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| Turning the Corner! A New Month in the Garden!! |
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Happy July to all of you in Skillin's Country! It is hard to believe that June is behind us but one blessing of gardening is we keep moving our booted feet and muddied knees forward. We may be squinting at times in the sun (on a good day mind you) but our gazes and our thoughts in the garden urge us to press on toward the prize of seeing that awesome blossom, that group of sturdy stems, the rich green of a healthy, happy and nourished plant--all the fruition of careful planning, on the spot thoughts and dirty effort! Woo Hoo!
Fun in the Garden (courtesy of Barbara Gardener) Mix of annuals and perennials! |
Also, Happy Independence Day to you and your families. We have much to be thankful for in Skillin's Country and the USA. We do thank our fellow citizens in the Armed Forces who protect us around the clock, our firefighter and law enforcement citizens and anyone who gives their time to help others. We are all in this together folks!
It is good to being sending you a gardening email and hopefully you will find some helpful information here. IF you want more frequent and timely gardening advice, just check out our Skillin's Garden Log found at www.skillins.com!
Skillin's Garden Log! |
We post to the Garden Log on a regular (quite often daily) basis with some very timely and we think helpful information. So make the Garden Log one of your "Favorite" hangouts!
Also follow Skillin's at www.twitter.com/skillins. We "tweet" all types of Skillin's news and announcements that you need to know. Chances are when something goes on sale, or we get excited about a particular plant or flower, we "tweet" about it first! Also we send out frequent short audios and videos right here from Skillin's--and pictures of our colorful flowering plants as well!
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Grateful Dead(heading)
KCB is a frequent and legendary contributor to the "Skillin's Garden Log" who in 2008 wrote a timeless gardening post titled "Grateful Dead(heading)":
" The mantra of many a Maine Gardener is "I want a garden that is colorful throughout the summer", " with minimal maintenance" is often tacked on to the end.
Other than a select group of annuals, creating such a landscape involves a plan with a variety of shrubs and perennials that bloom at different intervals. Pockets or expanses of color and texture throughout the growing season are possible by carefully choosing plants based on their bloom time.
Yet, even a plan once implemented needs assistance along the way. We can coax some perennials to extend their blooming time or put forth a new flush of blooms later in the season. This even includes some flowering shrubs.
How? By Deadheading; the removal of brown and withered flowers.
Have you ever given thought to the primary purpose of a plants life? Yes, to offer beauty, fragrance, and often sustenance for humans or wildlife. However, no one really told that to the annuals or perennials. They feel they were put on this earth to reproduce. They exert their energies to producing seeds and once accomplished they can rest. What we must do is to take away the spent blooms before they go to seed. This way the poor plant feels that it has not performed and will have to start all over. Oh, don't you feel like the big meanie!! Not really. This is what the plant wants to do. We just make it work a little harder.
Removing spent blooms from most plants is easy; as to where to cut is obvious. Other plants make it more of a challenge thus requiring some patience and at times skill...."
Click HERE to read the entirety of "Grateful Dead(heading)" at the Skillin's Garden Log! It is a great article; you will be glad you did read it! Deadheading is crucial to best appearance of your plants and as KCB just wrote can quite often help your annual and perennial plants to rebloom! |
Garden Talks!!
*It is still a little dry out there! We have had some decent rain in the last few days but do take extra time over this nice weather period to give your 2010 planted material a nice slow soaking. Hot temps are expected over the weekend! This would apply to vegetables, annuals, perennials, and certainly shrubs and trees! New outdoor plantings require 1 inch of water per week optimally spread out over at least two quality waterings per week. A steady rain of an hour or more qualifies as a quality watering. A "quality watering" is defined as a slow soaking of your plant's roots. This can be accomplished by letting water run slowly out of a watering can or the end of your hose into each plant's root system or by having a soaker hose at work for several hours twice a week. In "non soaker hose situations", pause on your watering if the water starts to run off; let the water soak in and then begin to water again. Repeat this process several times and move onto the next plant. For larger trees and shrubs (and if you do not have a soaker hose) merely set a hose against the tree or shrub for at least 15 to 20 minutes and let the water almost trickle into the ground and down into the plant's root system. Again if there is runoff, pause and let the water soak in.
