Spring bulb planting begins in October as the night and day temperatures begin to fall and the air becomes clear and dry. Purchasing bulbs is another story and that can begin in September. Bulbs should be firm and show no signs of rot or damage. Some retailers sell inexpensive bulbs but be cautious of these, although they will survive they may be too young to produce flowers for several years if at all. Here are some of the products needed:
Bulbs of your choice Spring bulbs need to be planted in full sun (min. 6 hours) in little well drained soil. Each variety of bulbs has a mature height and bloom time so stag your planting low in front tall in back as well as stagger the variety for bloom time to lengthen the season.
Espoma Bulb Tone Bulbs like many of our garden favorites are not always growing naturally in our yards so the nutrients that they require mat not be available in the levels that they need to perform at their best. Bulb Tone is an all natural plant food (3-5-3) a complete blend aiding in the full development of our bulbs. Always follow the recommend amounts that are suggested on the packaging unless a soil test tells us differently.
Coast of Maine Cobscook Blend, Quoddy Mix or Little River Compost Bulbs like most of our perennials require a moderate amount of organic matter in the soil for them to flourish. The Coast of Maine products are the most consistent and general show the best results.
Bulb Planters Nothing beats a good shovel when creating a mass planting of bulbs. However for spotting bulbs throughout the garden in and around existing plants a bulb planter or auger that fits onto a cordless drill is a very effective tool. Bulbs should be planted at least 4 X their diameter. This is from the top of the bulb to the surface of the garden bed. This means the top of a 2” bulb should be 6” deep in the soil making the hole approximately 8” deep.
Ro-Pel Many of our native animals of all sizes enjoy our bulbs as much as we do but for an entirely different reason. They taste good. We have found that Ro-Pel has been one of the most effective repellant to protect our bulb investment. Before planting bulbs soak them in Ro-pel for one minute allow to dry before planting. For deer and other spring feeders spray all surfaces including both sides of the foliage.
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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. )
Let us know if you have any more questions about watering!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Russian Sage
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 "Russian Sage" (I occasionally add a few comments in italics) and here it is:
Let me tell you why you need to have this plant in your garden. The stems of the plant are gray-white to silver in color and they develop at the base of the plant, like wonderful outward-arching branches. The foliage is small, less than an inch long and narrow, needle-like but a unique fuzzy gray-green color. When the foliage stops growing the plant will make wonderful tall spikes of light blue flower spikes. Each flower spike will quickly develop many side shoots of spike flowers that will quickly cover all the foliage of the plant. The flowers come in clusters on these spikes and resemble tiny tubular blossoms that cover the plant, giving them the appearance of lavender blue to pale blue cloud.
Plant in a garden located in sunshine all day long for the best flowers on the plant. If you have a location that gets real hot during the summer and where watering can be a problem, this is the plant for you. If you plant in a partial shade or shade garden they will not do very well for you and will not flower. This is one plant for which conditioning the soil when planting is of little importance but you must keep the plant well watered the first year until is it well established and able to find its own water. Mulching around the plant is helpful in holding water in the soil during the growing season (along with weed control) but in cold climates like Northern New England mulch also helps to protect the root system.
In the fall, you can leave the plant as-is and enjoy the unique plumage-like winter branching or you can cut back the plant to 12 inches. This is a woody perennial and the new growth will develop on the branches that remain from the previous year's growth. New shoots do not develop from the base of the plant but from the woody branches.
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| (Picture from Paul Parent Garden Club) |
With all the heat of the last month, you need to know about a perennial flower that loves the heat and will thrive in dry, sandy soil. The plant is called Russian sage but is not native to Russia; it's from Afghanistan. Until 1995 it was not a plant that most gardeners had it their gardens but the Perennial Plant Association named it the "Perennial of the Year" and today it is found everywhere. Let me tell you about this plant so you too will know the story of this wonderful perennial garden plant and why it was named the perennial of the year.
First of all, Russian sage is not in the Sage family of plants, it's actually in the Mint family--a close relative. The Genus name Perovskia was given to the plant after a Russian general, V.A. Perovsky (1794 to 1857), who was much admired by the Russian people. The plant can be found growing all over Russia today. The sage part of the name came because, like the mint plant, it has a pungent mint-like scent to it.Let me tell you why you need to have this plant in your garden. The stems of the plant are gray-white to silver in color and they develop at the base of the plant, like wonderful outward-arching branches. The foliage is small, less than an inch long and narrow, needle-like but a unique fuzzy gray-green color. When the foliage stops growing the plant will make wonderful tall spikes of light blue flower spikes. Each flower spike will quickly develop many side shoots of spike flowers that will quickly cover all the foliage of the plant. The flowers come in clusters on these spikes and resemble tiny tubular blossoms that cover the plant, giving them the appearance of lavender blue to pale blue cloud.
The plant itself is woody looking, and also looks like a shrub, because it will grow 3 to 5 feet tall and 2 to 4 feet wide. If you want to control the height of the plant you can pinch the tips of every stem in the spring when the new growth reaches 12 to 15 inches tall. Each of these flower spikes can grow 2 to 3 feet tall on the plant. The flowers are long-lasting on the plant, usually lasting from June to September. If the blooms should end early, cut back the plant by removing all the faded flowers and one third of the foliage of the plant. Fertilize with a granular fertilizer like Flower-Tone or Dr. Earth Flower food with Pro Biotic and the plant will bloom again, lasting until the first hard frost in the fall.
