Category: gardening

Houseplant Hints For Spring

Spring is an important time for houseplants, it’s the beginning of their active growing season. Most houseplants go into a ­dormant state during the winter, where their growth slows or stops all ­together. In the spring, they start to wake up from their winter rest. This is the perfect time to give your houseplants some extra ­attention.

Spring is the best time for repotting houseplants. Repotting a houseplant will stimulate new growth and give the plant plenty of room to grow. But don’t just automatically repot your houseplants every spring, only repot houseplants that need it. If you’re unsure, turn the pot on its side and gently remove the rootball from the pot. If it’s a dense mass of roots with very little soil left in the pot; or the roots are circling around the inside of the pot, that means the plant is pot-bound. If a plant won’t slide out of the pot and seems to be stuck, that’s also an indication that the plant is pot-bound.

Houseplants don’t need as much water during the winter as they do during their active growing period. Begin watering more frequently in the spring to help wake up your houseplants and stimulate new growth. Now is also a good time to fertilize your houseplants. Maxsea is seaweed based and the plants love it. Actually – all plants love it, so you can use it all over the garden. This is a dry food you mix with water. Start with a weak dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon, and slowly increase it to 1 tablespoon by summer.

Over the winter, some of your houseplants may have developed weak and leggy growth. Trim back houseplants now to remove weak growth and encourage new growth. Spring is also a great time to propagate your houseplants by rooting the cuttings or dividing the rootball. April showers bring May flowers, and those showers also benefit our houseplants. Rain water is the best type of water to use on potted plants. If you don’t own a rain barrel, I highly recommend getting one. There are many benefits of rain barrels, and using the water for your houseplants is one of them.

Give your houseplants some air. On warm spring days, open the windows near your houseplants to give them some fresh air and humidity

Giving your houseplants a little extra TLC in the spring helps them look their best. Kick off their active growing season right this spring. Your houseplants will thank you for it.

Japanese Maples

‘Purple Ghost’ Japanese Maple

Japanese Maples In Your Garden
Japanese Maples look lovely in the nursery right now.  New spring growth is brilliant!

If you are looking for an attention-getting accent in the garden, plant a Japanese Maple with its colorful bark and cut leaves. We have a broad selection of both green and red leaf varieties, coral bark and cut leaf specimens. Now is the time to take advantage of perfect planting weather and select Maples in their prime. Included in our collection this year are:

Emperor One – has dark purple-red foliage. In the fall it turns a brilliant scarlet-red color.

Bloodgood – offers cut, purple-red leaves that hold their color well through the summer. In the fall it has beautiful, crimson-red colored foliage.

Sango Kaku – features green leaves that turn brilliant yellow in fall. After the leaves drop, the stems show off a bright coral-red color.

Viridis – delicately dissected bright green leaves turn golden-yellow and red in the autumn.

Seiryu – this lace-leaf maple has finely dissected leaves that are tolerant of heat. Foliage turns to gold, light-yellow and crimson in the fall.

Most maples appreciate afternoon shade. The lace leaf types want shade or filtered shade all day. Maple leaves can burn during the summer months not only from the heat but also from the wind and our alkaline soil and water. Improve this summers leaves by supplementing your feeding with Dyna-Gro Pro-tekt through the early months of spring. Feeding with Pro-tekt in April and May provides soluble silica for the leaf-building process. The cell walls of each leaf are tougher and more resilient against the stressors of dry summer heat.

Ladybugs to the Rescue

Ladybug larvae might be mistaken for a foe, but don’t run for the bug spray! These offspring eat more aphids than their parents.

Ladybugs are handy critters to release into your garden in the spring, summer, and fall. They are beneficial in all stages of their life cycle. Each female can lay 10-50 eggs daily. Ladybug larvae live for three weeks before pupating and eat up to 400 aphids at a rate of 50-60 aphids a day in later stages. After 2-5 days adults emerge and continue to feed.

