February 5, 2019
Things to do in the Native Garden for week 2/4
As always there are lots of things to do in your garden and at the nursery to get ready for spring and beyond! The rain was very helpful for new and old plants as it is fairly free of minerals but it also helps the weeds to germinate and they grow fast. It’s easier to pull weeds when the ground is damp that when it’s dry. If you’re going to use chemical warfare on the weeks, that’s up to you but you’ll have to wait until it gets dry and by that time things can get way out of control. So, go pull or hoe them when they’re small.
Still great time to plant but it hard to plant in mud. It’s not so hard to dig the holes though. That’s what I’ve done in my garden and at the end of the week it won’t be as wet or muddy and an excellent time to plant. I will be planting some of our mixed color pacific coast irises, Ribes viburnifolium, and columbine (western columbine). All these are on sale this week.
Pacific coast iris- mixed colors
Ribes viburnifolium- perfume currant- very fragrant in summer.
western columbine- Aqulegia formosa
The irises and columbines have higher priority since you really can’t plant them late in the season. The Ribes aren’t so sensitive to the seasons.
At the nursery we’re still doing a lot of propagation with stem cuttings. This is the beginning to the season for that sort of activity. Were also moving a lot of seedlings from seed flats to small containers and soon to 1-gallon pots for sale in your garden.