*When examining your gardens over the weekend, I hope you see plenty of awesome color! Right now one of my all time favorite plants, the Scarlet Monarda Bee Balm, is just starting to blaze red gobs of color in several places. Another "Mike Must Have", the Heliopsis False Sunflower is churning out beautiful golden yellow flowers. Both will provide great color for quite a few weeks. To the far left, the Endless Summer Hydrangea is kicking out some good looking blue flowers.
This Garden has Color!! (again thanks to Barbara Gardener) Mix of annuals and perennials |
In between are some peonies that are long past flowering and some daylilies about
to flower in a few weeks. So in that one garden area I do not have much color right now EXCEPT for some great annuals that are just starting to blaze out some awesome hues. Sonata Mix Cosmos, Scarlet Celosia and soon Victoria Blue Salvia will be giving months of color in that central location as well as a few other spots. My point? Annual flowers are perfect for providing months of bright bright flowers in between perennials, shrubs, trees even vegetables. They fill in the flowering gaps that perennials and shrubs inevitably offer. Got annuals? Then you got color! Got no annuals? Then you probably don't have color that will be sustained all summer and fall. This is a perfect time to plant fresh annuals as you can see how your garden is performing and where some touch ups are needed! And our annuals are fresh as we are offering our third and fourth cycles of so many flowers!
Are you hearing me about the annuals but still want to incorporate some shrubs? I can think of two no better than the new Invincibelle Spirit Pink Hydrangea or the David Austin rose for great all season color. More on those in a coming email but in the meantime we have them in stock for great season long color!
Some of the following garden tips come from Margaret Roach's outstanding A Way to Garden website. I have picked out a few tips that I feel are quite timely and freely added my own gardening takes in italics:
*"MAKE A (WEED) PASS through each garden bed each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but steal moisture, nutrients and light from desired plants. Apply mulch to all beds to help. " Great advice here. By staying on top of the weeds they can easily be cultivated out with a garden hoe or cultivator. I have tamed quite a bit of my weeds and now I am going to mulch my perennial beds with the terrific Fundy Blend by Coast of Maine (sold right here at Skillin's!). The Fundy Blend is an enriching mulch with seaweed and will provide some terrific compost matter to my soil and plants. There is also some bark in the Fundy Blend that will help this compost hold well as a mulch.
*"HOUSEPLANTS, including amaryllis, and also clivia, among many, can spend the summer outdoors, in a sheltered location with filtered bright light (not direct sun). Pinch back and repot those that need it as you transition them, and feed regularly." Even our indoor sunloving plants find summer sun too strong so shade and filtered sun are best. I agree with the steady fertilizer and for houseplant success we recommend organic Dynamite granules or Plant Tablets by Organica. Apply these fertilizers every 3 months or so for great success!
*" ANNUAL VINES getting the support they need, whether twine, wire, lattice? What about perennial ones like clematis?" As our vine are putting on tons of growth it is easy to evaluate whether their support is large enough. Now is a good time to replace any trellises or plant supports while there are inventory choices to be had.
*"BE ON THE LOOKOUT for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts." This is always good advice and pruning out dead growth from any plant is the #1 way to avoid disease coming to the healthy part of the plant.
Thanks for being a friend and a customer!
Mike Skillin
Let us know if you have any gardening questions!
Our store locations and contact information are as follows:
Skillin's Greenhouses, Brunswick, 422 Bath Road, Brunswick ME 04011 442-8111, 800-339-8111
Skillin's Greenhouses, Cumberland, 201 Gray Road, Cumberland ME 04021 829-5619, 800-348-8498
Skillin's Greenhouses, Falmouth, 89 Foreside Road, Falmouth ME 04105 781-3860, 800-244-3860
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Color,
More
Color!! |
For our email subscribers:
Present this coupon for $3.00 savings for a $20 or more purchase. For coupon to be valid you must be purchasing at least ONE flowering plant! Limit of one coupon per sale; coupon must be presented with sale.
Skillin's clerks: Use sku *MAIL and $3 selling price. Limit of one coupon per sale. May be combined with other discounts! | | Offer Expires: July 11, 2010 |
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