Mike Darcy – Page 8

Preparing the Garden for a Hot Summer

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had record high temperatures already this spring. When the temperature is 100° F in spring, it is HOT! Not that our weather pattern is ever predictable, but this year it seems to be even less consistent. With our mild winter temperatures, record rain, and a summer forecast as being hot and dry, our plants may suffer without some additional help.

In my own garden, I have become more aware of the need to get the right plant for the right place. What that means is that for full sun I make certain that I have a plant that appreciates this exposure. When we have temperatures in the triple digits, our soil can dry out very quickly and plants may suffer. While I realize that most gardeners have probably planted most of their containers and the bulk of their annual flowers and vegetables, we can still amend the top layer of soil to benefit the plants.

Amend Shrubs

Hydrangea Snow Queen — Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’ (oakleaf hydrangea) stands up better in the heat.

I have learned that some Hydrangeas are especially prone to suffering in hot weather. One of my favorites is Hydrangea aspera, which is a tall shrub. My plant is over 8 feet tall. It has such beautiful flowers that it is a showpiece in the summer garden. However, on hot days, the leaves will wilt as though it has not been watered for days when the soil is in fact moist. I recently added Black Gold Just Coir to the soil surface and worked it into the upper 1-2 inches of soil and this has helped. On the other hand, my Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’ (oakleaf hydrangea) stands up better in the heat.

Amend Vegetables and Flowers

In the vegetable garden, this is an ideal time to add Black Gold Just Coir or Garden Compost as either of these will help to hold soil moisture. June is the month many gardeners plant basil, and it is often planted in containers. In our garden, we always have a container of basil near the kitchen, and I use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil with RESiLIENCE®.

While many annuals may wither in the heat, an excellent summer bloomer is Lantana camera. While technically a tropical shrub, it is usually treated as an annual here. It thrives in the heat, blooms constantly, and the flowers attract butterflies. Lantana makes a wonderful container plant on a deck or patio because of the continuous bloom.

For the past few years, a signature plant in our garden is the red leaf banana, Ensete ventricosum. It has gorgeous large, red leaves and while a tropical plant, I have mine in large pots in a full sun location, and they do fine. My choice of soil is Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil, and it seems to hold adequate moisture for these plants. A special treat that the red leaf banana provides is that by watering overhead, where the leaf meets the trunk, a small pocket of water will accumulate. This has become a very popular home for frogs to the delight of grandkids.

Water Regularly

Lantana, colors — An excellent summer bloomer for heat is Lantana camera.

When we have very hot days, and I see wilted plants that I know have adequate soil moisture, I will often spray them with a hose. This additionalwater seems to perk them up and within a period of less than an hour, they are looking fine.

Be aware of your plants and their environment and try to imagine where a favorite garden plant might naturally grow best in your yard. Don’t get too stressed if your plants wilt, take precautions, and then enjoy them, your garden, and the summer.

Garden Flowers for Hummingbirds

If there was one pollinator I would like to attract to my garden, it would be the hummingbird. It is such a fascinating bird to watch as it zooms from flower to flower and reveals its characteristic of being quite territorial. For many years, I have planted containers of Salvia ‘Black & Blue’ on our deck because this plant is a hummingbird magnet. Several years ago I tried Salvia ‘Amistad’, which is more purple than ‘Black & Blue’, and performed equally as well.

Salvia

So, in the first week of May, I purchased a mixture of Salvia as well as other plants that I have learned attract these little birds. My first step was removing the soil in the containers from last year and adding new. I have found that it is much better to start my containers with fresh potting soil, and I have found a good, effective way to use the old potting soil is to spread it on established garden beds. My potting soil of choice is Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil. It contains perlite and pumice to provide good drainage and has rich organic matter to ensure that the pot does not dry out too quickly in the summer heat.

I also like to mix organic fertilizer into the soil. Usually, I use blood meal and mix it with some cottonseed meal. Using fertilizer at the time of planting helps the plants get off to a good start. Most organic fertilizers tend to be slow release, but blood meal is quite fast acting and can be used by the plant fairly quickly after application. The cottonseed meal is a slower release fertilizer, and combining the two provides both a fast and slow release of nutrients. When working with any soil and chemicals, whether organic or not, it is wise to always wear gloves.

