To Do In April

So just in case you have some spare time this weekend - bwaa ha ha - here, courtesy of Sloat Nursery in Danville, CA, is what to do in your garden now.  If you live in California.  In the north.  

If you are still shivering under a blanket of snow, may I recommend a Caribbean vacation?  Or a realtor?

April

• Prune back herbaceous perennials (example: salvia), to promote plant bushiness.
• Grow your own food this summer! Now is the time to plant edibles like lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, zucchini and berries. Consider a soaker hose to conserve water in your vegetable garden.
• Prevent powdery mildew and rust on roses and other plants with Bonide Neem Oil. Already have a powdery mildew problem? Treat with Actinovate or Serenade.
• Aphids are beginning to appear. Stop them early with Bonide Neem Oil.
• Tomatoes: choose a large cage — your plants will surely grow larger!
• Plant a tree, shrub, flower or edible for Earth Day or Arbor Day.
• Stake perennials like Delphinium, Foxglove, peony, coreopsis, garden phlox, hollyhock, centranthus, and Shasta daisy.
• Start planting summer annuals like lobelia, begonia, marigolds, cosmos, petunias, snapdragon and alyssum. Use Sure Start fertilizer for new plantings to establish them quickly.
• Apply a lawn fertilizer such as E.B. Stone Nature’s Green to green up your grass gently.
• Stock up on a season’s-worth of top quality, plant-specific fertilizers from E.B. Stone.The “Naturals” and “Organics” lines are environmentally friendly.
• Snails and slugs are hatching in your garden right now. Non-toxic Sluggo can help.
• Mulch vegetable and flower beds with Sloat Forest Mulch Plus.
• Release ladybugs, praying mantis, and other beneficial insects to help control aphids, mites, whiteflies, and other garden pests. If you release beneficial insects, please don’t spray for garden pests.
• Work cover crops into the soil before they seed.
• Say yes to summer bulbs! Plant gladiolus, dahlias & lilies.  Put stakes in place at the time of planting.
• Shop for clematis and other spring bloomers.
• It’s also time to start choosing and planting summer perennials: Penstemon, Salvia, Argyranthemum...

Read. Shop. Plant.

Here - courtesy of Sloat Nursery in Danville - is what to do in the garden this month.  Remember: if you don't shop at the local stores pretty soon you won't have any!  And if you sign up for their newsletter they will send you the info directly.

Read. Shop. Plant.  

September

PLANT

• Watch for the arrival of all our spring bulbs. Shop early for the best selection.
• Plan landscaping projects now. Think about walkways and flower/vegetable beds, as well as focal point shrubs and trees. Need guidance? Call Sloat’s Garden Design Department for expert advice.
• Choose fall blooming pansies and other autumn color.
• Plant fall vegetables such as kale, collard, spinach, arugula and lettuces.

FERTILIZE

• Apply lawn fertilizer monthly with Nature’s Green Lawn Food.
• Aerate compacted soil.
• Containers, summer annuals and cool season annuals will enjoy monthly feeding at this time of year with Maxsea all-purpose fertilizer.

PRUNE/MAINTAIN

• Keep the garden clean. Pick up fallen fruit to avoid pests and disease next year. Clean out plant debris. Prepare soil with Loam Builder for fall vegetable beds.
• Mulch with Greenall Micro Bark to inhibit weeds and conserve moisture.

Fall Planting

With the possible exception of Thomas Keller, who has a staff of thousands, nobody I know grows enough vegetables.  Or fruit, but that's a winter topic.  So here are the fall tips from our dear friends at Sloat.  Read it, weed it, then go get some plants from Sloat and plant.  You can thank me later.  When you're eating those delicious veggies and feeling happy and healthy.  

All about planting Fall vegetables

posted by Sloat Garden Center

Vegetable gardening isn’t just a springtime activity. Summer and fall are ideal times to plant cool season vegetables, greens and root crops. Not only does cool weather enhance their growth rate, but light frost will improve their flavor. Another benefit to fall planting is that many common pests like caterpillar and leaf miner are not as plentiful. Cooler temperatures also enhance the colors of leafy greens and roots. Carrots are more orange, radishes are redder and red pigments in greens are more pronounced.

These are considered cool season vegetables: greens- kale, collards, lettuce, mustard, spinach, chard, arugula, mache, endive, bok choy, escarole, root crops- turnips, rutabagas, radishes, carrots, beets, cole crops- broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, peas, fava beans, leeks, celery and spring onions. Further enhance the appearance of your vegetable garden by interplanting fall annuals: alyssum, pansies and violas.

Soil preparation is the same as you would do in the spring. The nutrients need to be replenished and the soil tilth needs to be restored. We recommend Sloat Loam Builder mixed 50/50 with the native soil or one bag for every 25 square feet. Be sure to work the soil to at least a 1 foot depth if you are considering root crops. Apply Agricultural Lime according to the directions. Lime is especially important for the cole crops. Incorporate Sure Start or E.B. Stone Vegetable food.

