June (late June) Garden Talks

Hello again,

As I write this post we are in the midst of a warm sunny stretch here in Skillin's Country. Spring has officially turned into summer. Lilac flowering is over now replaced by beautiful blossoms like the Bridal Wreath Spirea.

And the ground is dry! I noticed earlier that my often "persnickety" Endless Summer Blue Hydrangea is marking the beginning of summer by telling me "hey you just transplanted me last fall and my location may be more shady but when the weather is dry I still need regular waterings." True (although hot days cause the Endless Summer to flag even when the soil is still somewhat wet). But let's lead off with:

*Skillin's Moisture Meter:

New outdoor plantings (of vegetables, annuals, perennials, and certainly shrubs and trees) require 1 inch of water per week optimally spread out over at least two deep waterings per week. A "deep watering" is defined as a slow soaking of your plant's roots.



(More detail about "deep waterings": A soaking rain which brings a half inch of rain or more qualifies as a deep watering. In lieu of rain a deep watering can be accomplished by letting water run slowly out of a watering can or the end of your hose into each plant's root system or by having a soaker hose at work for several hours twice a week. In "non soaker hose situations", pause on your watering if the water starts to run off; let the water soak in and then begin to water again. Repeat this process several times and move onto the next plant. For larger trees and shrubs (and if you do not have a soaker hose) merely set a hose against the tree or shrub for 1 to 2 hours and let the water almost trickle into the ground and down into the plant's root system. Again if there is runoff, pause and let the water soak in. )

This Week's Moisture Meter Readings:

Quality rain (2).

Deep waterings required by you: (0).

Our new plantings need water! We have had warm sunny days and quite a few breezy days. That being said good soaking rains of Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th have done the job for the next few days. Make a note to survey your plants on this coming Tuesday and Wednesday as warm sunny weather is forecast for the beginning of this coming week!


If you have met the quality watering requirement for this past week, congratulations! If not, pay careful attention this coming week and beyond and make sure that your new plants get those required quality waterings!

Let us know if you have any watering questions!

*Slugs are out in abundance; living under larged leafed plants by day and chomping and tearing on fresh plants by night. Slugs can eat incredible amounts; your leaves will look torn. Slugs can easily be controlled by all natural Slug Magic (safe for pets and wildlife) sold right here at Skillin's.

*Mike's Must Have Perennial Selection for this Week:



Let's go with Cimicifuga (Bugbane) aka Snakeroot (found under Snakeroot in our perennial catalog).

The picture below is of the Brunette--my personal favorite. Other varieties have more green foliage. This is a great plant!

Cimicifuga Brunette

Why This is a Mike's Must Have Perennial:

I love the dark foliage of the Cimicifuga Brunette and the striking creamy white flowers. I have either the Brunette or White Pearl in a shade garden at my house. The plant prefers shade to part sun. This is a very hardy plant and can take up much space. Again the dark chocolate type foliage is a very rich look and the tall spiky flowers really stand out. The plant also has a nice fragrance!

This shade garden also features ligularia, brunnera and Solomon's Seal. All of these plants are very interesting and I would recommend any of them for a shade garden. They really "jazz up" a dark space!

*Want butterflies and hummingbirds? You can easily have them! We have dozens of flowering plants (big and small) that can be easily grown (hey check our Butterfly bushes!!).

*The neighborhood woodchucks are now out in abundance and those cute waddling woodchucks can devour a lot of freshly planted vegetables and flowers in your garden! Customer Nancy asked about woodchucks and here is how the conversation went:


"Do you have any ideas about getting rid of woodchucks/groundhogs and keeping them from cleaning out the young veggies and flowering plants?"

Here is my reply:

"Nancy, I have battled woodchucks with many methods over the years and most have not worked.

The method that HAS absolutely worked for me is a battery operated tube now called the Mole Mover (old name Go-Pher It). The Mole Mover is powered by 3 C batteries and emits a long beep every 28 seconds. The key is to know approximately (within 30 feet) where the woodchucks den is. Woodchucks typically live under sheds, decks, porches, croppings of stone, "other sides" of berms, someplace with a feel of shelter or protection.

