Our Spring fertilizer guide for new + established plants!

Want to ensure your lawn and anchor plants are healthy and thriving all season long? It’s the perfect time of year to add grass seed, fertilizers, compost, and mulch to help both new and current plants in your landscape flourish!

Read our fertilizer guide below to learn what fertilizers to use on your plants in the spring and how to fertilize to give them the best start this season!

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FOR NEW PLANTINGS

For giving new plants a healthy start, we love BioTone Starter by Espoma, and we suggest combining it with Cotton Burr or MOBOT compost to amend your soil and give plants the nutrients they need to establish roots quickly!

BioTone Starter Plus

BioTone Starter Plus is a bio-active plant food with beneficial bacteria, humates, and mycorrhizae that promote enhanced root development! It’s all-natural, organic, and perfect for new plantings of trees, shrubs, and perennials!

Cotton Burr Compost

Cotton Burr Compost gives your new tree and shrub plantings the nutrients they need to develop roots quickly and launch into producing healthy growth! When planting, simply add a half-inch layer of compost around the base to and outward throughout the tree or shrub’s canopy and till it into the existing topsoil.

Missouri Botanical Garden Compost

We love using Missouri Botanical Garden Compost for new perennial plantings! Especially for natives, this compost with nutrients from our region gives them the perfect head start. (And better yet! A portion of all sales goes back to MOBOT!) Simply spread 1-2 inches of compost on top of your newly planted perennial bed to promote growth, prevent weeds, and help make your perennials more drought-resistant!

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FOR ESTABLISHED PLANTS + LAWNS

For established plants and lawns, fertilizing in early spring and fall helps plants stay vigorously productive even after many seasons! In our store pick from Plant Tone, Tree Tone, Azalea Tone, and Holly Tone to help every area in your landscape flourish!

Grass Seed + Compost

Did you know that you can spread compost on your lawn even if your grass is fully established? Just like any other plant in the garden, grass needs nutrients to keep coming back strong each year! For a landscape abundant in rich green grass, we suggest mixing compost with George’s Magic Mix grass seed with enough compost to spread it a maximum of ½ thick on the landscape. (A helpful tip- using a spreader will help make this task go by so much faster!)

For bald spots, incorporate an inch of compost into the soil, then reseed.

Fertilizer: Holly Tone

Holly tone is specially-formulated for acid-loving plants. It is safe, long-lasting, and provides the nutrients necessary for vigorous and productive plants. Holly tone specifically is enhanced with Bio-Tone beneficial microbes to help plants develop deeper roots and have superior blooms. We love that it’s all-natural, organic, never includes any fillers, and won’t burn your plant or leach into the soil!

Fertilizer: Plant Tone

Looking for larger foliage and more abundant blooms? We love using Plant Tone for flowers, vegetables, and even trees and shrubs! It’s especially useful for starter plants in veggie gardens or containers, delivering a slow release of 15 essential nutrients to your plants all season long!

Fertilizer: Tree Tone

Tree tone is a reliable fertilizer for shade, fruit, and ornamental frees, feeding the entire tree from leaves to trunk to roots! It is 100% organic and provides the nutrients necessary for vigorous, healthy growth! We suggest applying tree tone to every tree or shrub in your landscape in both spring and fall for abundant, lasting foliage year after year!

Fertilizer: Azalea Tone

When you see your azaleas and rhododendrons just start to bloom in the spring, it’s time to fertilize! Azalea tone provides a safe, long-lasting food reservoir to keep azaleas blooming abundantly- without any risk of burning the beautiful foliage!

As always, if you’re new to fertilizing or want to make sure you find just the right combo, stop by the store and we’d love to help you find the perfect fertilizers for your garden’s needs! Here’s to encouraging abundant blooms all season long! See you soon!