Volume 35, Issue 1, March/April 2002

Cool-Season Vegetables. Seed or seedlings can be put in around the first of April. These are asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, onions, peas, potatoes, turnips, garlic. Quick growing salad crops, such as lettuce, spinach, and radishes can also be planted.

Summer Bulbs. Lillies, glads, dahlias, and iris, etc. can be planted now. Make sure to add bone meal to the planting holes for good summer blooms. Start begonias, caladiums, callas, and cannas, etc. in pots indoors on a sunny windowsill. Wait to plant them outside until all risk of frost is past.

Annuals. Start seeds of cool-season flowers and vegetables this month. Four to six weeks before the average date of the last frost (May 15), start seeds indoors for warm-season annuals and vegetables (eggplant, melon, pepper, squash, and tomatoes).

Vegetables. Two to four weeks before the average date of the last frost in your area (May 15), set out transplants of broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. Protect plants from late frost for the first few weeks with floating row covers. Moana Nursery is now carrying Harvest-Guard Protective Garden Cover.

Attract Beneficial Wildlife. Encourage beneficial wildlife to stay around your garden and help control pests. Set shallow bowls or birdbath basins on the ground and fill them with water. Rinse and refill regularly.

Birdhouses. Remove old nests, clean the houses, and mount on poles or trees 6 to 20 feet from the ground.

Roses. Prune roses beginning on April 15, Tax Day. To prevent borer damage, seal each pruning cut with white glue. As the weather warms up, remove last year's mulch and leave the soil bare until hot weather arrives.

Ornamental Grasses. Trim ornamental grasses close to the ground before new growth starts. It helps to wrap an elastic cord around the whole clump and use a saw to cut the old stems below the cord.

Julie Muhilly, Editor

Moana has a new residential landscaping program. A plan developed by an experienced landscape professional can benefit you and your project in many ways. Aesthetic appeal, budget, horticulture, water systems, and drainage are all elements of our landscapes that require thought and integration by a landscape professional for a successful project. Many project owners have a vision of their landscape, which exceeds their current budget. A good landscape designer will have the ability to generate practical ideas and phasing plans to help the owner achieve their vision.

If your lawn is covered with gray snow mold and/or winter debris, rake it off. Early to mid-spring is the time to aerate your lawns to allow for better water penetration. Aerate lawns using a rental machine or hand-held aerater that removes plugs of soil; rake up the plugs and put them on the compost pile or leave them in place to decompose. Keep the grass well watered, especially along sidewalks and edges. You can feed your lawn this month with a high nitrogen fertilizer such as ammonium sulfate, Turf Supreme, Scott’s Turf Builder or Ringer’s All-Natural Restore. This is the second best time of the year to seed or sod a new lawn. (September is the best) To control crabgrass and dandelion seeds before they sprout, apply pre-emergent. A little preparation now will give you a GREAT looking lawn all summer.

The Dwarf Flowering Almond (Prunus glandulosa), is native to China and Japan; grows well in USDA Zones 5-8. Most Flowering Almonds grow 4¢ -6¢ in height and width, with upright and spreading growth patterns. In April/May leafless branches are covered with attractive white to pale pink double blossoms that are ½" to 1" across. Sometimes flowering is so heavy that the branches bend down to the ground leaving beautiful pink flowered arches in our gardens. After flowering, the shrub develops green foliage which blends well with other shrubs in shrub borders or as accent shrubs in our perennial gardens.

Both locations of Moana Nursery will be having their 35^th Anniversary Sidewalk Sale on April 25-28, 2002. There will be lots of garden gifts and nursery items on sale. This is one SALE not to miss!!

Moana Nursery is gearing up for the annual pumpkin growing contest for kids and adults in the Truckee Meadows. Entry forms and growing kits, which include pumpkin seeds and a growing guide, can be picked up from either one of our stores beginning April 21. The growing kits are free to the first 200 applicants.

Weigh-in of the pumpkins will be held some time in October, with great prizes for the winner in each age category: a $100 gift certificate in the Adult division and an entertainment package for the Kids division.

May 4^th @ 10:00am – Selecting Fruit Trees for the Truckee Meadows, will be presented by Hwadi Brodhead, UNR Cooperative Extension Master Gardener. Hwadi will cover selection, care and maintenance and simple pruning techniques of the most appropriate fruit trees for our area. Seminars will be held at the Moana Lane Nursery.

Watch for the schedule of up-coming seminars. We will have something for everyone.