Pottery Sample Sale: July 13, 14, 15

Have a great weekend of gardening!

Sloat custom furniture has arrived. Come on in and sit down!

Verona Two Seater

Adirondack Chair

Banana Bench

Dover Sun Lounger

All about artichokes!

Artichokes-Mmmm!
Here's what we hope: After working in Sloat Loam Builder you planted your little artichoke plants in a sunny, well-draining spot in the back of the beds this spring. They should be at least a foot across by now and need to be watered deeply once a week. Artichokes love the warm days and cool nights of the peninsula but hot, dry conditions will destroy their tenderness; they may need partial sun in Marin and Danville.

Blast aphids off with a strong jet of water, and protect from cheeky snails and earwigs by applying Sluggo Plus. Fertilize with Maxsea All Purpose, Fish emulsion or Worm Tea. Artichokes look great planted among “Apricot Chiffon” California poppies, Achillea “Paprika”, and Agastache “Pink”. They will get four feet tall and wide by the end of summer.

Harvest the edible buds while they are still tight and plump, they will ‘squeak’ slightly when squeezed. Cut about 1½ inches below the bud base and use immediately or refrigerate as soon as possible. After picking the last bud of the first harvest cut the plant back to 1”-2” above the ground. New sprouts will form at the base of the plant for a second harvest.

When bud production slows down (4-5 years) divide these perennial plants in the fall. With a sharp knife cut the offsets, taking as many roots as possible without damaging the parent plant. Amend new planting holes with Loam Builder or Planting Mix, add Sure Start, plant the offsets and let the rainy season establish a strong root system for next spring’s harvest.

Herbs as Edging Plants

Lemon thyme, Silver thyme and Chives are great for edges of sunny beds, between flagstones or to soften the edges of steps.

Lemon Balm and Pineapple Mint are nice for shady beds, and can be used in adult beverages, fruit salads, and potpourris. Keep an eye on these two though, because they can be invasive. All of these herbs attract beneficial insects.

Have you fed your plants lately?

Now is the time of year when lack of nutrition starts to show in all of your fruits, vegetables and flowers. Squash becomes pale, tomatoes aren’t bright green, and flowers stall (especially if they haven’t been dead headed). Fish Emulsion or E.B. Stone Tomato & Vegetable Food are easy, organic choices for edibles. Blueberries will benefit from Maxsea or E.B. Stone All Purpose Plant Food. Just remember....feeding your plants will make your gardening endeavors much more successful!

Pictures from the stores...

Indoor plants

Pottery!

Hats!

Butterfly bush in bloom (buddleja)

Thank you Sale on Plants & Pottery: June 21 & 22

Click to view these terrific specials!

Stay cool in the heat this weekend...

Your plants need water as the temperature goes up. Watering in the early morning and late evening means your plants will lose less to evaporation. Happy gardening this weekend!

All set for the Sale !!!

We'll have great specials on perennials

And 2 for 1 pottery (pictured)

Composting --- easy as 1-2-3-4!

The many advantages to composting...

Home composting can divert an average of 700 lbs of material per household per year from going into the landfill. The materials for making compost are cheap; just food and yard scraps. Compost improves soil structure and fertility, and loosens clay soil and increases the water-holding capacity for sandy soil. It also provides food for all the soil microorganisms, which keep the soil in a healthy balanced condition.

By home composting we are merely replicating Mother Nature’s system of breaking down all the decaying material falling on the forest floor by the little organisms living in the soil.

The Vespro Backyard Composter

This is a terrific composter for any urban garden. Available at Sloat this summer!

Directions: Choose a level, well-drained site in sun or shade, near a water source with some space around it (you will need space around it so you can turn the pile and for air circulation).

Add layers of chopped up browns and greens (see below explanation) at a ratio of 60% browns to 40% greens (the smaller the particles the more quickly it will break down). Add Compost Activator or a little chicken manure to speed up the process. Larger piles break down faster.

Add water with each layer --this will evenly distribute moisture throughout the pile. Microbes need moisture to live and move within the pile. The pile should feel damp like a squeezed-out sponge.

Turn the pile. This not only reduces odor problems, but adds oxygen, breaks up compacted material and speeds up the decomposing process.

To avoid flies and rodent visitors, wrap fruit and veg scraps in newspaper and bury in the center of the pile. Avoid adding plants sprayed with pesticides or those with disease, weeds with seeds, dog/cat feces, charcoal briquettes, fats, oil, grease, meat, bones and dairy products.

If you are an active composter you will produce compost faster (4-6 weeks possibly) but it requires a larger pile, more turning, and more watering. This will be a hotter pile and worms won’t be present. Passive composting takes longer (6 months to a year), with less turning and occasional watering, but with lots more worms and other soil-munchers.

