A fresh shipment of seed potatoes has just arrived! Our selection includes conventionally grown favorites as well as organically grown gourmet treats! Following is a sample of what is in stock:

'Adirondack Blue' is a moist purple beauty. Its skin is a deep purple and its flesh is also a rich purple. It has a "nutty" flavor and is high in anti-oxidants. It is considered superior to All-Blue in both texture and moisture. It is good baked, boiled or mashed.

'German Butterball' is a golden russet-type potato. It is an all-purpose potato, with delicious, buttery flavor and a tender, flaky texture. It is a good keeper in winter storage.

'Russian Banana' is a fingerling potato, which typically measures about 2 to 3 inches long. It has a thin pale burlap colored skin with a creamy yellow-colored, firm and waxy flesh. Its flavor is mild with nutty and earthy undertones that develop when cooked. It is excellent in soups.

'Sangre Red' is an heirloom variety with red skin and pale creamy flesh. It is an early ripener (60 – 70 days) harvested as a "new potato." Its outstanding feature is its incredibly silky texture. These potatoes are the perfect accompaniment to a lamb dinner!

These are just a few of the varieties in stock. Potatoes are easy to grow and exciting to harvest. See our Potato Guide here (pdf). We even have Potato Grow Bags for easy container growing and harvesting. They make terrific gifts. Come in soon to see our selection as some varieties sell out quickly!

Multi-graft fruit trees are ideal for smaller gardens where space is limited and desire for fruit is great. You can choose trees that have multiple varieties of fruit, like cherries, or different types altogether.

The benefits of multi-grafts are that pollinators are present, so fruit production is heavy, ripening season is longer with multiple varieties, and harvest is more usable with an extended season. If you have had fruit trees before, you know that in a few short years, a tree can bear way more than you can easily handle all at once. Pruning can be a little challenging but also can be done to your preferences. Say you don't really care for one variety but it is needed for pollination. Then, you simply keep that branch smaller and encourage the branches with the preferred varieties to dominate the tree.

Trees with more than one variety of the same type fruit include multi-graft apples, Asian pears, cherries, peaches, plums, and pluots.

Fruit salad trees offer multiple types of fruit on a single tree. We have two versions, each having a peach, an apricot and a plum variety. Often these trees will actually have four different fruits, so you need to check their labels. We also offer trees that have different white-fleshed peaches and nectarines.

Just two or three multi-grafts represent an orchard of choices! Come in soon to get the pick of the crop as multi-grafts tend to sell out quickly. Be sure to pick up our FREE Planting Guide, Backyard Orchard Culture Guide and Fruit Tree Care Calendar. Our Fruit Tree Catalog and all our Garden Guides can be found on our website, YamagamisNursery.com. Let the knowledgeable staff at Yamagami's help you succeed with your backyard orchard!

It seems funny that while it is freezing outside, summer garden delights like tuberous begonias, dahlias and gladiolas bulbs are arriving, but that is how it is with bulbs.

You want to buy them for best selection when they arrive, and hold them until it is time to plant after the last of the frosts. Tuberous begonias, in particular, need warm weather to get started.

Shipments are coming in regularly, so check our selection often. Dormant veggies, like asparagus, onion sets, seed potatoes and rhubarb arrive with the flower bulbs. Dormant perennials like peonies are also expected soon. Fragrant bulbs on the way include lily of the valley and tuberoses.

Come in or check our facebook page for new arrivals. Our Spring Bulb Planting Guide is available on our website, YamagamisNursery.com with planting information. Plant an amazing summer garden with bulbs purchased now and planted in spring.

Whether football has a lot or very little interest for you, consider joining us for a super fun Bowl Planting Class on Saturday, February 4th at 10 AM or Sunday, February 5th at 11 AM.

Ms. Green Jeans (Carolyn Rosen) and our own Dianne Jensen will guide you through planting up your own container masterpiece. You can plant a Color Bowl, a Salad Bowl or a Mixed Bowl. Class fee is $25, which includes all the supplies you need. Class will last about an hour, so you will have plenty of time to see the game too. Class is limited to 12 people each day, so call us at (408) 252-3347 to register right away for a fun morning. Consider bringing a friend!

Stop Crabgrass Before It Begins!

Every summer we get customers cursing the tough clumps of coarse grass that have conquered their lawn. Removing those low spreading clumps leaves big scars in your lawn and is a real pain in the back! The culprit is often crabgrass, which may have it gotten its name from making you so "crabby." Luckily, crabgrass can be prevented.

On of the keys to preventing crabgrass is understanding how it grows. This in turn will help you decide which cultural and chemical control options to use against it. Crabgrass is a warm-season annual grass that dies off every winter. It can only reappear the following year from germinating seeds that were created before the mother plants died.

Crabgrass will not start germinating until soil temperatures consistently reach and stay at 60 degrees. This can be as early as February here and as late as May in the Northeast. (In a few very warm areas like South Florida and Hawaii, it can germinate almost year-round, so count your blessings!)

Culturally, crabgrass prefers full sun, lots of moisture, and thin lawns that allow light to hit the soil. The thicker and more vigorous your lawn is, the less favorable an environment it is for the crabgrass. This means you should also keep your mowing height to between 2-3 inches for fewer crabgrass plants in your lawn. Also, avoid frequent lawn watering. As temperatures rise, water more deeply but less frequently.

Crabgrass can be easily prevented with an application of Scotts Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Fertilizer in January. It jump starts your lawn's spring growth while keeping crabgrass and other early germinating weed seeds from sprouting. If spotted spurge has been a problem, apply Scotts Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Fertilizer again 8 weeks later to prevent late germinating weeds (like spurge and oxalis). Save your lawn (and your back) with Scotts Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Fertilizer.

Dormant Sprays--A Spray in Time Saves Nine!

Powdery mildew, peach leaf curl, aphids and other pests are lurking on the bare wood of dormant roses and fruit trees just waiting to attack tender new growth as it emerges in spring. Now is when those pests are most vulnerable and accessible to spraying.

Dormant sprays are a one-two punch of Monterey Liqui-Cop to control a range of fungal problems and Worry-Free Pesticidal Oil (canola oil based) to conquer over-wintering insects.

For fruit trees, apply them both in January, first the Liqui-Cop, then when it is dry, the Worry-Free Pesticidal Oil. Re-apply the Liqui-Cop in February as flower buds swell and just begin to crack open.

This last spraying is especially important when battling peach leaf curl. It will help if you prune and remove any "mummies" (dried fruit from the previous season) before spraying.

For roses, pruning before spraying is important. Additionally, you should remove any foliage that is still hanging on as it looks bad and will deflect the spray. Again, you want to apply the Liqui-Cop first, then when it is dry, the Worry-Free Pesticidal Oil.

Dormant sprays are more effective as preventatives than repeated growing season sprays are as curatives.

Apply a dormant spray when we have a 48-hour window of dry weather anticipated, as a hard rain will wash it off and you will need to spray again. For more information about fruit trees, pick up a copy of our Fruit Tree Care Calendar.