They love to be in their dens so it is key to stick this tube in the ground as near (again within 30 feet) of their den as you can. After about a week of hearing this consistent beep every 28 seconds they and their family typically leave your area. If you are not sure of where they live, keep an eye on where they run to when you startle them above ground. They typically waddle straight for the den.

Other customers have their methods-fox urine, human hair in panty hose are two favorites. They may work for a time but I have found at the worst moment when the fox urine may be depleted or the hair scent is not there that they strike.

The tubes worked and are still working for me and for many other customers. I hope they work for you...let me know if you have any more gardening questions!"

It may be time to thin some seedlings started in your vegetable garden. Some of these seeds might be carrots, beets, radishes or even beans you may have started early. By the end of June, you may be able to harvest beets (they taste great when they are small). And those peas we talked about planting in mid April should be getting ready for harvest. My stomach is rumbling just thinking about it!


*If you have not planted bean or corn seeds, sunflower seeds or squash or cuke seedlings do not despair! The soil is just warming up and anything planted now and for the next couple of weeks or so will catch up in no time!

*This is a GREAT time to plant a crop of lettuce seedlings; plant this crop in a shadier setting (actual shady spot or underneath tomato or pole bean plants that will shade them). The hot summer sun tends to cause our little lettuce friends to wilt--they will grow great and taste better with quite a bit of shade! We have brand new lettuce seedlings now and will have another fresh crop in August!

*It is just about time to cover your blueberry and dwarf cherry trees to protect the fruit from birds. We sell plastic netting at Skillin's that is perfect for the job! The mesh can last for years if stored over the winter in a dry place.

*Many flowers of spring blooming perennials are passing by or are about to pass by. Take a few minutes to cut back these plants. In many cases (bachelor button, lupine to name a couple) a good sharp cutback will generate new growth from the plant and may well encourage some reblooming just a little later this season. In the case of lupine, a shorter lupine will give less of a home for pesky aphids that just love lupine as a summer home.

*If your garden plants have not had a good feeding yet this Spring; it is far from too late. We generally recommend a good granular feeding of all natural Plant Tone by Espoma or Pro Gro by North Country Organics. (We recommend all natural Holly Tone by Espoma for acid loving plants!) These are great all purpose foods that will very much improve the quality of your soil!

Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
June 22, 2011

It's Time for a Walk Through the Garden

Hello again,

Good gardening friend Paul Parent of the Paul Parent Garden Club sends out a great newsletter every week with pertinent gardening topics. I encourage you to go to his website to sign up for his newsletter. Paul can also be heard every Sunday morning from 6 AM to 10 AM at his website or at WBACH (104.7 FM) every Sunday morning from 6 AM to 9 AM. Paul recently sent this article out called "It's Time for a Walk Through the Garden" (I occasionally add a few comments in italics) and here it is:

"We are now half way through June (this post was released by Paul on June 16, 2011), and so far the season has had its ups and downs--but the best of the ups are still ahead of us, and you should be excited about what's happening around you! The plants in your garden will make more growth in the next couple of months than they have so far all year. The flowers, the vegetables, the herbs, the berries and the fruit are now preparing for their special season in your gardens.


Try to explore your gardens every day if possible, because things are happening so fast now you will miss the changes. Today's walk through my gardens showed me that flower buds are now forming on my lilies, some of my daisies and on my delphiniums. The strawberries are beginning to turn pink and will soon be ready for picking, while the blueberries are growing larger on the plant but still need time and maybe a little extra fertilizer to help them grow larger and juicier.

Because of my garden walk, I noticed that my 'Annabelle' hydrangea are having a problem with a caterpillar type insect that has "stitched" the new leaves on top of many branches together, creating a bag look to the new growth. I pulled them apart to separate the leaves and found a small 1/2" long green caterpillar inside, preparing to eat the young flower buds. These small green caterpillars weave the leaves together and create a weatherproof home for themselves while they feed on your flower buds.

