As The Growing Season Slows To A Crawl...

A whole new crop of chores springs up.

One of those is pruning your fruit trees and getting them ready for their coat of dormant oil spray. I have little knowledge about pruning fruit trees, but I have a friend that owns an apple and peach orchard. It is my understanding that when an apple tree is pruned, the bottom four limbs should form 90-degree angles and be approximately 2 feet off the ground. This allows the "picker" to walk into the center of the tree and allows for the maximum number of major limbs coming off the trunk.A second factor concerns the "height of the tree". When a trunk or limb is trimmed on the end, its "length" stops growing. The trunk/limb will start to form "outward shoots". I am told that the "ideal tree" will not be taller than the pickers highest reach. Instead, the tree is encouraged to grow outward until its limbs can support the total production desired... Ideally, the apple tree should produce FOUR bushels of apples per tree. The idea behind pruning fruit trees is to allow the apple to grow to maximum size without stunting production. Since apples are produced upon "2nd year" and older limbs, this would involve pruning the unnecessary "new sprouts" and removing the older limbs that are "too close together" and/or showing signs of damage. This allows the tree to direct its energy into fewer limbs, making the apples grow larger and maintaining the desired production. I guess it all boils down to this. You want a short, fat tree with relatively few healthy, stout limbs and limited offshoots to produce the apples. More limbs are not necessarily better.

Hydrangeas – I love hydrangeas. Absolutely love them. Bigleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, also called French, Japanese or Snowball hydrangea, is found in the yards of homes all over the Rogue Valley. We also find them in grocery stores, wrapped in brightly colored foil or cellophane with big bows on them. More about those later.

Hydrangeas like sun in the morning, shade in the afternoon and moist, well-drained soil. They are more sensitive to frost that some other plants. Damage to the buds occurring in winter and late spring can be avoided by covering the plant with and old sheet or blanket or a large cardboard box when temps drop past freezing. Hydrangeas are excellent patio plants and do very well in containers. You can move the containers indoors on very cold nights.

When planting hydrangeas, prepare the soil in a very wide area. Hydrangea should have a whopping 50 pounds of composted organic matter per ten square feet and that should be incorporated into the top foot of the soil with a shovel. Organic matter holds nutrients and water in the soil and helps prevent the stress that occurs in fluctuations in soil moisture.

Science tells us that the actual mechanism that determines color variation in hydrangeas is due to the presence or absence of aluminum compounds in the flower. If the plant has aluminum, the color is blue. If the quantities are smaller the color is somewhere in between. If it is absent, the flowers are pink. When your soil is more acidic, aluminum is generally more available to the roots and your blooms will be blue. When your soil is more alkaline, aluminum availability is decreased and your blooms will be pink. To change you blooms from pink to blue, you can broadcast ½ cup of wettable sulfur per 10 square feet and water it in. To make the flowers pink, broadcast on cup of dolomitic lime per 10 square feet and water that into the soil. Both of these treatments can take up to a year to see a noticeable difference. A quicker way to achieve these changes is through a liquid drench. To make your blooms bluer during the growing season, dissolve one tablespoon of alum in a gallon of water and drench the soil around the plant in March, April and May. To make the blooms pink, dissolve one tablespoon of hydrated lime in a gallon of water and drench the soil around the plant during the same months as above. White, cream or those lovely green hydrangeas don’t generally change color no matter what you put on them.

Occasionally, hydrangeas will fail to bloom. If this happens, there could be a number of reasons why. Frost damage to the flower buds or pruning in the late summer where you may have actually cut off the forming buds is the most common reasons. If your hydrangea is planted in shade, which is too deep, it won’t bloom. If your fertilizer is too high in nitrogen, bloom will be affected. And, finally, your plant may simply not be old enough.

Let’s talk a bit about “gift” hydrangeas. Hydrangeas that come wrapped in colorful foil are beautiful. There are, however, pitfalls that come with these plants.

The most prevalent problem comes from trying to water them properly. Most of the “gift” hydrangeas you purchase are already root bound when you bring them home. The roots have so overgrown their pot that they dry out and the plant wilts much more quickly than we think it should. So we water it. This fills up the foil around the pot and can lead to root rot. Root rot causes the plant to wilt and we wind up thinking we haven’t watered it enough, so we give it more as the health of the plant deteriorates.

Let’s say that we’ve done all the right things with our “gift” hydrangea. We got it out of its foil wrapper, it’s gorgeous, it’s been watered as it should have, and it’s gotten plenty of light. Now we can take it outside and plonk it into a hole in the ground, right? Maybe not.

These hydrangeas have been grown in a greenhouse and have been bred specifically to produce a ton of blooms in a frost-free environment. The producers of these plants don’t really care if the plant lives 25 years; they are only concerned with lots of blooms. You may or may not get a plant that will survive in your garden. If you like a challenge, it’s worth a try. The results are less predictable if the hydrangea you’re putting in your garden came with a bow versus one that was born and bred for the garden.

Either way, the best time to plant hydrangeas is mid to late spring, when the chances of frost are negligible.

Old, established hydrangeas can be divided in the early spring by digging them up and dividing the clump with a shovel, much as you would divide a perennial. This way, several plants can be obtained from one mature clump. Be sure you water the plants very well and keep watering all summer. Perhaps you have a friend with some gorgeous hydrangeas who could use the help in dividing them and maybe will give you one or two in exchange.

