If you’ve noticed that the MRT blog has been a little quiet over the last few months, I promise I didn’t forget how to type. I decided to take a little break from writing over the summer because, quite frankly, it was hot. Really hot. And while summer is traditionally a little slower for us at the garden centers, “slower” apparently means we decide it’s a great time to tear things apart, rebuild them, move everything around and start a dozen projects at the same time.
So while the blog took a summer vacation, we definitely did not.
We’ve spent the last few months working at all three MRT locations to make improvements that we hope make shopping easier, more comfortable and, most importantly, better for our customers.
At all three locations, we’ve given the properties some much-needed TLC. We’ve been working on parking lot issues, installing new shade structures, opening up aisles and shopping areas, making it easier to move around the store and continuing to bring in new product lines. South Venice has been our home for a long time, and sometimes an older property needs a little love.
Our North Venice location has now made it through its first Southwest Florida summer, and the Greenhouse Café has become a big part of the store. For the entire month of October, we’re running Buy One, Get One Free on all café drinks and ice cream. Buy any size café drink or ice cream and get another one of equal or lesser value free. So, if you need an excuse to drink an iced coffee while wandering around looking at plants, there you go. We have officially enabled you.
Port Charlotte has probably seen some of the biggest changes. The expansion we’ve been working on for what feels like approximately 100 years is finally coming together. Our new fishing and marine departments are nearly complete, and we’re really excited about how much more the store will be able to offer. The Port Charlotte Greenhouse Café is also getting very close, and we expect to have it open and operating before the end of October.
All of this is part of something we’ve been working toward for a while: making MRT more than just the place you stop when you need a bag of fertilizer or a new hibiscus. We want our stores to be places where you can get help with your lawn, garden, hardware project, irrigation repair, outdoor living area, fishing trip and apparently now your caffeine requirements too.
And after spending the summer working on our stores, it’s about time we start talking about what’s happening outside again.
Normally, the beginning of October is when we start looking toward the end of Southwest Florida’s rainy season. Of course, Mother Nature apparently did not receive the memo this week.
We’ve had an oddly rainy, gray and overcast stretch, which has probably saved a few irrigation systems from having to do much work lately. But October is still a good time to start paying closer attention to your lawn and landscape because our weather will begin changing over the next several weeks.
The biggest thing I would recommend right now is not automatically doing something to your lawn just because the calendar changed to October.
Look at the grass. Check for thin areas, discoloration, weeds, insects, fungus and spots that simply aren’t getting enough water. Turn your irrigation system on manually and actually watch it run. Sprinkler heads get broken, turned, buried by turf and knocked out of adjustment all the time. A zone can technically be “working” while half of your lawn is wondering what it did to deserve being abandoned.
This is also a great time to check your rain sensor. As temperatures eventually cool, daylight gets shorter and our regular afternoon thunderstorms become less dependable, your lawn’s water needs will begin changing too. The irrigation schedule that makes sense in July doesn’t necessarily make sense in November. Florida lawns are much happier when we water based on what they actually need instead of simply because the irrigation controller says Tuesday.
October also means the end of the summer fertilizer restriction period in our area. Both Sarasota County and Charlotte County restrict the application of fertilizers containing nitrogen or phosphorus to lawns and landscapes from June 1 through September 30.
That means October 1 opens the door again, but it does not mean everyone needs to run into the garage, grab a spreader, and start throwing fertilizer around.
If your turf is actively growing and could benefit from a fall feeding, October can be an appropriate time to fertilize. Slow-release nitrogen products are particularly important, and phosphorus generally shouldn’t be added unless it is actually needed. More fertilizer does not automatically mean a greener or healthier lawn. Sometimes it just means more mowing, more problems and more money spent fixing what too much fertilizer caused in the first place.
And remember that fertilizer doesn’t cure everything.
If you have large brown areas, irrigation problems, chinch bugs, fungus, root problems or compacted soil, fertilizer is not a magic eraser. In some situations, feeding a stressed lawn before figuring out what is actually wrong can make the problem worse.
Bring us pictures. Bring us a grass sample. Tell us what your irrigation is doing. Tell us when the problem started. We would much rather help you figure out what’s happening before you spend $50 throwing something on the lawn and hoping for the best.
This is also a good time of year to look around the entire landscape. Trim what needs cleaning up, pull weeds before they seed, inspect shrubs and ornamentals for pests, freshen up mulch where necessary and start thinking about fall color and cooler-season projects.
October in Southwest Florida is a transition month. It may still feel like summer at noon, but our landscapes are beginning to head toward the milder and drier part of the year. A little attention now can make a big difference over the next few months.
And hopefully the weather starts cooperating soon, because I think we’ve all earned at least one morning where walking from the house to the car doesn’t feel like entering a steam room.
We have a lot more to talk about this fall.
We’ll be getting back into regular blog posts covering lawn and garden topics, seasonal projects, hardware, home improvement, holidays and plenty of the things we see customers dealing with every day here in Southwest Florida. We also have a lot happening at MRT between the improvements at all three stores, our cafés, new departments and some exciting events coming up.
So, yes, the blog is officially back.
Apparently, I can’t use “it’s too hot to write” as an excuse anymore.
Stop by and see what we’ve been working on this summer, grab a BOGO drink or ice cream at the North Venice Greenhouse Café while you’re there, and if your lawn looks a little questionable after another Florida summer, bring us some pictures.
We’ll figure it out together.