Grangetto’s Newsletter

May Outline

Send May 3rd

1.Kevin’s Korner

10 % off coupon – to be emailed
______

8th Annual Horticulture Registration ad (use same ad from last month) link to:

2.Manager’s Corner


______

3.Upcoming Workshops

Link to:

4.Garden Specials(leave link to specials)

5.Preferred Member Specials

Link to:

6.Garden Tips

May Gardening Tips

PLANTING

  • May is a great month for planting new trees & shrubs. Use Gardner & Bloome Worm-Gro when planting. Use DeWitt 12-year Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric to prevent weeds from coming up in your garden beds.
  • Plant irises, canned roses, tropicals and tuberoses
  • Time to plant dahlias, begonias--and get in the gladiolus bulbs. Add some Dr. Earth® Bone Meal to the planting hole for great root development and beautiful blooms!
  • Plant a giant pumpkin in early June for Halloween.
  • Transplant potted bulbs into the ground.
  • Plant zinnias, morning glories and other heat loving flowers. Replace cool-season bedding flowers with summer-season flowers. Use Ames hand tools for easy gardening.
  • Plant warm-season lawns.
  • Plant vegetables andherbs –It’s time to plant warm-season crops like tomatoes, squash, peppers, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, melons, okra and corn. Also plant basil, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary and thyme and other heat-lovers. Consider using Superthrive® for healthier, fast growing plants. Superthrive® is excellent for reducing transplant shock and reviving stressed plants.
  • Plant seeds or seedlings for corn, green beans, melons, squash, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes and other heat-lovers.We carry a large selection of Quality STOVER® seeds and Do Rights Vegetable, Herb and Flower Packs
  • Purchase, plant, and transplant succulents.
  • Plant petunias. Pinch them back when you plant them.
  • Plant California Natives

FEEDING AND MAINTENANCE

  • Fertilize both cool season (fescue) and warm season (bermuda & St. Augustine) lawns using Best Turf Supreme 16-6-8 or Best Super Turf 25-5-5 (lasts for up to 12 weeks!). Lawns should be fertilized every 4-6 weeks. Use Dr. Earth Super Natural Lawn Fertilizer for an organic food. For convenience in small areas use Scotts®Handy Green II Hand-Held spreader. For larger areas use a Broadcast Spreader.
  • Control and kill lawn insects so they don’t invade your house with Spectracide Triazicide Once & Done.
  • Mow cool season lawns long and warm season lawns short.