Browns and Greens
Browns can be leaves, sawdust from untreated wood, newspaper torn in strips (not the shiny ads), yard waste chipped small, paperboard (cereal boxes, egg cartons, paper plates and napkins), dried grasses, small amounts of wood ash from untreated wood. Bulky items like twigs over 4” will break down more slowly but they keep the pile from compacting and help with air flow.

Greens can be grass clippings (thin layers), coffee grounds with filter paper, crushed egg shells, tea bags, grains, feathers, manures from healthy herbivores like cows, rabbits, horses, fruit/vegetable scraps. Wrap fruit/veg scraps in newspaper and bury in the center of the pile to avoid rodent problems.

For the Tumbleweed Compost Maker:
Choose a sunny position on the soil or concrete with room to turn the composter. The ground does not need to be perfectly flat. Fill the bin with small particles of greens and browns, which is great for lawn clippings. If contents are too wet, add more dry leaves or newspaper scraps. Turn every two to three days.

This is good for gardeners who are concerned with rodent visitors, like things very tidy and want something easier to turn instead of forking a whole pile. It's also good for those who may not generate a lot of yard clippings.

A tip from Bill, the Manager at our 3rd Avenue location

Bonide Systemic Houseplant Insect Control

"This product works very well! I have an indoor succulent that puts up an annual vine and gets aphids and mealybugs every year. This year, as soon as the vine emerged, I applied Bonide systemic. At first, a few aphids appeared on the new tips (it takes a while for the systemic to build up within the plant). But soon they all disappeared. It doesn't have a strong odor and it also seems to go into effect quickly. I'll certainly recommend this product to gardeners with confidence!"

-- Bill Barnett, Manager of 3rd Avenue Sloat Garden Center

Plants that thrive in the heat

Unless you're in the cooler coastal or San Francisco areas, perennials such as Nemesia , Osteospermum and Erysimum will shy from the heat. Summer loving perennials such as Calibrachoa, Lantana, Verbena, Wave Petunia, and Pelargonium will last longer. Salvias are starting to arrive and soon you will have at least 15 to 20 different kinds to choose from. Check out the Salvia Golden Delicious. It’s our new favorite!

Annuals that thrive in sun and hotter weather are Cosmos, Nicotiana, Zinnia, Salvia splendens (in red, purple and peach!), Petunias, Vinca rosea (Calycanthus) and Portulaca. Shade loving plants are Impatiens, Browalia, Fibrous Begonias and Coleus.

Dahlias are here in all sizes -- and Sluggo Plus should absolutely be used at time of planting. Nothing is more disappointing than having your Dahlia flowers shredded by earwigs.

This is a great read

Terrific article in the SF Chronicle on Global Climate Change and Your Backyard


UC Davis offers water-saving wisdom
Ron Sullivan, Joe Eaton
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
San Francisco Chronicle


At a conference convened by UC Davis' new California Center for Urban Horticulture, we learned a few things we hadn't known even after all these years of working the tree-hugger beat and passing along the bad news about the state of the ecosphere.

Oddly, we also had a good time. UC Davis knows how to throw a garden party. Kudos to the arboretum and the student catering service there: The food was great. They'd even arranged a sequence of nice breezy days to talk about global warming without having to suffer much from it.

They called the event Global Climate Change and Your Backyard. It was a good mix of compelling science and practical advice, centering on how we can adapt our gardening to a warmer and potentially drier world, and what bits we might contribute to not making it worse.
As East Bay Municipal Utility District customers, we're attuned to water use issues. Dragging buckets and siphoning from jugs to water the potted plants gets old fast, and realizing how little water we're actually using can make the annoyance worse.

We're thinking in terms of gallons, while most of California's water goes to users who think in terms of acre-feet: 325,851.4 gallons at once. But the current reality is that EBMUD doesn't get that water, so we must do what we can to keep from going dry - and going broke paying the water bill, never mind the actual impact.

We knew that poor garden-irrigation practices aren't just wasteful; they can contaminate the local watershed with runoff, even contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. No kidding: Diane Pataki, of the departments of earth system science and ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Irvine, showed us a study in which plots of fescue were warmed by heat lamps to simulate climate change. Nitrous oxide emissions were highest in warmer plots with higher soil moisture. Nitrous oxide exists in much smaller quantities than carbon dioxide but is about 300 times as potent as a greenhouse gas.

Read the rest HERE

Happy Gardening this weekend!

Fresh at our San Bruno location!

