Monsoon season is officially here, and that added moisture – and coolness – is both a blessing and a challenge for gardeners.  

The question we most commonly get at Warner’s Nursery during monsoon season is how often to water your plants. It can be tricky to judge this because monsoon seasons can be erratic, with lots of rain one week followed by very little the next.

One rule of thumb is that it needs to rain at least an inch a week to provide enough water for your garden. 

If the ground is saturated from recent rains, be judicious about watering, particularly with your annuals. Overwatering can lead to root disease. However, new perennial and tree plantings still need to be watered regularly to ensure they establish roots properly.

This is also a great time to consider adding a rain barrel to your garden if you don’t already have one. Rainwater harvesting has multiple benefits for your garden and your wallet:

• Using captured rainwater means you don’t have to use tap water, lowering your monthly water bill.
• It’s the best water for your gardens because it is not treated with any chemicals.
• It helps reduce soil erosion.
• It increases general water conservation and helps prevent local flooding.
• It can make your plants more drought resistant because it forces damaging salts down and away from your plants’ roots. This allows for greater root growth and water uptake, increasing drought tolerance.

Mulching also plays a role in protecting your plants during monsoon season. Typically we talk about adding wood chips, straw, or other materials as a way of retaining moisture for your plants during drier seasons. But mulch also helps reduce erosion from rainstorms and acts as a barrier during heavy rains. 

Finally, there are a couple of additions you’ll find to your garden during monsoon season – mushrooms and mildew. One is relatively benign (at least as far as your garden is concerned), and the other one you need to address as soon as possible. 

For the most part, mushrooms are a sign of healthy soil and don’t pose a threat to your plants. However, you might want to remove them for aesthetic reasons or if you’re worried about young children or pets eating them. The best ways to get rid of mushrooms are by raking them up or using an organic fungicide.

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that can spread quickly in the damp conditions of the monsoon season. Organic fungicides, particularly those containing sulfur or neem oil, are effective in treating powdery mildew. A product like Fertilome Triple Action Spray can be very useful. It’s crucial to remove and destroy any part of your plant that has mildew. Make sure not to put the infected parts into your compost, as this can spread the disease.

By following these tips, you can navigate the challenges of the monsoon season and keep your garden healthy and thriving. If you have any questions about managing your garden during monsoon season or throughout the year, please visit us at Warner’s Nursery – we’d love to help!

Happy Gardening,
Misti

If I say shrub to you, what do you think of? A row of hedges planted along your property line to give you privacy? Or maybe some dwarf evergreen shrubs in a xeriscape garden to soften the hard edges? Perhaps fast-growing plants like honeysuckle or forsythia that are great for quickly filling in a bare landscape?

Whatever example popped in your head probably involved a shrub that was firmly planted in the ground. But what if you are renting a property or live in an apartment or are looking for some patio décor – do you have to go without shrubs?

Happily, there are many shrubs that do well in containers. They will give you all the benefits of these beautiful plants, plus the flexibility to reposition them around as needed – or if you move!

Here are some examples of shrubs that do very well in containers:

• Dwarf Alberta Spruce (and all dwarf conifers) – this small evergreen conifer has the classic Christmas tree shape.
• Japanese Maple – with their fiery leaves, these shrubs make a big statement in a small space.
• Dwarf Peach Trees – rarely getting taller than 8 to 10 feet, these trees will give you spring blossoms, summer green foliage and full-size fruit.
• Serviceberry – this is an all-year shrub that gives you different looks throughout the year – flowers in spring, fruits in summer, colorful foliage in fall, and stark bark in winter.
• Dwarf Crabapple “Lollipop” Shrubs – It really does look like a lollipop with its ball of fragrant white flowers on a sturdy trunk. Thanks to its dwarf genetics, this shrub always looks neat and needs minimal pruning.
• Dwarf varieties of butterfly bushes – you’ll still attract the pollinators with these shrubs but without them taking up too much space in your garden.
• Hydrangea – about a third of the size of a full hydrangea bush, dwarf hydrangea are another shrub that gives you beautiful blooms while requiring minimal pruning.
• Barberry – the small round leaf clusters of the barberry look gorgeous in containers and can add color (and privacy) to a deck, patio or balcony.
• Dwarf Ninebark – a shrub where the flowers are almost secondary to the bark, the name comes from the way the bark peels back, exposing a beautiful red underneath.
• Low Scape Mound Aronia – this dwarf chokeberry has fast developing leaves and is great for attracting birds.
• Boxwood – the classic border shrub that often give in-ground gardens their shape is also terrific in containers, and their evergreen foliage provides year-round color.

There are some things you need to consider when planting shrubs in pots. First, your container needs to be thick; plastic containers need not apply for the job of housing a dwarf shrub. Size matters too; your pot should be twice the size of the root ball of the plant to ensure the roots don’t freeze and thaw throughout the winter.

