Almost Autumn
This Week’s Sale*: Buy One Get One Free #1 Monrovia Echinacea continued PLUS One Free bag of EarthMix® Garden™ with $50 purchase. NOW OPEN Sundays Noon-4 pm!
I think the end is in sight. The forecast says in a week’s time we will finally be out of the 90s. Hopefully this heat dome will hit the bricks and we can get into some more seasonally appropriate weather.
Recently we had the good fortune of hosting songwriter GAYLE and her band at our nursery. They played an acoustic set of two songs from their upcoming debut album, which was a perfect way to cap off the summer. Watch their performance here!
This time of year is notoriously hard on gardeners. It’s too hot to water during regular gardening hours, so we shuffle outside after we wake up to turn on the soaker hose and retreat inside for coffee. We’ve had a lot of people ask if it’s even a good idea to plant right now, and the answer is yes, if you are willing to water. Plenty have come in for shrubs and asked if it's okay that they don’t intend to plant them for a few weeks. I want to be forthright, we do not recommend this idea. While our plants are kept in pots above ground, we thoroughly irrigate them every day, sometimes twice a day, to avoid heat stress. This can prove to be more of a challenge at home.
The keys to successful planting in late summer are digging your hole 2-3 times wider (not deeper) than the pot, roughing up the roots, amending the soil with compost like EarthMix® SuperNatural™, planting it a little high to combat sinking, mulching the area, and watering slow and low. We love this method: set your hose on a trickle and leave it near the base for a couple of hours. With a combination of the thermal buffer of our clay soil, the moisture retention of mulch, and the freshly amended soil roots will be able to flourish, giving your plant the best chance to survive this heat.
That’s it for this week, friends! Tune in Saturday mornings at 8 am for Gardening Inside Out. Follow our Instagram for questions answered and inspiration galore. Tune into the podcast and catch Garden Snacks with Caroline. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Happy Gardening,
Sara Bates
* Sale is limited to Bates Rewards Members (sign up for free at checkout), in store only through 9/24/26, limit one bag per household, while supplies last
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