- Danville:

Mon-Sat: 8am-6:30pm, 9am to 5pm on Sundays

- Pierce Street:

9am-6:30pm

Browse through hundreds of colorful outdoor pots, indoor planters, exotic animals and one of a kind housewares.  Shop for yourself, or get great gifts for friends and family.  This is a unique opportunity to find hand -painted art at discounted prices.  

If you missed last month's issue of the Kitchen Gardener e-newsletter, we discussed growing and cooking garlic.  Read it here...    

Blue is our pottery color for March.  This shimmering, purply blue looks great with flowers as well as mixed foliage combinations: Ipomoea, Heuchera, Coleus, and Lysimachia. Visit any Sloat Garden Center to see the selection. See more Sloat Garden Center pottery here:    

Seed Planting Rituals

Now is the time to choose seeds and dream of fresh off the vine produce and kitchen creations, direct from the garden. As we get ready to plant fruits, vegetables and herbs, we thought we'd look at how some cultures and religions plant seeds and welcome spring.  

The idea of blessing seeds is certainly not new. It was and still is a part of seasonal planting in Native American cultures. In Catholicism, the Rogation Days are when farmers and gardeners pray for protection in fields and for livestock. In Sonsonate, El Salvador there's a ritual of the indigenous community Los Izalcos to bless seeds before the planting season. And for some, the spring Equinox is a traditional time to perform special blessings over the seeds which were gathered the previous fall.

What do seeds need  

to succeed?   

The weather has been so warm and sunny in the Bay Area that spring feels like its been with us for months now. March is finally here and we can now officially celebrate by planting up our favorite fruits, vegetables, flowers, vines, trees, shrubs and more. There's so much to do! 

Sloat Notes: 

* In stores this week: the new March/April Gardener's Notebook print newsletter. You can read our pdf version below or here.    

Stop by our stores and check out our unbeatable selection of blueberries.  

Southern Highbush low chill varieties (semi-evergreen) Sunshine Blue, O'Neil, Sharpblue, South Moon, Legacy, Misty  

Northern Highbush (longer chill) varieties (these are considered to have the best fruit) Bluecrop, Berkeley, Blueray, Chandler, Reka.  

While supplies last!

Rhododendron        

Rhododendron have been a staple in our nurseries for many years and for good reason; they are hardy and reliable. Better yet, they are new each spring. Nothing says spring quite like the large flower trusses of a Rhododendron. These acid loving plants are good companions to fern, hosta, and blueberries.

Give plants filtered sun, almost full sun on the coast or where the climate is mild and foggy. Planted in full shade, plants will not bloom well. Where soil is clay, planting is best done by placing the root ball on top of amended soil and mounding up and around the roots with 50/50 E.B. Stone Azalea Rhododendron and Camellia Mix and Microbark.

We have just moved to Forest Hill area. Is it too late to plant tomatoes? If yes, how about in a pot?

Best regards, Lynn

ANSWER: For our answer, visit the Garden Guru    

More questions for our garden guru?  Ask away on our Facebook page!  You can also ask questions by emailing the garden guru here.  

Artful Gardening in Small Spaces
Mary TeSelle, owner of Quite Contrary Gardens, joins us to offer fun and, well, contrary ideas for our smaller garden areas such as side yards, decks, tunnel entrances, and patios. This award-winning gal will visit us throughout spring so stay tuned!
March 7 - Sloat Blvd., Wed., 6:30pm

Edible Landscapes
Dustin Strobel and Brad Sheehan join forces to educate us on how we can create beautiful, functional, edible gardens. Whether your garden space is big or small, they will share a variety of options to meet your goals.
March 10 - Danville, Sat., 10am 

Citrus Pruning
Welcome back Elizabeth Ruiz, aesthetic pruner. Elizabeth will guide us through the steps on how to train and shape our citrus trees for fruit production, shape, and health.
March 10 - Mill Valley (Miller Ave.), Sat., 10am
March 11 - Novato, Sun., noon
March 21 - Sloat Blvd., Wed., 6:30pm
April 15 - Danville, Sun., noon

Tomatoes & Herbs Together  Norma Novy, gardening aficionado and soils expert, ventures east to share her knowledge on growing healthy, tasty, high yielding tomatoes and herbs. Two seminars, back to back will give you a jump on spring planting.
April 1 - Danville, Sun., noon: Tomatoes 12-1pm, Herbs 1:30-2:30pm
(This presentation will be close to 2.5 hours long with a half hour break in-between.)

Tomato Tomata
Norma Novy, soils and garden enthusiast, helps us get our groove on in all things tomato.
April 4 - Sloat Blvd., Wed., 6:30pm
April 15 - Mill Valley (Miller Ave.), Sun., 10am
April 15 - Novato, Sun., 1pm

Salvage Gardening
Mary TeSelle returns to tell us how to use and repurpose household objects and building components in a quite contrary way.
April 14 - Mill Valley (Miller Ave.), Sat., 10am
April 18 - Sloat Blvd., Wed., 6:30pm