Russian sage will grow best in a soil that is well drained; average to poor soil is best and never clay-like or heavy. This wonderful plant will tolerate a dry soil, sandy soils, acid soil, and open areas with a lot of wind like the seashore, making it the perfect plant to grow in a seaside garden or at a lake front garden where most plants fail. If your soils are heavy, make a raised flower bed or create a mound of soil to grow the plant on, as this will keep the crown of the plant and the roots out of the water especially during the winter months and early in the spring when the ground is wet. Plant in a garden located in sunshine all day long for the best flowers on the plant. If you have a location that gets real hot during the summer and where watering can be a problem, this is the plant for you. If you plant in a partial shade or shade garden they will not do very well for you and will not flower. This is one plant for which conditioning the soil when planting is of little importance but you must keep the plant well watered the first year until is it well established and able to find its own water. Mulching around the plant is helpful in holding water in the soil during the growing season (along with weed control) but in cold climates like Northern New England mulch also helps to protect the root system.
In the fall, you can leave the plant as-is and enjoy the unique plumage-like winter branching or you can cut back the plant to 12 inches. This is a woody perennial and the new growth will develop on the branches that remain from the previous year's growth. New shoots do not develop from the base of the plant but from the woody branches.
In a cold climate, never cut back the plant right to the ground or it may not develop in the spring. If your climate is cold, be sure to build a mound of mulch 4 to 6 inches deep around the base of the plant to protect the plant just in case snow falls lightly to protect the plant from winter wind and frost heaves. The plant will tolerate temperatures that drop to minus 30 degrees when mulched in the fall. (This is an important paragraph. I lost my first Russian Sage because I cut the plant back too much in the fall and did not mulch enough. This plant is typically planted in the bright sun which means it is usually found in an exposed area in the winter so mulching through the winter is very important!)
You can plant Russian sage in containers like whiskey barrels as long as they have good drainage; you can also lift them off the ground with bricks or pot feet to encourage good drainage during wet weather and the winter when they freeze. If you're growing in clay or ceramic type pots, bring the pot into your tool shed or garage for the winter months and do not water until you move back outside in the spring; around March.
Put several plants in your cut flower garden for unique textures and the long flower spikes will be the most talked of among your fresh-picked bouquets on the dinner table. These flower spikes will outlast all of your cut flowers used in the arrangement. Blue is difficult to find in cut flowers and this flower will replace baby's breath or statice in your arrangement.
In a mixed border the Russian sage should be planted in the back of the garden or on the end of the bed, as the plant will get tall--3 to 5 feet. Give it room, as the flowers will develop from the ground up to the top of the plant. In a rock garden they will thrive with all the heat the rocks draw to the garden, and in a stone mulch garden they will outlast most plants in the garden.
I like the plant when planted in mass or in groups to create a splash of color in the planting bed for summer color. Mix with blue mophead type hydrangeas to create different textures in the garden. (Great idea!) You can plant just one on the end of a fence to soften the hard surface, and if you live on a street with a rotary or traffic island, it will make the perfect maintenance-free plant; use instead of grass that needs watering and mowing. Create a garden on a slop or steep hill where mowing could be a problem or the soil is not very good.
You will like planting Russian sage in flower beds with daylilies, coreopsis,r udbeckia daisies, Oriental lilies, fall-flowering sedum and, in the late summer with an under planting of flowering cabbage or flowering kale for wonderful contrast. They will also flower at the same time as perennial hibiscus, rose of sharon, butterfly bush and all the new types of hydrangea--P.G. hybrids--for wonderful summer color near your swimming pool or patio. If you're spending a lot of time outdoors this summer, the Russian sage is the plant that will give you more color than any other perennial plant in your garden today.
Fertilize in the spring with a granular organic fertilizer, once a year and then forget it. Russian sage has no insect or disease problems to worry about and butterflies love this plant. Enjoy!
Thanks to Paul Parent!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
August 9, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
August (early August) Garden Talks
Hello again,
I have been away from the keyboard for a few days but I am back where I should be able to bring a few early August Garden Talks and Tips over the next few days. So check back to this post often as we will be bringing different Quick Gardening Points to you!
*Now is a fine time to reapply some nice natural Garden Tone for your vegetable garden for that final push! Also Flower Tone for your perennial beds for the same reason. These natural fertilizers are great for the soil and will really help your plants--especially if all the fertilizer they have seen is Miracle Gro. Miracle Gro does get nutrients to the plants quickly but the nutrients also leach out quickly. Give your vegetable and flowering plants a good organic meal. (Plant Tone by Espoma or Pro Gro by North Country Organics can also be used for this purpose!) (8/03/2011)
*Now and through fall is a great time to overseed your lawn to help rejuvenate it. Your soil is nice and warm and the seed will just "pop" out of the ground. We have well priced but great quality seed and all the supplies you need to do the job right! (8/03/2011)
*Margaret of Away to Garden posted many great "August garden chores" for the upcoming month. They all apply well to Skillin's Country. Here are a couple of excellent pointers for the vegetable garden that should be acted on very soon:
"Sow another crop of peas right now for fall harvest (and perhaps freezing for offseason use)....another sowing of chard, radishes, carrots, arugula, kale, spinach, turnips, beets and lettuce means succulent fall crops. With salad greens, sow small amounts now and again in 10 days. Direct-sow one more row of bush beans if you don’t have later-producing pole beans to rely on for harvest now through fall, but do it fast." (8/02/2011)
*I have just fielded two customer questions about Tomato Blossom End Rot. Click HERE for a post from August 2010 that handles that dilemma quite well. Tomato Blossom End Rot is a common problem right now for gardeners in Skillin's Country--particularly those of us who grow tomatoes in containers. (8/01/2011)
*Speaking of tomato issues, we should soon be hearing about and also seeing the semi terrifying Tomato Hornworm, quite often the biggest caterpillar you ever will see. Tomato Hornworms are voracious and they chomp lots of tomato leaves. In fact the Tomato Hornworm can eat up to 2 to 3 times its weight in fresh succulent tomato plants. This kind of eating really hampers the plant and the eventual tomato production.
