Planting:
It’s SEED POTATO TIME! We have an assortment of delectable organic varieties for 2024. New to planting potatoes? Chat with our knowledgeable garden staff, and reference our information about planting and harvesting potatoes HERE, which will give you the basics on planting, caring for, and harvesting potatoes.
It’s also time for planting onions! Fresh onion bunches have arrived in our nursery greenhouse and we have some delicious varieties for early planting! We have candy, patterson, redwing, walla walla sweet and ringmaster. Get them while supplies last! Check out our information on planting and Growing Onions!
Maintenance:
When garlic growth begins in early spring, it’s a great time to apply a high nitrogen fertilizer to your garlic, such as Down To Earth’s Blood Meal 12-0-0, Fish Meal 8-6-0 or high nitrogen Bat Guano 7-3-1. Repeat in late March. Check out more information about Growing Garlic.
Fertilize:
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 sold in a set of 25, 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.