Bonfire Begonia

While most salvias are excellent plants for attracting hummingbirds, there are many other hummingbird plants, most bearing red or orange flowers. Another particular favorite is Begonia ‘Bonfire’. I grow it in a deck basket where it is more exposed to wind and sun. In the past, I would have considered begonias rather fussy to grow and needing shade, but the orange-red-flowered ‘Bonfire’ is an exception. The plant is in sun most of the day and thrives. It blooms all summer until cool weather arrives. Hummingbirds gravitate toward this plant just like they do salvias. Since this plant is more exposed to the elements, I use Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil, which contains moisture-retentive coco coir.

Cuphea

Another hummingbird favorite is the sun-tolerant Cuphea. Its flower resembles a mini fuchsia. Last summer I grew Cuphea micropetala in very hot, full sun and it bloomed continuously all summer.

Do some experiments in your own garden to see which flowers are most attractive to hummingbirds. We enjoy having several containers of hummingbird favorites on our deck, so we can enjoy watching them in the evening. We also enjoy their flower food sources. When attracting any birds, be sure to also have a source of water for them. If you are fortunate, you might even find them nesting in a nearby tree or shrub.

Spring Camellias and Rhododendron in the Pacific Northwest

“This is my favorite time of year”, is a phrase that I seem to use for every season because every season is my favorite time of year. However, after a relatively mild winter and with spring here, gardens all over are bursting with color and new growth. Probably because we did not have a late frost to damage the emerging flower buds, the deciduous magnolias have been magnificent. I cannot remember a year when I have seen them display such a show of color. A particular favorite in my garden is Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ as the flowers are a very deep purple and the buds do resemble the flower of a tulip.

Camellias

R. Yaku Angel flowers — *Rhododendron yakushimanum* ‘Yaku Angel’

Not to be outdone by the magnolias, camellias have also been putting on a great show. Driving around older neighborhoods in Portland, camellias were very often used as a foundation plant. There was a period of time when they seemed to be out of favor, but recently they are making comeback and gardeners are rediscovering them. Our climate seems ideal for them and with some amendments to the soil, they will thrive. Camellias like a soil rich in organic matter and Black Gold Garden Compost Blend is a perfect addition to add to the soil at time of planting.

Not only are gardeners rediscovering camellias, but they are also learning that they come in a wide array of flower types and colors. Camellia flowers come in shades of red, pink, and white with many varieties displaying two on more colors in the same flower. The flowers themselves come in single, double, semi-double, peony shape and the list goes on. Different camellia plants will often bloom at different times of the year and by taking advantage of this, gardeners canhave camellias in bloom from December through May. A popular Camellia, ‘Yuletide’, blooms at the holiday season, as the name implies. I have seen many homes with a container of ‘Yuletide’ at an entryway during the Christmas season with the plant in full bloom. Camellias can easily be grown in containers filled with rich potting soil, and Black Gold All Purpose Potting Soil is excellent.

Rhododendrons

The Pacific Northwest is known for growing rhododendrons and many of the early-flowering types are in bloom before the end of March. Similar to camellias, the bloom period can be extended from early spring to early summer when choosing different varieties. The planting conditions for rhododendrons are also similar to camellias and the addition of Black Gold Garden Compost is an ideal additive.

Camellia 'Debutante' (2) — *Camellia* ‘Debutante’

Of all the rhododendrons that I see, my favorite continues to be Rhododendron yakushimanum ‘Yaku Angel’. I have had one of these in my garden for many years and even when the plant is not in bloom, it is a beautiful shrub. The leaves have a brown indumentum (velvet-like material on the underside of the leaves) that is very soft to the touch. In early April, the flower buds emerge pink and as the open, they turn white. This is a stunning sight to see, as the bush is covered with pink flower buds and pure white flowers. If I had to pick one rhododendron, this would be it.

Felix Jury 0074 — *Magnolia* ‘Black Tulip’

Magnolias, camellias, rhododendrons, this is just the beginning of what blooms in April in our Pacific Northwest Gardens. Soon it will be peonies, then lilies, then dahlias, and the summer perennials and annuals. Remember that when planting permanent plants that thrive in a soil rich in compost, your opportunity to do this is when you are planting. Make your soil environment the best you can to suit the needs of the plants you are planting.

