All Things Spring Sale!
March 11th – 31st
- All flower and veggie jumbo six packs on sale for $1.99
- All bulbs 20% off
- Gardner & Bloome potting soil and planting mix 2 cu.ft. are $1.00 off
- All 4 pack veggies are on sale for .99 ¢
- All houseplants are 20% off
Spring Fling – Saturday, March 14th
- 20% off Soils, Fertilizers & Herbicides
- 20% off Pottery, Statuary & Fountains
What a great time to stock up on supplies for your garden and save money at the same time!
Spruce Up Your Flower Beds
Spring planting season is upon us!
It is time to start planting most summer annuals and perennials, warm-season and cool-season lawns from seed, vegetables, and almost all permanent garden plants, like shrubs, trees, groundcovers and vines. (Tropicals will start off better in warmer weather so wait a month or two to plant those.) Those of you in low-lying or mesa-top gardens should be aware of cooler temperatures at night; you may experience some frost yet, so hold off planting young tender plants until the middle of March. (Especially you north county residents!)
Come in and see the beautiful flowering plants we have waiting for you. Miner’s is stocked full of the best quality plant material in the county. Every member of our staff is qualified to help you find the right plant for every area of your home whether it is indoors or out.
Fertilize Everything
It is time to fertilize everything in your garden now. That means trees, shrubs, groundcovers and vines. This ritual will give your garden the energy it needs to push out all that fresh spring growth. Be sure and irrigate thoroughly when you fertilize and follow directions carefully. Take special care of your specialty plants like succulents, cacti, and native plants that need little or no fertilizer. Use a complete fertilizer like 16-16-16 at the recommended rate only and do not overdo it. We have a full selection of organic fertilizers like Fox Farm, Whitney Farms or Dr. Earth here at Miner’s also, so please ask one of our knowledgeable staff members for some help picking out the right one for you. Happy gardening!
Control Snails & Slugs
Start controlling those snails and slugs! Warm spring rains keep snails and slugs on the prowl. Our common garden snail is the edible European snail Helix aspersa, an important food source since ancient times. You may have eaten them in a restaurant as escargot, but when they are eating your plants and leaving snail trails all over the place...Yuk! Here are some great controls.
- Clean up the garden; get rid of undergrowth and other hiding places.
- Lay cabbage leaves in your growing beds, slugs will visit them at night and hide under them by day, that is when you gather them up and toss them, slugs and all.
- Surround trunks of citrus trees with copper collars. Snails won’t cross them. Trim low-hanging branches that brush the ground.
- Go out at night with a flashlight and rubber gloves and hand pick them; bag them, and dispose in trash.
- Use baits. They come in spray, pellet and granular forms. Most are metaldehyde, some contain carbaryl as well and control earwigs, sowbugs, ants and cutworms too. They are Cooke’s brand and Ortho Buggeta Plus. Both are highly effective but cannot be used around edibles. Sluggo is a non-toxic alternative for slugs and snails made with iron phosphate. That is ok to use around edibles and safe for pets. ( Sluggo Plus works for earwigs, sowbugs and ants as well.) When using baits, bait once thoroughly, wait ten days, and bait again. The first time is for parent snails and the second gets the offspring.
Take Care of Your Roses
Water and fertilize roses if you haven’t already. Keep roses irrigated with one inch of water per week at the beginning of the month when rains are not adequate. You may begin using an organic formula fertilizer like FoxFarm for roses, but wait until the new leaves unfold and lose their reddish hue to feed with a commercial rose food. Protect your plants from pests and diseases with Greenlight Rose Defense (available here at Miner’s). The main ingredient is neem oil, and it is a natural way to protect your roses from fungus, insects, and mites all at the same time.
Fertilize Avocados
It is time to fertilize avocados. If you use commercial fertilizers (for Citrus and Avocado) and are in a coastal zone, you should be giving one feeding each month from February through June. Inland gardeners should feed March through June. If you are an organic gardener, feed avocados by spreading 25 lbs. of aged chicken manure under each mature tree this month. Beginning in March, give each mature tree 2 cups each of blood meal and bone meal every 6 weeks, through August. If your mulch is thick, rake it back, spread underneath and replace mulch on top.
Cultivating Artichokes
Globe artichokes are edible thistles that have been cultivated since ancient Roman times. The bare-root variety is the perennial Green Globe that when planted in spring, probably will not produce fruit the first year. You can plant newer seed-grown annual varieties as late as March and still be able to harvest this year with proper care and fertilization. (If you live in a hot interior area, wait until mid summer to plant seed-grown varieties for a late winter and spring harvest. Flower buds are woody if they mature during hot weather.)
Artichokes need good drainage, plenty of fertilizer, and deep watering to grow rapidly. Add a generous amount of organic compost, (Gardener & Bloome planting mix, Gromulch and Amend from Kellogg’s are on sale for buy 3 get 1 free) as well as a good quality vegetable fertilizer like FoxFarm or Dr. Earth. Space plants 4 feet apart - don’t crowd them - and plant high to avoid crown rot. |
