Gardening News and Tips

Here are some useful gardening tips for late winter and early spring:

Trim trees and shrubs. Early spring is a great time to trim trees and shrubs, because trimming always encourages new, healthy growth. (Make a mental note not to trim in the late fall, no matter how tempting it might be.) Trim "suckers" and non-productive vertical shoots from fruit trees. Prune all dead wood from rose bushes and other ornamental shrubs.
Order seeds and supplies for this year's garden. Check your seed inventory; review the new cultivars in this year's seed catalogs and web sites; and, order what you'll need to make this year's garden your best ever.
Lots of vegetables can be started well before your last frost date. Cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, turnips, etc.) and onion sets, to name a few, can withstand temperatures well below freezing, and can add nutritious variety to your meal planning. Get your cole crop seeds and start them indoors for outdoor transplanting in early spring. Use the Mantis Planter/Furrower Attachment to make neat planting furrows for onion sets and other early vegetables.
Plan for increased productivity in this year's garden. Go vertical to get a higher yield from limited space. A twenty foot row of pole beans can yield impressive quantities of beans all season long. Of course, you'll need to provide some poles and trellises to support the bean vines.
Check the condition of your tools and supplies. If you were too busy last fall to clean and oil metal tools, now is a good time to check for dirt and rust. Clean them up now and you'll be ready to hit the ground running when the weather warms up in late spring.
Check the condition of your Mantis Tiller. If you left fuel in the tank, now is the time to start and run the tiller for a few minutes. You'll be glad that you did when tilling season arrives.
Do you need a spare air filter or some 2-cycle oil? Now is a good time to get the supplies you'll need. The Mantis Tiller Handy Item kit has everything you need to keep your tiller running well all season long.
Clean up your lawn. Unless your lawn is covered by a blanket of snow, consider raking the lawn to remove any leaf and twig debris that will prevent good grass formation in the spring. Raking the lawn is good exercise on a brisk late winter or early spring day. For cool season grasses (rye, fescue, bluegrass) you can use your Mantis Dethatcher attachment to remove all kinds of debris that prevents good water, air, and nutrient absorption.

Featured Mantis Product: Plow and Planter/Furrower Combo Package

The Mantis Plow Attachment creates excellent and uniform planting furrows in tilled soil. It can also be used to "hill up" soil around corn plants and to help create mini-raised beds in the vegetable garden. You can mount the Mantis Plow Attachment on either the front or rear of the tiller, using the tines as the "drive wheels" as you plow forward or backward.

The Mantis Planter/Furrower Attachment creates small and precise furrows for planting transplants or bulbs. It can also be used to till in tight places that are too narrow for the standard tilling tines. This attachment increases the versatility of the already versatile Mantis Tiller.

Save time and money … buy the Mantis Plow & Planter/Furrower Combo Package.

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If you have a gardening tip that you'd like to share with others, or have a question about Mantis products, click here to e-mail us or feel free to give us a call at 1.800.366.6268.

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