★Well, if you’ve been putting off getting ready for summer, you’re in luck! Why not start off with something wonderful that comes right from Spring, wonderful Texas made Holdman’s honey, delicious on just about anything you can think of, direct from all the busy bees buzzing around six different counties, and of course, all natural? Those of you that have been growing good old coastal hay, it’s time to cut and dry, and you can never have enough twine, we sure have had a lot of luck with the blue and white made by Titan, first class twine that’ll spool out real smooth and have that’ll hold still a dinosaur on the rampage, not to mention keep your squares compact and tidy.

★And the hardest working cow dogs in Texas out in the heat that’s coming doing all those chores and keeping us company are going to work up a sweat and a layer of South Texas dirt, not to mention lots a hair that needs trimming back. This is sure a recipe for lots of fleas and ticks, but we’ve got you covered. We have complete grooming supplies that are not only good for your dogs but for your horses too, everything to fluster the flies flummox the fleas, and terrify the ticks! We’ve stocked up special just for these occasions, lots of first quality vet grade flea collars, flea dips, and of course, shampoos and clippers, complete clipper-groomer sets, and all kinds of spare parts so you can reward you’re hard-working best friends with a refreshing cleanup, not to mention a great look ready to go to town.

All our big rains sure have been welcomed for our spring gardens and for growing all that coastal hay, but just like last year, we’re bound to have quite a surplus of ants and scorpions just to keep life interesting! Well, you can make life interesting for them too, come right on in to Jupe Mills, Adkins, and let us walk you over to our section we’ve got set up for just such occasions. For the ants, we cannot recommend Martin’s Surrender more highly, and for scorpions, we’ve stocked up on Demon WP, a real winner. Some of y’all really favor Bifin IT and Turf Ranger for a broad-spectrum approach, so we keep these in quantity.

★Plenty of sunshine and plenty good rain is a good deal for the trees and grass and so forth, but with it comes the need for brush control, especially important at the end of this month and into the first part of June to stay ahead of this annual chore. We can’t recommend highly enough using Remedy or Sendero, or a generic Tryclopyr, these work best for the kind of brush that is already making its appearance and will take hold pretty quick here in May and the first part of June if not addressed early. We do sell first class hatchets and pry bars to take care of more mature versions of this kind of thing down the line, but a little spraying in May and June might be more desirable than hard labor in July and August.

For the little stuff, get after it with a sturdy Mauryama weed eater, we’ve got the most popular model that is perfectly suited for duties down here in South Texas, and if you’ve already got one, we’ve got all the replacement parts, fuel, and plenty of line to keep you stringing along as you beat back the plants you don’t care about.

But what about the plants you do care about, the ones in your beautiful lawn, your trees, your shrubs, and of course, your garden? APF fertilizers are made right here in Texas by a great family that knows all about how our soils and seasons work. Have a look right here for a legend of fertilizers that are sure to meet any need no matter if you’ve got extra sand in your soil or if it’s just plain loam:

MAY FERTILIZERS
Conventional:
APF 15-5-10 Lawn, Native & Pasture Grasses
APF 18-10-5 Long Term, for Sandy Soil
APF 21-0-0 Lawn, Plant, Fruit and Vegetable
APF 13-13-13, all purpose, Lawns, Tree and Shrub
APF 10-20-10 Strictly for the Garden
APF 21-7-14 Strictly for Lawns, slow-release

Organic:
Medina Growin’ Green
HastaGro Lawn
HastaGro Plant

Those of you that have larger properties and are in need of a sprayer for your ATVs, we have a great to 25 gallon sprayer from K&K Vet, the ASR57. This model is durable, efficient and priced lower then some higher end brand models. We work every day to find products like this to offer to you as an alternative, mainly from our own experience in working with the land we love, and protecting the dollar we work so hard for.

★Pond and tank maintenance is also of great interest in May and the first part of June. Whether you have stock tanks that you’re trying to maintain with wildlife friendly treatments, to keep algae from going crazy and maintain general water quality, or whether you have a small decorative pond that you want to keep looking pretty and happy for your goldfish, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well AquaBan liquid algaecide and pond cleaner will work to keep pond and tank bottoms clear and water fresh. We also recommend a little blue dye by the same company to provide additional mitigation against algae growth.

★The cattle ranchers that we are so proud to serve are going to be less dependent on feeds as they are on the grass that was planted in early spring, but even so we recommend providing some of beef builder feeds and sweet feed for the growing calves, as well as keeping some range cubes on hand as a treat. We also have a variety of salt blocks with trace minerals and sulfur, not to mention our very popular MannaPro fly block, and a fly control molasses tub by MVP. This late spring, early summer combo will keep your herd in good shape, and we stock all of these things everyday this time of year. For those of you that like to keep a few goats, we also have a first class goat pellet formula that is sure please.

Our horseman and horsewomen will also find our warehouse well stocked with plenty of seasonally relevant pelleted feeds, sweet feeds, and coastal hay to get you from spring to summer. We also have some wonderful First Companion brand electrolyte products that are great for meeting additional nutritional needs that come with summer heat, extra work, and extra recreational activity. Those of you that have been in our stores even once, y’all know we keep plenty of tack for work and play as well, lots of reins, saddle blankets, head stalls, bits, lead ropes, saddle pads and blankets, and of course, plenty of durable Little Giant / Miller water buckets that’ll last a million years and really take a beating.

★The latter part of May and into June and on through the summer is going to be time for dealing with fleas, flies, mosquitoes, and all other kinds of bugs that are also out to have some Summer fun, starting about May 1. We have sold quite a number of Spartan mosquito hangups, sales have been very brisk on these items, and for good reason. They’re extremely effective, and we’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from folks who have them in their yard, garden or up around the porch. For flea control we also recommend Martin’s IG Regulator, which interrupts the development of flea eggs, and is very well suited for indoor and outdoor use, this way you never see the fleas to begin with. And we can’t fail to mention that we’ve got a number of awesome fly control products that are easy-to-use, safe for people and wildlife, and good priced. We can report to you very reliably that there is no need for you to have to deal with flies this latter part of spring and into the first part of summer, when flies seem to be so eager to participate in nearly every activity, work or play.

If you’re like the rest of us, you going to a lot of trouble to try to stay comfortable as the heat starts to build and cool breezy afternoons become more and more a memory. Why not stay ahead of the game and beat the heat early, buy filling in all those cracks and crevices that let out the cool? We’ve got plenty of items to address these matters, first quality caulk with a good duty cycle of several years tops the list. And for maintaining efficiency on large surfaces, complete repainting or touch up painting can help a great deal too, and maintain a pleasing look to your home and outbuildings. No need to shop for these items at a big box store where folks won’t understand the priorities of South Texans nearly as well as your neighbors right here in the store.

★For our ranchers keeping up operations big and small, we can’t help but mention the need for addressing any items that are related to perimeter management: barbwire, fence posts, gates, and ghost gate openers. These items are very timely for May, because, as you might remember from a time or two before, the ground may be getting ready to set like cement, not too accommodating for trying to put in any kind of fences or do any repairs to existing fences, not to mention there’s nothing worse then fence work in the latter part of July and August. Make your assessment of your first-class operation, jot down a few items, and we’ll see to it that you come in at a good budget and walk away with exactly what you need.

I guess that wraps it up for the latter part of spring and the march into summer, y’all have fun, enjoy some cool dark 30 horseback rides an ice tea out on the back porch, and give thanks, like we all do, that we get to live in a land that is still free, still proud, and still Texas.