Grass Root Gardens

Gardening Tips – July 2010

Summer afternoon – Summer afternoon… the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
-   Henry James

• Regular shallow hoe your gardens to keeps weeds under control and retain moisture.
• Water lawns and gardens, preferably in the morning. Water deeply and thoroughly.
• Use grass clippings and compost on gardens to help conserve moisture and control weeds.
• Keep the birdbath filled, especially if a drought comes. The water evaporates quickly in such weather.
• Phlox, Veronica and Hollyhock will bloom again if kept from seeding.
• Peonies are now getting ready for next year’s bloom. Care for them. Maybe they need division in September. Get ready.
• Deadhead flowering annuals to prolong blooming. Pinch back if getting straggly.
• Prune bleeder trees, roses, and vines.
• Pinch back mums for the last time by mid-July.
• Hedges will need a lively pruning by now. Be sure the cutting is by mid-month.
• Harvest early vegetables and berries as they ripen.
• Tie celery stalks to prevent sprawling. Secure tomato cages again, tomatoes are heavy!
• Most groundcover can be kept in check with a little nip and tuck!
• Prepare a new garden bed for late summer – early fall planting, when temperatures have cooled.
• Don’t forget to feed and water the compost pile.
• Lupines, a member of the pea family, planted near delphiniums and peonies (both crazy feeders) aid in replenishing depleted calcium and nitrogen.
• Remember to replenish yourself when gardening. Drink lots of water, wear a goofy hat, and cool off in your favourite shady spot.

Gardening Tips – June 2010

“Roses are red,
Violets are blue;
But they don’t get around
Like the dandelions do.”
-   Slim Acres

• Prune raspberries, roses, vines, evergreens, hedges, ‘bleeder trees’ such as maples, poplars, birch, walnut and magnolia.
• Seed green beans, carrots, beets, radishes, lettuce as the season progresses to get a continual crop throughout the summer for table and freezer.
• Continue to transplant perennials, annuals, evergreens, containers and fall mums.
• Water lawns and gardens preferably in the morning. Use grass clippings and compost on gardens to help conserve moisture and control weeds.
• Thin vegetable garden to allow room for filling out. Bonus: an early harvest of tender baby veggies that markets charge premium prices for. Enjoy them raw, steamed, or stir-fried.
• Prepare a brew of compost tea.
• Weed vegetable and flower gardens. Regular hoeing keeps the task from becoming a time-consuming chore.
• Stake tall perennials and tie-up vines.
• Remove rose blooms before they fade to dry for use in potpourris and sachets.
• Keep a vigilant eye for garden pests. Insect control in its earliest stages prevents a serious infestation.
• Make a hill of compost and plant zucchini on top, it will take less space.
• Tuck banana peels under the mulch around roses for a nutrient boost of potassium and phosphorous!
• Rid your garden (especially hostas) of earwigs, slugs, and snails with diatomaceous earth, a non-toxic powder made from fossilized shells of diatoms. The sharp edges create abrasions on the surface of the pests causing dehydration.
• Trim conifers if necessary. Yews can be sheared, but exercise caution on the evergreens.
• Remove spent flowers from rhododendrons, careful not to rip off new shoots that will emerge at the base of the flower. Treat rhodos with a low nitrogen/high phosphorous feed.
• Prune spring flowering shrubs such as lilac, forsythia, deutzia and mock orange after they have bloomed.

Gardening Tips – May 2010

1. Plant perennials, trees, shrubs, evergreens, roses, and herbs.
2. Let the foliage of tulips and daffodils die back naturally-this feeds your bulbs for next year.
3. Wait until you see growth at the base of silver leafed plants such as Artemesia, lavender, and Russian sage before cutting them back.
4. Put supports of twiggy branches, wire mesh cages, or stakes and string around perennials while still small. Those gorgeous delphiniums will thank you later!
5. Check lawn and garden for grubs, those nasty grubs turn into Japanese beetles. Treat with nematodes (Grub Busters) their natural predator.
6. Fertilize, topdress and seed lawns organically.
7. Transfer bedding annuals to outdoor cold frames to acclimatize them for planting in a few weeks.
8. Prepare soil and plant vegetable garden, strawberries, and raspberries.
9. Plant summer flowering tubers and rhizomes such as cannas, dahlias, freesias, and gladioli.
10. Use a rain barrel.
11. Remember to wait for those slow risers such as balloon flower(platycodon) and Japanese anemone.
12. Prune trees, shrubs, evergreens but hold back on forsythia, lilacs, spirea, and serviceberry till flowering finishes. Cut away all dead, dying or diseased wood. Thin out crowded branches that cross or rub together. Remove all suckers that grow from the base.
13. Compost, compost, compost!
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