Tomato Hornworm is best controlled with Spinosad--an all natural bacteria that only controls caterpillar type insects. Other old time insecticides like Sevin will harm bees--so don't use it! We offer Spinosad at Skillin's under the trade name of Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew by Bonide.
*I was looking at some of my beautiful Echinacea Coneflowers yesterday and I noticed lots of small buds lower on the bud below some of my profuse flowers. I do like to leave gone by flower heads for the birds to munch on BUT if we get "with it" and prune those aging flowers that will spur some very good re bloom by the Coneflower. So decision made. Spent flowers to be pruned over the next couple of weeks and I will get more flowers to enjoy! THEN the second and third waves of flowers will be left to age for the birds to pick at the seed heads. Everyone--birds and I--will be happy!
*Skillin's Moisture Meter: (8/03/2011)
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 (1).
Deep waterings required by you: (1).
Skillin's Country received a very generous supply of rain this past Friday night. That rain and some showers the previous Wednesday evening have served us well over the last few days. But some real sunny days over this past weekend have dried some areas again. Possible thunder showers are forecast over the next few days. Don't put those hoses away! I am thinking that a deep watering as described above will be needed by the end of this week or by this weekend of the 6th and 7th! Our plants are growing well and pulling moisture--do not deny them!
Stay tuned over the next few days--I will post any updated thoughts right here!
Let us know if you have any watering questions!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
August 1, 2011
I have been away from the keyboard for a few days but I am back where I should be able to bring a few early August Garden Talks and Tips over the next few days. So check back to this post often as we will be bringing different Quick Gardening Points to you!
*Now is a fine time to reapply some nice natural Garden Tone for your vegetable garden for that final push! Also Flower Tone for your perennial beds for the same reason. These natural fertilizers are great for the soil and will really help your plants--especially if all the fertilizer they have seen is Miracle Gro. Miracle Gro does get nutrients to the plants quickly but the nutrients also leach out quickly. Give your vegetable and flowering plants a good organic meal. (Plant Tone by Espoma or Pro Gro by North Country Organics can also be used for this purpose!) (8/03/2011)
*Now and through fall is a great time to overseed your lawn to help rejuvenate it. Your soil is nice and warm and the seed will just "pop" out of the ground. We have well priced but great quality seed and all the supplies you need to do the job right! (8/03/2011)
*Margaret of Away to Garden posted many great "August garden chores" for the upcoming month. They all apply well to Skillin's Country. Here are a couple of excellent pointers for the vegetable garden that should be acted on very soon:
"Sow another crop of peas right now for fall harvest (and perhaps freezing for offseason use)....another sowing of chard, radishes, carrots, arugula, kale, spinach, turnips, beets and lettuce means succulent fall crops. With salad greens, sow small amounts now and again in 10 days. Direct-sow one more row of bush beans if you don’t have later-producing pole beans to rely on for harvest now through fall, but do it fast." (8/02/2011)
*I have just fielded two customer questions about Tomato Blossom End Rot. Click HERE for a post from August 2010 that handles that dilemma quite well. Tomato Blossom End Rot is a common problem right now for gardeners in Skillin's Country--particularly those of us who grow tomatoes in containers. (8/01/2011)
 |
| Tomato Blossom End Rot (this can be treated!) |
*Speaking of tomato issues, we should soon be hearing about and also seeing the semi terrifying Tomato Hornworm, quite often the biggest caterpillar you ever will see. Tomato Hornworms are voracious and they chomp lots of tomato leaves. In fact the Tomato Hornworm can eat up to 2 to 3 times its weight in fresh succulent tomato plants. This kind of eating really hampers the plant and the eventual tomato production.
 |
| Tomato Hornworm |
Tomato Hornworm is best controlled with Spinosad--an all natural bacteria that only controls caterpillar type insects. Other old time insecticides like Sevin will harm bees--so don't use it! We offer Spinosad at Skillin's under the trade name of Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew by Bonide.
*I was looking at some of my beautiful Echinacea Coneflowers yesterday and I noticed lots of small buds lower on the bud below some of my profuse flowers. I do like to leave gone by flower heads for the birds to munch on BUT if we get "with it" and prune those aging flowers that will spur some very good re bloom by the Coneflower. So decision made. Spent flowers to be pruned over the next couple of weeks and I will get more flowers to enjoy! THEN the second and third waves of flowers will be left to age for the birds to pick at the seed heads. Everyone--birds and I--will be happy!
*Skillin's Moisture Meter: (8/03/2011)
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 (1).
Deep waterings required by you: (1).
