The PIGG Pin

When I think of Fall, I think of Mums, Pansies, Cabbage, or Kale.  Why do I think that?  It is probably because those are the only flowers I can sell to make some money before winter begins.  This year, we have been trying to figure out what we can do to charge less for our plants and still make money.  I have become very tired of my suppliers charging whatever they want to me, and giving away their product to the big box stores for nothing, so I decided to do whatever it takes to not have to buy from them!  Saying that, I grew out about 600 mums, 2,000 cabbage and kale mix, and a bunch of pansies.  My mums are BEAUTIFUL!!!  Because it is still hot outside, they have not colored out yet, but they are full of buds.

So what does this mean for you?  It means I can sell you my plants as cheap as the big box…and I DON’T CHARGE SALES TAX!  That means many savings for you.

Mums are a plant which while it is blooming is gorgeous.  When it stops blooming, it is done.  No more blooms for that year.   If you plant it in the ground, it more than likely will return next year.  It can get huge, so watch where you plant it.

Pansies are the only winter ‘flower’ you can plant to fill in the seasonal color area of your garden.  They will survive the freezing temperatures and will look awesome as the temperatures warm up next early spring.

Cabbage and Kale are great foliage plants which can accentuate the pansies.  They will stay colored out all winter and really add to your winter color.

Happy Flowers.

Realizing it has been since April this year that I have written a blog makes me feel sad.  I want to take a few minutes and explain what has taken place in my world since April.  And then, we need to begin our journey through the landscaping world once again.

If you read “My Conversion” blog from 2009, you remember I had to shut down a retail garden center in Lebanon, Tn and moved the operation to a farm in Mt. Juliet, Tn to begin a wholesale growing and internet sales company.  I spent all winter potting and growing out around 5,000 perennial flowers.  I brought in a business partner who had been working for me for about 5 years, and that was the best move I had made in awhile.  Together, we make a great team.  It was much fun setting up the greenhouses and playing in the dirt while snow was outside.  We ended up having the coldest winter in many years here in the Nashville, Tn area.  Oh, and by the way, I HATE cold weather!!

In March, I had a friend who had a retail garden center lot on the other side of Lebanon call me and want to partner up with me in selling plants and landscape supplies.  Of course I said yes, I love selling plants and giving away advice.  This was supposed to be a March thru July agreement and then we part ways.  In April, however, he said he didn’t want to do retail.  You see, he has a very prominent landscape service company he is more passionate about, and the retail was distracting his attention away from that.  So, he said, let’s split the lot and I will run my landscaping and you can run the retail.  I, of course, said “COOL!”  That being said, in April, my other partner and I renamed and reopened my second retail garden center, The Pigg Patch Garden Center.

It is much work to reorganize and start up a garden center.  It took all my time and energy to layout the lot, order new stock, move plants from the grow farm to the lot, and market the new name and location.  In the coming blogs, I will lay out what all we did do to make this change a success.  I do believe you will enjoy the story.  I will also be doing our normal landscape tips and topics.  Please send in your questions or topics we can talk about.

Happy Blogging

How to Water Properly!

With Spring time being the time which most people think about their yards and want to add or take away from what they have planted around their house, I want to talk a small bit about how to know what water to put on your new plants.

If you are planting seasonal flowers such as petunias, begonias, impatiens etc. , then watering is a little extra critical.  It will be important for you to water at least once per day if not even twice per day.  You don’t have to use a lot of water because the roots are very shallow when newly planted.  It is very important to make sure the original root ball is getting wet when watered.

If you are planting shrubs or trees, it is a much different thought process.   The only thing that is the same if you want to make sure the original root ball is getting watered well.   The best way to water shrubs and trees is with a slow drip system.  This can be done in several ways… the cheapest is by just using a slow drip on the end of your water hose for several hours at a time.  Otherwise you can buy the gator bags, or soaker hoses.   I would say that right after planting, plan to water about every other day during the spring.  Once the summer hits, water every third or fourth day for a longer period of time.

Happy watering

Hybid Rose Bush

With Spring (hopefully) fast approaching, let’s talk briefly about what to do with those gorgeous rose bushes.  Roses are a funny plant to take care of and with the proper maintenance, look perfect all year, but often times will produce good flowers and poor foliage.

Rule of thumb for rose pruning is to do it while they are dormant (wintertime), and don’t take more than about 1/3 of the overall plant size off.  This is extremely important if you have an old hybrid style rose bush.  You don’t want to get too far into the ‘old’ wood and damage the integrity of the plant.

If you have a Knockout Rose, you have a little more freedom into the pruning of it.  You still should do a good winter pruning to get it off to a good start in the spring, but the amount you take off is not as critical.  You will damage the plant if you take too much off, but you won’t kill it.  I have seen people cut them to the ground every year just to keep the size under control.  I would recommend pruning more often, then pruning to the ground…but to each his own I guess.

If you don’t mind using chemicals, I recommend using a systemic fungicide with a rose food in the early spring to help prevent black spot and other problems.  If you don’t like chemicals, then you will have to control fungus manually by removing infected leaves daily to prevent spreading.

I have never considered myself ‘expert’ in rose bushes, so if some of you out there are expert and have some extra advise, please share with the rest of us!

Happy Roses