Hands-on seminar: Sample plants and supplies to get you started in the wonderful world of Bonsai gardening.

The increased popularity of wines and table grapes has led to a surge of interest in growing grapes in the home garden. Not only do they produce great tasting fruit, but they can also provide an excellent alternative to flowering vines on fences, arbors, and gazebos. If you have the room in your garden and lots of sunlight, you can even plant a mini-vineyard.

The most important factor in growing grapes is understanding the difference between table grapes and wine grapes. They are very distinct. Table grapes should be eaten fresh, while wine grapes are small berried and seedy, qualities which don't make for good eating. You can't make wine from most table grapes because most don't get high enough in sugar content and the acids are too low to balance the wine.

It also helps to understand the growing habits and ripening dates of different varieties. This leads to a better understanding of when to harvest them and how to prune them properly for maximum health and fruit production. Many homeowners harvest too early, pulling grapes off the vine when they begin to color.

This is a mistake because coloring, known as "veraison," occurs weeks before the grapes are actually ripe. Grapes need to attain a good sugar content and acid balance before they can be harvested. Many people harvest their grapes before they have reached this point and are disappointed in the taste or the wine made from these grapes. It pays to sample your grapes before you harvest them. If they aren't ripe, wait for them to develop.

For wine grapes, consider purchasing a refractometer to determine the sugar content of the berries. Wine grapes usually need a sugar content of around 22-24% sugar (or more) to be harvested and subsequently produce the right alcohol content of the wine. Unlike other fruit, grapes don't improve after harvesting, so don't pick them too early.

The highest maintenance part of growing grapes is the amount of pruning required. Although there is no hard and fast rule about how much to prune, cutting away more of the grapevine leads to stronger and more robust growth during the next season. On the other hand, if you are trying to shade a large arbor, you may wish to allow more growth to remain, but you will have less fruit. Here are some general pruning tips:

• First, keep in mind that the current season's growth produces fruit from last season's wood. If you prune too heavily, the result will be an abundance of foliage--but very little fruit. Pruning too lightly results in large yields of poor quality fruit.
• Basic pruning is simple. The coarser bark of old wood is easily recognizable. Follow the growing tip back to the older wood from the year before. Then come forward, leaving four to five buds, and prune the rest of the branch off. Remove all the weak, thin shoots and leave only the strongest shoots to develop. Flowers from these shoots precede the development of fruit.
• Grapes will grow on the new wood that comes from these pruned shoots. Keep your vine tidy throughout the summer. Prune shoots back to the third or fourth leaf after fruiting. Remove any new growth. Also, remove all leaves around growing fruit clusters to give the fruit maximum sun.

Growing grapes in the backyard or garden can be a rewarding experience if done correctly.

Product Spotlight: Master Nursery Tomato & Vegetable Food

Master Nursery Tomato & Vegetable Food is an organic base plant food for tomatoes, leafy vegetables or root crops. You can use it as a pre-plant fertilizer or side dressing during the growing season. What makes this product so beneficial to vegetables is that the calcium in this unique plant food helps prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables. It also contains minor nutrients such as sulfur, iron, manganese and zinc. This is the perfect food for year-round vegetable gardens.

The best thing about a well planned fireworks garden is that you can "choreograph" your garden to bloom in sequence so that explosions of color burst throughout the garden the entire growing season. Done correctly you should be able to see color from all parts of the garden.

Start with the backdrop of your yard. Could you use some taller shrubs that might add some visual interest along the fence line? Some great selections to consider include the butterfly bush, chaste tree, crape myrtle, lilac, and taller grasses such as heather reed grass and switch grass.

For bursts of color in the middle of your landscape, look for strategic locations to plant shrubs such as goldenrod, Mexican sage, Russian sage, summersweet, sweet broom or mid-size grasses such as fountain grass or maiden grass.

Now add some life to your foreground plantings and borders with perennials such as coneflower, daylilies, dwarf lily of the Nile, geum, penstemon, sea thrift, statice, yarrow and wispy Mexican feather grass. Shaded areas can come alive with plants such as astilbe, coral bells, pee gee hydrangea and lilac.

Getting excited? Just click on the link for a gallery and description of all of these wonderful plant selections we have in stock. Then come on in and let one of nursery experts help you put together a show of plants your neighbors will be talking about each year!

Colorful bracelets decorating your windows--Window Boxes!

Actually, window boxes, window baskets, window shelves with pots: you name it, they will spice up a window every day of the year! Anyone can have a floral window display. Some of you may be apartment, condo or loft dwellers, and the only space that you have available is off your window! No problem! We have the perfect products for you to begin your window garden design.

First you must start with the container choice that will become home to your small urban garden. We have a fabulous selection available for you--wire baskets, steel baskets, wooden boxes, window ledge-width glazed, clay or metal pots!

If you choose a wire or steel basket, we have coir mat liners for the natural look. Also, we carry moss, which will hold the soils in, but let water drain from the basket. Plus, with wire baskets, you can have plants on all outer surfaces. These baskets are simply beautiful!

Whatever your container choice, you will be creating your own garden masterpiece right outside of your window. You may want to have seasonal flower color to cheer you up each day. Or instead, multi-color and -texture foliage plants to last the entire year. And vegetable gardeners or avid cooks: of course you can create your very own herb garden, ready and waiting right outside your window!

Next, think about the design of your new garden. You will want plants that are upright, plants that are billowy, plants that are spiky and plants that will trail downward. The key elements of garden design for your window gardens remain the same as in a landscape.

