You Say Tomato… I say Mighty ‘Mato!

There is nothing in the world as good as a real, vine-ripened tomato. So why not get yours growing and grow them like a pro? Grafted veggies aren’t anything new to the top professional growers but they are newly available for home gardeners to buy.

Grafted tomatoes are:

• Stronger and more vigorous growers
• They can handle extreme temperatures and poor soil
• They are better able to defend themselves from soil born disease
• They produce more tomatoes and have a longer growing season

Plant your Mighty ‘Mato with the graft above the soil line. That’s a good time to give it some organic fertilizer. Water your tomato deeply every time you see the foliage begin to wilt. That could be every day in a warm climate like ours. Try not to get water on the foliage, which can cause disease. Keep your watering wand low. Remove dead leaves when you see them. It’s normal for the bottom leaves to turn brown, as the plants get bigger.

What? No vegetable garden? Plant your Mighty ‘Mato in a pot on your deck or balcony. Use a big pot, at lease 20” x 16” and use premium potting soil. Add your organic fertilizer and water well. Then, call me when the BLT’s are ready!

Bringing life to your garden!

Have fun out there,

Peggy Anne

Fertilize with the Frog

Don't worry, be happy!

Are you worried about your annuals in the summer heat that's approaching? Have you had nightmares of not having enough flowers on your plants when company comes over?

Nonperforming annuals and perennials can be a bit of a drag. You do all this planning, placing, and planting and then they sometimes don't live up to the standards we had set for them. Not so fast!

Before we judge, we must first reflect...

How did we plant? Did we dig the hole big enough, amend the soil, break up the root system, water in thoroughly, etc.?

Did we do enough research? Were the expectations legitimate?

If you're following all of these steps correctly then the next step is to evaluate how we have been taking care of the plant. Watering...check! Fertilizing........?

If you want big, beautiful, and lasting flowers through the heat of the summer, you will need to fertilize regularly! Putting them in the ground properly is the crucial first step but just watering won't give you the biggest and best blooms. They would love some extra loving. Watering is a good amount of loving but if you realllly want to show your plants some love, use a fertilizer!

I have one just for fruits and flower promotion here at the garden center. Happy Frog Fruit & Flower is a great product to get the best blooms possible out of your plant. It is an organic fertilizer that uses bat guano, kelp meal, bone meal, among many other beneficial organic material. Give it a try for some bodacious blooms!

 

Here's something to sing about - they are only $4.99!

Lyrical White Sage

Salvia nemorosa or sage as it is commonly called, makes the top 5 list of my favorite perennials. I’ve been growing them for 25 years at least. They’re as reliable as it gets, easy to grow and flower all season. Mine are just beginning to bloom at home. The Lyrical Series of sage is brand new and they really stand up to our heat and humidity.

 

Lyrical Rose Sage

Sage likes full sun and well-drained, rich soil. They grow to about 2’ making them perfect for the front of the border or as edging. They have a strong, compact habit; you won’t need to stake them. After the first flush of flowers fade, cut the flower stems back and they’ll flower again. It’s a twofer!

Lyrical Silvertone Sage

 *They attract butterflies and hummingbirds
*Deer tend to leave them alone
*Great cut flower
*Locally grown

And, here’s something to really sing about – they’re only $4.99!

Have fun out there, 

Peggy Anne

American Beauties Native Plants

Ladybugs

Who would have thought? Adding bugs can help get rid of bugs! Ladybugs are voracious predators of many common garden pests. The children's stories with all of the friendly ladybugs were somewhat true. They are good for your gardens but they are not so friendly to their prey! They take care of aphids, mites, and other small insects and their eggs.

In order to put them to work in your garden, you'll need to follow a few simple instructions.

1) water your garden before releasing them into the garden
2) wait till after sundown to release (they won't fly away at night)
3) shake them out of the container in small groups at the bottom of the problem plants/areas
4) release 1/3 the first night, another 1/3 two nights later, then the rest two nights after that (keep refrigerated in between releases)

This is major - Major Wheeler!

'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle, an explosion of color!

Every garden needs to have this incredible honeysuckle. I honestly can’t say enough about this native knock out. ‘Major Wheeler’ is a selection that is covered in bright orange-red, trumpet-shaped flowers starting in late spring. Believe me your hummingbirds and butterflies will take notice! It’s a twining vine that needs some support in the form of a trellis or open fence. This easy to care for, fast growing climber likes a sunny or lightly shaded location and is surprisingly drought tolerant once established. A light trim after the first flush of flowers will promote reblooming the rest of the summer. And, believe it or not, deer don’t seem to like it!

Bringing Life to Your Garden!

