It’s a great time to be in the yard and garden.
May started off a bit warm, then cooled down then got warm again and just recently has cooled back down. The weather this year has definitely been a challenge. We had a hard freeze in January that set many  trees back on breaking dormancy. Everything should be acting normal now I think.
Fertilizing
It’s almost time to do your second fertilizing of the year. We recommend it be done three times. In spring when things are in full leaf. Usually March, then again in June and then again in the fall. Usually September. Remember to always water your plants well the day before you are going to fertilize. Then fertilize the next day and water in well. Most items will benefit from 16-16-16. There are special fertilizers to use for citrus and for Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Camellias. Also different fertilizing schedules for the specialty fetilizers. Citrus should be fertilized monthly through the growing season with a citrus fertilizer. Rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias should be fertilized three times after they are done blooming, each fertilizing done 30 days apart and then no more for the season. You don’t want to fertilize too late in the season on these plants or they tend to grow well but not bloom the next year. Vegetables should be fertilized with a vegetable fertilizer. These fertilizers are lower in nitrogen and higher in phosphorous and potassium. A high nitrogen fertilizer on vegetables will make them grow great but they will not produce well.
Watering
Pay close attention to the water needs fo your plants with the warmer weather that will be coming in a while. Everybody should be trying to conserve on their water due to the dry conditions this year but still keep their plants healthy. Use drip and mulch. If you drip and mulch, you can reduce the amount of water you use significantly and still keep your landscaping looking nice. Mulch holds the moisture in the soil and stops the evaporation. Water in the evening or early morning. If you mulch and use drip or microsprinklers, you should not have to water every day. You can run the water a bit longer when you water and then wait a couple of days to water again. The plants will be okay with a bit less water used because the mulch stops the evaporation so it stays in the soil for the plants.
Blackberries & Poison Oak
If you need to kill blackberries and poison oak, use a brush killer. We carry Montery Brush & Vine Killer. It works well. We have been using it on the hillside improvement we are working on. We had cleared the hill of berries and poison oak last summer. Now they are trying to come back so when they start to come up we hit them with the killer. It kills them to the root and after a while they will not try to come up any more. It works much better than Roundup. That will make them sick and look like they are dying, but it does not kill them.
Vegetable Gardens
If you have not put in your vegetables yet, it is definitely time to get them in. It has been warm early this year and lots of people did it early. Still others have held off becasue they are concerned about water. Consider that the price of vegetables will be going up due to the drought and the farmers who will not be planting this year. Tighter supply will mean higher prices. I would advise putting in your vegetable garden and using drip irrigation and mulching for it and you will use very little water and will save yourself lots of money on food down the raod. All our remaining tomatoes are $1.00 each. We have a large selection that we started from seed in the greenhouse of different and unique varieties. They will be available for the rest of the month at $1.00 each.
Roses
Continue to spray your roses with fungicide once a month or so. We use Neem Oil here. It works well if you do it regularly. If fungus problems get bad, you probably should use a rose fungicide to correct the problem. It will do a better job to correct the problem. Also if deer are an issue, it’s about time to start spraying with a deer repellant. we use Liquid Fence. It works well for us. The deer have shown up a bit early this year due to the drought situation. There natural forage is dryer earlier this year so your yard and our nursery look good to them.
This is a bit of a challenging year for gardening with the weather being up and down temperatures and the spring rain we had. (Thank Goodness) However, with the cold we had in January, lots of people are reporting good crops of peaches and nectarines. I’m seeing it here in the orchard. There should be some Eva’s Pride peaches ready in a couple of weeks.
We appreciate the continued support of our business from everybody. We are in our 29th year this year. The past few have been a challenge but thanks to all our customers continued support we are still here and will still be here for another 29 years or more. I’m still young so I have lots of years to keep doing this. Thank you everybody for your continued support and patronage.
We hope to see you soon.
Jeff
