Hello again,
Folks another beautiful day in Skillin's Country but it is VERY DRY out there. I was lucky enough to be home yesterday and I noticed my very well established Pee Gee Hydrangeas were in a wilt. They are among the first plants to protest when soil conditions are dry and this dryness will not cause winter kill for them but it will cause premature leaf loss and will also hur the flowering of the plant.
So, I brought my garden hose over to the first of my three Pee Gees and set up slightly more than a trickle of water to come out of the hose. I ran the water this way for a good couple of hours down into the root system of the plant. Later in the day it appeared to be much happier. I did the same thing for the other two Pee Gees. So, for established plant material that is looking stressed; IF YOU CAN I would recommend some nice slow waterings for a couple of hours per plant. Nice slow waterings will not run off and also these waterings will not result in a big pool arond the plant that will just evaporate. Your plants roots will thank you!
I gave my rose bushes a nice slow watering a week ago and they are first on the schedule for a good soaking tomorrow.
This morning before I came to work I applied Serenade--a nice natural fungicide sold right here at Skillin's to my upright Phlox and also to my rose bushes. I have been giving both plant varieities weekly sprayings of Serenade early on Sunday mornings while it is still cool. I see lots of mildew on phlox around town but NOT on mine, thanks to the Serenade. And my roses look pretty good too. I will be applying Serenade weekly for the next few weeks to keep those leaves clean and green, especially on the roses.
It is not too late to plant cold weather vegetables! This past week we just received our first shipment of 2008 flower and vegetable seeds from Botanical Interests! (check them out at http://www.botanicalinterests.com/) Peas, lettuces, swiss chard among others can get planted. There is a terrific type of Swiss Chard called Bright Lights that I am going to try to grow in a container. very brightly colored foliage that should be a fun fall look and who knows I might have some nice fresh Swiss Chard for my salad later on this fall!
Speaking of container plantings, I have grown some wonderful plant containers this summer at home. I cannot say enough about our Proven Winner plant material--just tremendous. But the real key I think was the soil. I used the Bar Harbor Blend by Coast of Maine products (http://www.coastofmaine.com/). The Bar Harbor Blend is quite simply the best soil I have ever seen and I recommend it highly for all indoor and outdoor containers. I think frequent feeding is key to growing annuals here in short season Maine and I mixed generous portions of Plant Tone by Espoma with the Bar Harbor Blend and also side dressed my plants a couple of times this year with either Plant Tone or its cousin Rose Tone (depending on what I had at home at the time). Finally, when I watered I also used the Fish and Seaweed liquid fertilizer by Neptune's Harvest quite often (and I still will through the Fall, I want to keep these gorgeous flowers gorgeous). I planted my containers late in the growing season but with all that "love" they have really caught up and done great.
As I just wrote I will also plant some Bright Lights Swiss Chard and some Fall Mums soon in containers for a nice fall look. Easy to do and high reward!
Mum's the Word! We have some of the most gorgeous Fall mums I have ever seen grown here! Now is a great time to plant them because they still have time to grow and give you more flowers. Paul Parent gave a nice tip about planting mums this morning on his Sunday morning garden show (http://www.paulparent.com/). Paul recommended that when you get the plant out of its pot to make an X with a sharp knife into the cluster of roots at the bottom of the root ball. This slicing of the roots will serve as a good root pruning and will help stimulate the roots to send out more root shoots into the ground. These additional roots will help the plant to grow and quite possibly give you more flowers. Our Fall Mums are very tender perennials that most often do not winter over here in Maine. But planting them this early in the season and this root pruning at this early stage may help to improve your chances. Also, like other newly planted material, give the mums a good soaking of water a couple of times a week this fall.
Even though it is very dry out there, now is a great team for lawn work or to put some lawn seed down. More details in a soon upcoming blog!
Check back often at http://www.skillinsgardenblog.blogspot.com/ for some great gardening tips and as always shoot us your gardening questions at info@skillins.com!
Have a great Labor Day,
Mike Skillin
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