Late July through August is a fantastic but underused time to start a variety of seeds. If you’re looking to get a start on fall crops, look for cold hardy varieties with short growing times. Consult your specific growing zone to be sure, but these varieties usually make a good fall crop in most of the Pacific Northwest.
Summer or winter are the best times to take cuttings of rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and most other broad-leaf evergreens. Cuttings properly taken will usually produce flowering sized plants in about three or four years.
Summer is the perfect time to get kids started gardening. If you’ve got kids or grandkids out of school right now, here are some projects that are great for getting them enthusiastic about spending time in the garden. Planting an Easy Crop When kids come to our Educational Garden, we love to let them start …
Seed bombs are a great project to do with kids, and a wonderful way to spread flower seeds in a large area. This is a project that can be done any time of the year, but the messiness means it’s a good craft for a nice day outside. The best part is, you can mix any seeds you want to create your ideal meadow garden mix.
Summer is the time to dry some of the flowers from your garden so you can enjoy their beauty in your home this fall and winter. By following a few simple procedures, you can preserve the beauty of your outdoor flowers to use for indoor arrangements this winter.
Whenever I ask a group of Pacific Northwest gardeners what accomplishment they use to evaluate their success as gardeners, they inevitably say “the ability to grow one ripe, red tomato.” So, here are a few growing hints that I would like to share with you, so you can have success in growing more than one …
There are some wonderful types of annual, biennial and perennial flowers that have a tendency to reseed themselves. To some, particularly those that want to keep a tidy garden, this is a negative. However, if you are looking for a spontaneous meadow or cottage garden feel, or want to leave a space to its own devices but still have flowers, these varieties can be wonderful, coming back year after year with just a little bit of care.
June and July are excellent months to start perennials and biennials from seed. The warmer soil temperatures at this time of year encourage faster germination of seed and quicker development of plants. A small investment in a packet of biennial or perennial flower seeds will often provide up to one hundred or more starter plants.
August is the month to enjoy the garden, but unfortunately if a few things are not done the garden will go to ruin in a matter of days, especially if the weather gets hot. Therefore, watering, grooming, and weeding head the list of projects for this month.
