Garden Talks
Our 20th year of selling Spring Bonds is here! But today (March 31) is the last day that Spring Bonds are available!
When you purchase a $50 bond you pay only $37.50!!! This 25% off Bond can be used anytime after April 1 for almost all regularly priced items.
Supplies are limited so buy your SPRING BONDS before they run out! Purchase your bonds at any Skillin's location OR
www.skillins.com!
As I just wrote this is an awesome time of year for the ever resilient and optimistic Maine gardener. I only had time to take a quick walk around my yard this morning before I came to work BUT my favorite event of the whole year is happening! My perennials are poking through the ground--and many of already taken great shape! Nothing lifts my heart more than seeing my peonies, lilies, echinacea and others just popping their heads through the soil. To me, this is THE BEST time of year! The BEST! This is also the time to get those perennials uncovered from their winter mulching. Rake out the perennial garden. Once that is done, this is a great time to apply Corn Gluten to your open areas between your established perennials. Corn Gluten will help block weed seed from germinating. Finally this is a great time to cast some Plant Tone by Espoma or Plant Booster Plus by Organica around your perennial garden. I recommend twice yearly feedings of such good natural fertilizers and now is a great time for Application #1.
We have some very exciting new plants coming in this year--shrubs, perennials and annuals. We have talked about many of our new perennials at our Garden Blog site, the
Skillin's Garden Log. Check out the site for the articles about new perennials (easy to find at the site). We are also beginning to talk about
new shrubs for the year. One of the most exciting shrubs to me is the Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry. Check this out:
"The Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry will grow to 6-7' tall and 4-5' wide. Imagine a bowl filled with vanilla ice cream topped with strawberry sauce. This tempting hydrangea is a treat for the eyes. Blossoms begin a creamy white in summer, change pink and finally end with a delicious display of strawberry red for the fall garden. You may want seconds, and we won't stand in the way!"
Check out more new shrubs and trees for 2010 HERE!
Last year at this exact time I started some peas in a container and kept them on the sunny south side of my house. I want to do it again because it worked out great last year! I think I am going to pick up some Coast of Maine Bar Harbor Blend soil and some pea seeds and get a container garden started in the next couple of days. This is also a great time to start lettuces and other greens. I like the leaf lettuces for quick harvests. I also have some sunny spaces in the ground that I will probably use to grow some spinach (which could have been planted weeks ago but it is not too late!). Celery can also be planted out doors and in the ground.
Years ago, Barbara Damrosch in her gardening classic, "The Garden Planner", (sold right here at Skillin's) made several fundamental points about Vegetable Gardening that we all should heed, whether we are newcomers to Vegetable Gardening or not. And here they are:
*What type of vegetables to grow? The first criterion should be your appetite and that of the people you live with. But do keep in mind a vegetable garden is a golden opportunity to try the new and unfamiliar.
*Take our climate into account.In the northeastern USA, we have no problems with cool-weather crops such as broccoli, peas, lettuce and cabbage. Ask your neighbors what grows well for them or check with us here at Skillin's!
*How big a garden? The most common mistake made by new and old gardeners is that they plant too much. Either the upkeep overwhelms them and much of the garden succumbs to weeds, bugs or drought or the harvest is too bountiful, and they cannot keep up with the picking, let alone the eating and preserving. You will probably find it more fun and rewarding to start small. Remember less can often be more!
*Choose a site that receives lots of sun and drains well. Trees can be cut to let in more sun and we at Skillin's have plenty of natural products to help your soil!
*Try to start with a sketch of your vegetable garden plot to make the buying of seeds and starter crops and the ultimate planting more efficient.
One of my favorite beautiful flowering plants is the dahlia. Dahlias grow from tubers and their color combinations can be stunning! Dahlias are a slow starter. Well, now is the time to start dahlias in peat pots or the new Cow Pots! Peat or cow pots can then be plunged into the ground or into a larger container outdoors around June 1 without harming the roots of your growing plant. The peat pot will eventually decompose and the root system of your plant will reach easily into the new soil. A word of warning: many chain stores sell paper (not peat) pots to start plants. Such paper pots do not decompose and therefore your plants root system may not be able to expand properly! For a few weeks we have been selling tuberous begonias. Just like dahlias it is also time to start tuberous begonias in peat pots. (If you have not started your tuberous begonias yet you are not alone; I have not started mine either. Do not fear! It is not too late!)
Questions about any gardening topics? Email us at skillins@maine.rr.com or contact us at any of the above phone numbers! Or stop by and see us!! 
