Want your flowers to bloom through early summer? Plant now

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Now that winter is behind us and spring is moving forward with sunshine and mild temperatures...this is the time to get your garden ready for a full bloom.

But in order to have a colorful garden, the experts at Green Hills Nursery say you need to fertilize first.

"Everything is starting to pop out now. Even though there still some plants that are dormant their root systems are pushing. So they need to be fertilized and need to get a good jump for the summer," said Leonard Ithimoto, Green Hills Nursery.

You also need to protect your plants from insects but snails and slugs are the top enemies for plants in the Central Valley.

A wet winter followed by a pleasant spring have them on the hunt to eat the leaves off your plants and that could kill off any flowers.

The wet soil from recent storms have made to ideal conditions to plant spring flowers in the next few weeks and those could bloom all the way into June.

"And of course all of the annuals and seasonal flowers this is a good time to plant those and get them up to size. So by the time we get to warmer weather they are in full max bloom. And they will stay all that way until summer," said Ithimoto.

Our dramatic changes in the temperatures are nothing to worry about as long as the Central Valley does not have an extended period of hot or cold conditions.

"It just kind of goes back and forth. Yesterday it was 80 degrees, so it was nice. Today it is cool and windy. The plants are fine with that. It is not a radical change of high to low," he said.

Ithimoto added that it is best to keep good watering practices and to keep a close eye on your garden.

Even though California is out of a drought customers at Green Hills Nursery are still thinking about drought tolerant gardens.

"Everybody's attitude is much better about planting other kinds of plant materials but with watering restrictions coming back in place or permanently people are going to look at that much more closely," he said.

Ithimoto added drought tolerant gardens have fewer plant materials and could save you more money in the long run.

And use much less water of course.