Skillin's Country received a very generous supply of rain this past Friday night. That rain and some showers the previous Wednesday evening have served us well over the last few days. But some real sunny days over this past weekend have dried some areas again. Possible thunder showers are forecast over the next few days. Don't put those hoses away! I am thinking that a deep watering as described above will be needed by the end of this week or by this weekend of the 6th and 7th! Our plants are growing well and pulling moisture--do not deny them!
Stay tuned over the next few days--I will post any updated thoughts right here!
Let us know if you have any watering questions!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
August 1, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
July (late July) Garden Talks
Hello again,
Welcome to warm and increasingly dry Skillin's Country! Summer is here folks and we are getting some heat! Try to enjoy the heat and stay well hydrated. A little sun will warm your bones and that is a good thing. (Well since I wrote those sentences we have had record breaking heat in Skillin's Country but are now heading into a much more seasonable week. Enjoy!)
Following are several late July Gardening points. This post will be added to a few times over the next few days so keep checking back!
*Paul Parent checks in with some great late July gardening tips. I highly recommend you sign up for his weekly emails at http://www.paulparent.com/. The following tips can be found in their entirety and in much more detail right HERE. From Paul (I make some comments in italics):
**"WARNING! With the heat and humidity in the days to come, PLEASE keep a close eye on your garden for a "fungus among us," called powdery mildew. This is our worst fungus during the summer months, and it will move quickly on many plants in your yard and garden. Powdery mildew will begin as a white dust like covering on the leaves of your plants, especially if you water your garden with overhead sprinklers--and especially if you do it late in the day. As powdery mildew spreads on your plant, it will block the sunlight from your foliage and the leaves will turn brown and black quickly dying. As the foliage dies, the plant is prevented from making fruit and flowers on the plant and your garden will quickly come to an end for the year. "
We have some outstanding remedies for powdery mildew. All natural Seranade, Garden Sulfur and Organocide will all treat powdery mildew. Now is the time to get after powdery mildew to get best performance and a longer life out from your flowering plants!
**Your perennials are growing like crazy right now, and if you can deadhead the faded flowers from the plant, many of your perennials will bloom again in just a few weeks. Some will continue to bloom right through the summer months if you remove the faded flowers so the plant cannot make seeds. Pick off the faded flowers from your hosta so the energy is sent to the foliage, making the plant larger and more colorful. Pick off the stems and seed pods from your daylilies so the seeds in the pods do not produce wild seeds or you will lose your hybrids with their wonderful colors and your plants will all turn orange like the wild plants.
If you keep cutting your daisy flowers like black-eyed Susans and coreopsis, they will become bushier; if you do not, they will reseed all over your garden and take over. You can allow the seed heads to dry up and ripen on the plant and then crush the pods to release the seeds and spread them over open fields or along the side of the road for your own wildflower garden.
**Your lawn will need one inch of water per week to keep it green during these hot days. Water first thing in the morning before it gets hot out, and water less often but apply more water when you water. This will encourage the roots to chase the water down into the soil and not encourage them to grow up to the water and dry out faster. Raise the level of the lawn mower blade to the highest spot to keep the grass tall, because tall grass does not dry up as fast as short grass in your lawn--and mow your lawn less often if it gets hot and dry to keep it green and healthy.
Many folks choose not to water their lawn and that is fine too but Paul still gives good advice here. Also I totally agree about maintaining a high lawn level and mowing the lawn less. I skipped a mowing last week because my lawn has not grown much at all in the last couple of weeks!
**"Your vegetables are beginning to ripen quickly now, so pick in the garden often and when the vegetable is young and tender. Young vegetables like peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, and lettuce will taste much sweeter and any seeds in the vegetable will be smaller, making them easier for you to digest. Remove any overgrown vegetables as soon as you see them or your plants will stop producing because they are making seeds on the plant; great for the compost pile."
**"Feed your containers and hanging baskets at least every 2 weeks, because the roots are stuck in the container and they have no way to leave the container to search for food needed to grow and stay healthy. A well-fed container at this time of the year will thrive and fill your life with wonderful color and vegetables. Also water often when the days get hot and dry because the plants are growing faster now than any other time of the year."
Our container plants are growing mightily right now and they are really pulling nutrients from the soil. Want GREAT flowers for the rest of the summer and well into the fall? Feed your containers regularly (I feed weekly with Fish and Seaweed Food from Neptune's Harvest) and you will not be sorry!
**"Keep weeding your gardens as the weeds continue to develop, because during this time of the year, many weeds are making seeds for next year's garden. Weed a little bit now or twice as much next year, it's up to you. If weeds and watering are problems, apply bark mulch or compost on these gardens after you clean them to prevent new weed problems and help hold moisture in the ground. "
I could not agree more. I spent quite a bit of time on a broiling day weeding but I drank a lot of water, worked on my tan and had a much better looking garden afterward! I love to apply Fundy Blend bark/compost to clean beds this time of year to keep more weeds down and to provide enriching material to the soil.
(Paul Parent tips added 7/25/2011)
*Skillin's Moisture Meter: (7/24/2011)
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 (0).
Deep waterings required by you: (2).
