Is there still time to do winter chores this March?

With the snow soon to begin melting with warmer temps, fortunately you haven’t missed out on too many garden activities, you just going to have to be ready to do some of the chores in a quick fashion because it’s going to change quickly when it does.

Prevention Spraying with Dormant Oil and Copper Fungicide as long as the buds are hard and it’s a day above 40 you can still spray with the dormant rates on the label. If you miss it follow labels instructions on what to do for the different stages of growth for the plants you are spraying for.

Applying Crabgrass Control. You actually have a lot of time for this as in before May. In fact it would be easier to apply and activate when the irrigation water comes on in April vs applying it when the Forsythia bloom and timing it with rain to activate it.

Dormant Pruning for Roses
This can be done as long as the leaf buds have not begun to pop. The basics for pruning roses are to cut them back to 2 feet then remove diseased, damaged, dead and crossing canes. For climbing roses, go ahead and leave tall just remove the diseased, damaged, dead and crossing canes.

Dormant Pruning Fruit and Berries
This can also be done while the buds are hard. To check this you want to feel the bud with your finger. If it’s hard and doesn’t give or squish under light pressure you are good.

Fertilizing your lawn, trees, shrubs and perennials.
Feeding your plants is a good thing but wait until April like normal because the plant will be awake enough to feed upon the fertilizer as well it is easier to water in with your watering systems.

Cutting back ornamental grasses
Cut them down as soon as the snow melts because once it warms up enough they will begin to grow again for the season and you will only be able to cut them back to as far as they have emerged to.

Cutting back perennials
Either pull off the dead material with your hand or cut it down. Unlike grasses it easier to see the new foliage emerge that you work around it and completely remove all the dead stuff.

Spraying weeds
Round up, Burn Out and other similar herbicides actually work best when temps are in the sixties, so there is plenty of time for this. No need to jump the gun. If the winter weeds are bothering you too much, you can always pull or hoe them out after the snow has cleared.

Applying Pre-emergents
This can be down actually any time of year but it is easier to do when the water is on to water the product in. Just remember to weed or spray the area really good beforehand.

Planting trees, berries and fruit trees
Your time will be short for bare root stuff but potted and B&B trees you have plenty of time.

Planting shrubs and perennials
Most of these plants are potted and can be planted year round. So once the ground is workable again until it’s over 90 you can plant these.

Planting annuals
Annual flowers like petunias and marigolds its best to plant those more toward May when the ground warms up. Primroses and pansies would be good to plant when the snow clears.

Pruning Videos for Berries Bushes

Here are some videos on pruning berries going into spring. Enjoy!

Plants that Like Alkaline Soils

Our soils are alkaline (pH above 7) because of the areas low annual rainfall and the lack of organic matter. Alkaline soil can be problematic to some plants because if the soil pH is too high it makes it hard for some plants to take up vital nutrients. By selecting plants that enjoy these soil conditions it a lot less work to keep them happy. A good looking landscape with minimal effort, is much easier to maintain.

Below is a list of plant families that thrive in alkaline soil with little to no pH adjustments. From here you can find a variety that fits your yards needs and personal taste.

Ornamental Grasses
Maiden grasses
Switch grasses
Feather Reed grasses
Fescue Grasses
Fountain Grasses
Fountain Grasses

Shrubs
Sumacs
Junipers
Hydrangeas (though big leaf varieties are pink in alkaline soils)
Spirea
Barberry
Bluebeard
Forsythia
Lilacs
Butterfly Bush (sterile varieties)
Potentilla
Pines
Juniper
Spruces
Photinia
Ninebarks
Common Snowball Bush
Cistena Plum
Mockorange
Viburnums (Deciduous)
Smokebush
Cotoneaster

Perennials
Lavender
Daylily
Sedum
Candytuft
Daisy
Sages
Hosta
Astilbe
Helebores
Red Hot Poker
Catmint
Russian Sage
Black Eyed Susans
Blanket Flowers
Mums
Asters
Yucca
Yarrow

Trees
Bald Cypress
Serviceberry
Golden Rain Tree
Honeylocust
Pines
Bur Oak
Redpointe Maple
Hedge Maples
Persian Parrotia
Sycamore
Willows
Maackia
Green Ash (Urbanite is resistant to Ash Bore)
Catalpa

When to prune grasses back and how to do it?