I took a few minutes and opened up each leaf cluster to free up the flowers so I would not lose them to the insect and then sprayed the plant with Spinosad organic insecticide or Captain Jack to destroy the caterpillars and prevent future damage. The plant looks great now, the foliage will continue to grow normally, and I will soon enjoy all those flowers on the hydrangea that would have been lost if I did not walk through my garden this morning.

With all the rain and cool temperatures, I was looking for a bug that is common at this time of the year called the "spittle bug." This unique creature can be found on many perennials, roses, and some evergreens--if you look at your garden you will see him right now. This insect resembles a tiny grasshopper about 1/4" long and pale green. To protect himself from predators, he will take the extra moisture on the plant and blow bubbles around himself. This bubble cluster looks like "spit" on stems of your plants and makes it easy for you to find him. As the weather dries up, all you will find is his damage--holes in the foliage. But right now he is easy to find, so just squeeze the spit-like formation on the plant to remove him, and then crush him. If you have many, use Garden Eight, Bug–B-Gone Max or Bayer Complete insect killer to control them or they will riddle the foliage with holes in that garden in just a few days.

I noticed that in the vegetable garden my cold weather crops like broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are growing like crazy with all the rain and look wonderful, but while in the garden, I did notice several small dull white moths about an inch in diameter flying from plant to plant. This small moth is laying eggs on these plants that will in a couple of weeks hatch to become the cabbage lopper that will eat holes in the foliage. There is not much you can do right now but as soon as I see small holes in the foliage I will use Spinosad or Captain Jack to eliminate the problem naturally. Seeing the moth has given me a warning of the problem to come and time to prepare for when it arrives.

My tomatoes now have yellow flowers on them, so it might be time to give them a boost with a bit of liquid fertilizer (use Fish and Seasweed fertilizer by Neptune's Harvest) to help them make fruit faster. Also tomatoes are wind pollinated--not pollinated by bees--so I gently shook each plant to help make the pollen airborne for better pollination. Give your plants a shake every time you're in the garden to help them make more fruit if the weather becomes calm, so shake, shake, shake your tomatoes.

My peppers are also making flowers and now is the perfect time to give them a bit of Epson Salt in water to help them make bigger peppers. I dissolve one tablespoon of Epsom Salt to a gallon of water and give each plant about a quart of the mixture and you will not believe what it does for the plant. This was a garden tip from my Grandfather many years ago that stills work today.

I looked at my roses as the flower buds are just about ready to burst open and noticed some of the lower leaves had been skeletonized and had a white tinge to them. I found some small one-inch long pale green caterpillars eating away--a bit of Captain Jack or Spinosad takes care of them, and the damage will stop. All I want you to do is look at your plants regularly, so you can spot the damage on the plant before it gets out of hand and ruin your hard work in the garden.

Clematis is now growing fast and now is the time to train it, and tie it up on your trellis or arbor so you can better enjoy the flowers on the plant. Remember clematis loves a sweet soil so if you want your plants to grow better, be sure to use limestone or wood ash around the plant every year. If your plant is in full sun, place a brick or cobble stone standing up on the ground, on the south side of the plant about 2 to 3 inches from the stems. This will create shade on the stems as they develop from the base of the plant and prevent sun damage during the summer and winter months. Keeping the bottom six inches of stems cool during the summer and protected from the sun during the winter is the most important tip that I can give you for growing clematis.

If you're growing fruit trees, be sure to re-apply your fruit tree spray as soon as possible as all the rain has washed off the protection you put on the earlier. If you want to stay organic with your fruit tree, look for a wonderful product call "Organocide," a combination insect and disease control product developed for the citrus growers in Florida, which works great on all your fruit trees and berry plants. If you want clean fruit, you must apply this product every 10 to 14 days just like the orchards do--more often if you get heavy rain.