Plum and Cherry trees are producing succulent new growth now which aphids find irresistible. Keep a close eye on new foliage for signs of aphids. If you control them early, you will prevent significant damage.

Aphids suck the juice from new spring leaves, and the subsequent scarring can cause the leaves to warp and curl around the aphids, protecting them.

In addition to weakening the plant, aphids drop a messy, sugary residue on items below their work site and they are also prolific in their reproduction, making problems exponentially worse if left unchecked.

Each adult ladybug will consume over 5,000 aphids in their lifetime.

These beneficial insects are a valuable addition to the toolkit of every Valley gardener. Alden Lane Nursery can provide them in useful quantities and advise you on where and how to use them most effectively.

For those wishing another organic, or natural method of controlling aphids, we suggest a one-two punch, first with Bonide All Seasons Spray Oil followed up with a fresh release of Ladybugs a day or 2 later.

The spray oil simply sprays on at the end of a hose, no mixing. It smothers pests, rather than poisoning them. The Ladybugs mop up the leftovers and stand guard against local aphid uprisings.

April Garden Checklist

Notes for April Gardening – April Garden Checklist

checkbox Now is the time to hang Yellow Jacket Traps. Early spring is the time to capture the colony’s queens thus exponentially reducing the yellow jackets in the area later in the year.

checkbox Make sure to fertilize all your plants to support and nurture all the beautiful spring growth. Drop in for just the right suggestion.

checkbox Protect new plantings from slugs and snails with pet safe Sluggo.

checkbox Control grubs naturally with “beneficial nematodes”. This all organic, biological approach is the best option for your veggies and other edibles. These are expected to be available later in April.

checkbox Japanese Maples are waking up from their winter’s rest. We love “bud break” season. Come see all the varieties and their magnificent spring new growth in beautiful shades of pink, red and cream.

checkbox Alden Lane Nursery has a wide selection of bedding plants for summer color. Choose favorites like petunias and marigolds, and later in the month cosmos, lobelia and zinnias. You can also plant tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and zucchini this month. Plant this month and reap the reward of bountiful produce through the summer and lots of fresh flowers for your home.

checkbox Oxalis (yellow flowered clover look-alike) can now be controlled (amazingly) in most lawns with Monterey Turflon Ester or Spurge Power.

checkbox Aphid Patrol – The warm weather has also brings out the aphids. Check the tender new growth on roses, ornamentals, fruit trees and vegetables. Hose them off with a stream of water. Control out of hand populations with Ladybugs or Master Nursery Pest Fighter All Seasons Spray Oil.

checkbox Weed Control – Be prepared with your weed tool of choice; hula hoe, dandelion weeder, hori hori knife or hand hoe. Cultivate problem areas and spread a layer of mulch to block sunlight.

checkbox Enjoy the garden in bloom then prune azaleas, camellias, and other spring bloomers after flowers fade to shape. Follow up with fertilizer Master’s Rose and Flower or Master’s Azalea & Camellia Food.

checkbox Plant, plant, plant! Fill your garden with color. We have thousands to select from including annuals, perennials, succulents, and flowering shrubs. Prepare your planting beds with our “Good Garden Soil Recipe”.

checkbox Fertilize fruit trees if you have not done so yet. Drop in for our feeding calendar.

checkbox Select a wisteria in April as they come into bloom.

Recipe for Good Garden Soil

Gardening is not just about taking care of plants; it is about taking care of the soil. Good garden soil has texture, moisture, oxygen, nutrients, and microbial life. If everything adds up below the ground, your plants will probably thrive without much additional effort from you.

Throughout a year, nutrients are used up, and soil organisms break down organic matter in the soil. Now is an excellent time to add compost fortified with chicken manure. Doing so restores the organic matter and nutrients in the soil while improving texture.

bumperThree to four inches of Bumper Crop worked into the top 8″ of soil will yield a 9-12″ deep layer of suitable garden soil that drains well, nurtures life and produces a respectable garden harvest. Ongoing care of the soil will result in a garden that produces better and better as the years unfold.