Okay dry conditions in Skillin's Country continue to get dryer and dryer. Folks it is severely dry out there and even established plantings are thirsting for water. New plantings as described above need good slow deep waterings. I know this is a busy time of year but do what you can! Yesterday I also gave my Endless Blue Hydrangea a good soaking. The Endless Blue has been in the ground a few years BUT it has those big floppy leaves and moppy flowers so the plant is working hard in the heat. But the main focus of my watering efforts are new plantings--annuals, vegetables, a few perennials and a couple of shrubs.
Let us know if you have any watering questions!
*Most of the time our cucumbers grow like crazy and yield very well once the plants are established and the weather is warm. But every once in a while problems develop. Here is a link by good gardener Margaret of Away to Garden that talks about a few cucumber issues that could affect any of us. (7/24/2011)
*KCB is back with a Gardening Quick Point. "When emptying all those bags of Penobscot, Quoddy or other Coast of Maine compost blends, I fill the empty bag w/water and use that to water in....I equate this to licking the cake batter bowl. So much good stuff is left behind in that bag but almost impossible to get out. Fill w/water and use the water almost like a 'compost tea'. This way every delectable morsel of the Coast of Maine product is used. Waste not want not!" (added 7/20/2011)
*Also from KCB about deadheading roses:
Deadheading roses. This time of year I do a lot of this. Most of my roses will bloom through Thanksgiving. Beyond that I don't know because I'm not there.
Here goes:
For many years, I used to let roses do their thing. I'd let the blossoms fall to the ground in delicate folds, allow the hips to dominate the shrub and eventually become the focal point of the plant, most notably in old fashioned Rugosa roses. Most often Rose hips are attractive in their own right, the bright orange of the Rugosa, the burgundy reds of many others.
The hips are a perfect accent to the fall landscape yet most of our roses begin their blooming in June. It’s a long way from June to October and I know from experience Roses want to be a part of the rest of the summer. To be more technical: Rose bushes are fruit trees in disguise and they will attempt to "set fruit." When you remove the spent blossoms, you interrupt the fruiting cycle and stimulate the plant to fruit again, producing another bloom cycle. If you don't cut the blossoms, they become the "hip" or seed pod and the bush stops blooming.
You want to deadhead weekly if not more often. The rule-of-thumb is to cut back the stem to just above an outward-facing bud above a five- or seven-leaflet leaf close to the end of the stem.
About Labor Day, do not cut the blossoms to allow the plant to begin to harden for winter.
The rule-of-thumb assumes the plant is healthy and strong. If not, cut back less.
If you own a type of shrub rose, like Rugosa, where hips are part of the display, just clear away the spent petals. (this gardening point added 7/20/2011)
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
July 20, 2011
Welcome to warm and increasingly dry Skillin's Country! Summer is here folks and we are getting some heat! Try to enjoy the heat and stay well hydrated. A little sun will warm your bones and that is a good thing. (Well since I wrote those sentences we have had record breaking heat in Skillin's Country but are now heading into a much more seasonable week. Enjoy!)
Following are several late July Gardening points. This post will be added to a few times over the next few days so keep checking back!
*Paul Parent checks in with some great late July gardening tips. I highly recommend you sign up for his weekly emails at http://www.paulparent.com/. The following tips can be found in their entirety and in much more detail right HERE. From Paul (I make some comments in italics):
**"WARNING! With the heat and humidity in the days to come, PLEASE keep a close eye on your garden for a "fungus among us," called powdery mildew. This is our worst fungus during the summer months, and it will move quickly on many plants in your yard and garden. Powdery mildew will begin as a white dust like covering on the leaves of your plants, especially if you water your garden with overhead sprinklers--and especially if you do it late in the day. As powdery mildew spreads on your plant, it will block the sunlight from your foliage and the leaves will turn brown and black quickly dying. As the foliage dies, the plant is prevented from making fruit and flowers on the plant and your garden will quickly come to an end for the year. "
We have some outstanding remedies for powdery mildew. All natural Seranade, Garden Sulfur and Organocide will all treat powdery mildew. Now is the time to get after powdery mildew to get best performance and a longer life out from your flowering plants!
**Your perennials are growing like crazy right now, and if you can deadhead the faded flowers from the plant, many of your perennials will bloom again in just a few weeks. Some will continue to bloom right through the summer months if you remove the faded flowers so the plant cannot make seeds. Pick off the faded flowers from your hosta so the energy is sent to the foliage, making the plant larger and more colorful. Pick off the stems and seed pods from your daylilies so the seeds in the pods do not produce wild seeds or you will lose your hybrids with their wonderful colors and your plants will all turn orange like the wild plants.
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| Black Eyed Susans! Don't Be Afraid to Show this Plant You are the Boss! |
**Your lawn will need one inch of water per week to keep it green during these hot days. Water first thing in the morning before it gets hot out, and water less often but apply more water when you water. This will encourage the roots to chase the water down into the soil and not encourage them to grow up to the water and dry out faster. Raise the level of the lawn mower blade to the highest spot to keep the grass tall, because tall grass does not dry up as fast as short grass in your lawn--and mow your lawn less often if it gets hot and dry to keep it green and healthy.
Many folks choose not to water their lawn and that is fine too but Paul still gives good advice here. Also I totally agree about maintaining a high lawn level and mowing the lawn less. I skipped a mowing last week because my lawn has not grown much at all in the last couple of weeks!