Vibrant Flowers for Pacific Northwest Gardens

It is hard to believe that it is already March and soon spring will be official. We’ve had a relatively mild winter and I cannot remember when we’ve had so few frosts. Like many other gardeners, I always have some tender perennial container plants that need winter protection, and I haul them in and out of my garage depending on the temperatures. This winter they have been out more than they have been in, and in February they were out for the entire month!

I have recently been growing more tender perennials, or actually plants that are technically perennial but need to be treated as annual where winters are cold. More and more of these are becoming available at local garden centers, and it is fun to try growing something new. I have found that some are equally as prolific in flowering as many well-known annuals.

Potting Tender Perennials

I grow many of these tender perennials in pots, and I always like to give them a good start when I am planting, whether in a container or in the ground. This is the one chance to get the soil mix right and to add some organic fertilizer into the root zone. My favorite for mixing into the ground is Black Gold Garden Compost Blend. For my containers, I use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil, and I add an organic fertilizer at the time of planting. My usual choice is blood meal, which is high in nitrogen, mixed with cotton seed meal, which is a more balanced natural fertilizer.

My Five Favorite Tender Perennials

Here are five of my favorite tender perennials to plant in a sunny location for continuous summer bloom. Iochroma ‘Royal Queen’ is a very reliable summer bloomer. I have planted it for three years, in a very hot sunny location, and it thrives. The flowers are tubular and really attract hummingbirds. It can get quite tall, so don’t be afraid to keep it pruned. Lantana comes in a variety of color combinations, and the more sun it receives, the more it will bloom. Most plants will stay fairly compact but don’t hesitate to prune them, as needed. Lantana is very good at attracting butterflies. Last summer I had a combination of yellow Lantana and white Bacopa and they thrived in full sun. For a prolific bloomer in hot sun, try Cuphea. It is a good attractant for hummingbirds, and I like to grow it in pots on our deck. Leonotis (Lion’s Tail) is a unique plant to have because the orange flowers appear in whorls, and it usually does not bloom until late summer. With a mild winter and a layer of Black Gold Soil Conditioner, it will often overwinter and appear the next spring

Try some of these tender perennials. You might be surprised at the amount of color they provide. I am always scouting for a new plant, and even though it might be a tender perennial, I try to mentally think of it as an annual. Then if it dies in the winter, I am not upset, but if it survives, then I look upon it as a pleasant surprise. The simple joys of gardening!

Preparing Broadleaf Evergreens for Drought

Sarcococca - Copy — With good care and moisture, broadleaf evergreens with thrive even in the toughest drought times.

In the summer of 2015, the Pacific Northwest experienced one of the longest periods of no measurable rainfall as well as some of the highest temperatures ever recorded. It started in July, then August, then September and continued into October. Gardeners were struggling to maintain their gardens with the unseasonable dry periods and temperatures in the 90s. A huge challenge for gardeners were their container plantings. By mid to late summer, many plants in containers, having grown all summer, had filled the pot with roots and thus needed a daily watering. Sometimes once a day was not enough. Plants were wilting, leaves were scorching and some plants, especially those that were newly planted, did not survive. So it was not only the plants that were stressed, but the gardeners as well.

Rhody rex — A rhody showing significant drought stress last summer due to lack of water.

Fortunately for me, and the many containers in my garden and on my deck, I had used Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil with RESiLIENCE®in most of them and Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Soil with RESiLIENCE®in others. But plants established in the ground were another matter. What could I do to help them survive and thrive next summer should similar circumstances arise?

Susceptible Broadleaf Evergreens

Broadleaf evergreen plants like rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmia were hit particularly hard. These are plants that are accustomed to a cooler environment and enjoy some protection from the hot afternoon sun even in a “normal” summer season. In my garden some of these plants, even in a partially shaded section of the garden, would have very wilted leaves by late afternoon in spite of being irrigated earlier in the day. In most gardens broadleaf evergreens like these are established plants in the ground, not in containers, and so amending the soil in the root zone is not possible. .

