Newsletter & Tips

After a dry February and dry start to March, it looks like things are starting to change to a bit more wet at least for the next few days. Very good news. Looks like a good soaking rain for the weekend which will keep the grass green and help with all newly planted and established plants as well. It is now time to get ready to start fertilizing soon. As soon as deciduous trees and shrubs have their full set of leaves, you should give them their first fertilizing of the year. A balanced fertilizer works well for most things. Use a rhododendron, camellia, azalea fertilizer for your acid loving plants. Fertilize azaleas and rhododendrons after they are done blooming. Same thing for camellias. Citrus should use a citrus fertilizer. Seed potatoes are now available. We have Red, Russet, and Kenebec. They sell for $2.50 a pound. If you’ve never grown seed potatoes, they are very easy to do. And the potatoes you get when you grow your own are much better than the ones you buy at the store. To plant them, cut them into pieces with two eyes per piece. Let the pieces you cut dry enough to …

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Bare root season continues through February. The selection of bare root fruit trees and roses is still very good. The rain this year has been spaced out nicely so the ground is not soggy and the weather has stayed cool for the most part, to keep the trees dormant, so it is an excellent time to plant bare root fruit trees. At the end of the month we pot up what has not been sold bare root and then the price goes up. Take advantage of bare root prices and selection and get your fruit trees in now. Final Dormant Spraying is Due This Month The third and final dormant spraying to prevent leaf curl is due this month. Don’t delay. Get it done before the trees bloom. I spray all the deciduous trees in the orchard. It prevents leaf curl and also helps to prevent fireblight on pears and apples, although not completely, and greatly reduces the aphid and insect problems on all the trees. The third and final spraying is the most important one. You should have done two applications already and the final one should be done before flowers come out. We will be spraying the nursery …

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2020 Bare Root Roses are in and ready for sale. We are potting and staking the tree roses as I send this. They are available as well. All of the bare root roses are now in and ready for sale. $18.00 each for bare root bush or climber roses. If you would rather take it in the pot, they are $22.00. 36″ Tree Roses $45.00 each. 36″ Twofer Tree Roses $49.00 (Two varieties on one tree) 24″ Tree Roses $31.50 each. Bare Root Fruit Trees will be coming soon. I will send an additional email when they are in.

THERE IS A SAYING “MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES”. Well, the sun will be shining Friday, so we will be open. And we will be honoring the 20% Small Business Saturday discount on Friday as well as Saturday and Sunday. Blueberries and Cane berries, Figs, Pomegranates, Kiwi, Hops and more arrived on Wednesday. Still good Fall planting time.

Fall has been taking a while to get here this year but lately the nights are nice and cool and the days very comfortable. It is the best planting time of the seasons. Fall is the ideal time for planting trees and shrubs as you can see in the diagram above. Take advantage of the beautiful weather we are having and get fall planting done now. Your fall installed plants will do much better next spring and summer than those planted in the spring. This is also the time to plant fall bulbs for spring bloom. Plant wildflower seeds this month as well when the rains start coming regularly. Dormant Spray on Fruit Trees This month you will need to be thinking about spraying your first dormant spray on your fruit trees to prevent leaf curl. Use liquid copper and horticultural oil or Neem oil with the copper to spray the trees when they are dormant. Looking at the orchard here at the nursery, it looks like about 3 weeks or so and they will need their first spraying. Once the trees have lost their leaves, is when you want to do your first application. You will do two more …

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