If you planted lettuce, Swiss chard or spinach by seed, it may be time to thin your planting bed or do a bit of transplanting while the weather is still cool. Give your plants room to grow and you will have better and more productive plants in your garden. Clean around your onions, leeks and shallots, as crabgrass is now beginning to grow in the garden--I know it is in my onion patch.

If you grew garlic for the first time and want larger bulbs and more garlic cloves on that bulb in the ground, look closely at your plants now for the flower bud that is forming on top of the plant. This flower bud looks like an arrow; it's a pointed bud. It looks like a garden gnome hat that grows by twisting and curling on its long stem. When this twisting begins to happen, remove the flower stems right down to the closest leaf on the plant and all the energy will go to the bulb--or you could leave it on the plant and it will make seeds for next year. I remove mine and use some of the flowers or "scapes," as they are called, for use in flower arrangements--cool looking with cut flowers in a vase. You can also steam them like you do asparagus and they taste wonderful with a bit of butter, salt and pepper. Try them this year if you never have before; they have a mild flavor of garlic. Enjoy!


Thanks Paul!

Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
June 21, 2011

June (MORE mid June Garden Talks)

Hello again,

It is mid June and Skillin's Country has been enveloped by unseasonable cold and cloudiness (although our wet Spring trend of the last few years makes this relative darkness seem quite normal I am afraid).

Last week we posted a few mid June Garden Talks tips and here are some more!

*Want to grow some healthy snacks for your kids (and yourself) so that you teach them to LOVE some great vegetables?

Plant Sungold tomatoes (we have the plants), Sugar Snap Peas (we have the seeds) and the small "Pickling" cucumbers (we have the plants). I chose these 3 because (1) I love them myself; (2) they are easy to grow; (3) they always taste really good! The Sungold tomatoes just melt in your mouth and as you pick them they are so sweet that most never make it in the house!

Sungold tomatoes make a great snack for the kids--and for you!

Other quick snack choices are green beans; radishes (although they have a bite) and greens like swiss chard and spinach.

Any of these plants can be picked right in the garden and eaten on the spot OR can be easily picked and brought to the kitchen for the kids!

*Still have space in the garden? It is far from too late to plant many vegetables for a great harvest this season. AND many vegetables can be planted a second or third time IF you still have space.

This "successive" planting is in fact called "succession planting" and really helps to lengthen the season. Beans and peas are classic "succession" crops. Plant them now or in a few weeks and harvest them later in the season AFTER the first wave of beans or peas have been harvested.

There are many other great succession plants as well: Radishes, beets, lettuces and greens, broccoli and cauliflower all make great succesion plants for the vegetable garden!

*A great product to protect roses, tomatoes, vine vegetable crops like pumpkins, squashes and cukes, phlox, lilacs and many others against leaf spots, blights, mildews and other diseases is an all natural foliar spray called Vaccinate. (sold right here at Skillin's!)

It is a carbon based (molasses) foliar spray and contains Salicylic Acid for systemic acquired resistance. Vaccinate can be used on indoor and outdoor plants.


Vaccinate utilizes a holistic approach to plant health by building stronger plants. Salicylic Acid activates the plant’s natural immune system, reducing yellowing of foliage and building drought, heat and frost tolerance. Vaccinate is carbon based. Carbon is the building block of all life and buffers all nutrients in the soil. Without carbon, plants become stressed, which leads to disease. No carbon in the soil equals no growth -- it’s that simple! And Vaccinate works quickly -- your plant starts to absorb Vaccinate within 20-30 seconds of application.

Last year I used Vaccinate for the first time on many of my plants including roses, tomatoes, and phlox among many others. I was very pleased with the results and had almost no incidents of disease with my plants!

*Do your vegetable plants need pollinating? We sometimes hear from customers who planted a squash plant or a pumpkin plant that their plants blossomed but no fruit resulted. These plants need pollination! To best attract bees make sure you incorporate some other flowering plants in the same garden. Plant some flowering annuals like marigolds, petunias, zinnias, etc. The bees will come flocking to your flowers and you will have no pollination problems!

