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 …
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.
As fall approaches it is time to give some thought to getting the garden ready for the fall and winter months just ahead. As the cooler weather sets in, it will be an ideal time to begin getting plants ready for the winter, to plant spring bulbs, cultivate and harvest fruits and vegetables.
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.
It’s time to sit back and enjoy the garden. Take time to enjoy the fruits of your earlier gardening efforts. July is usually one of the best months weather-wise, and a time when little needs to be done to keep the garden in tip-top shape.