Since the weather is a great unknown, I am going to do some preparation to prevent this kind of damage just in case there is a repeat summer of heat and dry like last year. One thing that we can all do is to walk through our garden at this time of year and take a good look at the plants that suffered last summer. Perhaps they are not in the best location and would perform and thrive much better if they were moved. Since we have had rather predictable summers during the previous years, I think that many of us, including myself, have stretched the “zone” where some of these shade-loving plants are planted. If something does need transplanting, this is an ideal time to plant many evergreen plants.

Gunnera, scorched leaf — Gunnera showing leaf scorch.

Relocating Broadleaf Evergreens

If a decision is made to transplant some of these broadleaf evergreens, now is your perfect opportunity to amend the soil in the new location. My favorite soil amendment is Black Gold Garden Compost Blend as this can be worked into the soil around where the new plant will be placed. This will then help to hold moisture in the soil and can help alleviate some of the drying that can occur with lack of water. On other existing plants that are not going to be transplanted, try working into the top 1-2 inches of soil some Black Gold Just Coir. That has wonderful water-holding capabilities.

Don’t wait until summer arrives to do these chores. By being a step ahead, it is possible to keep your plants in an overall healthier condition. And even if the upcoming summer is not a scorcher, your plants will thank you for the extra care you gave given them.

Plants For the Winter Garden

The fragrant flowers of wintersweet can withstand even the harsh winter weather.

In the Pacific Northwest, the garden in winter can be a bit bleak. I know mine certainly is. However, the more I talk to other gardeners and visit other gardens at this time of year, the more color I see. Often the color is not from flowers, but from bark, foliage and stems.

For the last few years, I am been striving to add more plants in my garden that will provide some winter color. I have learned that it is best to plant them in a location where we can see them from our windows. Planting them in the back garden is a waste since we are not often there in winter to see them.

In addition to looking for winter color, this is also a good time of year to walk through the garden and see if there are ‘pockets’ around plants where the water has settled and is not draining. In these areas, I like to add Black Gold Soil Natural and Organic Soil Builder to increase aeration and drainage and add needed organic matter for the coming year. A phrase that I often hear is “more plants die from winter wet than winter cold.” This is certainly the case for many garden plants, such as salvias.

Evergreens

For winter color, a new plant (to me) that can provide golden chartreuse color to the garden is Thuja orientalis ‘Franky Boy’. We often think of Thuja as being large plants, but this one just grows 4-6 inches per year and will only reach about 3 feet in ten years, so it can be used in a garden border. It has thread-like foliage and an upright ball shape. For the opposite color extreme, a silver evergreen conifer is Abies koreana ‘Silberlocke’. This outstanding, slow-growing plant has curved green needles that show silvery-white undersides. I have had one in a pot for several years, and it looks great at any time of the year.

Abies 'Silberlocke' — Abies ‘Silberlocke’ is a lovely winter evergreen with silvery needles.

Sweet Box

I should not overlook some of the shrubs that are already in bloom in the January garden. Sweet box (Sarcococca ruscifolia) is one. It is a very easy-to-grow small evergreen shrub that produces a small, sweetly fragrant, creamy white flower in winter that perfume the area around it. I’ve often had visitors walk past my plants and all of a sudden will detect the fragrance and not know where it is coming from. Sweet Box likes some shade from the hot afternoon summer sun and likes organic-rich soil, so be sure to add Black Gold Garden Compost at planting time.

Wintersweet

Recent snow and ice provided opportunities for gardeners to take some unique photos. Oregon State Community Horticulturist, Neil Bell, sent me this photo of his wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) with its flowers encased in ice. He reported that the ice did not seem to bother them, and once it had melted, the flowers went back to scenting the garden. Wintersweet can grow to 10-12 feet and produces winter flowers on leafless branches. If space considerations are an issue, it can easily be pruned to a smaller stature.

Thuja orientalis Franky Boy — The golden-green Thuja orientalis ‘Franky Boy’ is a new dwarf conifer for my garden.

