It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
Last week I wrote about how to successfully plant in the dry summer months and I promised this week to discuss how to keep our landscapes thriving (not just surviving) as we shift to drier, hotter, and longer summers. As a side note, don’t let this recent “rain event” lure you into complacency about watering. At best, it only moistened the top ½ of the soil, which for the most part only keeps the dust down…
A few weeks back I was harping about why gardeners don’t bother with compost and fertilizer when they are planting. This week I feel the need to talk about the importance of good planting practices. No matter where you purchase your plant material, I can guarantee you they will croak if it they aren’t planted properly. Here are some of my tips to help you succeed…
I have to confess that I seldom take time to reflect. I am a “doer” by nature and no sooner do I finish a project, that I am then on to the next challenge - maybe it’s just my creative juices wanting to express themselves, or my type A personality. Whatever is behind my constant need to “do” something, sometimes it is a good idea to slow down, take a breath, and reflect on what has taken place and be thankful for everything, whether a success or failure. As the gardening season winds down and we are collectively celebrating Thanksgiving, here are a few thoughts that crossed my mind…
I would never have dreamt that I would be talking about such a “dry” subject (pun intended of course) as watering in the middle of October, but here we are, dealing with one of the longest stretches of no rain that I can remember in the 30 plus years that I have lived in the Pacific Northwest. Not only is it dry, but it is also…
I will be the first to admit that this extended warm and dry period (100 days with only one-half inch of rain) brings with it mixed blessings. On the one hand, all this sunshine keeps things growing and puts me in the mood to spend time in my garden where my perennials are in their full glory and the yard continues to be full of…
As we wrap up the end of August, we should for the most part be able to simply sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Yes, there are still beans to pick, cucumbers to pickle, zucchini to put on the neighbor’s front porch when they are at work, flowers to harvest for dining room bouquets, and of course watering. But certainly, there is not the intensity of gardening chores that we face in the spring of the year…
Recently, I was browsing through my past columns looking for ideas when I came across my very first monthly check list, written in June 2001, 20 years ago. I have spilled a lot of ink since then, but the idea of a list of chores for every month of the year still seems useful. That being said, here are some thoughts to ponder…
During the months of May and June one of the all-time favorite plants of local gardeners, the peony, is bursting into bloom. There are many excellent peonies available to utilize in our landscapes; including herbaceous cottage types in all sorts of colors (and varying fragrances) and larger growing tree peonies too. I would never scold anyone for growing either of these types (since I do as well), but I want to bring attention to another fabulous peony option… what is known as the intersectional or Itoh Peony.