*Speaking of vegetable gardening, Terry Skillin recently appeared on WCHS's local program "207" and gave out some great information. (And I have heard many rave reviews!)

*This cold weather has very much delayed the growth of some of our warm weather loving vegetables. Take heart Skillin's Country! The weather will warm up and our eggplants, tomatoes and cucumbers will grow.

We have plenty of time left in the vegetable gardening season. Because of my schedule I have planted no vegetables yet and I will have plenty to choose from by August and September!

Customer Lynn asked about covering plants like tomatoes at night to try and keep them warmer during these cold nights. Lynn I would not do that--the temps should "uptick" and hopefully this slow start will just be a distant memory!

*Mike's Must Have Perennial Selection for this Week:

Let's go with Blue False Indigo (Baptisia Australis). This awesome plant was selected as the 2010 Perennial of the Year but many of us have known this reliable blue beauty for much longer than that! This is a plant totally native to America. In fact, Europeans used to pay Americans to grow it, for the dye they made from the blue flowers. That's why it's called False Indigo. Indigo was expensive and Baptisia is easy to grow. Baptisia is a member of the pea family and you’ll notice a resemblance in its foliage and flowers, as well as its fondness for cooler weather. Baptisia australis is a standout because of its striking blue flowers.

Blue False Indigo--a Mike's Must Have Perennial

Baptisa has an upright, shrubby form. It offers a long season of interest, with flower spikes, seed pods and foliage that is almost never bothered by pests or disease. Pea-like blossoms start as plump, tight buds. The flowers are borne on long racemes and are a vivid blue, often with flecks of cream or yellow. They are followed by seed pods which further demonstrate they are a member of the pea family. The pods persist and turn black and are often used in flower arranging. (Thanks to the garden writers at About.com for the above 2 paragraphs).




Why is this a Mike's Must Have? It's blue spiky flowers are a standout in June. There is no flower quite like it! The plant is darned reliable and will be a cornerstone of your perennial garden for years to come. I love that!

*Gardening friend Margaret of Away to Garden publishes a great piece called "5 Things to Read While I Savage My Garden". Margaret is a great gardener and writer and she gets right to the point!

In her June Garden Chores, Margaret also make a great point about pruning shrubs:

"SPRING-FLOWERING SHRUBS like lilacs get pruned now. Later pruning (after July 4th here) risks damage to emerging buds for next year’s blooms. Clean up unsightly deadheads of other big bloomers like rhododendron, things that don’t make showy fruit next, so leaving behind their faded blooms is just messy. Viburnums, on the other hand, need faded flowers left intact to set beautiful, bird-feeding fruit."


*I seeded some major parts of lawn earlier this Spring with Black Beauty Grass Seed by Jonathan Green (I love it!) and also fed my lawn with Espoma's Organic Lawn Food. Everything is growing pretty well but some parts of my lawn soil need some beefing up as our mini drought of early June caused some areas of my lawn to stress a little from lack of water.

I am not going to feed my lawn until early fall again with an organic food BUT the parts of the ground for the lawn that need a little boost are going to get an application of Kelp Booster by Espoma. The soil in this back area of my lawn is not as healthy as other parts of my lawn. So the extra "TLC" that the calcium from the kelp and the microbial bacteria in this product should really help my lawn over the long haul. Remember for a healthy lawn it is about great soil (for deeper roots!)


*Skillin's Moisture Meter:

New outdoor plantings (of vegetables, annuals, perennials, and certainly shrubs and trees) require 1 inch of water per week optimally spread out over at least two deep waterings per week. A "deep watering" is defined as a slow soaking of your plant's roots.