All this means you might have a heavy plant to cart around, so you might want to invest in a tray with wheels to make it easier to move and winterize. Speaking of winter, your container shrub will need water at least once a month during the winter, so make sure it’s accessible.

If you have any questions about selecting shrubs for container planting, please give us a call or visit the nursery. We have both the plants and the appropriate pots for them and can help with whatever advice you need.

Happy Gardening!
Misti

In the late spring, when we get our tomato plants, we have such hopes. We water them diligently, we wrap them in season extenders or cover them with frost cloth if it gets cold, and set up our cages carefully to support them as they grow.

They flower and we can’t wait for the delicious results.

And then, well, things go south. There are a bunch of common afflictions that strike tomato plants and today I want to tell you about them and what you can do about them.

Blossom Drop – When flowers appear on your tomato plants, but fall off without tomatoes developing, it’s likely you have blossom drop. Temperature fluctuations can cause it, but insect damage, lack of water, too much or too little nitrogen, and lack of pollination can also be the culprit.

What to do about it: While you can’t change the weather, you can make sure the rest of the plant is strong by using organic fertilizer for tomatoes, drawing pollinators by planting milkweed and cosmos, and using neem oil insecticides.

Fruit Cracks – Cracks appear on ripe tomatoes, usually in concentric circles, are fruit cracks. Besides being unsightly, sometimes insects use the cracks as an opportunity to eat the fruit. Hot, rainy weather can cause it. After a long dry spell, tomatoes are thirsty. Plants may take up water rapidly after the first heavy rainfall. This swells the fruit and causes it to crack.

What to do about them: Although you can’t control the rain, you can water tomatoes evenly during the growing season. This prevents them from being so thirsty that they take up too much rainwater during a heavy downpour.

Leaf Roll – This is when mature tomato plants suddenly curl their leaves, with them rolling up from the outside towards the center. As much as 75% of the plant can be affected. High temperatures, wet soil and too much pruning are often the cause.

What to do about it: Although it looks ugly, leaf roll won’t affect tomato development, so you will still get edible tomatoes from your plants. Avoid over-pruning and make sure the soil drains excess water away.

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) – TSWV is spread by one of the arch-enemies of any garden, thrips. I absolutely hate thrips. They acquire the virus by feeding on an infected weed, then they spread it to developing tomato plants. Several weeks after transplanting the tomato plants into the garden, random plants may appear stunted, and younger leaves may be marked with bronze or dark spots, or have prominent purple veins. Often the upper foliage will become twisted and cupped as the bronze areas expand. Fruits may have yellow spots. Younger plants may wilt and die, but older plants may survive and bear discolored fruit that may not fully ripen.

What to do about it: Eliminating weeds in the garden is the first step in reducing the chance of acquiring TSWV. Keeping the grass and weeds mowed in areas surrounding the garden may reduce the spread of thrips onto susceptible garden plants. 

There are several other possible tomato problems. If you are worried about how your plants are doing, please take a picture and bring it in to Warner’s Nursery. We can help you identify what’s going on and how to prevent it in the future.

Happy Gardening,
Misti

There’s nothing that quite captures the joy of growing your own food as that moment when you pick those first fresh tomatoes from your garden. They work on almost all the senses – the beautiful transformation from green plant to yellow flower to deep red fruit; the earthy smell of it; the satiny smooth skin against your fingers when you pick it off the plant…

Then there’s that taste. Ever eaten a tomato fresh off the vine that is still slightly sun-warmed? Absolutely amazing. No wonder gardeners are in love with tomatoes!

Every Memorial Day weekend, we break out the party hats to celebrate Tomatopalooza with specials on on our tomato plants and plenty of advice for home gardeners. Here are some practical tips on getting a beautiful harvest this year:

• Please get them planted soon! We’ve got a limited window to grow these gems and the sooner yours are in the ground, the sooner you can reap (eat) the benefits.
• You might want to invest in a season extender – even if you aren’t technically extending the season. The nice thing about these tubes of water is that in addition to keeping the plant warm (remember, we still could get frost into June), they protect your plants from transplant shock.
• Yes, you need cages or stakes. Tomato plants are like children – they need structure and support. New fruit will benefit from improved air circulation and it keeps the plants away from ground pests.
• Food and Water. A slow release fertilizer is perfect for your young plants. Water thoroughly but not too often and try to water early in the day so that plants will dry off before evening. As always, we recommend drip irrigation systems because they are more efficient and get the water down to the roots and you don’t lose water to evaporation or runoff. If nothing else, don’t water from the top down – this does nothing except get the leaves and tomatoes wet and make them more prone to get diseases or rot.

We hope you have a safe Memorial Day weekend – and that you get some gardening in during the holiday.

Happy Tomatopalooza!
Misti