Planning & Planting
If you haven’t done so already, now is a good time to Plan your Vegetable Garden. If you’re ready to start, our garden department is filled with seed starting supplies! Consider Soil Blocking as a method to starting seeds! Not only is it economical, but also a great way to reduce plastic waste, and allows seedlings to develop healthy root systems.
Want to know what you can start by seed and what transplants can go in the ground right now? Check out What to plant in March. Get ready to grow with some helpful Gardening 101 tips for planting, fertilizing, and watering your garden during the season.
Onion bunches are in stock in our garden department while supplies last! We are carrying Walla Walla, Patterson (copra storage onion replacement), Candy, Red Zeppelin, Redwing and Ringmaster. You may want to call the store to check on availability, as our onion bunches have been known to sell very quickly! Check out our info on Planting and Growing Onions!
Fertilizing
Early spring is an excellent time to apply fertilizer on your established berry plants as they begin their early spring growth, like blueberries, raspberries, loganberries, etc. We recommend our Acid Mix 4-3-6 Fertilizer to encourage lush flowers and fruit. Apply Acid Mix in early spring for vegetative growth and again when blooms appear. It’s blended specially for acid soil loving plants like rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, evergreen trees and shrubs, blueberries, raspberries, and other plants that thrive in a low pH soil.
Another one of our best sellers, Bio-Live 5-4-2 is an excellent fertilizer to get your transplants established. It is a rich, organic fertilizer mix infused with a generous amount of beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi to stimulate rooting, vigor, and optimum plant development.
Beneficial Garden Helpers
Mason bees are here! We have cocoons available right now in our garden department, as well as shelters, replacement tubes, and more! The name “Mason Bee” comes from the female’s mortar-like application of mud to seal off her egg chambers. Mason Bees are gentle, solitary, and non-aggressive bees, making them an excellent garden companion. They are tremendous early-season pollinators during the fruit tree bloom time. They can improve fruit set of nearly every plant within 100 yards of their home! Learn more about how to care for mason bees here.
Prevention & Maintenance
The coming of spring also brings unwanted visitors to the garden like slugs and snails that will more than happily munch on tender new plants. They can be hard to control, as they hide very effectively under garden debris and anything lying around the yard that provides dark, moist, and cool conditions: debris, boards, plastic containers, etc. Setting up traps, using copper barriers, or using Sluggo can help ward off these hungry pests. If you have fruit trees, you may need an application to help prevent brown rot, or pests like aphid, scale, leafroller, and spider mites. Check out our Fruit Tree Spray Schedule for options on dormant sprays and prevention.
March can still bring chilly nights that can harm young starts, so plan ahead and have frost cloth ready just in case temperatures dip down low at night.