Lawn humps & bumps...

I had an elderly gentleman come in to the store a few days ago complaining to me that he could barely walk across his lawn for all of the "bumps" in it. He was convinced he had grubs. I explained to him that it was still too cold & early for grub activity but that the night-crawlers were probably having a field day with all of the moisture from the rains.
At our farm we have a  very old lawn around the house, and I appreciate every green inch of it, even though I know it is not very politically correct in current garden thinking. Oh well, did I say that before moving to Central Oregon I lived in Carson City, Nevada for 15 years? We lived in a ranch foreman's cottage on an old ranch that we managed, and there was no lawn to speak of, just gritty, decomposed granite with a teeny % of organic matter in it, enough to support all the "brushes": rabbit, sage & salt that is! We did have over 70 acres of flood irrigated pasture to take care of though.
No, I am happy to let the night crawlers cavort under my lawn. After all, they do make all of that turf more of a living thing, and maybe it helps to assuage my guilt at dumping all of the water on it to keep it green every summer.
So, back to the bumps - what to do?
First, rent a gas powered de-thatcher. Go two directions to really get a good thatch removal. Then, get out the mower and mow up all of the dried "strawy" thatch. (Best to use a bag mower if you can, but not absolutely necessary.) Lastly, rent a power aerator to core aerate your lawn. Leave the core "droppings" where they are - please resist the urge to rake them up as they are really  good for the lawn, as it is just replenishing the organic matter to the crown of the plant. You are almost done, but if you really want to achieve "flatness" go back to the rental store and rent a lawn roller. After lightly watering your lawn, roll over it a few times to flatten out the last offending bumps. Fertilize and water, and voila, no more bumps!
After all this work, maybe you should see about hosting a lawn party. Croquet anyone??
Nah, I'll take daffodils and night crawlers if you don't mind.

Bare Root - or not?

Fruit trees now - or later?
From the trees perspective, NOW is the time for them to get into the dirt. They are just barely waking up as this Central Oregon spring has been so very long and cold, (yeah, don't we all know it!) The soil is still moist but workable, not too dry or muddy, and the soil temps are just right for developing roots. And most importantly, yes, (sorry to bring it up again), but it's cool out and this causes much less stress due to evaporation and heat/sun damage.
From the human perspective, yes it's cold and windy out and uncomfortable for us, but if you can "buck up" and deal with it, great for your trees! But even the most enthusiastic gardeners have their gardening plans dashed by all sorts of life-interruptions, so trees available in containers are a wonderful convenience...but the sooner you plant them the sooner they adapt and will produce...
Our fruit trees are typically planted into pulp pots, allowing the roots to penetrate right out of the pot, and believe me, they do! This way, the new roots remain undisturbed. All you need to do when planting fruit trees is follow a few simple rules:

• Select a site that has ample air circulation - avoid low spots as cold air tends to collect, freeze and really damages trees.
• Be mindful of spacing: for a standard tree, allow a diameter of about 25'-30'. For a semi-dwarf, between 15' - 20' is ideal.
• As with any tree or shrub, the planting hole should be 3x as wide as the rot ball/pot, and the same depth from the soil line where the trunk emerges, to the bottom of the pot. Break out the bottom of the hole, especially in hard ground.
• Note: If planting a tree that is in a pulp pot, make 6-8 vertical slashes just through the pot - be careful not to cut into the roots. Cut an "X" in the bottom too. Now return to planting notes...
• Fill the hole with water and allow to drain out, keeping an eye on it as it does. If the water whooshes out through the bottom of the hole, you probably know it already but you have sandy soils that lack organic matter to hold moisture - so make a note to add extra compost throughout the back fill, not just right next to the root ball. If the water persists in the hole for more than 3/4 of an hour, you have either a hard pan layer or clay or both! So, get out the pry-bar and go to town, or head down to the rental yard and rent something called a hammer drill, with a chisel attachment. (One made by Kango is ideal, so call around if you have more than one rental store in your area.) These tools make fast work of rocky hard pan.
• Amendments: if you have decent or average soils this isn't such an issue, use about 20% compost to native soil. But if you have very "bony" mineralized soils, you'll need additional compost, so add up to 50% compost but thoroughly mix it in and distribute throughout your planting hole. Please do not add any synthetic (16-16-16 etc.,) fertilizer at this time as it is unnecessary for an un-established tree. However one key amendment to always add-in is a balanced organic fertilizer that contains mychorrizal bacteria.  It is a living bacteria, so when you purchase a fertilizer with this in it, pay attention that the fertilizer has been stored away from excessive heat, and look at an expiration date on the label, as mychorrizal potency can diminish over time. Per the directions on the label, add-in to the back fill, taking care that it be included not in the top or bottom of the planting hole but throughout the middle, so 1/3 of the way into planting, start mixing it into the back fill. I prefer to water-in the backfill as I go to allow the water to do the job of moistening & settling the soil, so with this in mind please avoid "silly" stomping on the soil surface. It can damage the roots & eliminates the desirable small air pockets that are good for the plant!

• Staking: Unless a tree is terribly crooked and needs coaxing into the right direction, or has an unusually heavy and developed crown (such as in a more expensive mature tree) no staking is needed if you have followed the planting directions so far. Believe me: a healthy young tree that is planted correctly and is un-staked learns to stand on it's own faster than a staked one.