A common question we get is when to prune your grasses for winter. In reality it can be as soon as that plant dies back to the ground. I personally use the grass’ foliage as a winter interest, so I will wait until the winter winds beat then up into a mess. Then I tie a string around the top and cut back to within an inch or two of the ground. For evergreen grasses, I just clean out the dead foliage. With Pampass grass, I wait until spring, using it’s foliage as a mulch to help it survive winter since it’s more tender than other grasses like Switch grass, Japanese Silver grass or Fountain grasses in our area. Below is a video I did to demonstrate how to cut back the different types of grasses.

When does the irrigation water go off for 2018?

October 2018 is here and for irrigation water, it’s the end of the season. Here are the end dates for the different irrigation districts.

Badger Mountain Irrigation District Oct 19th
Benton Irrigation District Oct 12th
City of Pasco Irrigation Water Oct 15th
Columbia Irrigation District Oct 15th
East Columbia Irrigation District Oct 22nd
Kennewick Irrigation District Oct 10th
Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District Oct 24th
Roza Irrigation District Oct 18th
South Columbia Basin Irrigation District Oct 23

What we recommend doing before the water turns off is to make sure all you trees and shrubs get a good drink. Then after the irrigation water shuts off, especially for evergreens is that they get checked for moisture monthly and watered if dry. An easy way to remember is to put a reminder on your phone’s calendar.

7 Ways to Make Next Spring Easier

Fall is a great time to start spring off right, be doing a few preventatives.

1. Prevent aphid problems with the Bonide Annual Tree and Shrub Insect Control.  By applying in August/September this gives the insecticide time to move up the tree and prevent attacks in Spring.

2. Prevent weeds in from growing in winter and early spring by applying a pre-emergent herbicides.  Pre-emergent herbicides prevent weed seeds from germinating.  Applying now, after clean weeding a flower bed will help prevent winter weeds from germinating and popping up in early spring. Products to look into are Greenlight Amaze, Preen, Round Up Extended Control. Make sure to follow their watering instructions on these product's labels for best results.

3. Prevent drought stress by applying Bonide Wilt Stop to your soft needle and broad leaf evergreens. It works like like lip balm for our lips to keep their leaves from drying out. Also mark when to water your evergreens in your calendar, it would be best to set it to once a month November through March.  Use a sprinkler on a hose to water since the irrigation is turned off at that time of year. Yews, photinia, boxwoods, arborvitae, rhodies and others benefit from a monthly drink.

4. Help gain an upper hand with root weevil,  by applying Bonide Eight Granules to kill the overwintering larva in the soil, thus reducing their population to help to keep them in check next year.

5. Green up your yellow trees and shrubs that normally should be green by applying the G&B Acid Planting Mix and G&B Harvest Supreme as a mulch or top dressing. By putting about 2 inches thick to slowly leach nutrients into the soil over winter and spring to catch these plants up on nutrients.

6. Clean up disease issues by spraying areas of the yard that had disease issues like rust, powdery mildew, leaf spot, peach leaf curl in November or February with a dormant application of Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide. This sanitizes the plants to give a fresh start next spring.  For best results make sure to clean up the diseased leaves as well as when you spray, spray the entire plant including the trunk.

7. Get your lawn off to a great start in spring by applying a fall feeding of a Fertilome Winterizer or Fertilome Greenmaker in September/October.  These fertilizers will slowly feed throughout winter to build up the lawns nutrient reserves for a lush push of green growth in spring.

Do you have scale?

Scale is a sap sucking insect that resembles an oyster shell that either cover branches like the tree pictured above or on the foliage of arborvitae.  They can be challenging to control for when their shells are soft, insecticides work; when they are hard they do not.  For deciduous trees you can use a systemic insecticide like the Bonide Annual Tree and Shrub insect control.  For evergreens it would be better to use a horticultural oil like Bonide All Seasons Oil or Malathion to kill the scales.  