This just in from our San Bruno store:

We have the BEST selection of Annie's Annuals this year. We also have a wonderful selection of 4" salvias -- great for inviting hummingbirds & butterflies into your garden!

View from the Bay!

We had a great time talking about growing your own vegetables during an appearance on View from the Bay yesterday. Our own Jenny Strobel talked about summertime fruits, vegetables and herbs.... and the cost savings associated with gardening.

View the clip by clicking here!

Sloat Garden Center on View from the Bay!

Tune in to View from the Bay on KGO 7 from 3-4pm on Wednesday, June 11th. Sloat Garden Center will offer tips for gardening with deer resistant, drought tolerant and edible plants. Here's what we'll be talking about...

Drought Tolerant
TREES
Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis)
Fruitless Olive (Olea europa)

SHRUBS
Smoke Bush (Cotinus coggygria)
Grevillea spp.
Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)
Honey Bush (Melianthus major)
Plumbago auriculata
Pittosporum spp.
Salvia Allen Chickering

PERENNIALS
Assorted succulents: Agave, Aloe, Aeonium, Sedum
Festuca
Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia)
Mexican Primrose (Oenothera)
Dragon Tree (Cordyline)
VINES
Bougainvillea
Wisteria

GROUNDCOVERS
Myoporum parvifolium


Deer Resistant
TREES
Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis)
Magnolia grandiflora

SHRUBS
Breath of Heaven (Coleonema pulchrum ‘Sunset Gold’)
Dragon Tree (Cordyline)
Little Ollie Olive (dwarf Olea)
Fern Pine (Podocarpus gracillior)
Boxwood (Buxus sp.)
Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia)
Yucca

PERENNIALS
Artemesia
Foxglove (Digitalis)
Bearded Iris
Catmint (Nepeta spp.)
Spurge (Euphorbia spp)
Sedge (Carex spp.)
Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon)

VINES
Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia)
Potato Vine (Solanum jasminoides)
Creeping Fig (Ficus pumila)

GROUND COVERS
Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans)
Vinca minor *
Myoporum parvifolium


Edible Landscaping
TREES
Fig
Persimmon, Pear Espallier

SHRUB
Blueberry
Citrus
Rosemary
Lavender

HERBACEOUS BORDER
Lemon Verbena
Basil
Peppers
Chives
Artichoke
Parsley
Sage
Assorted Lettuces
Nasturtium
Fava Beans

VINES
Grapes
Kiwi

GROUND COVERS
Thyme
Strawberry
Sweet Woodruff (Galium)

What's blooming in our stores: June

Blooming at Sloat locations this month....

PIERCE STREET (Marina) location: Coming soon for shade: Alpinia (variegated ginger) and asarum (wild ginger) for shady spots in your yard. Alpina grows in clumps 1-3' tall with large yellow/green variegated leaves. Asarum spreads indefinitely with vibrant low-lying green leaves. Also for the shade is Cordyline fruticosa (Ti tree) 'Purple Dazzler' (looks like a deep purple dracaena). It will reach 6-15 feet tall and produces white to purple flowers in summer. Also, colorful hostas, sarracenia (north American pitcher plants) to gobble nuisance insects, and selaginella (club moss) to creep along the ground in the shade.Coming soon for sun: a miniature version of Cyperus papyrus, a deciduous upright stalk topped by fine filaments and umbrella. And another miniature plant, Indocalamus tesselatus, a 3' tall bamboo with enormous broad green leaves which will tolerate a bit of shade. Both plants are perfect for poorly draining soils or a water feature. Thunbergia alata 'african sunset' is very similar to the black-eyed susan vine and perfect for creating a screen in small spaces. For cut flower arrangements, try gerbera daisy hybrids in various colors. We also have lovely Phormium ‘Amazing Red’ and Leucadendron ‘Sylvan Red’ as accents for a splash of colored foliage.

DANVILLE location: We have lots of zinnias and coleus, as well as roses and Star Jasmine for your garden.

MILL VALLEY location (E. Blithedale): Dahlias! Budded, blooming, and fragrant Star Jasmine. Also, Brugmansia (angel trumpets) are starting to arrive.

SAN RAFAEL location: Lots in stock right now. We have very full maples, dahlias, many sun and shade planters, gold and purple cotinus, a big selection of coreopsis, day lilies, Spanish, French and English lavenders, clematis, vibrant phormiums, golden euonymus, many colorful hanging baskets, stunning & full dogwoods, water lilies, citrus, heliotrope, gardenias, non-stop begonias, a great selection of ferns in all sizes, trellised jasmine, hostas, fuchsias in all sizes, ornamental grasses, coleus, grapes and hydrangeas!