Here is my 6'2" nephew Ben holding a stout 'Fuji' apple in the nursery...Ben just turned 16 and has his learners permit. He probably wished he were behind the wheel of my sister's Jetta rather than holding some silly tree in his aunt's nursery ;~/

 A shot of all of our bare-root and potted-up fruit trees this spring:

This is a list of trees that we have this spring:

APPLE - Braeburn / Fuji / Gala / McIntosh / Spartan / Honeycrisp*
PEAR - Red D'Anjou / Bartlett / Shinseiki (Asian Pear)
CHERRY - Bing / Lapins
PEACH - Hale Haven / Reliance
PLUM - Italian / Santa Rosa
APRICOT - Goldcot 
*Potted only

Next time we'll talk about aftercare of fruit trees: fertilizing, pruning and disease prevention/dormant spraying. Stay tuned!

Traipsing thru the (early) Tulips, Narcissus and Chionodoxa?!

If you are a spring bulb aficionado, be sure to be here this Saturday morning, April 30th to partake in the Mid- Spring Bulb Walk & Talk at 11am. (Dress appropriately for this crazy weather - ( I really recommend some kind of headgear too!)
Many bulbs have been planted in the permanent display beds since the inception of this garden center in 2008. They were actually the "leftovers" from our retail bulb program that we tucked in here and there, and WOW! those prolific unwanted little bulbs are really rewarding us year after year with larger displays of gorgeous spring color.
The "earlies" that are in the last stages of blooming outside right now are:

Narcissus 'February Gold'
N. 'Jetfire'
Tulip gregii 'Lady Diana' (shown below w/ crocus)
Chionodoxa forbesii
Crocus spp.

The Darwin tulips are now coming into full flower. We have 'Pink Perfection' and a blend called 'Tequila Sunrise' providing the proverbial "riot of color". The bright yellow groundcover is Euphorbia cyparissias 'Fens Ruby'. It has a gorgeous spring show, then in early summer, the Delosperma spp. (hardy iceplants) will take over...

Tucked in amongst the perennial beds on the south side of the entry are some late narcissus, namely 'Thalia' showing off her pendulous white petticoats. (I neglected to get a good shot of 'Thalia' so you will have to come see her in person!)
We do have some sad bulb news: a vole or some very destructive mousekies have been terrorizing one of the tulip beds. So far they have wiped out 2 drifts of them. They literally feasted on the whole bulb, leaving a wilted tulip stems & flowers. I was able to salvage a few and revive them in a vase indoors, but the bulbs are gone forever! As soon as the REPELLEX (non-toxic, systemic repellant) arrives in our store I have a definite use for it, and I will be sure to talk about it on the Walk & Talk this Saturday and write about it in the near future.

COMGA Spring Seminar is just around the corner

On Saturday April 16th, Madras Garden Depot will hold forth with a booth at the Central Oregon Master Gardner's Assoc. (COMGA) Spring Seminar, held in Redmond @ the Deschutes Co. Fairgrounds. You can find out more about the event here: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/deschutes/sites/default/files/comga_seminarpacket11_2.pdf CHS Garden Center has participated in the Market over the past 3 years and we have really enjoy participating as it gave us a wonderful reason to concentrate on getting cool plants & other garden goodies in early in the season. (In 2009 I even taught a class about rock wall gardening, which was a blast despite my first time jitters speaking in front of more than 7 people!) So just who are these COMGA people? They are a non-profit group of certified Master Gardeners who assist in the on-going yearly MG trainings that OSU Deschutes Co. extension conducts. They also support many horticultural events (such as the Deschutes Co. Garden Tour) and trainings throughout the year in all three counties. A great group and another very good reason to take the MG training sometime. This Friday Susan and I will load up our trailer and bring a good representation of what the Garden Depot offers. It's going to be tricky getting the clematis plants there without damaging the gorgeous blooms & buds, but we'll figure it out - they may have to ride in style the cab. So please come down, take a class or two and visit with us and take in some of the other vendors who I know will be there such as: Paulina Creek Books.Gotta say, Brad and his crew do a fabulous job of stocking interesting & worthwhile garden book titles; Whistlestop Farms. We buy many of our veggies and annual starts locally from Holly & Paul who have a greenhouse between Redmond & Bend; and Nichols Garden Nursery, Rose Marie Nichols-McGee is a wealth of gardening knowledge, as she literally grew up living and breathing gardening. Nichols Garden Nursery is an 'heirloom nursery' if there ever was one, as they pioneered everything organic long before the other online seed & nursery companies. .......See ya' at the Spring Seminar!

We're here & they're here too!

Sandy, Susan and I are easing into our new routines as the owners of Madras Garden Depot. On our opening day last Saturday we had such a great time reuniting with our regular customers from both Cascade Greenhouse and CHS Garden Center. The warm smiles more than made up for the blustery cold weather (a severe understatement - I think the temp dropped over 15° in one hour!) Because each of us came together to form Madras Garden Depot from businesses that have ceased to be for various reasons, we sometimes refer to each other as the "garden center refugees." Well, here is one refugee that is glad to be back: Pulsatilla vulgaris aka Pasque or Windflower:

Friendly, fuzzy & always early for the party!