Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter

The easiest way to grow tomatoes…just plant, hang, and water. We recommend using Organic Choice Potting Mix by Miracle-Gro or Espoma Organic Potting Mix.

The amazing Topsy Turvy® Tomato Tree® grows delicious tomatoes fast & easy, with very little work, in a very small space! Utilizing the unique Topsy Turvy® upside-down design, water & nutrients get to the fruit faster & more efficiently.

This incredible 3-plants-in-one-planter is a “tree” that will grow apprx. 4 ft. in diameter and over 5 ft. tall, allowing you to yield up to 100 tomatoes! Plus, it’s easy to grow cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers and more. Complete w/built in stand, foot levelers & 3 ports, the Topsy Turvy® Tomato Tree® is great for decks, patios, balconies or small yards.

Plant tomatoes in the side ports, water in the top, then watch plants grow, big & healthy–just feet from the door. Assembles in minutes!

Order your Topsy Turvy Online Here

Simply Put – April Showers Bring May Flowers

… Go the lyrics to the song, more or less (from 1921; Googled it). We in the plant business love April showers, as long as they fall on a Tuesday evening. We likes rain on weekends about as much as Gollum liked Frodo.

What do you have to look forward to in April?

This is a big time for lawns. As the forsythias bloom (blooming now, bushes with big masses of yellow flowers), the soil is about the right temperature for crabgrass seed to begin to grow. If you are a lawn fanatic, you need to do your crabgrass treatments now. If you didn’t fertilize your lawn in the fall when you do most of your lawn feeding, and it’s a cool season lawn (one that is green now) you can still do a quick application of spring lawn food. If you have a warm season (zoysia grass) lawn (brown now) you don’t fertilize until it greens up in a month or two.

Early April is still chilly (off and on, this weekend is going to be a warm one) and it still makes sense to be planting cool season vegetables and flowers. That includes broccoli, lettuce, and pansies. Wait a few weeks before you plant the warm season stuff outdoors—tomatoes, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds— and look at the long range forecast for night temperatures. If it’s going to be in the 30’s or 40’s, you don’t gain much by early planting. Basil and peppers are best planted mid-May or later.

Think bigger. Early April is great for:

· Cleaning-up of last year’s dead plants, and mulching your walkways if they happen to be soil walkways like mine are. Hold off on mulching beds until the soil warms up a bit more. In that case, mulch when or after you plant.

· Planting trees, shrubs, and perennials. Generally, anything that is displayed outside at the garden center is safe to plant now. Plants that are under cover in greenhouses may still be too tender to go outside unless you are prepared to cover them if the night temperatures dip into the 30’s.

· Shop early for spring bloomers. You may as well enjoy the entire bloom period at your home instead of buying it after it’s already flowered for a week.

· Fertilizing shrubs: you can go ahead and apply your Holly Tone or Plant Tone around your evergreen shrubs. As soon as the ground warms up, the soil bacteria will start to break it down and make it available to your azaleas and so on.

· Plant containers for your deck or patio. Mixed containers or single specimens. If you use tender plants, you can move the container inside for a day or two if you need to because of cold weather.

· Keep thinking about the birds. They are getting ready to hook up and build nests. Maybe you can bribe more into nesting in your yard if you provide a water source (bird bath) and continue to feed them. Remember that birds mostly feed insects to their chicks. Long-term, you will have more birds if you plant native trees and shrubs, which support native insects such as caterpillars and the birds that feed on them. You’ll have more butterflies , too.

Spring is here and at Behnke’s we have beautiful cool weather annuals just waiting to bring smiles. Now is the best time to take a few pansies, ranunculus and primroses and create an early spring container garden for your deck or patio. These cool weather flowers are just the ticket! Every color you could wish for.

If it’s herbs you’re thinking about, we have just the right flavors for you.  Start with the classic Italian perennials herbs–thyme, rosemary, and oregano–to create your own Italian garden. Add your basil at the end of April or later, when it’s reliably warm. Basil needs heat to thrive. Select one of the many beautiful pots we have located at both of our garden centers, some soil and and of course your herbs, and you’re good to go!