**"Your vegetables are beginning to ripen quickly now, so pick in the garden often and when the vegetable is young and tender. Young vegetables like peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, and lettuce will taste much sweeter and any seeds in the vegetable will be smaller, making them easier for you to digest. Remove any overgrown vegetables as soon as you see them or your plants will stop producing because they are making seeds on the plant; great for the compost pile."
**"Feed your containers and hanging baskets at least every 2 weeks, because the roots are stuck in the container and they have no way to leave the container to search for food needed to grow and stay healthy. A well-fed container at this time of the year will thrive and fill your life with wonderful color and vegetables. Also water often when the days get hot and dry because the plants are growing faster now than any other time of the year."
Our container plants are growing mightily right now and they are really pulling nutrients from the soil. Want GREAT flowers for the rest of the summer and well into the fall? Feed your containers regularly (I feed weekly with Fish and Seaweed Food from Neptune's Harvest) and you will not be sorry!
**"Keep weeding your gardens as the weeds continue to develop, because during this time of the year, many weeds are making seeds for next year's garden. Weed a little bit now or twice as much next year, it's up to you. If weeds and watering are problems, apply bark mulch or compost on these gardens after you clean them to prevent new weed problems and help hold moisture in the ground. "
I could not agree more. I spent quite a bit of time on a broiling day weeding but I drank a lot of water, worked on my tan and had a much better looking garden afterward! I love to apply Fundy Blend bark/compost to clean beds this time of year to keep more weeds down and to provide enriching material to the soil.
(Paul Parent tips added 7/25/2011)
*Skillin's Moisture Meter: (7/24/2011)
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 (0).
Deep waterings required by you: (2).
Okay dry conditions in Skillin's Country continue to get dryer and dryer. Folks it is severely dry out there and even established plantings are thirsting for water. New plantings as described above need good slow deep waterings. I know this is a busy time of year but do what you can! Yesterday I also gave my Endless Blue Hydrangea a good soaking. The Endless Blue has been in the ground a few years BUT it has those big floppy leaves and moppy flowers so the plant is working hard in the heat. But the main focus of my watering efforts are new plantings--annuals, vegetables, a few perennials and a couple of shrubs.
Let us know if you have any watering questions!
*Most of the time our cucumbers grow like crazy and yield very well once the plants are established and the weather is warm. But every once in a while problems develop. Here is a link by good gardener Margaret of Away to Garden that talks about a few cucumber issues that could affect any of us. (7/24/2011)
*KCB is back with a Gardening Quick Point. "When emptying all those bags of Penobscot, Quoddy or other Coast of Maine compost blends, I fill the empty bag w/water and use that to water in....I equate this to licking the cake batter bowl. So much good stuff is left behind in that bag but almost impossible to get out. Fill w/water and use the water almost like a 'compost tea'. This way every delectable morsel of the Coast of Maine product is used. Waste not want not!" (added 7/20/2011)
*Also from KCB about deadheading roses:
Deadheading roses. This time of year I do a lot of this. Most of my roses will bloom through Thanksgiving. Beyond that I don't know because I'm not there.
Here goes:
For many years, I used to let roses do their thing. I'd let the blossoms fall to the ground in delicate folds, allow the hips to dominate the shrub and eventually become the focal point of the plant, most notably in old fashioned Rugosa roses. Most often Rose hips are attractive in their own right, the bright orange of the Rugosa, the burgundy reds of many others.
The hips are a perfect accent to the fall landscape yet most of our roses begin their blooming in June. It’s a long way from June to October and I know from experience Roses want to be a part of the rest of the summer. To be more technical: Rose bushes are fruit trees in disguise and they will attempt to "set fruit." When you remove the spent blossoms, you interrupt the fruiting cycle and stimulate the plant to fruit again, producing another bloom cycle. If you don't cut the blossoms, they become the "hip" or seed pod and the bush stops blooming.
You want to deadhead weekly if not more often. The rule-of-thumb is to cut back the stem to just above an outward-facing bud above a five- or seven-leaflet leaf close to the end of the stem.
About Labor Day, do not cut the blossoms to allow the plant to begin to harden for winter.
The rule-of-thumb assumes the plant is healthy and strong. If not, cut back less.
If you own a type of shrub rose, like Rugosa, where hips are part of the display, just clear away the spent petals. (this gardening point added 7/20/2011)
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
July 20, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
It is a Hydrangea World!
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 "The Blue Hydrangea and the Pink Too " (I occasionally add a few comments in italics) and here it is:
This past weekend, I spent time on beautiful Cape Cod doing a live radio broadcast at Snow's Home and Garden in Orleans , and I was just overwhelmed with all the beautiful blue hydrangeas growing at most homes all over Cape Cod . I can remember that just over 10 years ago the blue hydrangea was the plant that everyone talked about when they came back from a Cape Cod vacation...and they just had to have one in their garden. Along the coast north to Boston they did beautifully (if the winters were not too severe) but if you lived inland and north the plant grew fine but flowers were few on the plant. The reason was that the best variety at that time, called the 'Nikko Blue' hydrangea, only made flowers on the "old wood," the branches on the plant that were made the previous summer. If the winter was severe, the plant had much die-back of the old wood, so flower production was minimal.