So, while at first glance we might think the winter garden is bleak, it does not have to be. Check out your local garden centers now for plants showing bloom and/or color. I am noticing that many local garden centers are grouping slow-growing conifers together to show the array of colors available. Gardening in the Pacific Northwest is a year-round adventure!

Holiday Decorating from the Garden

While this may be winter (not official until December 22, but most gardeners would say this is winter), there are so many things we can harvest from our gardens to decorate our homes to help celebrate the holidays. We have had several inches of rain in just the past few days here in western Oregon, with more expected, and this morning as I walked around in my very soggy wet garden I discovered that there was a bounty of materials to chose from.

Berried Winter Plants

The berries of heavenly bamboo look great outdoors or cut and brought indoors.

Many of the plants that we can use for holiday decorating from the garden are readily available in our gardens–if not in your own garden, take a walk around your neighborhood. You may have neighbors that would be happy to share some their plants; some selecting pruning might be welcome. Two plants that are usually readily available in local gardens are Nandina domestica, (heavenly bamboo, not related to bamboo), and Callicarpa bodinieri (beautyberry). Both of these are well suited to winter arrangements. The Nandina has clusters of red berries and the Callicarpa has bunches of purple berries on bare stems.

Wintergreen arrangement — A festive wintergreen basket.

I am not a creative designer in our family, but I enjoy gathering branches and letting my wife create a holiday arrangement. Whether it is large or small, she seems to know just how to put it all together. An example is her use of a simple small wooden basket which makes a very attractive feature for an entryway. A pine branch, or one from another evergreen conifer, can be added. Red berries from a Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen) added festive natural color and then she tied on a red ribbon for a finishing touch. (Note: this Gaultheria is an example of how common names, while usually easy to say and remember, can be confusing. This plant is sometimes referred to as winterberry as well as wintergreen, but true Winterberry is actually the holly, Ilex verticillata.)

Hydrangea 'Shooting Star' — *Hydrangea macrophylla* ‘Shooting Star’ makes a great potted plant that can be planted outside in mild weather.

Holiday Potted Plants

Recently, while visiting a local garden center and viewing their vast selection of poinsettias, dazzling white Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Shooting Star’ flowers were being offered among the sea of red. The multi-petaled ‘stars’ shoot from the flowers like fireworks, hence the name ‘Shooting Star’. An added bonus is that for many of us living in western Oregon and Washington, this is also a garden plant that can be planted out in the garden to become a permanent shrub. This hydrangea looks beautiful planted in a decorative gold container with decorative conifer branches around the edges. The look is simple but very effective.

Arrangement Ideas

During my weekly radio program last week, I asked listeners to send in photos of winter arrangements that they were made from local plants. Here are two of my favorites.

Susan Bechtol arrangement in cup — Holiday mugs make cute seasonal vases for arrangements.

Susan Bechtol had a holiday decoration party during her work lunch hour with the theme of creating an arrangement in a cup. Another was Nancy Wirth who created a lovely arrangement from plants in her garden She used red branches from her Cornus sericea (red-twig dogwood) and evergreen branches are from her garden as well as some she found on the ground in a parking lot. (How is that for reuse?)

Gardeners tend to be a very imaginative group and are especially creative when using plants from their own gardens. Try experimenting by using some plants from your own garden for a holiday decoration. You might be surprised at what you can create! Check out your local garden center to see what winter-interest plants you can add to your garden when the ground is still soft enough to plant.

Whatever you do this holiday season, take the time to enjoy it. The New Year will be here before we know it. Happy New Year and Happy Gardening!

Nancy Wirth arrangement — A mix of evergreen branches and red-twig dogwood brighten an outdoor pot.

Kids Gardening Fun in Fall

Kids love to learn about composting and the importance of worms in the garden.

As gardeners, I believe that one of the most important things we can do is to encourage young children to garden. With our urban society, many kids have no connection to the earth, and in many cases, gardening is foreign to them. Luckily many communities offer community garden plots, but these generally tend to be used by adults, and when I visit local community gardens, I rarely see kids. Therefore, it is often up to us as adults to get some programs started that are especially geared for kids.

Fall is an excellent time to begin a conversation with kids about gardening as there is so much happening that is readily visible. For example, here in the Pacific Northwest, many of the deciduous trees are turning brilliant shades of color, certain birds are migrating and perhaps making stops in local garden or parks. Fall bulbs are available, and fall is a perfect time to talk about composting, why we do it and how.