SLOAT BOULEVARD location: For indoor plants we have beautiful bromeliads, orchids, succulents and cactus. Also, a lovely selection of large houseplants and hanging baskets. Make your indoor space feel green and beautiful! Outdoors we have Annie’s Annuals California poppies and lots of colorful bird and butterfly attracting annuals and perennials.

Pottery Color of the Month

June May & June Pottery colors are Avocado and Cognac Yellow

New product at Sloat this month: PotHoles!

We love these new drainage discs! They are made with hydroponic rock which retains moisture, prolongs plant life, improves oxygen flow and helps maintain a healthy root system. They eliminate soil messes by covering the pot's drainage hole (and are easier than using rocks on the bottom of your pots). And, they're reusable! Just rinse and throw into your next pot

Topsoil!

Did you know that Sloat has a topsoil division?

Contact our Danville topsoil location with any questions!

828 Diablo Road
Danville
925-820-1273

Save the Date - Our 7th Annual Solstice Sale

Happy Gardening this weekend!

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

REPRINTED SF CHRONICLE ARTICLE: Goal for this yard - to be self-sustaining

We just read this article in the Chronicle's Home & Garden section. Good stuff!

Goal for this yard - to be self-sustaining
Demi Bowles Lathrop, Special to The Chronicle
Saturday, May 24, 2008

I've always wanted to grow enough food in our garden to sustain my family. While that may be a stretch, we're making a dent in our grocery bill.

My husband, Tom, and I cleared a 26-by-19-foot level of our terraced garden behind our home on Broadway in San Francisco, and this winter I put in a kitchen garden, with fruit trees, vegetables and herbs, and I am putting into practice many of John Jeavons' biointensive farming ideas.

Jeavons advocates building "living soil," nutrient-rich soil bolstered with compost. Compost feeds the soil. If your soil is cool, rich, crumbly and parts easily with your trowel when you plant seedlings, you know you've got it. It may take a few months to build up a stash of compost, but it will be worth the effort.

I ferret out scraps from our kitchen - vegetables, fruit, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea dregs, fish heads and bones, even eggshell cartons - to feed our compost heap. Yard scraps, except for diseased rose leaves and weeds, get deposited there too. Because a good part of our vegetable garden once contained our compost heap, the soil is good and we did not feel the need to double dig, that is dig down, loosening soil some 2 feet deep.

If you don't have the energy to make compost, you can buy it, or a cover crop will do. All that matters is to get nutrients into the soil.

Legumes such as fava beans add organic matter and nitrogen to the soil. They're called "nitrogen fixers" because they collect nitrogen in nodules on their roots with the help of rhizobial bacteria. Nitrogen gets changed into a usable form, some for the plant itself and the rest for other plants. Just till the crop into the soil to boost it. Nitrogen boosts growth of root and shoot tissue.
Our plan: plant four main beds in the center, each 91 by 55 inches, with five beds along the periphery. All are raised. Narrow paths run between them. A freestanding apple tree anchors each center bed.

To optimize fruit production, we are growing a fig, mandarin orange and group of pears against the two garden walls. Pear varieties include 'Seckel,' 'Bordeaux,' 'Beurre Clairgeau' and 'Atlantic Queen' (an old French variety saved from an East Coast seashore garden). Not only do the trees provide food, but they also look pretty when in blossom, full of leaves or heavy with fruit.
You can grow your own vegetable starts. It's not crucial, but you'll save money and being using open-pollinated seeds, those that can produce seeds for your next year's crop.

I built redwood seed boxes and started to plant seeds from several sources, but I'm most excited about those from Jeavons' Bountiful Gardens company: 'Alan Chadwick's Rodan loose-leaf lettuce, 'Cos' lettuce, Armenian cucumber, 'Chantenay' carrots and 'Sweet Rocket' ('Dame's Violet') to name a few.

Artichokes, snap and shelling peas, favas, 'Oliver' Brussels sprouts, chard, spinach, 'Lacinato' kale, lettuces, mache, French sorrel, 'Walla Walla' and cipollini onions, leeks, radishes and beets are already in the ground, many producing.

An old wrought-iron fence provides an instant trellis to test-run tomatoes this summer. These include: 'Siletz,' 'St. Pierre' and 'Yellow Pear.' Some funky herbs grow, such as feverfew, which looks like a small daisy with lime green leaves; lemon balm; burnet; lemon verbena; catnip for our cats; and Vietnamese coriander; along with mainstays.

The rules are simple here; common sense plays a strong role. Everything that goes into the garden comes from nature. Everything gets fed with compost and fish emulsion. While our neighbors aren't thrilled with the fishy smell, once I start handing clumps of lettuce to them over the fence, they'll forgive me.

