April 2010

The nursery is open now and it has been great to see so many familiar faces and hear your words of encouragement. This week plants will begin to arrive. Cool season annuals, a variety of perennials, shrubs, trees and some cool season vegetables. This brings me to one of this month's subjects. The 2 seasons of annuals and vegetables.

There are cool season annuals, those that do best in cool weather and bolt or go to flower and then seed in hot weather. These annuals are pansies, violas, snapdragons and dianthus to name a few. They can be planted in the fall and will root and flower some throughout the winter, or they can be planted now. Either way they will give you a good show until the heat of summer sets in. Then you will need to replace them with something more heat tolerant. The warm season annuals, those that won't take frost, include marigolds, vinca, zinnias, portulaca and impatiens. I will have a wide variety of all of these annuals when the time is right to plant them.

There are also 2 seasons for vegetables as well. Cool season vegetables, those that need to mature before it gets too hot, are the cole crops, like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, the leafy greens and all of the root vegetables including beets, carrots and radishes. Plant the root vegetables and greens from seed between March 15th and April 15th for best results. Plant the cole crops from transplants April 1st through the 30th. Always improve your beds with Back to Earth Compost and any necessary fertilizers before planting. Warm season vegetables are tomatoes, peppers, beans, eggplant, squash, cucumbers etc. These are vegetables that thrive in the heat and will not tolerate cold temperatures and usually don't flourish until nighttime temperatures are above 50 degrees. Plant cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, beans and corn from seed once the soil has warmed after May 1st. Plant tomatoes, eggplant and peppers from transplants after May 1st and you still may need to watch the weather and protect them from frost. Our average last frost date is May 1st which means our last frost usually falls somewhere between April 15th and May 15th.

Any of our shrubs and trees can also be planted now. They come from local growers and are adapted to our cool nights. The fact that we don't have a greenhouse at our new location keeps us pretty honest! We can't have it in stock if it is going to die without protection in our climate.

We have a lot of beautiful pottery. Classic Italian clay, brightly colored Mexican, glazed Chinese and Vietnamese in deep colors and those colorful birdbaths for only $72 for the large ones and $48 for the small ones.

We always stock Back to Earth Compost, both regular and acidified, Uni-Gro Potting Soil, Composted Manure and Top Soil.

Stop by soon to see the new place. You will find the same quality plants, reasonable prices and honest advice as always!!!