Good Garden Soil Starts Here!

If you are preparing a vegetable or flower garden bed here’s a tried-and-true soil preparation recipe that works wonders. It lightens our heavy soil, nourishes it and buffers the pH to make it ‘just right’ for the success of your vegetable and flower seeds or transplants.

Good Soil Tips

The following is a to do list that can help you nurture your soil:

  • Plant in a Raised Bed: Improves drainage, helps warm the soil.
  • Incorporate Organic Material: It acts as a wedge to hold clay soil open and allows water to drain more freely and permit air to occupy more of the space between soil particles.
  • Incorporate Gypsum: Helps leach salts from the soil, adds calcium and relaxes the clay.
  • Add Mulch: Apply 3″ of bark or Bumper Crop to reduce weeds, save water and moderate soil temperatures.
  • Improve Nutrients: Fertilize with a mild fertilizer which includes micro-nutrients (EB Stone Organics, Maxsea). Micronutrients are essential for healthy plant development and are sometimes missing from soils.
  • Water Appropriately: Water thoroughly but infrequently enough so that air is allowed back into the soil between waterings, usually only every 3-10 days depending in the weather.
  • Use an inexpensive Moisture Meter to judge soil moisture more accurately.

Remineralize Your Soil

California’s alluvial soils of the Central Valley are rich and friable because centuries of seasonal flooding have deposited minerals from the eroding Sierras into the fertile lowlands.

Alluvial soils are so full of minerals and nutrients making them perfect for growing crops.  Adding minerals to your soil using Azomite® – which is volcanic rock dust – is similar to centuries of valley flooding. Spread a box of Azomite® around your vegetable garden or backyard orchard three to four times a year. Gardeners doing so have achieved noticeable improvements, not only in leaf color and vigor but in fruit and vegetable flavor and production as well.

Nutrient Source

Where do you suppose vegetables get their nutrient content?  From the soil!

Azomite® replenishes and enhances the soil. Azomite® rock dust is a natural mineral product with 70 micro-nutrients rarely available in one place. It is odorless, won’t burn your plants and won’t restrict aeration or water penetration. Unlike some products, Azomite® rock dust is not a manufactured, chemically prepared fertilizer. It is 100% natural with no additives, synthetics or fillers.

Azomite® has been shown to loosen hard soils, build healthy, more pest-resistant and drought-tolerant plants and promote lusher growth. Use Azomite® rock dust to improve all your gardening and landscape areas from lawns and vegetable plots to compost piles and enjoy:

  • Increased fruit and flower production
  • Increased vitamin content in your fruits and vegetables
  • Better tasting fruits and vegetables
  • Increased pest and disease resistance and greater cold tolerance in all your plants
  • Lawns with better color while using less fertilizer

Best of all, Azomite® rock dust is easy and economical to apply 1/2 pound per 100 square feet.

A Lilac in Every Garden

Lilacs have been around forever. Their nostalgic fragrance will transport you to earlier times and bring a smile to your face. Their romantic fragrance has inspired poetry, songs, romance and for many bring fond nostalgic memories of springs past. It is a MUST HAVE and a grandmother in your life – or me – would agree!

From bud through bloom you’ll enjoy lilacs for 6 to 8 weeks usually in April and early May. They indeed say, “Spring is Here.” Soak up their beauty in the garden or cut in a vase.

These deciduous shrubs are the perfect reminder that warmer days are soon to come. They can be used as a hedge or screen in the landscape, a single accent, or planted in mixed borders. Lilacs attract hummingbirds and butterflies and are surprisingly resistant to deer. We have a selection of different sizes and colors that will bloom in your garden this year and many years to come. What’s important to remember is where they would happily live and where you would like them to grow. Since lilacs lose their leaves in winter and are in glorious bloom for 6-8 weeks in spring, my suggestion is they be planted in an area that’s not the highest profile but certainly within ‘enjoyment’ view. 

