How and When To Prune Your Shrubs

Pruning is an essential part of a plant’s life. Not only does it make your shrub look refreshed, but it also encourages healthy growth and sustainability for your plant to last year after year. And if you follow these steps on how and when to prune your shrubs, you’ll having your gorgeous shrubs lasting quite a long time.

Why You Should Prune Your Shrubs

So why do it? Well, as plants grow, mature, and produce seeds/fruit/flowers, a little bit of maintenance and love is required from us. Pruning is the act of removing branches, leaves, and buds from a plant in order to make it more attractive, or to maintain its health.

Why take the extra time? Because your plant relies HEAVILY on it. Pruning removes any dead, dying, or diseased portion of the plant and helps to prevent spreading any disease throughout. Pruning also allows more light and air to pass throughout the plant, giving it more nutrients and allowing room for new growth.
Another common reason to prune would be what’s called “training” or “shaping”, which is when you want to shape a tree, hedge, or shrub. Training is accomplished by cutting branches to restrict growth. It also reduces the amount of branches, so an increase in energy and nutrients can go to all the other stems to produce more flowers/fruit.

When to Prune

It's important to remember to research your plant's specific needs, because no plant is the same as the other. However, here is a basic guideline that can assist you when there are no resources at hand:

Flowering Shrubs- prune immediately after blooming has ended
Non-Blooming Shrubs- prune late Winter or early Spring

Seasonal Pruning Guideline

Late winter is usually a time to prune fruit trees, non-flowering shrubs, trees, hedges, and berried shrubs/trees. 
Spring is a time to prune any summer flower shrubs that have not bloomed yet. 
Late spring pruning involves cutting back spring flowering shrubs that have already bloomed. 
Summer is a great time to prune summer flowers after they have finished blooming. 
Fall is a great time to prune roses, and also to remove any annuals that are finished with their season.

How to Prune

The two ways to prune your plant are by Heading + Thinning.

1. Heading

Heading is cutting off part of a branch in order to make the rest of the remaining branch stronger. It is used when new growth is wanted. If you are wanting new growth, you will want to cut the branch/stem just above the bud at an angle, remembering not to cut too close to the bud, but also not too far away. It may sound complicated, but we would be glad to show you how this achieved if you stop by one of our locations here in North Carolina.

2. Thinning

Thinning is cutting off a branch at its origin to prevent any new growth. This could include cutting to the main trunk or even to the ground. Often times a “thinning” technique is used when you are wanting to increase air flow and light to the plant. This helps to prevent diseases and boosts the bud and fruit production.

Pruning is an art that can seem complicated and difficult at first. But, once the basics are learned, it can become a freeing and therapeutic experience. And maybe we, as humans, can take a few principles from pruning, and apply them to our lives to make us stronger and healthier versions of ourselves. Because sometimes removing something, can actually be freeing at the end of it all.

Happy Pruning,
Your GVM Team

WE WANT TO KNOW…

what is your favorite shrub and why? Let us know in the comments below! You can also share your beautiful landscaping pictures with us by tagging us on Facebook or Instagram. We can’t wait to see!

#gardenvalleyfarmersmarket @gardenvalleyfarmersmarket

Keeping Your Hanging Basket Beautiful

You finally have your GORGEOUS hanging basket that you hand picked from Garden Valley Farmers Market. You’re watering it and admiring its unique beauty and color that it brings to your home. With a little work, love, and the following tips, let’s keep your hanging baskets looking absolutely gorgeous and full of blooms all summer long.

Location

When choosing your hanging baskets, remember to keep location in the forefront of your mind. Needing a shade plant? We recommend Ferns, Wandering Jew, and Fuchsia!
Needing a basket that’s in a sunny location? Petunia, Million Bells, and Lantana are GREAT choices for you, and come in a beautiful variety of colors.

Fertilize… slowly

Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to fertilizing your hanging basket. Why? First, if fertilizing too much, the flower/plant can become stressed by growing too fast and cause it to go into shock. Slow growth is much better than the opposite in the long run. Second, its important to fertilize because the soil is not exposed to the same soil as a garden bed would be. It’s not getting the same organic compounds and nutrients from the earth when its hanging in the air, so regular fertilizing of your basket is recommended.

Watering

How and when you water your basket is secretly an important tip. Most baskets tend to dry out faster than a bedding plant or pot would because they are exposed to more wind, so watering once (sometimes twice) daily is recommended with most hanging baskets. However, be sure to ask your sales associate for your specific plant’s watering needs if there is no tag).
When is the best time to water, you ask? We recommend early morning. Early morning watering gives the plant enough time to absorb the moisture that is needed so that it can survive the heat of the day, but any time, as long as you’re watering, is a good time.

Regular Pruning and Deadheading

Once a week, cut back and remove any damaged leaves or flower buds from your basket. You will notice a huge difference in the longevity of life from your basket if this is done and kept up with. Doing this not only increases growth in your basket, but it also increases the bloom development. And we all want that, right?!

F Y I

MOST hanging basket from Garden Valley Farmers Market do not need to be repotted, as long as they are kept trimmed back and pruned. But on the off chance that the basket might need some saving… check out the next section on what to do.

Your Plant May Have Outgrown It’s Container

If your plant starts to look overgrown, it might be time for you to repot your basket. Hanging baskets can become root bound because the roots will have no room left to grow. If you haven’t kept up with the regular pruning of your basket, you can repot your plant into a hanging basket that is a size bigger. Wire baskets filled with a coconut liner are a great option because they increase air flow through the root of the plant.

---

We would love to see photos of how beautiful your hanging baskets are this summer, so tag @gardenvalleyfarmersmarket in your posts, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #gardenvalleyfarmersmarket and show us your beautiful baskets!

Lastly, if you find this information helpful, we’d love it if you would support us
by sharing with your friends.

Thank you so much for joining us here. For more information on what Garden Valley Farmers Market is about, you can visit us here. If you’re wanting to visit with us, come by any of our five North Carolina locations. If you’re wanting to follow along with us, you can do so either on our Facebook, Youtube, or our Instagram. If you’re wanting to earn rewards and be easily connected with us, download our new App. And if you’re wanting to check out our other recipes and blog posts, or are needing more inspiration, follow us on our Pinterest. We’d love to have you join us in our journey of planting better, eating better, and living better.
Much love,
Your Garden Valley Farmers Market Team