Get ready for spring planting

At Whispering Winds Nursery, co-owner Kristine Hill says they are ramping up with flats of vegetables, plants they are starting from seed because of how difficult it is for them to get inventory from their regular suppliers.

One of the blessings of the pandemic is the heightened focus on gardens and lawns—beautifying personal environments in which everyone has been spending an overwhelmingly unusual and inordinate amount of time.

Right now, tomatoes, peppers and herbs can go into the greenhouse, either as seeds or starts and strawberries, lettuce, peas, kale, chard and broccoli can be kept warm in the greenhouse or planted directly in the soil; root vegetables—carrots, parsnip, beets, radishes—can all go directly into the soil as seeds.

Potatoes, best bought at the nursery or organically because of a spray that is put on commercial crops to keep the eyes from sprouting, are ready to be dug in.

"A lot of people like to plant them on Saint Patrick's Day," she says.

It's still too early for peppers and tomatoes and eggplant and very early for cucumbers, melons and zucchini. They can go in around mid-April to early May. The soil needs to warm up.

Hill says it is important to remember that although a lot of information on the Internet says we are in Zone 9, we are truly in Zone 8.

"I have from experience lost quite a few plants from following Zone 9 guidelines; we are too cold. If you plant for Zone 8, you will have fewer disappointments."

Pansies, snap dragons, ranunculus, daffodils, tulips, sedum and sempervivum (hens and chicks) are all blooming about town, in the ground and in pots.

Once it warms up, weather dependent, there will be petunias, lobelia, marigolds, impatiens and calibrachoa (million bells).

"If it goes to 70 and stays there, those plants will be available from our vendors."

It is still cool enough to plant bareroot trees—peaches, pears, cherry and plum—and it is still timely to plant butterfly bushes, rock roses, grevillea  (sun and drought tolerant), Rose of Sharon hibiscus, lilacs, rhododendrons, azaleas and camelias—dormant now and flowering in the late spring and summer.

A good selection of hot weather plants won't be available until late April or early May.

Shade bareroot trees including fruitless mulberry, crabapple, weeping cherry and sun tolerant maples are available for planting.

The nursery is planning on expanding their native plant selection that presently includes ceanothus, manzanita, coffeeberry, grasses and live oak trees.

"Our biggest challenge right now is finding the plants; everyone is out and citrus is a real problem. Perhaps not until 2022 will we see them again."

Put in a good drip system or water directly onto the plant that you want to receive the water; don't drag a running hose around the yard; stay away from sprinklers.

Water after 6 p.m. until 7 a.m. the next morning; there is less water evaporation in the evening and night and the plants are better able to utilize it. The climate is dry enough here that mold is not a concern.

"I read some years ago that the plants will not use the water if it is above 85 degrees."

Start mulching more heavily as it gets warmer into May with hay, sawdust, fine bark, leaves, compost. Give the stem of the plant some space.

"You want to get it pretty well mulched going into the summer to help retain moisture and the water you are using."

A fertilizer high in nitrogen is good right now as the plants grow their foliage; as it warms up, use a fertilizer with a higher amount of phosphorous. (NPK-nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium).

Organic all-purpose fertilizers are good as well. Hill likes to use liquid on established plants and a granular like Osmocote on larger plants.

Sluggo Plus is highly recommended because it gets ear wigs and pill bugs, as well as slugs, and is safe around children and pets.

With all the ups and downs of a year filled with garden fever, her parting words, for herself and others, at this time, are patience and flexibility.

Source and Photo Courtesy of Ukiah Daily Journal

Source: Ukiah Daily Journal