Something Old, Something New

Frequently, we get very wrapped up in seeking out the next “new” and “cool” thing. Sometimes, it’s better to take a step back and check out some of the “old” things that we’ve forgotten, taken for granted or never even knew about.

Take lungwort for example. Not such a great name, eh? Lungwort is a flowering plant of the Pulmonaria genus and is native to Canada, Europe and Western Asia. There are a bunch of varieties and many of them do well in several different zones, including the multi-zoned Rogue Valley. Common names for Lungwort are Soldiers and Sailors, Spotted Dog, Jerusalem Cowslip or Bethlehem Sage.

This plant grows from a rhizome and has been used for centuries for it’s medicinal properties. Due to the shape of its leaves resembling a lung, the plant was used to treat a variety of lung ailments. Of course, the Center for Disease Control finds no scientific proof that lungwort is in any way beneficial to those with lung ailments.

Lungwort is a smaller plant that grows to approximately one foot in height. The growth is in close set bunches of speckled, deep green spear shaped leaves resembling the shape of a lung. The leave can be either slightly bristly or have soft hairs on them. It also has hairy stems without branches that are topped with blossoms. Some lungwort plants appear to have blossoms of both pink and blue at the same time, however it’s been found that the blooms start out pink and deepen into blue violet as they age. They’re quite a lovely perennial to have around the garden.

Lungwort likes partial shade and should be planted around 18 inches apart to give them enough space for sprawling. Lungwort also like a fairly rich soil, likes to be kept moist, doesn’t like wet feet – so good drainage is a must and blooms in the early spring. Bees and butterflies are attracted to the lovely blooms.

Most gardeners purchase their plants from the nursery to ensure they’re getting the colors they desire. Pruning is vital for lungwort. Trim off those old browning leaves to allow for fresh to emerge. Trim the stems after the flowers are done blooming, not just dead-heading. Cut them at the base of the stem but be aware to not cut into the main plant stalk. Lungwort needs lots of water, even in average garden conditions. I would grow it in containers on the patio, keep it watered regularly and enjoy the color. It’s a good idea to mulch lungwort in the fall and helpful to apply a thin layer of organic fertilizer in the spring. This plant is somewhat delicate, so be mindful to keep the fertilizer from being directly applied to the plant and only to the surrounding soil.

Lungwort is a lovely addition to the garden, especially if you’re planning on attracting butterflies, bees and hummers. With only a little effort, all can enjoy it. It is also a way to step back and embrace something old from another time.

Since we’re still looking back, let’s look at another old favorite – the snowdrop. While we don’t have snow on the ground yet, we have had our first spotty frosts, so we know it’s only a matter of time. For many gardeners, the first snowdrops herald the beginning of a new flowering season. If you don’t already grow these delightful bulbs, think about it. They are both whimsical and charming.

Snowdrops are one of the first bulbs to bloom in your garden, right alongside the crocus. They are small and not particularly glamorous, but they do make a nice foil for the more brilliantly hued crocus.

Snowdrops belong to the genus Galanthus that comes from the Greek gala (milk) and anthos (flower), so the literal translation is Milk Flower. Our name for them – Snowdrop – comes from the German “schneetropfen”.

There are a number of varieties of snowdrops. Relateivs of the daffodil, these small bulbs also closely resemble a daffodil bulb in appearance. Most winter/spring flowering bulbs actually like drying out over the summer. Not Snowdrop. They prefer relatively moist soil. This translates to a relatively short shelf life at the nursery center. If you’re buying your snowdrops at the garden center, bring them home and plant them immediately or your bulbs will shrivel. Once they get established in your garden, they maintain an active root system year around.

I think since snowdrops are so closely related to daffodils could be the reason that they are one of the best choices for naturalizing in lawns and among shrubs. Plant them in clusters in a sunny or partly shaded location, about 2” apart and about 2” deep. You can transplant them if you choose and are best moved while in leaf rather than waiting until the leaves fade. Like daffodils, they do not appear to be attractive to rabbits and deer.

The most frequently grown species is the common snowdrop (G. nivalis). Depending on where you are, they may bloom from January into April. You will often note the first appearance of snowdrops within days of the last snows of winter. Snowdrops are quite hardy and face late frosts and snow with valiance.

And now for something completely different….

Raspberry jam from green tomatoes. Really? I know what you’re thinking and, while I may be certifiable in just about every other area in life, this is not one of them. Jill Nicolaus from Dave’s Garden has provided the method and it’ll give you something entertaining to do with those last green tomatoes.

I’m sure that, with the recent threats of frost, you fled to the garden to save those last tomatoes. Maybe you’ve got some set aside to slowly ripen. Maybe you’ve been making fried green tomatoes, green tomato chutney and green tomato pickles. Run out of ideas? Round up your kids or grandkids – it’s time for something totally fun!

This jam is perfect to make with kids. Three ingredients, no canning – just some chopping and stovetop cooking. Be sure to gauge how much help your helpers are going to require. Move a chair or step stool to the stove so they can reach for stirring.

Admittedly, “red raspberry” jam from green tomatoes likely won’t bring home a blue ribbon from the county fair compared to Mrs. Nesbit’s very best quality raspberry preserves. However, the seeds give it an authentic look and the tang of the green tomatoes makes a nice counter to the sweetness. A recipe attributed to Southern Living magazine reduces the amount of sugar to 1-1/2 cups and increases the amount of tomato to 2-1/2 cups. I’ve heard that you can add a packet of unsweetened raspberry Kool Aid drink mix for extra zing. For us, that red dye could be an issue, but moderation in all things is the key!

