March 2007 , Volume 18 Number 4
Community Paper
copyright ©2007 by Community Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

MARCH IN THE GARDEN
by Nick Francisco, Blodgett Gardens
3821 Edgewater Drive, 407-295-2363
See this month's ad!


SPRING IS HERE!
Spring is here and it’s time to enjoy the wonderful Central Florida Weather, spruce up the yard, add some color, and feed the Landscape. Natural feedings (like Natural Guard’s Soil Activator, Turf Pro, and Espoma natural plant food) will feed the soil and increase the health of your landscape. Healthy soils produce healthy pest free plants. Remember the job of insects and disease is to remove and recycle weak or stressed plant materials.
Feed your landscape naturally with Espoma plant tome and Turf Pro. Let us show you how to have a healthy landscape naturally. New this year a preventative calendar so you can get ahead of potential landscape problems like chinch bugs, scale, or lacebugs and have a beautiful, trouble free, minimal maintenance landscape. Come by Blodgett’s and get a copy of the preventative calendar all while minimizing the chemicals applied to your landscape. Need help? Blodgett’s will assist you - 32804 zip code only and this original Community paper article brought into the store to view the COMMUNITY PAPER SPECIAL LAWN CARE PROGRAM.

Do you have unsightly broadleaf weeds? There are times to use our chemical arsenal spring and weeds are the time. Apply Fertilome Weed-n-Feed for St. Augustine grass and in 4 to 6 weeks... your broadleaf weeds will have disappeared (heavy infestations may require a second application in 45 to 60 days). For best results ALL weed-n-feeds should be applied to a well watered turf then withhold water for 48 hours so the weeds will absorb a lethal dose of active ingredient and die. These weed controls will knock out dollarweed, dandelion, and Florida Betony (some of our most common weeds). Having trouble identifying the weeds in your lawn? Bring some samples by Blodgett Gardens and we will ID them for you and give you the best control available for the weeds in your landscape.

Crabgrass a past problem? Apply Hi Yield Dimension three times a year to kill new crabgrass and keep it from returning. If Crabgrass has already started to grow with the warm winter we’ve been enjoying Dimension will still give a measure of postemergent control. If in doubt bring in a sample for us to check. As always you must follow label directions for best results.

March is a great time to check out the irrigation systems. We should be applying 3/4" of water to our established landscape once a week. Twice a week irrigations will start when we are mowing on a weekly basis mid to end of the month. Measure the amount of water you are applying with the cup test. Place straight sided coffee cups every 4'-5' in square grid pattern. Turn on the water and time how long it takes for 3/4" of water to collect in most of the cups . This is how long you need to run this zone. Repeat cup test for each zone and reset your timer per test results. Compare the level in each cup from the average of all the cups to see how evenly your landscape is watered.

Need help with a Landscape problem? Just give us a call or come by for Expert assistance. We specialize in solving your Landscape Problems.

Blodgett Gardens is now channel 9's local garden expert. Channel 9 has a forum through their website where individuals may ask specific questions to their problems and we (the experts) will answer their specific questions rather than having to come into the store. Of course visual ID is required for some solutions but many may be answered without seeing a sample.
http://www.localsolutionsnetwork.com/expert/expert.cfm?cfapp=11&from=1&expert=96&eid=12969&specialID=1