If you plant in containers, use Sloat Organic Potting Soil and E.B. Stone Sure Start. Many cool weather vegetables are available as transplants but root crops will need to be planted from seed. It is recommended that onions be planted by seed as opposed to sets in the fall. Seed is planted a little deeper in the fall than in the spring. The reason for this is that it is drier at the soil surface in the fall and the resulting , deeper seedlings are kept cooler. Thinning is necessary if you want good sized roots and greens heads. Be sure to keep young plants moist. Water maturing plants regularly to keep them growing. Bitterness develops in greens that are not watered enough. Sometimes, birds can become pests in the fall vegetable garden, mostly in the early morning hours. Golden crown sparrows are notorious for eating young seedlings, especially peas. You may want to protect young plants with a lightweight row cover.

Sloat Nursery's Vacation Tips for Your Plants

Vacation tips for your plants

posted by Sloat Garden Center

As you plan for your vacation you should take into consideration that your garden and plants are going to miss you. There are certain things you can do that will cut down on your absolute need to be there, but it does mean preparing for vacation needs a few days before you leave. A recently fed plant will have a tendency to grow. This can contribute to an increase in water needs or make it more succulent for the voracious appetite of garden invaders. Put off the normal feeding, or if it must be fed, cut the feeding to half strength and plan on providing the second half when you return.

Mulching is probably the most important thing you can do before leaving on vacation. Be sure you have watered the area before you apply mulch, then water enough after it is applied to have the mulch damp on its own without having to draw moisture from the soil.Mulch can be used in flowerbeds, vegetable gardens and around trees and shrubs. Leave approximately six inches around the trunks of trees and shrubs so they can breathe. It is even safe to add a little to containers but take care that the stems are not choked by the mulch.

Containers can be moved to a light shade area for the time being. Hanging baskets should be taken down so that they are more easily watched unless you have a drip system that is on a timer. While you are gone, the local bugs will not be on a holiday and would be happy if you forgot about them.Use Sluggo Plus to take care of snails, ants, some cutworms and earwigs during your absence. Indoors plants can also be taken care of with a little thought. Large container plants should be watered well before you leave and if the plant can be moved, place it away from the windows so it will not dry out. You can put small plants in the bathtub after they have been well watered. The coolness of the bathroom will help retain moisture. Do not leave plants standing in water. Also, visit your local Sloat Garden Center location for a variety of watering devices to help keep your plants moist while you are away. We recommend the Plant Nanny, Scheurich water dispensers, and DriWater products.

May 2014 Postcard From The Hedge

Okay, so I promised a monthly to-do list for the garden, and here - courtesy of Sloat Nursery (and please shop there - they are smart, helpful and funny!)  is your May to-do list.  Check out their advice, sign up for their newsletter - sign up for Orchard's newsletter too.  

Try something new - tomatoes among the petunias, basil and parsley edging a flower bed.  Sage by the front door (and google the folklore about that).  

Then go out and garden - there's a lot to do, and it's the perfect day for it - it's today.  Doesn't get any better than that.

May

Plant

􏰀 Plant annuals like petunias, marigolds, begonias, lobelia, and coleus. Re-seed radishes, carrots and beets.
􏰀 Plant late summer edibles such as pumpkins, squash, sunflowers and melons. 􏰀 Select garden-ready

blooming perennials.

Fertilize

􏰀 Fertilize rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias with E.B. Stone Organics Azalea, Camellia & Gardenia Food.
􏰀 Give vegetables a boost with E.B. Stone Organics Tomato and Vegetable Food.
􏰀 Use a time-release fertilizer such as Osmocote for your container plants.

Prune/Maintain

􏰀 Prune spring-flowering shrubs after bloom is past.
􏰀 Mulch vegetable and flower beds with Sloat Forest Mulch Plus to control weeds and conserve moisture.

􏰀 Freshen up containers and replace spent annuals with colorful 4-inch perennials such as verbena, calibrachoa, bacopa and ipomoea.

􏰀 Release ladybugs and other beneficial insects to help control aphids, mites, white- flies, and other garden pests.

June

Plant

􏰀 Warm season annuals are here! Plant zinnia, salvias, cosmos, lisianthus and portulaca.
􏰀 Plant herbs for use in the kitchen. Re-seed or transplant salad greens, green beans and kales.

Fertilize

􏰀 Your spring plantings are getting hungry. Feed them with all-purpose fertilizers such as E.B. Stone Organics and Maxsea. 􏰀 Feed your lawn with Nature’s Green Lawn Food.

Prune/Maintain

􏰀 Continue to deadhead roses, shrubs and other flowers with Felco pruners to encourage new blooms; for smaller jobs, such as grooming your container creations, use Fiskars Micro Tip Snips.

􏰀 Mulch shrubs and beds to conserve moisture.Try GreenAll Microbark for its beauty and utility.
􏰀 Make sure vegetables are supported with cages, stakes, or trellises.