An few signs you have scale is if you see shells on branches (not normal), the foliage is sticky or there are a lot of flies hanging around you plants (this also is a sign of aphids too).

Tune your Irrigation System for Success

Tuning your irrigation system allows for a more efficient use of water and it's easy.  It also helps prepare your plants for different weather shifts and you apply water based on that irrigation zones conditions.  Both Hunter and Rainbird have free apps to set your run times more appropriately for established yards. Also we have set up links to help determine your yards conditions. Remember that new plantings their first year will need to be babied a bit more but they don't need daily water. 

A link to Hunter's App

A link to Rainbird's App

Things to know as you tune your irrigation timer
-The soil type of your yard: Sand, clay, silt or a mix of the three (loam).  This will help identify how your yard behaves in drainage and moisture retnetion.  Sand has very good drainage and can handle longer run times of sprinklers but needs more frequent runs.  Clay soils hold moisture very well however it does not take to long run times well, short bursts work best to prevent run off and water waste. How to tell soil texture by feel.

-The exposure of that sprinkler zone.  Full sun, afternoon sun or wind exposed sprinkler zones dry out faster through evaporation than afternoon shade, mostly shade and wind protected zones.  Thus as you adjust your sprinkler zone times based on their separate exposures. This can be determined by taking time to walk around the house a couple of times of day and observe what area is sunny and what area is in shade at what time of day and for how long. Do this on a lazy day off.

-Your type of sprinklers.  Different sprinkles types throw out water at different rates. Common sprinkler types are rotors, impacts, sprays, bubblers and multi-streamrotors. Also if you have drip, what size of emitters are your using. Irrigation System Component Video can help you identify what type of sprinklers you have.

-The grade of the yard. Is it flat or does it slope up or down? The slope of your yard also affect how sprinklers work as well as how water will travel in the yard.  Here is a video to determine slope.

by Alex Job

Pruning Rose throughtout the Year

Pruning roses is really easy with the right techniques and tools. What we are going to do is break down pruning to time of year, so you can keep this as a little calendar of care for your roses.  

Mid February to Early March-The Rejuvenating Pruning
Recommended Tools: Loppers, pruning shears, canvas or denim coat, thick gloves and eye protection.

The goal for rejuvenating pruning is to refresh the plant by cutting it way back and thinning out some of the older canes.  
For Miniatures, Shrub, Floribundas, Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, and David Austin or Romanitca roses, you want to take the loppers and cut the canes down to about 18 inches to 24 inches. Once cut down, remove any damaged, dead or crossing branches with the pruning shears or loppers.  Next you will remove about a third of the canes (some older, some newer) with the loppers.  For climbers, we generally with leave them trained to the trellis, we just remove the crossing, damaged or dead branches and canes. For Ground Cover Roses, shear back to 2 to 3 feet wide and thin out the damaged, crossing and dead branched.

April till Mid Octoberish- Deadheading and shaping.
Recommended Tools: Pruning Shears, thick gloves and eye protection.    

Deadheading and shaping is to remove spent blooms and errant growth.  This is recommended to do at least monthly, to promote new blooms on most classes.

For Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Climbing, David Austin/Romanitca, and Shrub Roses; we recommend grabbing the stem just below the base of the bud (less thorns are there).  You want to cut at a 45 degree angle just above the second fifth leaf set.  If the plant is leggy or you want to reduce its height you can cut lower than this leaf set.

For Miniatures, grab the stem below the bud and cut just above the first leaf set.

For Ground Cover Roses, generally we don’t worry about dead heading because they are self cleaning and it takes way to long trim out all those blooms. Mainly worry about if encroaching on sidewalks, patios or other plants. Cut back and your done.

October or November-Prepping for Winter.
Recommended Tools: Pruning Shears or Hedge Shears, thick gloves and jacket.

On all classes dead head and tidy up the shape of the plant, so looks decent for the winter. Hedge shears are okay to use on everything except for Climbers, they make the job quick and easy.   For climbers, just use pruning shears to selectively remove spent blooms and errant branches.

Written by
Alex Job