There’s an entertainment factor of epic proportion by transforming green tomatoes into something that tastes and looks like red raspberries. Imagine the kick you and the kids will get out of revealing the “secret” of your homemade “raspberry” jam. Imagine the kids giggling themselves silly attempting to explain to their dad that he’s just eaten a peanut butter and tomato sandwich! Whether or not you have kids to help you, give this recipe a try. Faux food recipes are not only tasty, but they’re really amusing to serve to unsuspecting guests. You Red Hat Ladies – whip some of this “jam” up for one of your teas. After all, it’s the right color!

Green Tomato “Raspberry” Jam

2 cups minced green tomatoes
2 cups sugar
1 – 3 oz. Package red raspberry gelatin

Wash and stem or core the tomatoes and remove any bad spots. Then dice or shred the tomatoes. A food processor to roughly mince them also works well.

Put the tomatoes and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and reduce the heat. Simmer 20 minutes. If you diced the tomatoes, cook them long enough so that they don’t look chunky anymore.

Add the raspberry gelatin and bring to a boil. Now the jam is ready to be poured into clean jars. This is not a shelf-stable recipe and you have to store it in the refrigerator or freezer. This recipe makes about a pint and you can totally double it if you wish.

One last thing…

With the current financial situation that exists in this country, the prices of food are going to continue to rise. Hunger is going to be a problem that is very likely already touching every community. The national statistic is that one in four children goes to bed hungry EVERY NIGHT! I don’t know that there is a food pantry program in my town; I haven’t honestly researched it. I know I didn’t have any place to take my kid’s out-grown clothes that would directly and immediately benefit my own community. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was no food pantry program to benefit our community’s immediate needs.

I’ve heard from folks who participate in the Plant A Row campaign that pantry programs are grateful for everything they can get. Maybe we should consider some other kinds of fruits and vegetables other than the summer standards of tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash. I imagine that salad greens, spinach, green beans, carrots and new potatoes would be particularly welcome.

This spring, why not plant an extra row in your garden to help produce some nutritious food for those in our community who cannot provide for themselves or their kids? I’m sure there are folks around my local community center who know people who are struggling. If you attend, ask at your church – or better yet – ask why your church doesn’t have a community outreach to feed and clothe those who are struggling with this economy and unemployment situation. Aren't churches supposed to be about doing unto others? If they can send bibles to Mexico and missionaries to Kyrgystan, surely they can help feed and clothe some struggling families right here at home!

We could wait for the government to straighten things out. Right. Sure. I’ll be waiting for that – holding my breath – cause I look so good in blue.

Many pantries and food programs work with the “Plant A Row for the Hungry” campaign of the Garden Writers Association. This helps raise awareness of the need for donations of fresh produce. The Plant A Row campaign was born from one member’s realization that if every gardener would plant just one extra row of vegetables, hunger could be greatly alleviated and those who are struggling would have access to fresh food that they might otherwise not be able to afford. The difficulties many are experiencing are not going to go away overnight. Consider planting a little more than you need; an extra row of bush beans or carrots. We don’t have an active Plant A Row campaign here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help out. Or even start one. I challenge every gardener this spring to give something back in the form of garden surplus and I challenge every church to identify families and seniors who would benefit from that surplus. In times like these, we have to take care of each other in every way that we can. Isn’t it just the right thing to do?

Meanderings...

I guess even garden girls can suffer from writer’s block. While I really love the rain and the cooler weather, it’s does rather put a bit of a cramp in the inspiration one has for digging in the dirt and watching things grow since all of that gets curtailed with this weather change. Bear with me while I meander around, hoping to provide you with something worth your time to read…

First off, October 12 has been tagged as “International Scream of Frustration Day.” Might be a useful bit of information, if your life has been going anything like mine. October also happens to be Spinach Lover’s Month, Vegetarian Month and Celebrate Sun-Dried Tomatoes Month.

Since we’ve arrived at autumn, many of you have tomato plants that are on their last legs. We don’t want to waste those last ‘maters, but what to do? Sun dried tomatoes are not only tasty and dense in nutrients, but are easy to prepare as well. Anyone who has purchased these from the stores knows that they aren’t exactly cheap.

Here’s the quick way (OK – so they aren’t “technically” SUN-dried) to make sun-dried tomatoes in your oven. Roma tomatoes are really the best for drying because they are more solid and have less seeds than other varieties. You can totally use any of your favorite homegrown beauties.

First, cut off the stems. Then, cut your ‘maters in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Put them on a cake rack on a baking sheet with the skin side down and sprinkle them with salt and pepper, if you wish. Bake them in the oven at 200 degrees for 8 to 12 hours. Whatever you do, don’t leave them unattended. Check on them to make sure they’re not turning into crispy critters. They should be shriveled up but still soft, like raisins.

Once they’re cool, pack them in freezer bags and store them in the freezer for up to a year. If you’ve got a Food Saver or Seal-A-Meal gadget, vacuum pack them. You might also want to store some in the fridge, packed in good quality olive oil with some minced garlic, fresh thyme or basil. Packed in oil, they’ll be good for around 3 months.