In the late 1990s, Bailey Nurseries in Minnesota University of Georgia
The original hydrangea, 'Nikko Blue,' flowered from late June to middle or late August. This new hybrid made new growth all summer long so it was able to flower until frost in late September, or early October in warmer climates. This gave the plant 8 to 10 weeks of additional flowering time. This new hybrid could also thrive in colder climates, zone 4 to 9, and was hardy to minus 20 to 30 degrees below zero. The 'Endless Summer' hydrangea will grow from southern New Hampshire , Vermont , and Central Maine south to Florida
The first thing to remember about blue hydrangeas is to NEVER Prune them in the fall of the year. Pruning the plant in the fall when it becomes dormant will cause problems with every branch you prune, because it has an open wound that will lose moisture all winter and the branches you cut back will slowly dry up and die. In the spring you can cut them back a bit to control the height of the plant and encourage new growth to form from the root system. If you cut back the plant to the ground, you are removing all the flower buds on those branches and the plant will not flower. Remember, old wood has flower buds on it and if you remove all that old growth you are removing the potential flower buds for the coming summer. In the spring the branches look like dead sticks but they are alive; leave them alone!
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| The Awesome Endless Summer Blue Hydrangea! |
The new 'Endless Summer' hydrangea loves to be pruned lightly in the spring to control height and spread. If you can prune faded flowers on the plant during the summer, you will encourage additional flower buds to form on the new growth made during the remaining weeks of summer. Do not be scared to cut branches filled with flowers from the plant and put them in a vase of water for your enjoyment. This selective pruning will stimulate new growth on the plant, and in just a few weeks new flowers will form on the new growth being made on the plant.
The 'Endless Summer' blue hydrangea will grow 3 to 4 feet tall and just as wide and in just 2 to 3 years, once planted in your garden. Once the plant has matured and has become well established in your garden, winter protection is less required. The flowers of this new blue hydrangea will grow 4 to 8 inches in diameter, and like all mop head type hydrangeas, 3 to 6 inches tall. Each flower is made up of fifty plus individual flowers about one inch wide; the flowers have five petals arranged in a circular form with a flat center. The flowers can be cut for your favorite vase, dried when in peak color by removing the branch from your plant, stripping off its foliage and hanging it upside down in your garage to dry for a couple of weeks. Dried cut hydrangeas will last inside your home all winter long in a vase or when used to make a wreath.
Plant the blue 'Endless Summer' hydrangea in full sun to partial shade garden for the best flower production on the plant. The plant will grow best in a sandy soil that is well drained; keep the plant out of wet areas or where water tends to collect after heavy rains. This type of garden will form ice and the plant will have a lot of winter dieback during the winter months. If your soil has a bit of clay, be sure to blend peat moss, animal manure or compost to break up the heavy soil before planting. If your soil is very sandy use the same products to help hold moisture in the soil in the root growing area, along with Soil Moist granules.
Because the plant has large leaves and uses a lot of water, it will wilt easily on hot sunny days until it is well rooted in its new home in your garden. Mulching around the plant in your planting bed 2 to 3 inches thick with bark mulch, compost, pine needles or shredded leaves will also help hold moisture in the soil and control weeds during the summer months.
This type of mop head hydrangea is the ONLY plant whose flower color can be changed by controlling the acidity of the soil it grows in. If you keep the soil with a pH of 5.5 or lower, your flowers will range from a clear blue to deep purple, depending on acidity of the soil. This can be accomplished by using aluminum sulfate fertilizer at the rate of one tablespoon per gallon of water applied to the plant every couple of weeks.
If the flower gets to be too deep of a blue color--or even purple--apply a couple of handfuls of limestone or wood ash every spring and fall. If you want to make them more pink than blue, add heavy applications of wood ash or limestone several times during the growing season to raise the soil pH to 6.0 or higher. If you use a high phosphorus fertilizer, it will block out the aluminum fertilizer in the soil from entering the plant, helping to keep the plant on the pink side also.
Fertilize spring and fall with an acid-type fertilizer such as Holly-Tone by Espoma to encourage uniform growth and flower bud production. When planting new plants in your garden be sure to water every week during the summer for the first two years as plants are slow to get established in your garden. All I want you to remember is that if you live where the winter months are cold, always select the 'Endless Summer' blue hydrangea and never the 'Nikko Blue,' if you want flowers during the summer months. The extra $5.00 will insure that you always have flowers on your plant. Enjoy!
Thanks to Paul Parent!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
July 21, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Daylilies (Hemerocallis) for Wonderful Summer Color
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 "Daylilies (Hemerocallis) for Wonderful Summer Color " (I occasionally add a few comments in italics) and here it is:
Note: Day lillies are currently ON SALE for 20% off at Skillin's locations and we have some beauties for you!!
Number one, there are three types of daylilies: the old fashioned daylilies, the hybrid daylilies called "tetraploid," with thicker, larger flowers in brighter colors that are stronger growing than the old fashioned daylilies. And the reblooming /recurrent types that bloom more than just the normal 4 to 6 weeks; they will flower all summer long.
Number two, daylilies bloom at different times of the year from June to September, so try to select early, midseason or late blooming varieties for continuous color in your garden.
Number three, always ask for plants that are hardy for your planting zone when you order on line or the internet, as some varieties are better suited for heat and some for a colder climate. Any plants sold at Skillin's should be hardy for Skillin's Country! (or at least have a good shot at survival!)
Number four, ask about the height of the plant and flowering stems. Example--dwarf plants will grow under a foot tall; low will grow 1 to 2 feet tall, medium 2 to 3 feet tall and tall over 3 feet tall.