Plants, Trees & Shrubs

  • Beneficial insects such as the almost microscopic parasitic wasps, praymantis, ladybugs, etc. keep other insect pests away from your vegetable gardens by eating aphids, scale, and other annoying intruders. You can use beautiful flowers to tempt these garden friends into your garden. Try putting some of these flowers near to your rose garden for aphid control!
  • Check citrus for pests and diseases. Irrigate as needed to maintain adequate soil moisture. Apply enough water to wet the soil at least two feet deep. Only apply water about 3 inches deep in loam soil.
  • Continue to feed avocado and citrus trees. Use a good all around fertilizer such as Dr. Earth or Gardner & Bloome Organic Citrus and Avocado food or contact us to learn of other conventional and organic fertilizers that will fit your growing needs best!
  • Wash fruit trees periodically with a forceful spray of water to remove dust, honeydew and pests like aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. Control ants. Use tanglefoot or AntPro Liquid Bait and Bait Stations.
  • Begonias - Check tuberous begonias to repot or add fresh soil. Stake if needed. Wash insects off with water. Pinch back once or twice and fertilize for more blooms and bushier canes.
  • Fushsias – Feed with Gardner & Bloome Rose & Flower Food. Remove berries (seed pods) from fuchsias after flowers fall.
  • Feed your camellias and azaleas. A good schedule of feeding is three times a year. March should have been your first feeding. Feed again in May and again in July. Use Gardner & Bloome® Camellia and Azalea Food. Watch for aphids and hose them off with a spray of water. Keep well watered, but not soggy. Prune unwanted new growth.
  • Herbs and Vegetables. There is still plenty of time to prep and start your garden beds! Remove old soil and weeds. Amend with Kellogg® Amend Garden Mix. This garden mix has a starter fertilizer in it already. Now you are ready to plant your warm season veggies & herbs. For established beds, side-dress vegetable rows with a good organic fertilizer such as Gardner & Bloome Tomato and Herb Fertilizer. Fertilize peppers when flowers first show. Continue to tie up and sucker tomatoes. Sturdy Cage Tomato cages are available. Harvest vegetables when they’re young and tender.
  • Feed all container-grown succulents with a well-diluted complete liquid fertilizer such as Shultz 10-15-10 Plant Food. Water well. Make sure drainage is good in all container plants.
  • Thin out fruit on deciduous fruit trees.
  • Dahlias - Feed dahlias with a balanced nitrogen fertilizer. Spray as necessary to control insects. Watch for leaf miners, thrips and aphids. Try using a systemic. If spraying, use a weak solution on new foliage. Water when top of soil is dry. Soak deeply and often when buds are forming. Pinch out center of plants when two or three sets of leaves have developed. Plant tubers now when soil is warm. Tubers should be planted four to six inches down and planted with “eye” up. Stake at this time. Keep moist but not too wet. Protect from harsh sun. Protect from snails and slugs.
  • Pelargoniums – avoid pruning or cutting. Remove dead or damaged leaves to prevent molds and fungus. Watch for geranium rust. Use Immunox to treat. Immunox is a non-sulfur based product. Keep the soil moist and the foliage dry. Apply a good commercial fertilizer at two-week intervals. Use one-third to one-half recommended strength. Protect against whitefly, budworm & aphids. Use a product that contains both an insecticide and fungicide.
  • Roses - Continue to pick and deadhead roses. Deadheading fading flower blossoms will keep your garden neater and flowering better & longer. Water well as heat increases. Roses need one inch of water twice a week during the warm season. Potted roses need even more. Spray wash the bushes with water daily in the early morning to control powdery mildew or spray with a fungicide according the label directions. Feed roses based on the recommended schedule for your chosen fertilizer. Some good options are Gardner & Bloome or Dr. Earth Rose & Flower Food, Gro Power Flower N’ Bloom or Bayer Advanced Rose Foods.
  • Iris – Prepare beds for planting. Work in humus, soil sulfur & decomposed manure.Allow cut surfaces of rhizomes to dry and be exposed to sunlight before planting or give a light dusting of soil sulfur.
  • Bromeliads – Water throughout the summer by spraying. Bromeliads absorb moisture and nutrients through their leaves. They do not like soggy roots so don’t over-water.Be sure to protect from sun. Use shade-cloth for protection if needed.
  • Divide and repot cymbidiums that have outgrown their containers. Cut off bloom spikes from cymbidiums after flowers fade.
  • Plumeria: Move your potted plumeria plants to warm sun. If you did not fertilize last month, do so now with a low nitrogen fertilizer. Repot plants to replace old soil with a fresh mix. Use one-half cactus mix such as Kellogg Palm & Cactus Mix and one-fourth #3 perlite and one-fourth Worm Gold. Keep soil at the same level as before.
  • Ferns - Divide and mount staghorn ferns. Remove old dead fronds. Keep humidity up. Most ferns are starting full growth now. Water frequently and fertilize with half-strength, slow release fertilizer such as Gardner & Bloome Organic Palm & Tropical.
  • Many have asked us what is causing yellowing in the leaves of their citrus, camellias, and gardenias. Iron deficiency. Do the leaves near the top of the plant have green veins but yellow in between the veins? Time for either a foliar spray or a soil drench such as Grow More Iron Chelate or Ironite. This will help return those leaves to green!
  • Prune winter- and spring-flowering vines, shrubs, trees and ground covers after they finish blooming. Corona & Felco are some of our most popular pruning tools!
  • Most native plants can go three to four weeks between watering, but Riparian natives need to be watered once or twice a week. Wash the dust off shrubs and trees once a month. Harvest wildflower seeds. Pull out wildflowers after they dry. Keep planting at a minimum until fall. Make sure to water 3 – 5 times for most new plantings. Then they can generally make it with little water through summer.
  • Don’t forget Mother’s Day this month - May 8th. Surprise her with a plant, gloves, a special new hand tool or let her choose with a Grangetto’s GiftCard!
  • If you haven't already, apply a layer of mulch on flower beds and around trees and shrubs 2-3 inches around the base of plants. It reduces weeds, conserves moisture, and prevents disease. Great stuff!

