Last November was our final sale.  We will now focus our creative energy doing classes and events in the garden.  We so enjoy sharing our special spot with all our friends and new acquaintances .   We will notify you via email of upcoming events.
there will be a variety of interesting happenings to come.

See you soon.

Linda

As dry as it has been this summer it is important to water deep. Sprinkling the garden is just a tease for plants and will not establish healthy roots.

I cut back day lilies to about 6 inches because they looked so bad. with an extra watering some new green leaves will show up shortly. The plants will not bloom again but will look refreshed in about ten days.

In early summer I cut down the wire tomato cages and placed them over my then short sedum spectable plants. Now the plants are tall and the wire cages don’t show. The plants will continue to stand tall and won’t split in the middle when the blossoms get big and put out their glorious fall bloom.  Yea, It worked!!!  these sedums have survived the drought very well.

When a plant produces seed it takes strength away from the roots and growing strength. Spend some time cutting dead flower heads off before they go to seed.   Also seeds left to ripen on the plant will fall to the ground and often create many new plants.  Some plants become invasive in this way.   Cutting back some plants may also  encourage another flush of bloom. Dead heading will make the garden look tidy.

Be ready for slugs as they appear.  Let’s make it a goal to have a slug free hosta garden!!

Weed your hosta bed and coat the top surface with lime as the hostas emerge in the spring. slugs prefer acid conditions and lime is alkaline.  Diatomaceous earth will also keep slugs away. Sprinkle it around the plants. They dislike crawling over rough surfaces.

We were thrilled to learn last night that New York Governor David Paterson signed the bill into law that bans pesticide applications on school playgrounds and playing fields. We need everyone to spread the word about this. Write Letters to the Editors and call your TV and radio stations. Call your local and state officials and the offices of your U.S. Senators and members of Congress. With New York and Connecticut now having laws protecting children from pesticides at school, this should become a national movement.

This note came to me from Paul Tukey’s safelawns website.

Yesterday I went to a third grade class to talk about composting. They seemed very excited to think that they could layer their scarps of healthy foods and debris from the garden into a bin and turn it into soil.

IMPORTANT POINTS

Make layers of ingredients. BE SURE to put regular layers of garden soil in to introduce microorganisms that help the compost break down and keep down the smell. 

YOU WILL NEED some BROWN ( dried leaves . dead plants, sawdust. pine needles and some shredded newspaper. 

Some GREEN (grass clippings and kitchen vegetable scraps) 

Some SPRINKLES OF WATER to keep it damp

Some AIR CIRCULATION to help decomposition

A great website for kids to get more details

www.aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarten/kidscompost/compostingforkids.pdf

This is a great summer recycling project for families to start and it will encourage all to eat more of the fruits and veggies that can go into the compost pile. 

DO NOT USE: meat, fat, pet droppings,bones,milk products, diseased plants , oils, or wheat products.

unpruned forsythia

Who would want to prune the forsythia in a tight ball when its natural beauty is so alluring.  An unpruned hedge like this is the greatest place for the kids to hide.  The children have already created their own forsythia house. 

When the forsythia blooms it is time to fertilize your lawn for the first time.

Wow! The rainbow color selection of pansies at Broadway Gardens was breathtaking.  Of course I had to buy more to plant in several extra containers.  It certainly gives a gardener a real boost.  The blooms last well into June.  The wood violets are spreading everywhere.