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Features What the best dressed garden should be wearing—MULCH! Mycorrhizae. What are they and what do they do? Planting a Lawn or Ground Cover Tomato Garden You say ToMAYto – I'll say ToMAHto Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow. You can do a little or a lot for the vines depending on what you want in the end. And if that's an abundance of plump, ripe fruit at harvest, then spend time getting the garden in shape.
Planting a Lawn or Ground Cover (Download PDF) Create the ideal gardening soil by preparing the soil properly for planting lawns or ground cover. 1. Clear the area of all debris and weeds. 2. Rototill or spade the area to breakup the soil. Check drainage. 3. Spread one cu. ft. of Kellogg Topper, Concentrated Nitrohumus*, Amend or Gromulch for every 10 sq. ft. Which Kellogg product used is based on soil type/texture (see Product Selection Guide below). 4. Work in the soil amendment by mixing thoroughly (6" to 8" deep) with existing soil. This will help improve aeration and water penetration, as well as, add nutrients and fertility to the soil. Rough level. 5. Install sprinklers. Rake, roll and level. 6. Plant lawn seed, ground cover or lay sod. 7. For lawn seed, follow manufacturer's directions, then: a) Top dress lawn seed using 1 cu. ft. of Kellogg Topper per 100 sq. ft. using a cage spreader or by hand; b) Roll over lawn seeds and Kellogg Topper lightly with a lawn roller and keep moist until turf is established. Lawn Aerification 1. Water the area to a 3" to 4" depth. Aerify when the soil is softened with a foot aerifier or power driven aerifier spacing holes approximately 3" apart. 2. Rake and remove soil plugs. Overseed any bare spots. 3. Top dress the entire area with one bag of Kellogg Topper per 100 sq. ft. 4. Water thoroughly. 5. Aerification should be done at least once a year to relieve soil compaction, increase fertilizer, water penetration and promote root development. *Use half of suggested measurement when using Kellogg Concentrated Nitrohumus!
New Product Selection Guide (Download PDF)
Q. Last season my camellias dropped their flowers before they opened up. What can I do this year to prevent it from happening again? A. The probably cause of your camellias’ bud drop is plant stress in the summer. Because camellias aren’t quick to show the common symptom of stress, wilting, it is easy for us to overlook one of their basic needs during the warmer months – regular watering. Long before we see them the buds are forming inside the plant. If the plant is weakened so are its buds. The result is bud drop in the winter when they get about the size of the end of your finger. If some of the buds do open up it is not unusual for the flower to collapse and its petals fall. Remember to deep soak your camellias on a regular basis and fertilizer with Kellogg’s Azalea & Camellia food monthly from the end of bloom to September. Q. My peach tree has very curly and ugly leaves. What can I do? A. Your peach tree has either (or maybe both) Peach Leaf Curl or a sucking insect, such as Aphids. If the leaves are puffy, misshapen, have a reddish cast and look like something out of a sci-fi movie then you have Peach Leaf Curl. A disease causes this and the only control is to spray with a dormant spray this time of year. We would like to get, at least, two applications on before the flowers open. The other possibility is Aphids. These little critters such away on the new growth and when it unfolds it can be twisted and curled. We also want to use a dormant spray at this time. Unlike the Peach Leaf Curl, you can continue to work on the control through the growing season. So, use a dormant spray now and if the problem returns next season bring a sample in to your local garden center to find out exactly which one you have. Q. My lawn is very thick and spongy and is hard to get my mower through it. When I mow it looks brown and dry and takes almost a week to get green again. So I only mow it every two weeks. Is there anything I can do besides ripping it out and starting all over? A. Yes, there are a couple of things we can try before the drastic step of ripping it out. First of all, the lawn you have is probably wild Bermuda, Kikuyu or a combination of both. The grasses grow from both above and underground runners that spread out and keep piling on top of each other. Both grasses go dormant in winter. When the new growth comes out in the spring it does so on the ends of what is remaining from the previous season. This is why it keeps getting thicker, and the thicker it gets the harder it is to mow and the harder it is to mow the thicker it gets and so on and so on. The first thing to do is de-thatch your lawn. This is a fancy way of saying chop it down to soil level. Sometimes you can do it with your lawnmower, however you can rent a Vertical Mower or Dethatcher that will really do a good job. Fertilize with lawn food and cover the area with Kellogg’s Topper®. This will get rid of the sponginess and give you fresh green growth. If you would like a green lawn through the winter, seed with annual ryegrass under the Topper®. This grass will come up fast, be green and then die out when the weather warms up and your lawn comes back. Mow, at least, once a week and as low as you can, while only cutting the green part of the blade. The more frequently you mow the lower and greener your lawn will stay. If you mow it down to the ground each winter and fertilize on a regular basis you should be able to maintain a respectable looking lawn.
