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Frill Free Zone Newsletter February 01, 2025 |
We're on the downhill slide into spring now - the days are definitely getting longer - we eat dinner and it's still light out. February 1 2025The robins seem to have made an early appearance around here, but I don't know why. It seems very chilly for them, and they hop around all puffed up. Why don't they stay somewhere warm for a bit longer?Maybe they know something we don't. Getting out into the garden is a treat when the temperature rises to above freezing. If you have apple trees, or other fruits (beside stone fruits which should be pruned in August) then now is a good time to get ready. You can assemble your tree pruning tools and clean and sharpen them. The best time to prune is late enough that there won't be too many more hard freezes, but early enough that the buds haven't broken. There is no real reason for the latter rule, except that you don't want to be knocking off those tender buds while scrambling through the branches. Ordering fruit bushes and hedging materials, willows and the like can still be done - but don't be surprised if the supplier is out of stock. They try to sell everything they have in cold storage from the end of the previous year, over the winter. They often do a big inventory in the fall as they put them into storage so they know the amounts of each particular plant they can sell. Sometimes, if they run out, they will use the plants they bring in for their own growing on, meaning they'll pot up certain numbers of plants in pots, and grow them until they root, then sell them like that to garden centers and nurseries. They get more money for those than bare root stock. If you've ever dreamed of
starting a gardening business
it's a good idea to thoroughly investigate all the ins and outs, and see what type of nursery will suit you best. For many years, after working for others, I had my own little online succulent business, selling Sempervivum, mostly for wedding favors, of all things.
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