If you happen to have one of those stackable food dehydrators, then you’re way ahead of us – certainly light years ahead of me – and don’t need any of these instructions.

Last week I mentioned botanical or “species” tulips. Lots of folks view the tulip as the Queen of the spring blooming bulbs (I like fritillaries, but I digress). A hundred years or so of hybridizing has given us as many hybrids as there are years of the process. We’re not talking about those.

In the wild, 100 or so species of tulips occur. These are not native to Holland, as most people think – they are native to the Eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor and other points east. These climates are cool and wet in the winter and baking dry and hot in the summer. (Gee, sound just like the Rogue Valley!) In most gardens, we don’t have those kinds of conditions, so those tulips that want the baking summers are not generally or easily found. There are, however, enough botanical types available for us to explore and be quite pleased with.

The botanicals are somewhat shorter than the classic Dutch tulip and usually live longer. They are best planted in groups of 5 or 7 and look great in rock gardens or in the front of border plantings.

The earliest of the botanicals to bloom are known as water-lily tulips (t. kaufmanniana). The popular hybrids of this botanical are ‘Ancilla’, ‘Concerto’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Heart’s Delight’ and ‘Stresa’ and run from white and cream to red and bright yellow.

T. greigii, another botanical, bears blooms that are quite large in relation to this size of the plant. The wild version of this tulip bear Vermillion-red blooms, but the modern hybrids boast blends of red, orange and yellow. They are quite striking.

Emperor tulips (t. fosteriana) are very popular and most closely resemble the classic tulip except that their blooms are more elongated. Emperor hybrids come in the color range from white to red and variegated. All three of the tulips described above bloom just before the standard tulips.

True species tulips range from easy to grow to…um…royal pains…er…rather challenging. A couple of the qualities of species tulips that I really like are that they seem to multiply rather quickly through bulblets and seed. Also, the bulbs produce clusters of two to five blooms! Definitely more bang for your buck! T. Turkestanica produces lovely star-shaped flowers in clusters of up to 12! How cool is that? The colors…well, they are generally pretty vibrant and unique in their combinations. Fluorescent orange, orange-red with white variegation, magenta-pink or red-orange with blue centers.

While the botanicals are not as classic in appearance as the hybrids of today, they are certainly unique and worth a look and a go.

October 21st is Apple Tuesday. In 1905, the New York Fruit Growers Association tried to get the 3rd Tuesday in October set up as a national holiday in the hope that every American would eat at least one apple on that day. Well, it didn’t work out that way, but it should have! Support your local grower on that day, or better yet…plant an apple tree of your own!

Really, the best apples are the ones you pick yourself, right off of the tree. The question I hear a lot is, “How do you know when they’re ripe?” Well, if it’s a red or pink variety, it’s pretty easy to tell. Some stay green or yellow, so color isn’t always a reliable indicator.

Lois Tilton tells us that observing the seed development is a very reliable method. Check the progress of the apples and look for changes in color. Nearly ripe apples are tart, but edible and the seeds are white. When the seeds start to turn dark, they are almost ready and when they are completely dark, it’s time to start picking. Also, if you can lift an apple off of the tree without pulling hard or twisting it off, that’s ready to pick.

When you’ve picked your apples, be gentle with them. Don’t plunk them into a bucket or sack. Ripe apples are easily bruised and bruised apples may rot.

These days, most of us grow dwarf fruit trees so we can get to the fruit without a skyhook and a trampoline. However, even these trees can grow taller than you expect. If your apples are growing out of reach, a stepladder is useful. For heaven’s sake, don’t stand on tippy toes on the top of the ladder to reach that one apple – usually the most attractive one on the entire tree – that hangs just…out…of…reach. We don’t want to be reading about you in the fire calls, with an apple induced broken arm. It is frustrating to see your fruit so high up in the tree and sometimes entirely out of reach. The solution may be to prune back the tree instead of climbing higher. Be safe and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Anyone interested in a very simple apple crisp, cooked in the crock pot, can email to thegardengrrl@gmail.com, with APPLE CRISP in the subject line. This recipe is simple, super tasty and makes your house smell divine.

Fall Bulbs For Spring Blooms!

There are few things that you can plant in your garden that give as much as spring-blooming bulbs. They truly are the earliest show offs of the year and come in such a wide variety of types and colors, most gardeners can’t resist putting some in. Of course, some of us – who have invited and welcomed in the neighborhood deer – will not have tulips but rather a very nice display of leaves and blossomless stems. “They are bold, those deer!” – says the gardener who recently had a deer ON HER FRONT PORCH, snacking on a Tropicana potted rose. But I digress…this is about bulbs; not deer.

Nurseries and garden centers generally have a good selection of bulbs, but you’ve got to hit the stores at the right time or the supplies will have dwindled rapidly. You’ve got to get there early, well before it’s time to plant. In this case, the early bird gets the fritillaria. Then you’ll have to hold over those bulbs until the right time to plant. They need to be stored in a cool, dry place. If you’re going to have them for a month before planting, the refrigerator would be a good place to ensure that they’ve gotten their “chill on.”

Paul James, of DIY’s Gardening By The Yard, tells us, “I like more choices and I don’t like risking storing the bulbs. I prefer to order mine. There are literally dozens of catalogs and online sources for doing just that. Many offer varieties that you won’t find in stores and they’ll ship the bulbs to you when it’s time to plant them in your area.”

