41May 25, 2017

There are all manners of things to talk about at this point in the month of May. Let’s try to tackle a few of those things in this week’s column.

Many people have come into the store asking about treating for grubs in their lawn. The grubs are usually the Japanese beetle grubs. These grubs are now very large in size. Soon they will form a cocoon and then they will emerge from the grass as adult beetles. At this pointing time, the grubs are to the point where insecticides are going to be marginally effective at killing the grub. If it was me, I would save the money I would use on grub control and put it towards something else. So that you will know, the most effective time to control Japanese beetle grubs is during the month of September. Don’t worry, I will remind you then.

Aphids have hit the viburnum shrubs very hard. The aphids are also feeding on rosebushes and other plants. You should be checking your plants for signs of aphids now; you can apply a control to the aphids before they get out of hand. As a reminder, we do sell ladybugs at the store. They are top-notch predators of aphids and they will control the aphid population in short order.

This is the prime-planting week for your vegetable garden. Last week, we received our shipment of sweet potato plants. Don’t confuse these with the leafy plant that you use in your window boxes. These are plants that will produce a crop of sweet potatoes that you can store for fall through winter consumption. We carry a bush variety that is ideal for planting in New England. If you have some space in your garden, you may want to give this a try. A few years back, we planted some of this variety in a big flowerpot. By the end of the season, we had 8 lbs of sweet potatoes. I can’t imagine how many we would get if we planted them in the garden.

If you fertilized your lawn in early April, it is time to fertilize again. If you find that you have a lot of weeds in your lawn, you may want to use a weed and feed type of fertilizer. If you only have a few weeds, use an all purpose type of fertilizer and then just spot treat the weeds with a ready to use lawn weed control product.

If you are planting any of your containers or your vegetable or perennial gardens this week, remember that planting on a cloudy day is a good thing for your plants. Plants will have a better chance to get their roots out into the soil and not having to battle the effects of the sun beating down on the plant. The other thing to remember is that plants need nutrients to initially get their root system established. There are both organic and synthetic plant starter fertilizers. These fertilizers are applied at planting time and they are formulated to encourage root formation. No matter what you are planting, in either containers or the ground, you should always use a plant starter fertilizer to get your plants off to a good start. We do carry this product in our store.

Memorial Day is this coming Monday. If you are going to take plants to decorate the graves of loved ones, we have geraniums and pre-planted containers that you can use to decorate the graves.

We are open 7 days a week, including Memorial Day, for all your planting needs. We have lots of vegetable plants, both annuals and perennial flowers, rose bushes and other shrubs. Please stop by and take a look at all we have.

Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.