After a dry February and dry start to March, it looks like things are starting to change to a bit more wet this weekend and next week. Very good news. Hopefully it will be some good rain which will be welcome for all the bare root fruit trees that were planted in January and February. Be ready to start fertilizing those newly planted fruit trees when they leaf out.
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.
Roses should be leafing out now. If you have not pruned back roses, it is still a good time to do it. If you have any that are really large cause of neglected pruning during prior seasons, prune them down now. Prune roses down to 12 to 24 inches tall with several strong canes left and an open center.
Be sure to start spraying roses with a fungicide now. We have had a wet winter and you don’t want to let the fungus problems get going. We use Neem Oil every two weeks here at the nursery on the roses to prevent aphids and fungus problems.
It’s time to start fertilizing roses as well. Roses are heavy feeders. They should be fertilized about every 6 weeks. Use a rose food or you can use a balanced all purpose fertilizer as well. I use a combination of the two on my roses and it works very well.
SPRING VEGETABLE PLANTING
We will have some of our summer vegetable starts after the 6th of March for those who are ready to plant them now. We also have the greenhouse full of vegetable starts that will be ready for planting the first week of April, which honestly is the better time to plant your summer vegetables. A good rule of thumb is to wait till overnight lows are consistently 50 degrees or higher and the ground is no longer cold to the touch. Prep your soil well before you plant. Add bone meal or oyster shell to the soil along with the vegetable fertilizer when you are prepping the soil. Bone meal adds phosphorous for root development and supplements calcium. Oyster shell adds calcium. Calcium will help to prevent blossom end rot. I use organic fertilizer on my vegetable garden. I use bone meal for phosphorous, and oyster shell for calcium , and tomato and vegetable fertilizer and kelp meal. Kelp meal helps to prevent diseases. About half way through the season I re apply fertilizer and bone meal.
It is not quite spring yet and the nights are still cool. We will be getting new inventory in regularly though, ready for planting in anticipation of spring. Spring flowers like petunias and marigolds are not in yet. Probably in the next few weeks.
Recycle your used containers. We gladly take back all used nursery containers. We re-use them in our growing operations. Don’t send them to the land fill. They can be dropped off here anytime during our regular business hours. Let us know if you have them with you when you come in, and we can unload them for you.
A note on our hours. We are open 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday and 10 to 4 Sunday.
We hope to see you soon.
Jeff
