veggies ready to start! I have people coming in wanting to buy pepper and tomato seeds and I immediately show them what they should be planting now. Here in SoCal we have mild enough”winters” to start our cool season seeds this early. Green and root vegetables will do fine in our winters. Here […]

Saturday, September 1, 2012

By Guest Blogger Saturday, September 1, 2012

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Garden Guru: Summer bugs

Lately, I have had customers and my neighbors inquiring about patches in their lawns looking “dry” or spreading patches. The answer: Grubs, which are an “alien” looking fat white worm, are eating at the roots. There are a few organic forces you can use against them and they will go away easily and are environmentally friendly — organic is particularly […]

Friday, June 29, 2012

By Guest Blogger Friday, June 29, 2012

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Garden Guru:Watering flowers and plants in hot weather

Occasionally, when the temps hit the high ones, my customers will ask why I am watering at Armstrong nursery when it is kind of hot and during the middle of the day. They quote various stories/articles about NOT to water at that time of day. Well, here’s the deal. In a retail nursery the smaller containers(6-pack color, 4-inch pots and 1-gallon […]

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

By Guest Blogger Tuesday, June 19, 2012

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Garden Guru: Freaky weather and your vegetable garden

Lately, I’ve noticed as I walk my dogs and listen to customer’s comments and questions that this vegetable season has been a roller-coaster ride for people’s gardens. From the start of “warm” season vegetables(February), we had warm days, cool nights with just a bit of rain. Warm season veggies are(but not limited too) mostly peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons etc. […]

Thursday, June 7, 2012

By Guest Blogger Thursday, June 7, 2012

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Garden Guru: Summer watering tips

The easiest way to make the switch to less frequent lawn watering is to set the sprinklers to every two to three days for about three weeks. You’ll be amazed that after a month or so on that schedule your lawn will tolerate twice a week watering! My Bermuda grass lawn, which was getting watered every other day, now gets […]

Saturday, March 17, 2012

By Guest Blogger Saturday, March 17, 2012

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Garden Guru: Planting tomatoes and peppers part 2

Being in the retail nursery business as long as I have been, I frequently get asked–“What is the best tomato/pepper?” I’ll smile and respond–“If you ask all five of my associates that question, you will get about five different answers.” But the tried and true favourites are: Better Boy(medium/large fruit) Champion(medium fruit) Cherry(Small salad-type) Beefsteak/Beefmaster/Big Boy( for “hamburger big size!) […]

Thursday, March 8, 2012

By Guest Blogger Thursday, March 8, 2012

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Garden Guru: Planting tomatoes and peppers part 1

It’s about time for tomatoes and peppers. With these unusually cold nights and warm days those plants don’t know what to do! But they are readily becoming available at your local nurseries in seedling form. If you want to start from seeds, now is the time. For seed sowing this time of year, it’s a good idea to start them […]

Thursday, February 9, 2012

By Guest Blogger Thursday, February 9, 2012

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Garden Guru: The truth about black roses

“What is a black rose like the ones they have in the florists that I can grow”? Well those “black” and also the “blue” roses are only found in those 1960 Hercules movies and the “NCIS” TV series! Those rose colours(and other florist colours) are dyed by fresh cutting the stems and putting them immediately in the colored water to […]

Saturday, December 10, 2011

By Fronnie Lewis Saturday, December 10, 2011

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Garden Guru: Christmas tree shopping and care

Shopping for a fresh cut Christmas tree should be a fun and analytical experience. The first two things to look for is (obviously) shape and gaping holes between the branches. A little bit of gap is okay, because when you hang the ornaments the weight will help bring the branches down. What about the old story about pulling the branches […]

Garden Guru Emilio “Elmo” Telles