PEST TO WATCH FOR

  • Control indoor & outdoor pests –To control insects like spiders, fleas and ants, use Spectracide® Triazicide Once & Done, which provides up to 12 months of insect protection. It controls insects in lawns & around homes so they don’t come inside!
  • Animals - Warmer weather brings out animals such as skunks, raccoons and opossums. Trap them with Havahart Traps. We carry a large supply and they are very effective.
  • Squirrels – Use Havahart Traps, Protecta Bait Stations, Wilco Squirrel Bait and Station or Squirrelinator Multi-Trap.
  • Control mosquitoes –Use Mosquito Dunks in ponds or standing water to help control mosquitoes.
  • Rabbits – protect your vegetables and herbs from foraging rabbits! Use Rabbit Scram Repellent to keep rabbits away. This repellent is natural and organic and works as a barrier so it never has to touch your plants.
  • Snails & Slugs: Use Organic Gro Power® Slug N Snail, Organic Sluggo® Plus, Original Sluggo® or Corry’s® Snail & Slug Meal or Pellets.
  • Aphids: Control aphids with insecticidal soap and beneficial insects. Safer® Insect Killing soap is a good organic choice.
  • Thrips - Wash foliage with water from a garden hose. For stronger infestations use Bayer® Advanced Tree and shrub Insect Control. This is a systemic that gives 12 months of control.
  • Coddling moth larvae - Spray walnuts with Sevin when nuts are about the size of a nickel and again three weeks later to control coddling moth larvae.
  • Scale- Use Lilly Miller® Superior Type Spray Oil or Ortho® Volck Oil Spray to control crawlers.
  • Lawn pests: Use Bayer® Multi-Insect Killer or Spectracide® Triazicide
  • Vegetable Pests -Use Green Light Lawn & Garden Spray with Spinosad or Dr. Earth Fruit Tree & Vegetable Spray.
  • Juniper moths - Spray junipers and Italian cypress for juniper moths.
  • Rats & Mice: Use Hawk® All Weather Rodent Block.
  • Gophers: Use Wilco® Gopher Getter or Cooke Quick Action Gopher Mix to rid your yard of gophers. Use ZP® Bait in and around garden beds.
  • Caterpillars: Use Safer® Caterpillar Killer, Monterey® Garden Insect Spray or Green Light Lawn & Garden Spray with Spinosad. Look these pests on your broccoli and cabbage!
  • Rose Pests: Use Bayer® All-in-One Rose & Flower Care, Bayer® 3-in-1 Insect Disease and Mite Control or Green Light® Rose Defense.
  • Powdery Mildew: Especially near the coast, this is the time we begin to see powdery mildew on our rose foliage (and other plants too). There are several different foliar fungicidal sprays to that can help. Consider Bayer® Insect Disease and Mite Control or Ortho® Rose Pride are good conventional use products. Use Monterey E-Rase® for organic growing.
  • Powdery Mildew on Grapes: Apply a sulfur spray such as Safer® Garden Fungicide.
  • Fruit Tree Pests: Use Monterey® Garden Insect Spray to combat caterpillars and other listed pests on fruit trees, vegetables and ornamentals. It is OMRI listed for Organic Use too.
  • Lawn Weeds: To control weeds in lawns while giving them a good feeding use Lilly Miller® Ultra Green 28-2-3 Weed & Feed.
  • Weeds: Use Green Light® Crabgrass Preventer or Bayer® Season Long Weed Control in lawns. Use Green Light® Amaze in ornamentals & flower beds. For non-selective areas, use Roundup ®or QuickPro® products. Be sure to use a good sprayer such as Hudson® Sprayers.
  • Natural Weed Control: Looking for a natural way to prevent weeds? DeWitt® Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric prevents weeds without chemicals. It still allows air, water and nutrients to go through. Lay this fabric down before planting your gardens.

