|
|
Seasonal Advice

Fall & Winter
Gardening Tips:
For many of us, the growing season is
winding down. We’re busy clearing and buttoning up our barren beds.
Then again, some gardeners cannot let go. They’re enjoying what they
call the second season, the realm of fall-blooming perennials.
Given the normal progression to winter, these bright spots will bloom
well into December. You cannot miss them.
They give me a feeling that, yes, winter is nearly here, but there’s
always spring coming.
Fall bloomers thrive in chilly nights followed by warm, sunny days. They
are said to love cool feet and hot heads. They produce incredibly sharp
and deep colors, as if they know their role of chasing away the gray
days.
The planting rules are the same for all of them:
-- Make sure you have good -- make that great -- soil with plenty of
compost and humus. This will jump-start their growth rapidly, resulting
in a better show.
-- Be sure to keep the plants watered until the soil freezes. Mulch them
after the first freeze. Our falls are tending to be dry. These plants
need a lot of water to support flower development.
-- Don’t over fertilize: Excessive nitrogen creates green leaves, not
flowers.
-- Pinch off spent blooms. This encourages new ones.
-- Buy from a reputable dealer: Most fall bloomers come in hardy and
tender varieties. The tender ones are for growing indoors or in the
South. Check the labels. They should be suitable for hardiness in zones
5 and 6.
Here are some good ones:
Mums are the most popular, sold by the thousands all over. They come in
endless colors with large, medium and miniature blooms.
Asters look like daisies but last until winter arrives. Pinching spent
flowers results in mounds of plants.
Sedum, a succulent, looks nice all year as a border plant, but the best
is yet to come. In September, the plants suddenly sprout heads of color.
Eventually, the plant is covered, and you can hardly see the leaves.
I have a planting of Helianthus in my back yard and constantly am
amazed. These look like yellow daisies, but they are on 5-foot stalks
and bloom until the freeze. Some call them false sunflowers. Birds love
their seeds.
The plants expand rapidly.
Helenium is similar to Helianthus, but is the choice if you have poor
soil and drainage problems.
While not a flower, pampas grass offers an unusual fall display. It
sends out red, silver or pink feathery plumes each fall just before the
green plant starts turning to straw. These guys will last until March,
when the straw should be cut to make way for the new grass. They keep
well indoors as a dried flower.
The beauty of these is they are planted once and enjoyed for many years.
Check the Internet for more ideas on fall bloomers.
Have a gardening question? Send it to
jim.hillibish@cantonrep.com.
author: Jim
Hillibish

Summer Flowers: Gardening Tips for Summer
Summer is a time of beauty and abundance in the
garden. It’s also a busy time for the gardener, full of chores that are
necessary to care for and maintain the health of your plants. Listed
below are some of the core tasks of the season to help you prioritize
your workload.
Indoor garden
Early summer is the ideal time to plant containers, such as patio pots,
window boxes, and hanging baskets. All threat of frost has surely passed
along with the passing of spring, so you can safely put containers
outside. Don’t forget to feed container-bound plants as the summer
progresses.
Dead-heading
This is also listed as a spring chore, but you should continue to
dead-head flowers that have passed throughout the summer (this increases
bloom time and strengthens the plant). Pay special attention to
dead-heading flowers that self-seed once they have passed so that you
maintain control over where they spread in your garden. If you want to
propagate certain plants, you can save the flower heads for planting at
a later date.
Pest Patrol
Keep a close watch over your garden for any sign of pests so that you
can move quickly and take action before the problem spreads out of
control. On roses especially, keep an eye out for aphids and mildew.
This is also a good time to reapply pepper wax or whatever you might be
using to keep the deer, rabbits and other big pests away too.
Staking & Support
Put stakes and supports in place for tall, herbaceous plants, like
peonies and delphiniums. This will prevent them from falling over or
look messy as they grow taller and heavy with blooms with the
progressing season. Likewise, as climbers display new growth, be sure to
position them on a support system in order to maintain control over
where they grow and prevent an untidy appearance.
Watering
Don’t forget to keep up with your watering, especially as the very hot
weather sets in. If you don’t water enough, roots will stay near the
surface, making them even more prone to the heat. An inch of water a
week is a good rule of thumb, so don’t just spritz, water deeply to keep
those roots digging deeper.
Plant Bulbs
Mid-summer is the time to plant bulbs that will bloom in the fall, such
as colchicum. Wait for late summer to plant bulbs that will bloom in the
spring.
Sow Annuals
Now that all threat of frost is gone, early summer is a perfect time to
sow hardy annuals, such as lupines, outdoors in the garden. You can also
sow biennials, such as forget-me-nots. These hardy plants are easy to
grow outdoors from seed.
Vegetables
Time to get those tomatoes and other frost sensitive plants in the
ground! Know the frost date for your area (check with your local
extension service) and as soon as it’s safe, get things started. More
time in the ground means bigger and quicker harvests.
Prune Shrubs
Although many shrubs do not require pruning, some shrubs that flower in
the spring and early summer, such as lilacs, will greatly benefit from
pruning once they have finished flowering. This keeps them looking
lovely season after season. Refer to the appropriate page in the web
site for pruning tips; a good rule of thumb is prune right after things
bloom and you’re always safe from pruning off flower buds.
Of course, there is plenty more activity in the summer
garden than the chores listed above, but this will give you a good
indication of some of the essential activities that need to be tended
to.
Be sure, of course, to take some time to sit back,
relax, and enjoy the joys of summer in your garden…a cherished time of
year for every gardener.
(www.helpfulgardner.com,
2007)

TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN APRIL:
- Late March and early April are the best times to
prune deciduous trees.
- Cut back ornamental grasses and other winter
standing perennials.
- Clean leaf litter in garden beds.
- Spread lime.
- Apply dormant sprays to appropriate trees
shrubs, and vines.
- Sow seeds indoors.
- When soil is workable test for acidity and
nutrients.
- At the end of the month it is usually warm
enough to begin planting bare root trees and shrubs.
- Visit your local garden center for inspiration.
TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN MAY:
- Continue planting bare root trees and shrubs.
- Divide late blooming perennials.
- Direct sow cold tolerant seeds such as
California poppies, lettuces, and members of the pea
family.
- Start indoors fast growing vegetable seedlings
such as cucumbers (best if sowed in peat pots).
- Later in month begin to harden off seedlings.
- Work compost into garden beds.
- Sprinkle slow release fertilizers to perennials,
trees and shrubs.
- Plant cold tolerant annuals such as pansies,
osteospermum and stock.
- Plant balled and burlaped trees and shrubs and
container plants with established root systems.
- Feed nesting birds.
TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN JUNE:
- Sow wildflowers and all other seeds outdoors.
- Purchase and plant annuals for containers and
beds.
- Continue to plant trees, shrubs and perennials.
Water weekly deeply.
- Weed asparagus and strawberry beds.
- Set out remaining heat loving vegetable
transplants such as tomatoes and peppers.
- Fertilize lawns.
- Divide and or transplant spring blooming
perennials.
- Label areas for planting more bulbs in the fall.
- Feed roses.
- Apply fungus control to prone plants such as
fruit trees, roses, grapes, phlox and monarda (best
to apply BEFORE fungus appears).
- Apply slug control, particularly after rainy
spells.
|

| Home | About Us |
Garden Center Products |
Outside
Products | Specials |
Advice |
|
Links | Contact
Us |
|