􏰀 Check early-bearing fruit trees for heavily laden branches.Thin fruits now to increase their size and prevent branches from breaking. Harvest vegetables as they ripen so plants continue producing.

  

"What's blooming in your garden?" my friend from the frozen east asked me, a note of despair in her voice.  

"I'm afraid I'll find out in the spring that my entire garden is dead - deep freeze frozen.  And I'm stuck in the house for days - the garden is under a mountain of snow."

I forget that most of the country doesn't have paper whites for Halloween, hellebores for Christmas, roses by May Day.  So I took my tea and my camera and went out.  

There were hellebores, from dark pink... 

...to fresh green and white.  

If they would only hold their heads up they'd be the perfect flower. 

I paid a fortune a few years ago for an almost black hellebore. While it would give me bragging rights (if I cared), as a flower it's a bust.  Not very vigorous, the flowers are so dark you can't see them in the garden.  Or in the house.  Unless you have your nose in them.  And a flashlight. They hang down in the garden, they disappear in the dark of the house. But Sloat Nursery has some fabulous double hellebores in all shades of white and pink, and one  white one that holds its head up...I may need to go shopping.

I finally found the right quince - the one I wrote about in Postcards From The Hedge.  the one from my childhood.

The bush is still tiny, and of course the flowers are all on the bottoms of the branches.  I don't want to cut even one piece.  I'm going to feed it like crazy this year and hope I can cut a few twigs next year.  And a whole big bouquet sometime in my lifetime.

Pansies spill over pots planted with daffodils planted cheek-by-jowl (but not yet not yet awake).

When the daffodils bloom they will come up thru the pansies, it's a party in a pot.  And when I put them in the garden the pansies will warn me not to dig there.  No more smashed bulbs.  

Paperwhites have been blooming since before Halloween.  I love the smell; my mom thinks they smell awful.  My sister tells me it's genetic.  Apparently my mom is more evolved.  No surprise there.

Under the orange tree are the true violets, their flowers nestled beneath the leaves.  

You have to hunt for them, but they're worth it.  Bring some in and they will perfume a room.  And speaking of perfume...

...the daphne is about to pop.  A sprig of this deserves a place on your bedside table.  I love waking up to its sweet lemony smell.  It reminds me winter will be over someday.  Hopefully not until we've had some rain.  

Summer snowflakes bobble on thin stalks.  Obviously someone is confused about the season - it's not summer - but I am happy to have their cheery green-tipped flowers.  And happy they are seeding about the garden.  Not dead-heading has its advantages.  I wouldn't try it with roses, but it's a huge success with Leucojum.  And hellebores.  I have a forest of seedlings.  Bring your trowel.

And of course there are daffodils.  Hooray for the daffodils!

I went back later with pruning shears and made little bouquets all over the house.  In the bathroom.  Beside my bed.  Next to the kitchen sink.  By the chair where I read.

Beverly Nichols said the best garden is one where there is something in bloom every month.  He gardened in England and just managed it - iris reticulata was his saving grace in winter.  I garden in California and there is something in bloom every day. I can't take credit for that; we have better weather.  

He was a far better gardener, and a fabulous writer.  If you haven't read him, you're in for a treat.  Especially if you live somewhere that's currently frozen.  If you can get to the bookstore, these are books better held in the hand.  Wonderful line drawings, lovely quotes, beautifully typeset.  But if you have to Kindle them, go ahead.  You can buy the real thing later - and you will want to buy them.  And gift them.  And read them - again and again.

Perception is everything

So I went by Sloat Nursery today to get some Critter Ridder (don't ask but yes it works) and some True Blue for my half pink half blue fully confused hydrangeas, and I found myself coveting several plants, and wondering where I could find room.

this fabulous dahlia - Ellen are you listening?

Agave attenuata - fabulous in Santa Barbara, turns to slime here in the winter. Sigh.

A gorgeous giant pink mandevilla - larger flowers than the one I killed. Can't stand people who say "Oh, I had that but I lost it." No, you killed it. Show some backbone. Take some responsibility for your failures. Grow a brain.

Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum. Fancy name for a red grass - deciduous but we both know you don't go into the garden in the winter so what are you complaining about? And this one does not reseed like mad. DO NOT plant the regular pennisetum it will take over the world. Choking out native vegetation and all your expensive treasures. Pay attention - there will be a quiz.

A lotus in a tub...every garden could use some water...

...some scaevola (fan flower) to perk up the hottest parts of the summer garden...

...and thank goodness I ran into a friend trying to fit her treasures into her car. What was I thinking? I came home with three cans of Critter Ridder, two boxes of True Blue and a bad case of craving. But at least I'm not trudging around the garden with a shoehorn trying to find homes for all those lovely things. I will wait - something will die. And I will have a bit of room. It's not a catastrophe it's an opportunity. Perception is everything.