Two online sources I like are www.tulipworld.com and www.bloomingbulbs.com. Each also offers a paper catalog. I love gardening catalogs. Much more than surfing a website.

If you’re doing mail-order, plant your bulbs immediately, if possible. If you can’t plant right away, it’s best to open the boxes and bags and allow air to circulate around the bulbs.

Most bulbs are sun-lovers, although Spanish bluebells prefer the shade. Early bloomers, such as crocus, do best beneath leaf bearing trees since they bloom long before the trees fill in with leaves. Generally, plant your bulb in a location that gets at least six hours of sunlight a day.

Paul James suggests a planting technique using a mattock. Wikipedia tells us that a mattock is a hand tool similar to a pick axe. It is distinguished by the head, which makes it particularly suitable for digging or breaking up moderately hard ground. A mattock has a broad chisel-like blade perpendicular to the handle. This broad-bladed end is effectively an adze that could be used as a hoe as well. The reverse may have a pointed end, in which case the tool is called a pick mattock, or instead have an axe-like splitting end, then it is a cutter mattock. In some regions of the southern USA, the mattock is called a "grub hoe" or "grub axe". Stab the mattock into the ground and pull back the soil to create a hole for the bulb. In the event that your bulbs did not come with planting instructions, the general rule of thumb is to plant the bulb three to four times deep as the bulb is tall.

When you plant your bulbs, plant the taller ones – like gladiolus – in the back and the ones with the smaller, low growing blossoms in the front. If you’re adding bulbs to an already existing bed, plant in groups of threes and fives to produce the appearance of lushness as if those plants have always grown there.
And WHEN really is the question, isn’t it? It’s really better to get your crocus and Madonna lilies in the ground around mid-September along with daffodils and the larger flowering hyacinths. This month is great for crocus, tulips, grape hyacinth, fritillaria, alliums, snowdrops, scillia and squill. Don’t forget that squill has the added benefit of being repellent to burrowing critters. Also, irises should go in the ground now.
If you’re working a whole new bed, spade up the area, work in a 10-10-10 fertilizer and 2 cups of bone meal per 10 square feet to give your bulbs the best possible start. This is especially important if you are planning on keeping the bulbs in situ for more than one year.

After the ground freezes, or after consistent frosts, set in (we’re not living in Vermont, after all!) cover your bulb planted areas with a 3-inch mulch. You might want to rake it back in early April or late March, if the weather is mild, unless the new shoots can penetrate it easily.

When your bulb blooming time has come and gone, we’re often tempted to cut back that yellow, dying and unsightly foliage. Don’t. You can remove the spent blooms, because otherwise the bulb will use up it’s energy in seed production. Leave that foliage. After the blooms, the bulb itself needs that foliage to store up food before it’s next dormancy. The leaves will provide nourishment to sustain the bulb through dormancy and growth of the bulb itself. Camouflage that fading foliage with bright annuals, maybe pansies, zinnia and some spreading sweet allysum.

Favorites in the bulb world are daffodils, voted #1 in Sunset magazines gardening survey year after year, followed by tulips of all kinds. My personal favorite of the tulips are the botanical Parrot tulips. I just love them! It’s tough to beat the hyacinth’s sweet fragrance in the spring. These come in many shades of purple, blue, pink, red and white. They are also easy to force in a dish of gravel, as are narcissus. One of the first flowers to usher in spring is the crocus. Their lovely, cup-shape blooms come in colorful shades of yellow, orange, purple, blue, and white. Their small size makes them easy to tuck pathways, or at the front of the border. The bold lollipop types of allium are what most gardeners are familiar with. The allium family is huge and offers gardeners a great mix of plant sizes, shapes, and colors. They are a deterrent to a number of pests and burrowing critters. I mentioned squill earlier, but it’s worth a second look. It is one of my favorites. Siberian squill features easy-growing ways and incredible blue color. It's spring's finest blue hue -- and an incredibly easy bulb to boot. It grows just about anywhere. Crown Imperial - with a name like this, you know it has to be an eye-catcher! Crown imperials offer a beautiful cluster of downward-facing flowers in warm, Hawaiian shades. They're topped by a tuft of leaves. Though beautiful and dramatic, they're also a bit stinky – helpful in keeping those who would munch on your garden away. Graceful little bulbs, anemones are the very breath of spring, popping up cheerfully from ferny foliage. They bloom in shades of pink, white, and blue -- and work well in virtually every garden. They’re under used and under rated and definitely are worth considering. I really enjoy the fragrance of freesia, but I do find them rather finicky albeit fabulous and worth the effort. They grow well in containers.

Bulbs offer variety, loads of color and ease of growing that are unsurpassed. I just love them!

Say it's not so!

We thought the summer, with it’s sweltering, sometimes blast furnace days (with a nod to those of you who actually LIKE that sort of thing…), would never end. But it’s true…Summer is over. The evenings are growing cooler and the days already seem to be getting shorter. For those of us affected, the Back To School rush is starting to settle into a routine. Time to forget about the garden, right? Niet! Nine! Nope! And definitely negative! If you get things ready for the next season properly, you’ll notice a huge difference come spring.

If you have plans to relocate shrubs or small trees, now is the ideal time to do that. As soon as those leaves start to change color and drop is when you need to dig them up, maintaining as much of the root ball as possible, and move them to a new location. It is also a good idea to protect your young trees with guards of plastic or wire mesh. Place these around the slender trunks of newer trees and shrubs to keep rabbits and other rodents from chewing on them over the winter.

