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| A HOT July! Some COOL and QUICK Garden Tips!! |
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We wanted it and we are getting it! A "true" summer--sunny and warm, warm and sunny! Does this make it a good summer for you? I sure hope so because the heat has been turned up! Early on in this summer season, I resolved not to complain about the heat. Instead I would relish and even celebrate the heat. I try to savor each breeze and feel comfort in the soothing sun. With the exception of a 96 degree Tuesday almost 2 weeks back I have pretty much kept to this promise and kept quite chipper. Now admittedly I do spend some time in front of this keyboard in a semi air conditioned office space but I also spend a good amount of time in a greenhouse or two or right out in the sun with plants and customers. My "farmers tan" has rarely looked better in my 48 plus years!
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! |
Also follow Skillin's at www.twitter.com/skillins. We "tweet" all types of quick Skillin's news and announcements. 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 and sweet audios and videos right here from Skillin's--and pictures of our colorful flowering plants as well! We send out Twitter "tweets" all the time so check out www.twitter.com/skillins often!
Speaking of "Twitter" audios, Jumpin' Joe Kubetz is at it again with some fine Twitter productions. Click here for a juicy video about growing great raspberries with Tim Bate our Nursery Manager. Also Joe, Annie and myself chat about daylillies in the garden. You will laugh and yes you will also learn!
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Well since our last Skillin's Moisture Meter we did receive close to 1" of rain in the official rain gauge in the heart of Skillin's Country. Areas south of Portland received more--considerably more in some tropical York County areas. But much of the surplus rain was torrential and featured much run off!
New outdoor plantings (of vegetables, annuals, perennials, and certainly shrubs and trees) require 1 inch of water per week optimally spread out over at least two quality waterings per week. A "quality watering" is defined as a slow soaking of your plant's roots.
(More detail about "quality waterings": A steady rain of an which brings a half inch of rain or more qualifies as a quality watering. In lieu of rain a quality watering 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 1 to 2 hours 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. )
This Week's Moisture Meter Readings:
Quality rain (1).
Quality waterings required by you: (1).
This quality watering needs to take place over the next couple of days. I have noticed that container plantings in hot areas and annual plantings in sunny areas are already getting quite dry. Also shrubs and trees should get a slow quality watering within the next couple of days.
If you have met the quality watering requirement for this past week, congratulations! If not, pay careful attention this coming week and beyond and make sure that your new plants get those required quality waterings!
Let us know if you have any watering questions!
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Great Plants to Plant Now!!
Summer is a great time to plant so many plants here in Skillin's Country. The soil is warm and welcoming to the roots of any new plant. Almost any plant will love the warm air and sunshine that we have been getting and will grow and grow. Worried about water for the plants?? Just follow good watering practices like we outlined in the Moisture Meter section just above. If you water them, they (your plants) will grow!!
Tim Bate our Nursery Manager wants you to know about 2 plants that would make excellent additions to your landscape.
The first plant is the Rose of Sharon. The Rose of Sharon can be grown as a single plant or as nice small hedge or screen. This plant gets covered with flowers from July into September and grows anywhere from 3 to 4 feet tall up to 8 to 10 feet wide and anywhere from 3 ot 4 to up to 6 to 10 feet wide. The size of the plant depends on how aggressively you prune the plant in the early Spring. Pruning the plant in the early Spring will trigger some great root growth that will in turn send out a healthy amount of new growth for wonderful flowering. The more you prune, the denser the plant will be. The denser the plant, the more flowers you will have! Plant the Rose of Sharon with a good natural food like Flower Tone by Espoma and do a follow up feeding with Flower Tone or liquid Fish and Seaweed Food by Neptune's Harvest in mid summer.
Tim is particulary fond of two varieties:
Rose of Sharon Blue Chiffon |
and the:
Rose of Sharon Lil Kim |
As you can see the Blue Chiffon features a wonderful double blue flower and the Lil Kim has single white petals with a dark red eye. Both varieties are just striking!
The flowers will last for over a week but when a flower fades, it's quickly replaced with other flowers, keeping the plant in continuous flower. Once in flower the Rose of Sharon attracts butterflies and hummingbirds very nicely. It is also a heat resistant plant and a reasonable drought tolerant plant. It loves the heat!
