Well, a bit of a warm spell coming for the next week, but then looks like it’s going to cool back to seasonal temperatures. And I’ve seen a couple of long range forecasts that hint at rain returning towards the end of the month. I would expect that to be the case as it is only March and we normally are not through with rain and cold until April or so. But time will tell. As I track the rainfall, we are at about average rainfall this year. Last measure I have is 25.45 inches on the rain season. Hopefully a bit more to come.
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. Citrus are best fertilized monthly through the growing season. Start after the threat of frost is past and continue monthly through October.
Roses here at the nursery are fully leafed out. 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 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 4 to 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 have spring vegetable starts in stock now and we have started a lot of vegetable starts in the greenhouse which should be ready in April. As far as the weather is concerned, if you plant spring vegetables now, be prepared to protect them if the weather turns back to winter which could easily happen this early in the season, but it looks like over the next couple of weeks it’s warm enough for putting out tomatoes, and squash, etc. (although I still thinks it’s a little early). Watch the weather forecasts. We usually get a false warming period in February and early March and then a cold storm comes through to remind everyone that winter is not over. The first official day of spring is March 20th. A good rule of thumb to use for when to put out spring vegetable starts, is to wait till overnight lows are consistently 50 degrees or higher and the ground is no longer cold to the touch. Which, seems like this year is the case right now, but still early in the season. Prepare your soil well before planting. Add bone meal to the soil along with the vegetable fertilizer or an all purpose fertilizer when you are prepping the soil. Bone meal adds phosphorous for root development and supplements calcium. Calcium will help to prevent blossom end rot. I use organic fertilizer on my vegetable garden. I use bone meal for phosphorous and calcium, and all purpose organic fertilizer. About half way through the season I re apply fertilizer and bone meal.
AAUW GARDEN TOUR
AAUW’s 32nd Anniversary Garden Tour will be held on Saturday, May 2, 2026.
Recycle your used containers here at the nursery. 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 CLOSED ON TUESDAYS
OPEN:
MONDAY, WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 9-5.
SUNDAY 10-4
We hope to see you soon.
Jeff