One last thing to know about daylilies is that they are loved by butterflies and hummingbirds, so place a hummingbird feeder in the garden and sit back to enjoy the show as these unique creatures dance in your flower garden this summer. Enjoy!"
Thanks to Paul Parent!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
July 18, 2011
Note: Day lillies are currently ON SALE for 20% off at Skillin's locations and we have some beauties for you!!
"As the summer weather begins to warm up and the soil begins to dry out, is your perennial garden beginning to wither away and lose all of its early color? If you live in a town that always has a water ban, if your soil is on the sandy side and watering is a problem, then I have a great perennial plant for you...the daylily. Daylilies love the sun and because of thick fibrous roots that can store water for long periods, are the perfect drought resistant plant for you. Daylilies are so easy to grow that they are today one of the most popular plants to grow for summer color.
Daylilies are not true lilies and the flowering stem has no leaves. The flower stem is round, strong, smooth and tall, often raising the trumpet-like flowers well above the grass-like foliage. All the foliage is at the base of the plant and grows in the shape of a fan. This foliage is grass-like, growing 12 to 18 inches tall and less than an inch wide. It is deep green in color; the center of the leaf blade is pleated to create the perfect gutter-like system to catch and move rainfall directly to the base of the plant.
As the plant matures the fans of foliage will thicken and produce a thick clump of soft foliage that weeps over on its tip and sways back and forth with the slightest breeze. (I like this foliage canopy as well because it crowds out weeds in the perennial garden!) Each fan of foliage is capable of producing multiple stems of trumpet-shaped flowers from June to September, depending of the variety you select. Most varieties will bloom for a 4 to 6 week season, but there are new hybrids that will rebloom on and off for most of the summer. Each of these flower stems can produce 6 to 10 flower buds, with only one flower blooming at a time; as one flower fades a new bud will open, keeping the stem in bloom for many days. The flower stems develop at different times on the plant, creating an almost continuously flowering plant for many weeks. This truly amazing flower is shaped like a trumpet 3 to 6 inches in diameter.
The best growing daylilies live in a soil that is well conditioned with peat moss, animal manure, or compost before planting. This will keep the plant's roots growing evenly in a soil that is moist most of the time and allowing the plant to produce more flower buds during the summer season. I always add Soil Moist granules and use a fertilizer that contains Mycorrhizae when planting. Look for Flower Tone or Plant Tone by Espoma. When the weather gets hot and dry be sure to water once a week for a very productive plant. The plant does love the sun but if the garden can get a bit of late day or midday shade for a couple of hours, the plants will flower longer during the season.
There is one garden task that all daylilies need, and that is to remove any seed pods that develop on the end of the flower stalks. When that stem is finished flowering, please remove it to the base of the fan of foliage. The seeds that are produced in these pods will not produce seeds that are the same color flower as the plant is. Also, if you allow the seeds to mature in the pod and the pod ripens and explodes scattering the seed in your garden, the new seedlings that develop will not be the same color and they could choke out the hybrids you were growing there.
If you have the wild orange daylilies growing near your garden, the bees can carry the pollen from the wild plant onto the hybrid growing in your garden. If this happens, the wild pollen is stronger than the hybrid and orange plants will develop, quickly choking out your hybrids. Most of the daylilies will drop the faded flowers without making a seed pod, so pick off the faded flowers or let them fall from the flower stem, but be sure to remove any seed pods that do develop.
If you want new plants, divide them in the early spring or in the fall of the year when they finish flowering. To make a new plant, divide the clump of foliage into single fans of foliage; each fan will make a new plant identical to the clump it originally came from.Space fans of foliage 12 to 18 inches apart; cut back the foliage by one third from the top and plant in a conditioned soil that you will keep moist for several weeks until you can see that the plant is well established. Cover the soil with 2 to 3 inches of bark mulch or compost to keep weeds out and the coil cool and to better hold water around the roots of the plant.
I think that most of us have seen the wild-growing orange daylilies growing on the side of the road. A lot of us have seen the dwarf yellow flowering hybrid daylily called 'Stella de Oro' planted in every parking lot where a big box store is located. This year look for the new varieties of hybrid daylilies at your local garden center; they com in every color but blue and true white. You will also find some double-flowering varieties, many two-tone varieties and even some that are fragrant. If you're worried about not finding what you're looking for in color, do not get worried, as there are over 40,000 cultivars to choose from and more new plants each year.
When you look for daylilies here are the four things you will need to know:
Number one, there are three types of daylilies: the old fashioned daylilies, the hybrid daylilies called "tetraploid," with thicker, larger flowers in brighter colors that are stronger growing than the old fashioned daylilies. And the reblooming /recurrent types that bloom more than just the normal 4 to 6 weeks; they will flower all summer long.
Number two, daylilies bloom at different times of the year from June to September, so try to select early, midseason or late blooming varieties for continuous color in your garden.
Number three, always ask for plants that are hardy for your planting zone when you order on line or the internet, as some varieties are better suited for heat and some for a colder climate. Any plants sold at Skillin's should be hardy for Skillin's Country! (or at least have a good shot at survival!)
Number four, ask about the height of the plant and flowering stems. Example--dwarf plants will grow under a foot tall; low will grow 1 to 2 feet tall, medium 2 to 3 feet tall and tall over 3 feet tall.
Thanks to Paul Parent!
Mike Skillin
Skillin's Greenhouses
July 18, 2011
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