(More detail about "deep waterings": A soaking rain which brings a half inch of rain or more qualifies as a deep watering. In lieu of rain a deep watering can be accomplished by letting water run slowly out of a watering can or the end of your hose into each plant's root system or by having a soaker hose at work for several hours twice a week. In "non soaker hose situations", pause on your watering if the water starts to run off; let the water soak in and then begin to water again. Repeat this process several times and move onto the next plant. For larger trees and shrubs (and if you do not have a soaker hose) merely set a hose against the tree or shrub for 1 to 2 hours and let the water almost trickle into the ground and down into the plant's root system. Again if there is runoff, pause and let the water soak in. )

This Week's Moisture Meter Readings:



Quality rain (2).


Deep waterings required by you: (0).

I received just about an inch of water in my rain gauge this past week from Friday through Tuesday night. The ground was getting dry before that but I am going to grade this past week's rains as adequate for most situations in the ground. Keep an eye on hanging plants as well as plantings that are in high spots--this ground may dry out over the weekend if we get no meaningful rain this week.
If you have met the quality watering requirement for this past week, congratulations! If not, pay careful attention this coming week and beyond and make sure that your new plants get those required quality waterings!

Let us know if you have any watering questions!

Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
June 15, 2011

June (mid June) Garden Talks

Hello again,

It has been more than a few days since my last typing of Garden Talks. The season (and our gardens) has exploded in Skillin's Country and that is very, very good.

I have spoken to so many of you and appreciate all your support for Skillin's. I hope your gardens are growing well and look forward to speaking to you soon again!

Now onto some Garden Talks:

*How to rid your flower garden of pesky cats? I am a cat guy myself but once the cats decide to use a space in your garden to "do their duty" they like to come back and back! One of the best ideas I have heard recently is to lay some chicken wire in the areas they are coming to. Cats will get annoyed trying to scratch through it and then will go somewhere else.

*Mike's Must Have Perennial Pick of the Week:

Let's go with the Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis). She is just breaking into form. The Lady's Mantle is very reliable and sends forth lime yellow flowers this time of year. These flowers match the healthy but rather light green foliage. Lady’s Mantle is an old-fashioned flower still popular today for it’s fuzzy, cupped leaves that hold water droplets after a rain and the frothy sprays of dainty yellow flowers that bloom in late spring and early summer. Lady’s Mantle is also used in making lotions and soaps. Lady’s Mantle is a long-lived perennial flower that is fairly low maintenance. It thrives in part sun but can take mostly sun.


I like it because of it's reliability. I think the yellow flowers and lighter foliage can be quite striking--like a "Fair Lady". Lady's Mantle is a standout in any garden.

Lady's Mantle Planted at Skillin's in Falmouth. The Sun is Shining on the Lady's Mantle--note that it is planted just in front of a daylily! Great plant for nesting in a perennial garden!

 
*Stay on top of your weeding! Try to make a pass through your annual and perennial beds weekly if you can to keep those weeds at bay. "Clean" perennial beds can be mulched with compost or Fundy Blend by Coast of Maine. The compost will act as a mulch to hold weeds down and keep moisture in. Yet over time the compost will become integrated into your soil and bring great benefits to your soil.
 
*Remember to keep your lawn level high when mowing. This helps your grass stay lush into the summer longer. Also a grass canopy is a great natural way to keep weed seed from germinating in your lawn as successfully! Also do not bag leaf clippings. Let them lie in the lawn. They will quickly break down and return great organic matter to your soil. If you are feeding twice per year with a good organic lawn food then the grass clippings will really break down rapidly.
 
*Speaking of mulch: 2 inches of mulch or compost is PLENTY around your trees and shrubs.
 
*We have tomatoes and many other vegetables available. This is the PERFECT time to start your vegetable garden in Skillin's Country--let us show you how! Also remember to plant your tomatoes "deep"--bring the soil about halfway up the stem of the plant.
 
*Now is a great time to prune most trees and shrubs that are JUST finishing their flowering. (Lilacs, some rhodys, crab trees, etc.) Shape them to something smaller than you like them but with the same concept or shape. The new growth will fill in and grow up to the height you want. Most flowering shrubs should only be pruned within about a 2 week window of their dropping of flower petals.
 
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
June 10, 2011