Green Gardens has found that the key to a successful garden lies in a spring preventive-maintenance schedule. As the winter season comes to a close and spring sunshine sets in, it is important to prepare your garden for optimal health, productivity and beauty. In order to accomplish this, emphasize cleanup, control, and compost.
Cleanup
Remove dead foliage from shrubs and trees. This helps prevent diseases, insect infestation and facilitates healthy growing conditions for new and early bloomers.
Prune and trim bushes, trees and shrubs. This helps prevent against disease and it also encourages new growth by allowing more light and air circulation to reach the plant.
Clean water features such as ponds and fountains thoroughly. This will stop parasites, harmful insects, algae and bacteria from developing. Most importantly, it deters mosquitoes, which carry diseases harmful to humans.
Control
Apply an organic insecticide and fungicide to your landscape. This preventive approach helps guard against early plant infection and pest infestation. Green Gardens recommends using the Dr. Earth organic insecticide.
Release beneficial insects into your garden: decollate snails, ladybugs, lacewings, predatory mites, predatory wasps and praying mantis are nature’s way of controlling harmful pests. This preventive approach is the pinnacle of bio-control measures.
Erect barriers and/or apply repellents to control larger pests such as gophers, rabbits and rats. Green Gardens recommends Shake-Away animal-repellent powder.
Compost
Apply mulch and/or compost to your flower beds. Not only will this provide nutrients to the soil, it also will help retain moisture, increase soil health and reduce the water needs of your garden.
Look into biologically activating your landscape. Each landscape is unique in terms of its soil composition and environment; therefore applying a custom blend of beneficial micro-organisms to the soil will tremendously increase the health and beauty of your landscape.
— Green Gardens, 858/483-7846 (nursery), 858/483-8803 (landscape and design) www.sdgreengardens.com