Brian seed planting — A hands-on lesson with Mike Darcy at a local school.

Hands-On Gardening Lessons

For many years I have done a ‘hands on’ lesson on growing seeds to 1st graders. I use nasturtium seeds because they are large for small hands to handle and they germinate quickly. Each child gets a 4-inch plastic pot, a wooden label to write their name on and three to four nasturtium seeds. I also have a bag of Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil that I open and each child puts soil in their pot and then with their fingers, make a depression for each seed. I remember the first time I did this, one of the students asked me if it was okay to touch the soil. Hearing that question for the first time was a surprise, but now it is not an unusual question.

October is the month when fall bulbs have arrived in garden centers. Think about the age of the children you are working with, but from about 1st grade on, ‘forcing’ a paper white narcissus is an ideal way to introduce bulbs to kids. Paper white narcissus grow quickly with some green sprouts usually appearing in less than a week. Flowers also appear within 4-6 weeks, so this lesson is one that kids can see results in a relatively short period of time.

Nick, Nolan, compost — Kids love adding green waste to the compost bin.

Composting with Kids

There is no better time of year than now to teach kids about composting, especially with fall leaves. We have a compost bin in our garden, and our kids (and now our grandkids) have grown up knowing what it is for. It is the place we put vegetable kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and now lots of leaves. When our kids were young, I would put pieces of plastic in the compost bin to teach them that plastic is plastic forever. Our compost bid is also teaming with red worms and our kids have learned that holding worms is a very natural thing. This may seem fairly ordinary but when I take a container of compost with worms to young kids at a school, many are very reluctant to touch them.

With the budget issues of many school districts, I find they are almost always appreciative to classroom activities that parents can provide that pertain to gardening and/or our environment. It is not necessary to have had classroom teaching experience as I have found that for gardeners to talk about gardening and make it pertinent for kids is very easy and something we can all do. October is an ideal month to give some lessons on composting leaves and to explain the benefits of doing it. The kids will be thrilled and you will be pleasantly surprised at how good it will make you feel.

Dealing With Pacific Northwest Drought

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had a summer with some of the highest temperatures and least rainfall on record. I believe that we have had more days with temperatures over 90 degrees F since weather temperatures have been recorded. While gardeners here often say we are in a zone of “winter wet and summer dry”, we certainly do not expect the summers to be this dry. Furthermore, not only were the days hot, the night temperatures did not cool down as usually occurs in the summer.

By August, many plants had leaves that had been scorched.

Garden Drought Stress

As a result of the heat and drought, many plants suffered. Plants were wilting even though the soil was wet as it was so hot for certain plants that their roots could not take in moisture to supply the leaves and the leaves wilted as though they did not have adequate moisture. In my own garden, I would water plants in the morning and see them wilting by noon. I would check the soil and it was moist. As plants stressed and leaves wilted, the leaves would often scorch or become sunburned. It became a constant effort to keep the garden looking good and with garden tour groups coming for a visit, I felt it was imperative to keep my plants looking as good as possible.

Since we do not usually have summers like this, many gardeners including myself had planted many plants that require more cool and moist conditions. Hydrangeas, rhododendrons, and azaleas are mainstay plants in many gardens and these are all prone to heat stress. By August, many plants had leaves that had been scorched,

Coir naturally holds water at the root zone, so it proved to be a good amendment for the unusually dry season.

Garden Drought Stress Solutions

In my garden, I also have many plants in containers and having used Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil proved to be a huge benefit. As the summer heat continued, I used Black Gold Just Coir as a top mulch in some of my pots and this was an excellent mulch to help the soil retain moisture. I have learned that coir, which is coconut pith, has amazing water retaining capabilities. In several of my hanging baskets, I had used Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil at the time of planting and this was a tremendous asset in keeping these containers from drying out with the summer sun, heat and sometimes dry wind. Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil was particularly effective with the fuchsias and begonias which need plenty of moisture and even in September, these plants were full of flowers and looking great.

