44April 27, 2011
It seems that we are finally getting some warm weather. Don’t be fooled into thinking that we won’t have any more cold weather. On average, we get our last frost on May 10 Th. I’ve seen a last frost as late as the last week in May. On Easter Sunday, one of our customers asked if we had any tomato plants. I explained to him that it was way too early to plant tomato plants. He said that he thought so, but he had seen many tomato plants for sale at one of the big box stores. If you plant your tomato plants now, we have a name for people who do so: Repeat Customer!
The grass is greening up, indicating that the soil temperatures are warming up. Now would be a good time to put down some grass seed on those bare spots in the lawn. If the soil is compacted, as it will be in bare spots, you should loosen up the soil to a depth of 2 inches. You may want to add some compost or topsoil to prevent that soil from packing down again. Sprinkle some grass seed starter fertilizer onto the soil and mix it in thoroughly. Sprinkle the grass seed onto the surface of the soil. You will need to water the seed on a regular basis. How often you will need to water will depend on how sunny it is, how warm it is and how windy it is. All of these factors can contribute to the soil drying out. The soil must be kept moist until the seed sprouts. Depending on the grass seed mixture, it can take up to 21 days. Greenview makes a product that is a pellet that you sprinkle over the grass seed. Once you water the product, it crumbles and covers the grass seed with a layer of mulch. This mulch helps to hold in moisture and it will eventually disappear into the soil. If you have ever tried to get hay off a lawn once the seed has sprouted, you will appreciate this feature. Once the seed has sprouted, you will still need to water until the roots are completely established.
For those of you who have been waiting, we have our seed potatoes, onion sets and Asparagus roots in stock. Directions on planting the seed potatoes and Asparagus roots could each be a column on it own. If you have questions on planting, pretty much any of our employees can fill you in on how to plant these two crops.
Trees, shrubs and perennials are showing up at the garden centers. Some people have been afraid to plant trees, shrubs and perennials because of the cold weather. These plants are hardy enough that you won’t have to worry about planting them now. There are even some annual flowers that will take the cold temperatures. Just be careful to not plant those annual flowers that have origins in the tropical regions. You don’t want to be one of those Repeat Customers!
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.