Be sure to continue to water your trees – especially your evergreens – until the ground freezes. Evergreens need a good reserve of moisture heading into the winter months since they don’t lose their leaves as deciduous trees do.


It might be a good idea to rake up the fallen leaves every week instead of leaving the job until all of the leaves have fallen. In the fall, your lawn still needs sunlight as it, too, is preparing for winter and is storing up nutrients to make that first spring push of growth. Leaving the leaves on the lawn will weaken it and could smother it if the leaves get thick enough. If you can, shred the leaves and use them as mulch. If not, you can add them to your compost pile or make a portable leaf composter as we’ve talked about here in the past. You can use a chipper if you have one, or you can just run your lawn mower over the leaves, rake them up and use them that way.

One last application of fertilizer to your lawn in the late fall will increase the chances of your lawn surviving intact over the winter and will encourage a quick greening in the spring. Cut your lawn one last time and, after you’ve finished, why not get your mower serviced and it’s blades sharpened now so it will be ready for spring?

Some gardeners like to leave seed heads and dried foliage on perennials to feed the birds. And some gardeners like to have super neat beds ready for the spring-flowering bulbs that will be coming up in early spring. Remember, what you cut down now won’t need to be cleaned up in the spring. It might be a good idea to remove any leaves and stalks that the first frosts will turn to mush as well as anything that looks diseased. Think about keeping some of the ornamental grasses and other plants that produce seeds that could be used by over wintering birds. Pull out any perennials that are frosted and add those materials to the compost bin. Do a final weeding and edging of your flowerbeds. This is still a great time for planting spring flowering bulbs before the ground freezes.

While some say to cut back your roses for the winter, and cut them back hard. Some gardeners cut back and pile on dirt inside of a Styrofoam rose cone. I say, don’t cut them back now; wait until early spring. Hill up dirt around the base of hybrid tea roses for winter protection. After the leaves have died back, get rid of the remaining leaves and rake the ground clean. Some kinds of spores and other pests can over season in dead leaves and you could easily reduce your pest problems next spring by cleaning up really well this fall.

And now, a word about pool rings…

Sirena Van Schaik gives us this advice for that horrible brown ring in your lawn that you find when you take down that inflatable pool that your kids or grandkids splashed around in all summer.

Find a grass seed that is similar to the grass in your yard. It doesn’t have to be exact; there are many varieties that will blend in.
Prick the soil with a rake or a fork.
As you go, remove any weeds that you find. No need to leave them there to cause problems later.
Using a steel head rake, rake the surface that is bald or brown. The rake will create furrows for your grass seed.
Apply a thin layer of compost – about an inch – if you are not working with a bald area. You can also use a starter soil. Use the rake to create furrows.
Add the grass seed across the space. Make sure it covers well.
Take the rake and lightly draw it across the area in right angles. This will cover the furrows with a thin layer of the soil.
Plant some stakes around the brown area and stretch black cotton thread in between, a few inches from the surface. This will keep the birds from eating all of the seeds.
Water the new lawn spot, and continue to water.

One last point is that this repair should take place in October or early November at the latest. If it is too hot or dry, your grass seeds are not going to have a chance to grow and you will have wasted both the time and money it took to prepare the ground and apply those seeds. In the spring, this formerly brown spot should green up and blend in with the rest of your lawn quite nicely.

Make your own compost bins!

Wooden Pallet Or Other Recycled Wood Or Plastic – For Yard Waste Only!

There are lots of materials you can build this particular type of compost bin out of; old wooden pallets, recycled plastic, old wooden snow fencing or salvaged lumber.

Using Wooden Pallets: Nail or tie together with wire four pallets to make a four sided bin. The finished bin will be about the size of a three foot cube. You could use a fifth pallet as a base to allow for more air circulation and since you’re not going to be using this for kitchen compost materials, there is no danger of vermin getting into it.

Building With Lumber – Salvaged Or Otherwise

You will need 4 four foot lengths of 2x4 for the corner posts. Choose a three foot square site for your bin. Use a sledge hammer to pound the four foot posts into the ground, if your ground is soft enough to do that. In some places in the Rogue Valley, one might need a jack hammer!
Next, find some lumber that’s at least ½ inch thick and 6 inches wide. You will need five three foot lengths per side. Nail these to the posts to make a four sided container. Leave and inch and a half to two inches between each board to allow for air flow.

If you have the room to do so, a second bin could be set up so you’ve got one to fill up while the other one is aging. Also, I might not pound the posts in, but rather construct a box that one could pull over and get the compost out of. Construct your cube and simply set it in place.

You can put your posts in the ground and wrap the outside with wooden snow fencing as well. In fact, you can make a more permanent structure with three separate bins for aging your compost using the wooden snow fencing and you can make a removable front for them so that you can get to the finished compost more easily.

Wire Mesh Compost Bins

This has got the be the easiest and cheapest way to build a compost bin for yard waste there is! A wire mesh bin can be made out of either galvanized chicken wire or hardware cloth. You can use regular chicken wire, but your bin won’t last as long. You can use posts to provide stability, but then your bin is more difficult to move. You could always just sink your posts only a couple of inches into the ground, or put them on the outside of the wire a couple of inches into the ground and tie the wire to the posts. The beauty of the wire is that it’s easy to move and you can get at the compost at the bottom of the bin that’s already done.