We have many many varieties of wonderful Hydrangeas to choose from this year. It really is a Hydrangea World! Tim wants to point out the awesome Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry. Bailey Nurseries of Minnesota (one of our favorite nursery suppliers) is responsible for this beautiful new plant and here is what they have to say: "The enormous flower panicles are a blend of vanilla and strawberry, held upright on red stems. They emerge creamy white in mid summer, change to pink and finally to strawberry red. New blooms gives the plant a multicolored effect in late summer and early fall. The red coloration persists for at least 3-4 weeks. The habit is upright becoming cascading later in the season.... Excellent for fresh cut and dried flower arrangements." Folks this plant really excites me and I am already trying to figure out a spot in my yard to put the Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry. Tell us what you think!
Hydrangea Vanilla Strawberry |
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Garden Talks!!!
*From our gardening friend Margaret at www.awaytogarden.com: " If you were squeamish about cutbacks as spring faded, you may be regretting it now, and facing floppy, exhausted plants in certain spots. Some things (like certain perennial Geraniums, for instance) do better if cut back hard. Go for it. Others need just deadheading of spent blooms. Annuals that grow leggy can often benefit from a chop job, too. Do some experiments. Sometimes a plant can't look worse, and you probably won't kill it. :-)"
* Remember to mow your lawn "high" or to a point of about 3 to 4 inches. I am seeing a lot of burnt lawns; yes it is dry but lawns mowed too short burn out easily and pave the way for weed invasions! Weeds will prosper with weakened lawns. The whole point of good natural lawn care is to make your lawn the aggressor not weeds. Click Skillin's Lawn Care Program for an easy to do, sensible lawn care program by Skillin's! We will show YOU how to maintain a good quality lawn--safe for kids and pets and without a huge investment of time or dollars!
*Got beautiful looking tomato plants! Well it may be time to "rip and tear" on them just a little bit. Beautiful tomato plants DO NOT mean you will have plenty of good juicy tomatoes!
I planted 3 tomatoes in an Earth Box a few weeks ago. 3 in one box does not leave much space in between the plants. In other words, the tomato plants do not have much "personal space" as Skillin's associate Monique would say! Tomato "personal space" of at least a few inches between plants allows for valuable air circulation to the stems and fruit AND sunlight penetration to the flowers and fruit. Tomato "personal space" is vital for a bountiful tomato harvest to be high in quality and quantity.
SO, back to my 3 beautiful but crowded tomato plants. Most of the side branches in the lower half of the plant I snapped off completely--no flowers would
ever come from those branches. On the upper half of the plant I snapped off half of each side branch--again no flowers. One or two side branches were going to produce some flowers. But these side branches were also about to block off many more flowers at the top of the tomato. So I made the decision to snap these side branches off to allow air and light to reach the more plentiful flowers nearer the main stem of the plant.
Instead of 3 lush tomato plants chock full of foliage, I now have 3 considerably thinner tomato plants BUT they have plenty of blossoms in full light exposure. I feel better about that AND I will keep you posted!
*How are your rose bushes doing? My 3 bushes are loving this summer heat and have flowered quite well. Two of them have been in the ground for quite some time but with all the heat we have had I recently gave them each a good half hour of slow watering. I just left the hose with water running slowly into the soil right around each bush (one at a time). I recently gave them some Flower Tone as well so this long long drink of water should really benefit each plant. Each bush is finishing it's second round of flowering so I will soon prune each flower stem about 6 inches or so and shape each bush nicely for another round of flowering. Click here for more about rose bush care this summer.
*In our last email I wrote you that "July is a good time to apply some all natural Garden Tone fertilizer to your garden--it is great for the soil and vegetable plants are heavy 'feeders'." This advice is still true. AND if you have not yet applied a good natural feeding to your shrubs, trees or perennials now is a great time to do just that. We recommend Flower Tone or Plant Tone by Espoma for "deciduous" plants (those plants that drop their leaves in the winter) and Holly Tone by Espoma for acid loving plants (evergreens such as rhodys, azaleas, junipers, pines and more; also blueberries and blue hollies). These fertilizers are all natural, non burning and very good for the soil. A better soil means better roots, better roots means a stronger plant that will thrive! We are all about "Green Gardens" here at Skillin's!
*Good gardening friend and Skillin's associate David K posts a terrific garden blog called A Garden in Maine. I highly recommend you check his blog frequently as David is a wonderful local Maine home gardener who is learning all the time, growing a great variety of plants and he loves to pass on what he learns!
Got gardening questions??? Call us at any of the phone numbers listed below or email us at skillins@maine.rr.com!
Thanks for being a friend and a customer!
Mike Skillin
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 $4.00 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 credit memo a $4 selling price. Limit of one coupon per sale. May be combined with other discounts! | | Offer Expires: August 1, 2010 |
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