Memorial Day is past and summer has officially started. With the warmer weather comes new challenges for the gardener. Insects, fungus and hot weather stress start to take their toll on your lawn and garden. In the not too distant past the gardener who wanted to use only natural products didn’t have many products to help them. This is no longer true.

At Hicks Nurseries you have a large selection of products to aid you and a sales force that is very able to help you solve your garden problems naturally and more important help you prevent many of them in the first place.

Our newly expanded selection of Dr. Earth products is a great place to start. With over 40 all-natural, all-organic products your garden can get off to a good start and have a better summer with fewer problems. Soils, fertilizers and pest controls give you much of what your garden needs to flourish. Their Metabolic Transformer gets your evergreens, trees and shrubs off to such a good start that Hicks Nurseries will double your 1 year guarantee to 2 years for the trees and shrubs you purchase at the same time you buy it. Better, healthier and stronger plants and a 2 year guarantee, you can’t beat that.

We now have an expanded line of live garden helpers. Ladybugs, lacewings, nematodes, red wiggler worms and mason bees are available in a dormant stage in our Live Garden Helpers refrigerator ready for you to bring home and introduce to your garden. These products can help you in controlling unwanted insects, aerating soil and pollinating plants naturally. Safe for people, safe for pets, safe for the planet.

An application once a month during the summer of Actino-Iron, a biological fungicide will reduce or eliminate many diseases in your garden and on your lawn. Mulching your garden beds with Hamptons Estate 100% Organic Mulch will helps prevent weeds, moderate soil temperature and retain soil moisture, and it looks good too.

Remember that plants in healthy soils are healthier plants. We recommend Espoma Organic Potting Mix for all your planters. Weather they are small, large, annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs or houseplants, this is the best all-purpose potting mix you can use.

I use only natural products in my garden not only because it’s better for people and pets but also because it’s better for the plants. If nature wanted you to use chemicals in the garden it would have created them naturally. One more thing, please take a good look at your plants weekly. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.