Lilacs will prosper in our heavy Valley soils; transplant easily; are drought tolerant; prefer full sun, with a touch of afternoon shade, but will grow in light shade. They will endure a wide range of temperatures — our occasionally frosty valley winters will not phase the hardy lilac, they like the winter chill.

Low maintenance and very forgiving of occasional neglect, lilacs are ideal for busy valley weekend gardeners faced with time conflicts. All they ask is well-drained soil with good air circulation and lots of sunlight. In return, they will give you good looks, a fragrant bloom and cut flowers your neighbors will envy.

One of the oldest European garden favorites, Lilacs were spread throughout the world by Dutch, English, and French settlers and now adorn gardens and landscapes from America to China. Many mid-West and Eastern Gardeners in California yearn for lilacs to remind them of home.

Lilacs are a treasure in people’s hearts and minds for their classic scent and beauty. Establish them in spring before summer heat arrives and enjoy them for generations to come. We have several varieties for you to select from. Come and find just the right color to add to your garden and do some “Time Traveling” with its perfume.

Dave’s Rose Fertilizer Program

Learn from the Winning Rosarians – Feed your Roses now for a glorious display in spring. This feeding program is inspired by the late, David Lowell, a local rosarian and friend who developed a number of hybridized roses and always took home ribbons for his rose show entries.

Dave’s Rose feeding program provides for general plant vigor and beautiful looking roses! For use on established roses only (planted for at least six months). Apply in MARCH and also AUGUST.

For each rose apply:

  • Master Nursery 16-16-16 – 1/2 cup/rose (5# bag for 18 roses) (August application recommended E.B. Stone 5-5-5 fertilizer 1 cup/rose)
  • Bone Meal 1/2 cup per rose (4# bag for 18 roses)
  • Sulfur* 1/2 cup per rose (5# box for 18 roses)
  • Gypsum 1/2 cup per rose (5# box for 18 roses)
  • Magnesium Sulfate 2 Tbs. per rose (5# box for 70+ roses)
  • Chicken Fertilizer 1 shovel per rose (1 bag for ~ nine roses)

*to supply sulfur, use one of the following: Iron Sulfate, Iron Plus*, or Soil Sulfur. Iron-containing products can stain. Wash off adjacent paving after ­application. (*Iron Plus is non-staining.)

Water your roses deeply the day before feeding.

Sprinkle the first five ingredients around each rose and mix into the soil if possible. Then sprinkle the chicken fertilizer around each rose and water everything in.

DO NOT combine this recipe with systemic rose fertilizer. It poses a health risk to pets if swallowed. Pets are attracted to the bone meal and may ingest systemic rose food if included in this recipe – or applied other months in the same area.

A two-inch mulch layer may be put around your roses to conserve water and insulate roots from the summer heat. Pull the mulch back 6″ away from the plant stem.

Flavor Your Garden with Herbs

Now is the time we find ourselves dreaming of summer vegetable gardens soon to be planted. Consider adding an herb garden to round out the flavor palate. Herbs can slip into a small pot or a corner of the garden, they require very little growing time before they are useful and they add a lot of pop to barbecued meals, salads and side dishes.

Try grilling chicken with an oregano, chive, and basil marinade or filling a roasting chicken with rosemary, garlic and oregano. Potatoes take on an entirely different flavor when roasted with a basting of olive oil and rosemary, chives or dill. Take a few minutes and add herbs to the vegetable garden. You’ll find that their magic can add a savory taste to all your cooking!

BASIL (cold sensitive – plant outside when the weather warms, late March or beyond)
Basil adds zest and color to bottled vinegar, use this when preparing a fresh salad dressing.  Basil is great for salads, marinades or fresh fish dishes. The most popular basil is sweet basil with its fragrant leaves. Use it in pesto, sprinkle it with chopped garlic on prime rib, and use it liberally in Italian dishes. Basil also makes a bright accent in the flower garden. Basil plants have the added benefit of repelling flies. Enjoy as “window sill basil” to get the season going.