Add your basil at the end of April or later, when it’s reliably warm. Basil needs heat to thrive. Select one of the many beautiful pots we have located at both of our garden centers, some soil and and of course your herbs, and you’re good to go!

Behnke’s also has EarthBoxes, great containers to plant your herbs and vegetables in. Now would be the time to select your lettuce and other cool season vegetables. Plant them to enjoy salad in a few weeks time.

The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers and proven in the lab and on the farm. The maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden-with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort. EarthBox comes in terracotta or green.

With the cooler weather of September, now is the best time to improve your lawn.  We offer Behnke’s Best Grass Seed, for sunny and shady lawns. Each is a mix of premium seed strains formulated to perform in our climate. Our Garden Shop carries everything you need to have a beautiful lawn including Turf Trust, a slow release fertilizer recommended by Behnke’s.

Let Behnke Nurseries’ Landscape Department take care of fertilizing your lawn and controlling weeds.  We’ll visit four times per year, and do all the hard stuff for you.
Contact us at Behnkes Design & Landscape for more information at 240-473-6733

Download Behnkes Lawn Care Pamphlet Here (Pdf File)

by Vickilynne Westcott

The very word makes many a backyard bird-enthusiast shudder.  Squirrels- synonymous with bird-food thieves – crafty, ingenious little raiders who have successfully thwarted the most inventive “squirrel-proof” bird feeders ever devised by man.  Squirrels – fuzzy, one-pound pirates capable of bringing a 200 pound man to his knees in frustration.

Well, at the risk of incurring the wrath and scorn of birders everywhere, I’m here to say I love those little bandits! Living in a third-floor condominium with a porch/balcony, my bird feeder attracts some wonderful birds that bring me much pleasure. And, as was inevitable, the squirrels also discovered the bounty, even if it is three stories up. Yes, they can be brazen little gluttons, at times so stuffed with bird seed from the feeder that they practically roll off the balcony. But they are also such lovable clowns!

Early this spring, there was only one squirrel who began visiting, obviously a new mom. Looking a little thin from keeping her brood fed, there was no way I could begrudge her some of the birds’ food. Then I noticed that when she was visiting, a shy youngster was peeking over the porch roof watching her. It took several visits before he was brave enough to shinny down the siding to my porch. But finally the call of food overcame his fears.

After a couple of weeks, I realized that mom was no longer accompanying her kid. (She hasn’t been back – perhaps having become a road casualty.) The little one lunched alone for about two weeks. Then I saw one, – no, two!! – fuzzy faces peering down from the overhang. Seems Jesse James brought his nest mates to share the loot!

The three litter-mates have now laid claim to my porch. Besides Jesse, the apparent leader of this little band, there is Stubby George, so named because he is missing the top third of his tail, and Nervous Nickie, the shyest of the crew. They scramble around, bouncing off the table and chairs out there, chasing each other around in circles – and, of course, growing quite sleek. With patience, I got them to accept my presence on the porch. They will now take shelled nuts from my hand and sit eating at my feet. The best treat, though, is a little peanut butter on a small piece of cracker. Talk about squirrel rapture!!

All of this crazy activity has not discouraged the birds, either. I make sure that there is plenty of food for them, too. Sometimes they have to work around the James Gang, but that doesn’t appear to discourage them. One cardinal couple has rewarded me by bringing their youngster up to the porch and feeding him (or her) right there. Such a noisy, demanding child!

Before long, I will have to start weaning my little crew of bandits – and the birds, too, for that matter. I will be moving by the end of this year and they all need to find other local restaurants to mooch from. But, oh, how I will miss those three squirrels – those ever inquisitive noses and wonderful black eyes, the little paws that reach up and hold my fingers while they take a treat from me, and the ringside seat I’ve had for their balcony circus acts.

Backyard pests? Perhaps…to some. However, for me, they are a backyard bonus. I hope to cultivate another bandit gang at my new residence – and pray that my new neighbors will be as tolerant as those I am leaving behind