Thursday, June 18, 2015

A few clever tips for summer gardening!


At our June meeting we asked people to write down a gardening tip to share with the rest of us. Here's a compilation of the tips we received:

Look at your summer garden. If you see a bald spot, go to the nursery and buy a plant immediately. If you wait, you will forget.

Water early in the morning. If you water at night, the plants will sweat.

Use pipe insulators on drip hoses to keep water off places you don't need to irrigate, like paths between beds, etc.

Plant native plants. Some of them are adapted to wet winters and arid summers — for example, columbine, shooting star, lewisia, penstemon.

When planting things out in your veggie garden, don’t just think about height – that is, putting the tallest plants in the back and shortest in the front – think also about access you’ll want later. Put the things you will need to get to frequently over the summer (peas, beans, lettuces, kale, parsley) in the front, and things you don’t need access to until you do a major harvest (such as potatoes, garlic, etc.) in the back. It’s hard to envision how big things will get and it looks easy to get to things when you plant seedlings, but it’s a rude awakening when the plants reach their true sizes!

Planting rue in your garden may help if the neighbourhood cats are using your garden as a litter box. Rue has a strong smell that cats do not enjoy.

Here are a few plants that like this dry weather: Russian sage, coreopsis, cotoneaster, santolina, lavender, rock rose, sedum, and yarrow.

Don't use fertilizer if your soil has become very dry, as mine is right now. You increase the chance of "burning" the plants with the fertilizer.

Prune your clematis Montana and tree peonies now, rather than later, to yield the most flowers next year.

To prevent late blight with your tomatoes, just water the ground around the plants and try not to get the leaves wet.

Make or buy a chickadee box to encourage birds in your garden. Small birds love to eat the bugs off your plants.

In June, cut your asters down by half; they will be a more manageable height in the fall when they flower, and will not need staking.

Buy a water barrel from the City to use next year. Call 3-1-1.

Plant alyssum to encourage beneficial insects that will keep aphids in check.

Deadhead often to extend the blooming season. Take off not just the spent petals, but also the seed pods behind them.

Water grass deeply only once a week; grass will recover from being brown when the fall rains comes.

For perennial gardens, water deeply twice a week, and let the plants dry out in between waterings (except for specific plants that droop and telly they need more water, such as hydrangeas, maidenhair ferns, astilbe).

Annuals may need daily watering in unforgiving heat. Hanging baskets might need watering twice a day!

If you are going away over the summer for more than a week, cut back your perennials before you go. You will be surprised at how much new growth happens while you are away. Your plants will be all ready to bloom when you get home.

Mix one part urine with 20 parts water to make a free fertilizer for your garden. Watch your plants bloom! Urine is also useful as a soil enhancer, compost accelerator, weed killer, and fungus fighter.

http://www.nwedible.com/how-to-use-pee-in-your-garden/

You should have done all the hard work in your garden by now! Get a friend and a couple of cups of tea and sit in your garden. Enjoy.


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