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It has been too long since I have written you. I have been burrowed in our greenhouses for the last month greeting and hopefully helping many customers with lots of garden opportunities! I have talked with many of you in person, renewed many old friendships and made many new friends with gardeners young and old who are just getting "into" gardening. I have worked closely with my Dad (Dave Skillin is a treasure!) and helped guide new Skillin's people into the amazing world of flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and seasons. For 10 precious minutes I even got to hold a 1 year old little girl as her parents and I "talked tomatoes". For the parent of a young man about to turn 20 years old that may have been the best 10 minutes of the month!
We are JUST Getting Started!
As we stood yesterday morning in front of our tomato section, one of my first customers of the day remarked to me that "I would love to grow some tomatoes this year but I know that I am too late...." Now I know that our customers are always right BUT in this case I immediately said: " We are just getting started; you are right on time!"
Friends, our soil is just warming up...plants that have started slowly because of cold soil temps are about to JUMP. If you want to grow more veggies and more flowers our selection is top shelf; in most cases FRESH second and third crops that are well established, well grown and well on their way to a timely harvest in a happy garden like yours! This goes for ground gardens as well as container gardens!
Planting veggies? Great! Plant some flowers too! Vegetables are a blast but flowers look great, some deter pests, and all of them help to pollinate vegetable plants. We have got veggies and flowers and today, this week, and/or this coming weekend and beyond is the perfect time to plant!
Annual flowers are a great bargain. We offer 6 or 9 packs for just $3.99. And annual flowers are "the plant that keeps on giving" by flowering well into the fall!
Our good gardening friend, Tom Atwell writes a great article in Sunday's Maine Telegram about how you can still enjoy late-planted vegetables. Great reading that I highly recommend!
Garden Talks!!
*Slugs are out in abundance; living under larged leafed plants by day and chomping and tearing on fresh plants by night. Slugs can eat incredible amounts; your leaves will look torn. Slugs can easily be controlled by all natural Slug Magic (safe for pets and wildlife) sold right here at Skillin's.
*In most cases now is the time to prune your lilacs and rhodys that have just flowered. The window is not open for long as soon they will be forming growth that will contain next year's flowers. So get those shrubs in shape!
*Now is a great time to put all organic Kelp Booster by Organica on your lawn if you gave your lawn a nice boost earlier this Spring with a nice natural food like Espoma's No Phos Lawn Food. Kelp Booster is a nice all natural supplement that will really benefit your lawn (and even your garden's) soil. If you have not applied any natural lawn food yet to your lawn get on over here and pick up some no phos Espoma Lawn Food.
*The air has been wet and heavy which means fallen leaves from our plants can easily host mold and mildew. These blights can move onto live growth. The first and best step against disease on your plants is to prune off any dead and dying growth--also to keep the area around our plants clean of fallen growth. I have been using a relatively new all natural product called Vaccinate on my rose bushes, upright phlox and lilacs. Vaccinate works naturally to help plants build up resistance to disease. So far my roses, phlox and lilacs which can get mildewy and diseased look great.
*Weeds are growing like crazy! Keep tall weeds from crowding your plants--these weeds can compete for moisture, nutrients, and air circulation. Small weeds should be controlled as well; hopefully with a garden hoe or cultivator.
*Many veggies like peas, beans, lettuces, broccoli, radishes and carrots can be grown in multiple crops or stages through the gardening year. We have fresh plants and seeds coming in all the time. Let us help you keep fresh waves of garden products coming to your garden! You can easily keep harvesting all these veggies and more well into the fall.
Thanks for being a friend and a customer!
Mike Skillin
Let us know if you have any gardening questions!
Our store locations and contact information are as follows:
Skillin's Greenhouses, Brunswick, 422 Bath Road, Brunswick ME 04011 442-8111, 800-339-8111
Skillin's Greenhouses, Cumberland, 201 Gray Road, Cumberland ME 04021 829-5619, 800-348-8498
Skillin's Greenhouses, Falmouth, 89 Foreside Road, Falmouth ME 04105 781-3860, 800-244-3860
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