What the best dressed garden should be wearing—MULCH! We are very proud or our gardens and landscapes. Our long growing season gives us pansies, primrose and palms instead of piles of snow. We can plant tomatoes in Feb. or March and roses in Jan. But are we missing a step that would make it even easier for us to have a gorgeous garden with less effort? Are we missing MULCH? What is mulch anyway? Mulch is a thing and an action. Mulch is anything that you put down on the ground (soil) to cover it. Including bark chips, redwood, cocoa beanshells, rock, compost, straw, pine needles, etc. Mulching is the act of putting these things down on your ground. Why should we bother to mulch? Plants seem to grow without it. There are several reasons. First is to stop weeds from sprouting and competing with the new little flowers that you just planted. Anytime you mix the soil up you may bring dormant weed seeds to the surface where they can sprout. Adding a 2-inch layer of mulch makes it harder for the weeds to find the light of day and grow. Next, mulching covers the soil so that it is protected from the sun and wind and will not dry out as fast. Mulch regulates the soil moisture, which is important to new roots, especially on small plants from 6-packs or flats. This reduces the need to water as frequently. Another thing mulch does is break down and “feed” the soil. This is where the kind of mulch you use makes a difference. Rocks do not biodegrade so they do not feed the soil. Bark does break down but as it does it takes nutrients (Nitrogen) out of the soil and away from your plants before it gives it back. This is called “nitrogen drag” and happens anytime something biodegrades or composts in the soil. Any raw material used as mulch like straw, pine needles, grass clippings or fallen leaves will have this “nitrogen drag” effect on the soil. Redwood sometimes has added nitrogen to prevent this nutrient reduction in you soil, check the package to see if it has added “N” or nitrogen; look for at least 5%. That brings us to a few mulches that “do it all”—suppress weeds, even out soil moisture and feed the soil. One of these would be already composted material. These can come out of your own home compost pile or from the store. One of the only companies that bags a true compost (as defined by the USDA) is Kellogg Garden Products. They package composts under the names N'RICH, Gromulch, Topper and Nitrohumus. These four make excellent mulches. Another is Blommer Cocoa Shell Mulch (cocoa beans not coconut). These are good because they have nutrients to give the soil as they break down and do not cause “nitrogen drag.” Why should we want to feed the soil? Think about the places with the best soil, areas where trees have dropped leaves year after year for hundreds if not thousands of years, areas where grasses have died year after year or rivers have flooded leaving rich sediment year after year creating thick, organic rich topsoil. Think about the northern corners of the country, the central states where we grow all that corn and wheat and the rich fertile river valleys. Now think about where we garden. Many of the areas did not benefit from trees and rivers. Many of our homes are on lots where the builder scraped off what little topsoil there was to make it level. We need to imitate nature and mulch one or two times a year to help create an organic rich soil. Why can’t we just feed the plants and not worry about the soil? Because without a healthy organic rich soil the plants cannot get all the nutrition in the granular or liquid fertilizer we put down. They may be able to use some of it but the soil has to be good in order to convert that bag of granules into something the plant roots can absorb. That brings us to the last reason to mulch—it looks good! After you plant your garden or landscape put down a layer of mulch and take a look. It looks finished; it looks professional; it looks better. Don’t miss the mulch step. Less weeds. Less water. Less fertilizer. Better looking. Why aren’t you mulching?
Mycorrhizae. What are they and what do they do? Mycorrhiza (Mycorrhizae is plural) is derived from Greek meaning ‘fungus-root.’ They have been around forever; we are just now discovering them and their importance, uses and benefits. Mycorrhizae are fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots. They provide a bi-directional transfer of nutrients to the plant root--carbon to the fungus. In nutrient-poor or moisture-deficient soils, nutrients taken up by the mycorrizae can lead to improved plant growth. As a result, mycorrhizal plants are better able to tolerate environmental stresses than are non-mycorrhizal plants. Since they are more efficient, they grow better and bigger and can have better yields also. An estimated 95% of all plant species belong to genera that characteristically form mycorrhizae. The mycorrhizal condition is the rule among plants, not the exception. Plants with Mycorrhizae: 1. Have improved nutrient uptake 2. Use less water--up to 30% less, because they are more efficient 3. Are drought and salt tolerant 4. Have increased feeder root activity 5. Create a more efficient use of fertilizer and water Why do we need to add them? 1. Tilling and crop rotation destroys natural colonies 2. Often we are introducing non-native plants (pansies in Palmdale, blue grass in Glendale) 3. Leveling soil for building can remove or destroy mycorrihzae 4. Leaving ground fallow (no plants) can eliminate colonies
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