WATERING

  • Reset your irrigation timer to water more frequently as the weather starts to warm up. Adjust as needed if we get adequate rain fall.
  • Water gardens –Check irrigation systems. Fix clogs and broken sprinklers. Adjust spray heads. Begin watering as weather warms. Apply a fresh layer of organic mulch to conserve moisture.
  • Apply at least one inch of water twice per week to keep roses well hydrated.
  • Taper off watering those California native plants that do not accept summer water. Most native plants can go three to four weeks between watering, but Riparian natives need to be watered once or twice a week. Also make sure to water 3 – 5 times for most new plantings. Then they can generally make it with little water through summer.
  • As the weather becomes drier, keep up with watering. Even highly drought-tolerant plants need irrigation. Water large cacti, for example, once a month and agave and yuccas every three weeks. Be sure to water most garden plants regularly. Try using a Rain Wand for easy watering. Pair it with a Gilmour Flexogen Hose for maximum kink resistance.
  • Water lawns –Check irrigation systems. Fix clogs and broken sprinklers. Adjust spray heads. Begin watering if weather warms but only after soil has partially dried. Check with your local water department or cooperative extension service for lawn watering guidelines.
  • Now is a perfect time to start planning on how you are going to save water in your landscape, if you haven’t already. Installing or retrofitting an existing irrigation system to utilize the most up-to-date technology will help you save water. Grangetto’s can help you make the SMART WATER CHOICE in your landscape. Call us or stop by your favorite location so we can help! Here are some water saving devices
  • Did you know that you could SAVE up to 30% on Your WATER BILL? Consider replacing old irrigation systems with updated water efficient weather based systems from HUNTER® Irrigation. Replace your old outdated nozzles with HUNTER® MP Rotators. On sale this month!

Be sure to follow your local watering restrictions and guidelines

7.Garden Articles

Remove

ADD:

Plant of the Month – Rose Tamora

This English Austin is apricot-pink, deeply cupped and has a myrrh fragrance. Who could resist that?! Surrounded by disease resistant foliage, it grows to a nice medium size of 4 feet tall by 3 feet round. It can be grown for a short hedge, en masse, or alone for a single, beautiful specimen. Cut roses are perfect for a nice bouquet.

Learn more about them at

  • Pest of the Month: Snails, Slugs & Aphids

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Your garden is now ripe for a devastating invasion of aphids, slugs and snails. Before we devise our battle plan to rid your garden of these pests, let's look at the inter-relationships in your backyard!
Aphids are to ants what cows are to humans. Ants actually protect and herd aphids for the honeydew nectar they secrete. Ants use their antennae to stroke the aphids, thereby activating the secretion cycle. Thusly, ant control should be part of the preventative cycle regarding aphid infestation. Get rid of the ants and it is much easier to get rid of their herds! We recommend AntPro Bait & Station, Spectracide Triazicide for lawns and we carry many ant control products. Let us help you determine the best ant control method for your individual needs.
Aphids can be brought under control culturally if the infestation is moderate. Often a thorough hosing of the afflicted plants will wash aphids away.
Biological controls include lady bugs and praying mantis colonies. Organic solutions include insecticidal soaps or pyrethrums. Another combination ingredient might be a 3-1 fertilizer, fungus control and systemic insecticide.
Should you have a severe infestation, a radical control would be malathion. Come on in and we'll show you the options that best suit your needs.
Snails are also active with our combination of heat and moisture. In most cases, snails are easily controlled with bait products. For the more exotic approach, there is a biological control for the common brown snail by utilizing a distant cousin, the Decollate snail. The Decollate snail species is carnivorous and will feast on the common brown snail. Should they run out of the snail entrée, they become herbaceous and eat trimming and waste. Corry’s Snail & Slug, Sluggo and Sluggo Plus are all great products.
In summary, now is the time to commence your control programs. Come on in and we'll assist in every way!
  • Burpee Tomatoes