So, get yourself a length of chicken wire and fold back about 4 inches on each end so that you have a nice, smooth edge to work with that isn’t going to scratch the daylights out of you when you’re not looking. Stand the wire in a circle and set it in place for the compost pile. Cut some heavy wire (baling wire works well, too, if you’ve got some of that around or even baling twine) into lengths for ties. Secure the ends of the wire together with the ties to form a circle. You can space any kind of post around the circle. I’ve seen it done both ways; inside and outside the wire – it’s up to you. If you want an even more sturdy wire bin, you can use hardware cloth or even orchard fencing. They’re a little harder to cut and handle, but will last longer than chicken wire.

Garbage Bin Composter – This Bin Can Include Kitchen Trimmings

Get yourself a 32 gallon plastic garbage bin; the kind with the locking handles. Also, I think the darker ones are better because they heat up faster when they’re in the sun. It’s really best to get the most sturdy bin you can find.

Next get out your drill. You need to make holes all over your bin, including the lid. Fill it up and lock on the lid.

You can put a variety of materials into your bin. The general consensus is that you should mix your “browns” (dry materials) equally with your “greens” (wet materials). Green materials are rich in nitrogen and include fresh grass clippings, pruned plants (but NOT diseased clippings!), coffee grounds, tea leaves or bags (no staples in those bags!) and fruits, vegetables and their peelings. Your brown materials are carbon-rich and include shredded paper, leaves, straw, sawdust (from untreated wood), wood chips and dried twigs. Manure, which is a green material, is a great addition to your bin and there are lots of places where you could get this locally, usually for the asking. Whatever you do, don’t put in your bin any kind of oil or grease or meat or dairy products. At certain times, your bin will give off a slight odor. It is much less than you would expect even if you’ve added quite a bit of manure. In the event that your bin gets quite smelly, you’ve probably not added enough brown material and you can correct that by adding more and rolling your bin around on it’s side to mix it in a bit.

You’ll have to check your bin from time to time. More frequently in warmer weather, because you will have to add water. You don’t want your bin to dry out because you’ll lose the nutrients in the mixture that you need to feed your soil.

Depending on what you’ve put in your bin and the temperature outside, you should have a fresh batch of compost in 1 to 3 months. Again, you might want to make two so you’ve got one to fill while the other is cooking.

When what’s in your bin is dark blackish-brown and rather resembles what comes out of those spendy bags of organic fertilizer, it’s ready to use!

Cold Frame Gardening

Almost anyone can grow a great garden in the summertime. But what about harvesting crops in the middle of spring, when your neighbors are just beginning to turn over their own ground? Creating an early harvest is what can separate the superior gardener from the run of the mill. Cold frames are great for stretching your garden’s growing season at both ends. In the spring, cold frames proved a sheltered area for seed starting and to harden off transplants that were grown indoors.

During the fall, cold frames enable you to harvest fresh vegetables longer by protecting your plants from frost and cold temperatures.

Building a cold frame can be a simple as attaching a discarded window sash to a box shaped framework of wooden boards or by placing a window sash over a group of straw bales arranged to form a rectangular base. Instead of constructing a homemade cold frame, you can purchase commercial units made out of high tech materials that are designed to retain warmth and transmit sunlight to the plants growing inside.

Inexpensive models are available that are constructed with a plastic or metal tube frame that’s covered by a transparent, woven plastic fabric. This style of cold frame is lightweight, portable and can easily be moved from one section of the garden to another, making them ideal for use in raised beds.

The more expensive types of cold frames use an aluminum framing that’s covered with twin walled polycarbonate panels. These units are sturdier and provide better insulation, but are not as portable and usually remain in a permanent, fixed location outside of the garden.

Yet another type of cold frame is the plastic tunnel cold frame. There are four really great aspects to the plastic tunnel: 1) It is easy to build and is made of standard materials. 2) It is cheap. 3) It is fast to put up and take down. 4) It will keep your plants warm and it will keep them from getting too hot.

For growing fall gardens, plants can be sown directly in the fixed location cold frame during late summer. Winter vegetables that were planted in the garden beds can be covered with one of the portable style cold frames.

When it turns colder still, or in a colder Northern climate, even with the shelter of a cold frame, plant growth will slow or stop as temperatures drop below freezing. But the cold frame will enable you to continue growing and harvesting organic vegetables well beyond your normal growing season.

When spring returns, many of the vegetables that were planted in the cold frames the previous fall will resume growing to offer extra early fresh produce at a time that the garden’s beds are still frozen and inactive.

At the end of winter, the cold frame can be used as a nursery bed for starting seedlings of lettuce, kale, spinach and other leafy greens. Sow the seeds thickly and let them germinate and grow inside the cold frame until spring arrives. When outdoor conditions are suitable the seedlings can be thinned and transplanted from the cold frame into the garden’s raised beds.

Cold frames can also be used in the spring to harden off transplants, which were started indoors and grown under lights. Placing the flats or containers of transplants inside the cold frame will allow them to gradually adjust to the harsher growing conditions encountered outdoors, without the need to bring the plants back inside during the night.

Crops growing inside cold frames can survive with little or no watering or other attention during the winter months. But you will need to keep a close eye on the plants growing in cold frames during the fall, and especially during the spring to ensure that they receive enough moisture and to vent the cold frame to prevent plants from overheating on warm days.

