Expert Article: The Full Swing of Spring

Community Expert: Home Gardening Chris Olson

The Full Swing of Spring

Now that it’s May, spring is in full swing. It’s finally warm enough to spend significant amounts of time outside, plant annual flowers and tender veggies, and get to work on our yards and gardens. Spring is also one of the best times to plant! That includes things like trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals!

At Olson’s Garden Shoppe we always recommend watching the weather and waiting at least until Mother’s Day to plant your annuals and tender veggies. This helps avoid dying plants due to cold weather and frost.

Beautiful planters filled with annual flowers can make the perfect statement piece on your front porch. When planting your own annual planters, be sure to choose plants that will do best in your area. If your planters will be in full sun, choose plants that thrive in hot sunshine. Some full sun annuals include: geraniums, petunias, sweet potato vine, lantana, and many more. If your planters will be in the shade, be sure to pick plants that will do well in those conditions. These include begonias, coleus, fuschia, impatiens, and more.

A great way to have a gorgeous planter is to plant it with a thriller, some fillers, and spillers. Your thriller plant will go in the middle or the back of the planter, this is something tall that makes a statement. A dracaena spike is one of the most popular thrillers used. Next are your fillers, these go around the thriller and fill the middle ground of the container. They tend to have a rounded or mounded habit. Geraniums and petunias are a couple of the most popular filler plants. Last to go in your planter should be the spillers. Like the name explains, these are the plants that spill over the sides of the planter. Some of the most popular spillers/trailing plants include sweet potato vine, creeping charlie, and bacopa. Adding these three things to your planter are sure to help it turn out beautiful.

Vegetable gardening might be one of the most exciting parts of spring. We get to choose some of our favorite foods to grow ourselves! As mentioned previously, waiting until there isn’t anymore risk of frost is crucial for tender veggies. Some tender vegetables include; tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, and more. What’s extra cool about vegetable gardening is that there are so many delicious types. They grow in fun colors, have different flavors, and some do better than others in containers. For instance, tomatoes can be either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate means that the plant reaches a certain size and stays that way. These are the best option if you plan to keep your tomato plant in a pot. Indeterminate tomatoes will keep growing, and will definitely need a trellis or tomato cage for support. Consider those factors when picking out your tomato plants this year.

To help your lawn this year, consider trying out Humic Acid. This is a product that binds to the roots to help your lawn receive water and nutrients. It’ll help you save water and it’ll make your lawn greener and healthier.

Spring is the best time of the year, it’s full of growth and sunshine. Plants are growing, bees are buzzing, and we get to enjoy all of it. Hopefully you’re just excited as we are over at Olson’s Garden Shoppe.

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