Well, it’s time! Time to bring all of your winter dreams to fruition, time to pull on your gardening gloves, time to plant your favorite of all fruits, the tomato, so that when the truly warm days of summer have arrived, you’ll be serving home-made salsa, fresh bruschetta, and topping your burgers with the just-picked fruits of your labors.
For the earliest harvest, in only 49 days you can be enjoying the Tomato Tumbler Hybrid, a bright red cherry tomato that is best grown in hanging baskets and containers. One to one and a quarter inches in diameter, one plant will yield up to 6 pounds of these sweet treats. Another early grower is the Tomato Fourth of July Hybrid, the first tomato to ripen by Independence Day! The fruit of this customer favorite and Burpee exclusive is a luscious red that will average 4 ounces, and produce all season long. The Tomato Fresh Salsa, in 65-75 days after plants are set out, will spice up your summer barbecues with a perfectly firm, solid, sweet, and dripless “all meat” tomato that is ideal for your salsas and bruschettas. These bushy plants are loaded with large (4 to 5 ounce), plum-shaped fruits that will appeal to the gourmet and gourmand alike.
Seedless watermelons, seedless cucumbers, and now the world’s first seedless tomato! The Tomato Sweet Seedless Hybrid is sweet because there are no seeds to absorb and store the fruit’s natural sugars. With a perfect balance of flavor and sweetness, meat and gel, firmness and juiciness, this Burpee exclusive is ready for enjoyment in only 68 days. The fruit is medium-sized at 8 to 10 ounces. If you welcome rich, tangy flavor, we recommend the Tomato SuperTasty Hybrid, a bushy, disease-free, vigorously productive tomato that will enhance your plate in 70 days. With its space-saving habit, it needs minimal staking, and produces 7 to 9 ounce fruits.
If you love the classics, and consider the Brandywine heirloom tomato to be the best-tasting of all tomatoes, we bet you will prefer the Tomato Brandy Boy Hybrid, a huge pink beefsteak with heirloom flavor and very high yields. This new hybrid Brandywine produces fruits 5 ½ inches across that ripen evenly, and sport an upright growth habit, making it a more manageable plant to grow, and a definite improvement over the traditional Brandywines. It will be ready to pick 75-78 days after setting out plants. If your tastes run towards the huge tomatoes, why not try the Tomato Delicious, with fruits that average one pound and can even weigh twice as much! The skin is smooth and crack-free, making it an excellent slicer with full flavor, and a ready-to-pick time of about 77 days.
The true cook will appreciate the Tomato Big Mama Hybrid, an enormous, plum-shaped and meaty fruit that will grow up to 5 inches in length with a width of 3 inches. Use this customer favorite as a home-grown paste tomato, ready to harvest in 80 days.
We’ve saved what is perhaps our favorite for last. The Tomato Black Pearl Hybrid is two different flavors in one cherry tomato. The vines abundantly produce 1 ½”, purplish black fruits until fall, but the secret treasure of this jewel comes when chilled; then the ‘Black Pearl’ offers up a unique, extra sweet, Concord grape flavor.
Plant, harvest, and enjoy; the perfect recipe for a summertime meal.
Burpee Tomatoes are available at our Fallbrook location only. We carry a large selection of other high quality vegetable and herb plants at all other locations. Be sure to check store for availability.
  • Backyard Product Helps Families in Need

Backyard Produce Helps Families in Need