The location of your cold frame is essential to success. On every piece of property, there is usually some far warmer area. This is the one you should seek out for your cold frame. But a good site alone will not allow most plants to survive cold nighttime temperatures. For that you must create this artificial environment that will allow your seeds to germinate and your plants to prosper.

In places as cold as upstate New York, they set up their cold frames as early as the second half of March. Wait for one of those unusually warm days that we sometimes get in this area at the end of the winter when it is a joy to be working outside. With all the materials on hand, and perhaps an extra set of hands attached to a friend, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to construct a plastic tunnel cold frame and plant an entire garden in a long afternoon.

There are two factors that can cause serious damage in the plastic tunnel cold frame garden that require constant vigilance. The first is damage from excessive heat. The tunnel is a marvelous seed germinator, but the heat so wonderful for germination is excessive once the seedlings have emerged. A cloudless day in the 70s can take the temperature inside the tunnel to 150 degrees, and the crops you have nursed through the fierce March weather will wilt, scorch, bake and finally perish in the April sun.

Think ventilation. When in doubt, ventilate. If you run to Medford for the day on any but the coldest days, ventilate. End ventilation is almost always sufficient with the plastic tunnel cold frame. A little cold wind on your plants will do small damage compared to excessive heat!

Now, I know I go on and on about “Feed your soil! Bring on the organic matter!” The second problem can arise from TOO MUCH organic matter in the garden. Many of us take pride in the lovely structure of our soil, but too often our compost is not quire as broken down as it should be. Including this kind of stuff, or worse yet – manure, in a plastic tunnel garden is dooming it to failure! Fungi thrive in this kind of environment. The result will be rampant damping off and other diseases. Keep your plastic tunnels and cold frames a little more spare on organic content than an open-air garden. If there is any sign of weakness in the soil, you can always add a boost with some liquid fertilizer, like fish or seaweed emulsion.

The day you plant your garden in the tunnel, water it heavily and seal it shut. No more watering is required until the seeds have germinated. After that, watering depends on the temperature, how robust your seedlings have become and the amount of ventilation you are using. With no ventilation, your system is a closed one and should require almost no additional irrigation. The moment you ventilate, you will have to water in order to supply the rapidly growing plants with the moisture they need.

“This is all fine and wonderful,” you say, “but what exactly am I supposed to grow in this weird tunnel thing?” Ah. You will select those crops that most appeal to you and that suit the particular conditions found under plastic. You will want to plant very intensively, as in French intensive gardening. This technique measures its success by what percentage of the entire bed is completely covered with foliage at each moment of the season. Call it “The Art of Plentitude.”

Your initial planting should comprise crops that can take some cool weather; mostly various kinds of greens for cooking or eating in salads. The second planting is the seeds of warm-weather crops and next one is seedlings of warm-weather crops. Peas, onions and potatoes are not suitable for the tunnel or frame, but should instead be placed directly in the regular garden.

You will find that your first planting of greens to be a real blessing after a cold winter! Be sure to plant some particularly fast-growing things so you can amaze your friends and family (and even yourself!) with garden food with the snow barely off the ground. Garden cress seems to sprout the minute the seeds hit the ground and is a standard which will prove to be the first and fastest harvest from the cold frame garden – ready to eat in a couple of weeks. Next come radishes, which you can broadcast thickly, thinning some of the greens for immediate consumption. Then your lettuces. Broadcast early in the cold frame with a mixture of early season, mid-season and late season. Thin them severely and leave some head lettuce to carry you through most of the late summer. There is the “mesclun mix”, also known as “yuppie greens” that you can frequently harvest by cutting back with a scissors. And – finally – plant a lot of spinach. It’s insanely good for you on many, many levels and is deliciously succulent when grown under plastic.

When things warm up a bit, start your warm season crops from seed. At one end of your tunnel, start your zucchini, crooknecks or patty pan and on the other, your cucumbers. We’ve come to really like those small, round lemon cucumbers as well as the long, light colored Armenians. As they grow, you pretty much pick and eat all of their competition. When the plastic is removed from the frame, the huge squash plants hang way outside the frames. At the other end, train your cucumbers to a six-foot netted trellis, which uses very little planting space. As the cucumbers grow towards the sky, they give a harvest much more bountiful than when allowed to lie on the ground.

Cold frames come in really handy for tomatoes and peppers. You can actually set out plants here in the Rogue Valley six to eight weeks earlier than you would otherwise! Set out your tomato plants between rows of greens and harvest those greens as they compete with the tomatoes. Support those tomatoes on six-foot high wooden trellises and prune them rather severely! The partial shade made by the trellis is actually appreciated by the lettuces and other greens sharing that space once the sweltering days of July arrive and they are thinking of going to seed, which – in my mind is nothing short of betrayal.

Take your tunnel down around June 1 when all danger of frost is past and the plants want more room anyway. Hose down the plastic, let it air dry and roll it up into a black plastic garbage bag, to be stored for the following year. The frames for the tunnel can be left up indefinitely.

Cold frames have been around for just ages. The ones I have described here are cheap and convenient. Use a cold frame or tunnel for just one year and it is unlikely you will ever want to garden again without it.

If you would like to have some plans for simple cold frames or plastic tunnels, please email thegardengrrl@gmail.com.