Remember, you must select a high quality potting mix such as our Gardners Gold Potting Soil, and remember to mix in a controlled release fertilizer like Master Nursery Master Start. Also, remember that moisture retention is frequently a problem with containers, so mix in a soil polymer that will hold on to the moisture between watering.

Now who needs a plot of land? Not necessary at all. Just create your own flowering or foliage window garden design. Now is the time to begin. You’ll bring a garden to your view each time you gaze out your windows! Lucky you. We’ll be waiting for you, here in our gardens!

A garden can have many uses besides just providing beauty to a home. It can also provide a safe haven for birds to eat and have shelter, and provide one with hours of bird-watching entertainment.

Birds are naturally drawn to trees and shrubs because these plants provide a place to hide from their enemies, a place to nest and roost, a place to get a meal, and a place to rest. The key is having a mix of trees and shrubs that are either evergreen or bear fruit, nuts, berries or cones.

By providing a variety of different trees and shrubs, you will attract a greater variety of birds to your yard. Some can provide food; others will provide shelter. Birds have various individual tastes, so if you provide a variety of food sources, a greater number will decide your garden would be a nice place to visit or even live.

It helps to have a diverse variety of heights, foliage types and densities. Consider planting bushes in groups, making a special effort to be strategic in locations that will receive less human traffic. Birds need cover to hide from their enemies and to stay safe during cold or stormy weather. Dense evergreens can actually shelter birds and insulate them from winds. In summer these same trees and plants will provide protection from the sun and heat, as well as a place to nest.

It helps to learn about which birds actually live or migrate annually to and from the area. Create a list of birds and then find out their favorite food and type of nesting place. We have many great plants to provide birds food and shelter. (Many plants produce food for birds in the fall season.) So come in and visit us soon. Our staff of nursery professionals will be happy to help you plan a garden that is not only beautiful, but will also keep the local bird population happy!

Some of us are gardening in "minimalist" spaces-- but we do not have to forego a vegetable/herb garden.

Imagine a beautiful container garden display right on your patio. Instead of flowering ornamental plants, perennials and annuals, substitute into the plant palette (or palate!) herbs, vegetables, a maybe even a dwarf fruit tree. "Where do you begin?" you ask. We shall tell you.

What are your favorite vegetables and herbs? Make your list. Whoever said that they all had to grow only in the ground? Not at all. Picture this. Instead of growing a flowering vine in a pot, grow green beans, peas or even squash in espalier fashion.

The beans and peas are "twiners" and will easily grow up a trellis or other structure. Don't be afraid to plant an entire 6-pack of pole beans in your pot--or maybe even two 6-packs. The bean plants will grow upward and intertwine. Dinnertime arrives and you simply harvest what you need for that evening. You may even have so many beans, you'll need to share with friends.

But you can also tie up the vines of your favorite squash. The only trick with squash is that, once it begins to fruit, you will need to add further support for each squash. That is easily done creating a sling from panty hose or a similar material and tying the sling onto the trellis.

In the pots with your beans or squash, consider planting garlic and/or your favorite onions. You'll know when they are ready to harvest once the green foliage begins to turn brown.

Do you love to cook and use fresh herbs? An herb garden is perfect in containers. We have many herbs that are classic cooking standards and grow happily in pots. Many of the herbs need full/part sun to thrive. Some can tolerate a little more shade. Arrange them on your patio accordingly. And if you have a little time (or thyme!), move the containers to follow the sun. It is easier to move large pots if they are placed on a plant dolly. (That's a plant stand on wheels.)

Rosemary and thyme are good examples. Grow these two together in one large pot in full sun. Rosemary needs space to get a plant of decent size, and both prefer less water than other herbs. There are so many different thymes to choose from – English and lemon thymes come to mind. Another thing rosemary and thyme have in common is they do not have a great need for fertilizers.

In another large container, grow sage, oregano, nasturtium, and/or lavender. Again, these have similar watering/light needs. Oregano and nasturtium can get a bit invasive. But if they are a "must have" for your cooking, of course you will plant them anyway. And the nasturtiums offer a spectacular flower display. Who needs petunias when you can have nasturtiums? This combination also does not have a great need for fertilizer.

Onward to our next combination: basil, parsley, and perhaps even chives. These herbs can take a little less sun and each needs more water than the previous groupings we have discussed. Also, apply an organic fertilizer such as Dr. Earth Tomato and Vegetable Fertilizer.

Do you love tea, cold or hot? Add another container and grow lemon verbena, lemon grass and a mint or two. Remember that mint can take over, so as it is becoming established, don't be afraid to thin it out.

And did we mention the tomato? Tomatoes of all varieties will grow in pots (if you use a large enough pot), but we recommend the determinate varieties or cherry/grape tomatoes for best results. Many determinates don't need support; for ones that do, you can put a tomato cage around the pot.

Whether you choose to grow everything we have suggested or just a few of them, you are on the road to creating a beautiful and bountiful patio culinary vegetable garden.

Bon appétit!

Answer:

A fertilizer can be labeled as all-organic when it is completely composed of naturally-occurring ingredients. While people place an organic label on manures--and products such as bone meal, blood meal and "hoof and horn" are considered organic--most blended organic fertilizers do not contain these products. Most organic fertilizers use only plant and fish by-products as a source for their nutrients.

The majority of organic fertilizer blends contain a mixture of alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, kelp meal, feather meal, fish bone meal, mined potassium sulfate, soft rock phosphate and seaweed extract. Organic plant foods break down faster in meal form than in pelletized form, because pellets have a binding agent that needs to be broken down before the nutrients can become available to the plant roots.