CHIVES
This spiky plant looks like a cluster of onions. In late May it is crowned with lavender flowers. Clip and chop handfuls of it to season potato dishes, salads, dressings, egg dishes, and soups. It is one of the most versatile kitchen herbs. You can flavor white vinegar with a few stems of this herb and enjoy it splashed over garden ripened tomatoes.

DILL
Used for pickling, dill is also wonderful in salads, sauces, soups or breads on vegetables and fish. Special tips: Try pickling green beans, carrots, new potatoes or peppers with a bit of dill.

LAVENDER
The addition of culinary grade lavender in tiny amounts can jazz up dishes as diverse as grilled pork chops, to scones, cakes, and even candy.

MARJORAM
Like oregano but sweeter, this flavor is perfect in Mediterranean dishes, meats, and vegetables.

MINT
The flavor of mint is refreshing, cool and sweet, especially good in iced drinks and teas, with lamb or in salad dressings. Special tips: Minty sun tea: Put 8 tea bags, ½ c. of fresh mint leaves and 1 gal. of water in a clear glass jar. Set in a sunny spot for several hours. Serve over ice, or simply make iced mint water. It’s so refreshing! Mint tends to overgrow its neighbors and proliferate in the garden – consider a separate pot to contain this enthusiastic grower.

OREGANO
This pungent herb is no foreigner to cooking. Use it in marinade; grind it to add to pizza, spaghetti sauce or salad dressings. And one summer favorite is to add it with fresh basil to an oil and vinegar marinade for fresh from the garden flavor.

PARSLEY
For a clean sharp and peppery taste, add to vegetables and salads as a garnish. Include in sauces, soups, stews and stuffing. Special tips: Parsley is high in Vitamins A, C and B.

ROSEMARY
Wonderful flavoring for chicken or any barbecue. Evergreen, woody shrub has aromatic foliage (It’s actually related to mint.) The flavor of rosemary is bold and piney. Use it in pickles, jams, preserves and sauces, as well as meats and soups. Special tips: Use a branch of rosemary as a basting brush at your next barbecue, or put some on the coals for a great aroma. Plant in full sun.

SAGE
Warm, slightly bitter, this flavor is a must for turkey stuffing, as well as pork, duck and sausage seasoning. Special tips: Dried sage leaves are used as a substitute for coffee or tea.

TARRAGON
A spicy, sharp flavor with licorice and mint overtones, tarragon lends itself to French cooking, egg dishes, fish, and salad dressing. Special tips: Tarragon vinegar: Pour a qt. of cold vinegar over ½ c. fresh tarragon leaves, cap and store for 4 weeks.

THYME

Thyme is another popular herb known of its culinary and medicinal properties. It has a concentrated herbal flavor with sharp grass, woody and floral notes. Thyme leaves can be added, whole or chopped, to a dish at any stage of cooking although the longer they cook, the more flavor they’ll provide.

Start Morning Glory Seeds

Start annual morning glories from seed this month and establish them in the garden or a pot by summer! Morning glories are one of the most stunning of the old-fashioned garden flowers. Flowers are huge – three to five inches across – and bright, colorful blue, purple or pink. Best of all, morning glories are easy!

Start indoors to transplant later, or directly sow in the landscape now.  Improve the soil by mixing a couple of inches of Gold Rush soil conditioner into the garden soil. Plant seeds a half inch deep. Water to get them started.

Morning glories from seed are typically annuals, dying completely in winter, though they will most likely reseed to sprout next year.

Try planting morning glory among sunflowers.  The sunflowers will grow quickly, providing a natural trellis for the Morning Glory to climb.  Sunflowers also may be started from seed outdoors now or in the coming weeks.