There's no shortage of bees here. Bumbles and leaf-cutters land on leek stalks and dart into feverfew, and hummingbirds suck nectar from flowering arugula.

Since land is in short supply, muscari, daffodils, foxgloves and climbing roses share the ground and give us flowers to bring indoors. All this happens on a wedge of land under a Monterey cypress where there just happens to be enough light. Pesky gophers, skunks, snakes and the resident dog and cats add suspense. How can this gardener outwit them and what crops will survive?

Who knows, it may be chickens next.

What's hot in Sloat stores?

Poppies, zinnia, coleus, jasmine, maples, dahlia, citrus, lavender, hydrangea, fuchsia and more!
View what's blooming at Sloat locations >>

Sloat has an RSS feed

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Pretty as a picture

Gorgeous plants at our Mill Valley store....

Critters to keep an eye out for!

The Crane flies have been out for a while now. You know, the mosquito hawks, skeeter eaters or gollywhoppers as they are sometimes called. There are many different species here in California, especially the Giant Crane Fly which grows to 1 ½” long!

These bumbling, wobbly fliers blip and bang about the ceiling, walls and windows where they inevitably land in a cellar spider web. Their long, delicate legs easily break at the slightest touch. This last may be an adaptation which enables them to escape birds, their mortal enemies. So what do they do? Nothing really, except mate, lay eggs and die. Some few species may eat pollen or nectar but not enough to qualify as a pollinator.

It is the larva that concern us the most. The eggs are laid in moist environments such as turf and by streams. Eastern species may eat mosquito larvae as well as ROOTS. Our western species just eat ROOTS. The leatherjackets (the larvae are called this due to their beige, wrinkly skin), when in great numbers can damage a lawn by eating the roots, causing irregular brown patches to form.

It's easy enough to check/sample for them. Using a bread knife, cut the lawn at the edge of a damaged spot about 3” down and then cut out a divot 6” long. Peeling back the sod you'll be able to observe any grubs. Pay special attention to birds on the lawn . They're good indicators of crane fly larvae and a good biological control as are predacious ground beetles. If turf areas are over-stressed (too much for the birds), beneficial nematodes are recommended. Bayer Grub Control may also be considered.

Snakeflies have been unusually prevalent this year. This beneficial is the type of insect that may startle you when it lands on your arm unexpectedly. They also have a startling bite! These insects require cool temperatures to develop. It could be that we have snakeflies in cool years and some other type of PREDATOR in warm years such as antlions and lacewings.

Very little is known about them. Serious study did not begin until the early 1960’s. In fact 70% of the 206 known species were only named in the last 40 years. They are living fossils, much like the cockroach, dating back to the Early Cretaceous Period. Both the adults and larvae eat aphids and other soft bodied pests such as small caterpillars. The voracious adults make short work of leaf rollers, codling moth larvae, rose caterpillars and quite possibly LBAM. There was an attempt a few years back to establish snakeflies in New Zealand to control codling moth but it didn’t work.

The larvae did great work devouring the “overwintering” codling moth pupae but the temperatures were to warm for them to develop into adults. Look for the adults in woody shrub borders. The larvae hide under bark or leaves. The larvae are creepy-looking too with a long, slender scorpion-like abdomen and the same long thorax and elevated head the adult has. They have very prominent jaws.

Wisteria!

Curious about this flowering beauty?

Check out our popular article on wisteria HERE

For all you Bay Area rose lovers....

We've made our 2009 rose picks.

Cinco de Mayo
Pink Promise (Breast Cancer Foundation)
Carefree Spirit
Summer Love (likes cool weather)
Rock and Roll (incredible scent)
Legends (a big ol whopper flower)!

June Sales & Specials at Sloat

Lots of beautiful plants available this June...

Curious what some of them look like?

Visit us HERE

Thanks SF Weekly!

Best Plant Nursery (2008)
Sloat Garden Center
2700 Sloat (at 46th Ave.), 566-4615
http://www.sloatgardens.com

Global warming ensures that it is not quite so unbearably foggy, cold, and desolate out by Sloat Garden Center's original location as it was nearly a half-century ago at its inception. But it's still just plain good sense to wear a layer or three out to this nursery, located near the Pacific Ocean and just across from the San Francisco Zoo, because its true highlight is the outdoor area of plants that are hearty enough to withstand our microclimate craziness, alongside garden embellishments that are way more sophisticated than gnomes. Indoor plants get their due glory here, too, with a selection so gorgeous that impulse buying is a real and present danger. Amazingly, the center is closed just three days a year (Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day), so avid gardeners are rarely without this source of green-thumbed joy.