Have fun out there,

Peggy Anne

'Gold Flame' honeysuckle, a hybrid with fragrant bi-color flowers, disease resistant

'Peaches and Cream' honeysuckle, a French hybrid with a compact habit and delicious fragrance

Easy Fertilizing

Let's face it, if you want your plants to perform better, you have to give them that certain edge to take them to the next level. Just like how an athlete needs to keep their body fueled with the right nutrients to perform on the field, court, track, etc., a plant needs nutrients to keep it healthy and promote solid growth.

Duh, right? Everyone knows that! So why doesn't everyone do it? Well, for some, it's an extra step in the process of gardening that they either do not feel like doing or simply do not have the time to do. To others it might be due to concerns about the organic nature of the fertilizer.

To continue with our athlete analogy, consider anabolic steroids and their effects on the human body. They make the body beef up but at costs no one should be willing to pay. Inorganic fertilizer or simply too much of any fertilizer can be bad for a plant and the soil it is in.

So are there any hassle free safe to use fertilizers out there?? Yes there are and we have just the product for the busy organic gardener who doesn't have time to keep a consistent fertilizing schedule.

Fuhgeddaboudit! is a wonderfully easy to use product from Organic Mechanics. The products are root zone feeder packs. Essentially, once you dig the hole for your plant, you toss one of the packs in and plant right on top of it then...forget about it! It has a NPK fertilizer breakdown of 4-2-2 and is packed with mycorrhizae, biochar, azomite, micronized oyster shells, calcium, and sulphur. It will help build strong roots and will feed for enhanced growth. It can be used on all types of plants and is 100% organic!

Next time your buying some plants at the store, consider using this easy to use and organic product to make your plants happy. They will be thanking you!

Monarchs - The Gateway Insect

It’s no secret anymore that pollinators in general and monarch butterflies in particular, are rapidly declining in numbers. Data from the World Wildlife Fund and the Mexican Government show that overwintering monarchs inhabited just 1.65 acres of woodland in Mexico last winter, down from 45 acres in the mid 1990’s. While there are many factors that have contributed to the decline, the number one cause is habitat loss. Monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed plants and milkweed populations are disappearing. That is due in large part to GMO crops and high ethanol prices causing farmers to take millions of acres out of conservation programs.

Monarch on Butterfly Weed 

Most of our urban and suburban landscapes are food deserts as far as butterflies and other pollinators are concerned. That is why building a Monarch Waystation in your backyard is so important. By providing host and nectar plants you can help monarchs make their way across the country during their migrations. Milkweed is the host plant for monarchs. It is the only food a monarch  caterpillar can eat and the only plant the female will lay her eggs on.

My Favorite - Hello Yellow Butterfly Weed

What benefits one native insect tends to benefit all of them. That’s why the monarch has become a gateway insect for so many organizations to rally around and promote certified butterfly and pollinator habitats. Let’s face it; monarchs are easier to love than some other insects. I think the monarch is the “Save the Whales” initiative of this age. Certainly whales benefited from that call to action and so did other marine life. So, come on - put on your bell-bottoms and give Mother Nature something special this year!

Bringing Life to Your Garden

Have fun out there, Peggy Anne

Join thousands of others and help support our butterflies and our ecosystem!

 Monarch Watch

North American Butterfly Association

Xerces Society

Wild Ones

Soil Fixes

So, I did some planting on Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day and I was motivated to take care of sprucing things up early in the season because as May got closer, I knew there would be less and less time to do so. It started out as an enjoyable experience. I was placing the plants in just the right spots trying to imagine them fully grown. It took a lot of time to do this, mainly due to my indecisiveness, but eventually I had everything in place so it was then time to put the shovel in the ground. That's when things got a little less enjoyable.

If you live anywhere near us at Gateway, you probably have some heavily compacted clay rocky soil. It seems, at least in my neighborhood, the developers just dumped all the rock they took out to build the house and dumped it into the back yard adding a thin layer of topsoil on top. Then, after driving over it hundreds of time with heavy equipment, it became compacted and tough to dig. Not ideal conditions for plants.

So, I was left with no choice but to amend, amend, amend! This could be the most important part to gardening. If the soil is happy, the plants will be happy. Clay and rocky soil has little to be excited about while soil filled with organic matter has so much going on, it can't help but be having a good time! Your plants' roots want healthy soil as their home. With healthier soil, you will have healthier plants.

What did I do to amend the soil? Well, over the years, I have thrown a little bit of everything at my beds. Leaf compost, pine soil conditioner, composted manure, Black Forest, and Bumpercrop. All of these are good options to add into your soil. Some a bit heavier than others so it will depend on what your planting for what product to choose.

Leaf compost and composted manure are the heaviest of the bunch and are good for general bed building. The pine soil conditioner and Black Forest are good products to use when planting trees and shrubs. The Bumpercrop is a great choice for flower beds and vegetable gardens. These products are meant to be soil amendments meaning they will help build the existing soil by being mixed in with what's already there.

We have sample bags open so you can see and feel what's inside. Stop in and see us!