Mulching our plants is something we can often forget but the benefits of mulch can be enormous. Mulching helps to conserve water and we are all learning that water is not the unlimited resource that it has been. As an added benefit to mulching, when I am planting new plants in the soil, I regularly use Black Gold Soil Conditioner. I mix it in the soil around the root zone and always work some into the top 1-2 inches of soil.

Rhododendrons have suffered badly in the unusual heat and drought of the season.

This was the summer when gardeners began to think about what plants they were planting and what location they were in. I learned that my hydrangeas need a little more shade to look their best and I will be doing some transplanting this fall. There is also a trend to use more plants that have low water requirements like Arctostaphylos (Manzanita), Ceanothus, Mahonia, and many others that have good garden appeal.

We need to remember that in nature, plants get mulched naturally by their leaves, flowers, and stems. In many home gardens, the area under plants is constantly being raked to keep it clean and ‘looking neat’, but we should not forget the role mulch plays in the health of a plant. Learn to know your plants, observe them, and my guess is they will ‘tell’ you if they need a mulch.

Bringing in the Summer Harvest

The summer harvest has certainly arrived here in the Pacific Northwest. With our very dry and hot summer, many fruits and vegetables have ripened several weeks earlier than the norm. I have heard from many gardeners that they are harvesting heirloom tomatoes that usually do not ripen until mid to late August. Those vegetables that love the heat, and have adequate moisture, are thriving with this weather. Beans, melons, squash, and other heat-loving vegetables seem to be producing bumper yields. I had a listener call me last week on my radio program to report that her pumpkins were bright orange and looked like they were ready to be harvested. She said it looked like Halloween!

The raspberry ‘Summit’ is excellent for producing a good crop in the spring and a repeat crop in fall.

Tomatoes

Often, I will caution gardeners about planting some of the large beefsteak tomatoes or other late-ripening varieties because if we have a cool and early season fall, they may not ripen. That has not been an issue this year. Last week two listeners reported that some of the heirloom tomatoes they harvested in late July were varieties such as ‘Azoychka’, ‘Black Krim’, ‘Brandywine’, ‘Brandy Boy’ and ‘Cherokee Purple’. Another listener sent a photo of his Roma ‘San Marzano’ with the notation that they were as big as red bell peppers. They also had the added benefit of organic-rich Black Gold Garden Soil to encourage their success.

In my own garden, I have a very small tomato with small fruits that have proven to be ideal for growing in a pot on our deck. It is called ‘Red Robin’ and even though the plant is small, it has been loaded with tomatoes for several weeks. This is the first year that I have planted it, and I would recommend it for someone with very limited space. I also have some of the Indigo™ series from Oregon State with fruits that turn purple (high in anthocyanins) and then red when ripe.

Fruits

Asian pears seem to be in abundance this summer. I recently visited a garden with several trees, and they were all loaded with fruit, much of it ripening now. This same garden had crops of plums so heavy on the branches that some limbs were cracking.

We often think of raspberries as early summer crops, though many varieties produce in June. However, everbearing varieties are ideal for a late summer crop. The raspberry ‘Summit’ is excellent for producing a good crop in the spring and a repeat crop in fall. They are excellent tasting too and manageable for row planting. If you have abundant space, consider the thornless blackberry ‘Triple Crown’. I say “abundant space” because this plant can have canes reaching 15 ft in one season. The berries are now just beginning to turn black and will be ready for picking shortly.

Beans

Beans are well known in the summer vegetable garden. They are easy to start from seed and make a great plant for young children to grow as an introduction to gardening. The seeds are large, for easy handling by little hands, and they germinate quickly and grow fast. I like the Romano types which have pods that are somewhat flattened with a rich bean flavor.

When planting any vegetable or fruit-producing plant, be sure to plant something that you like. Then take a moment to consider what you will do with excess production. A row of beans can produce far more than most families can eat. Many large-scale gardeners will have a small food dryer, which is another good way to preserve your yields. When there is excess, check in with a local food bank as fresh produce is almost always welcome.

This is such a great time of year to be eating fresh produce that we and/or our neighbors have grown. A tomato picked fresh from the plant is nearly impossible to imitate from a store bought one. Check with your neighbors and see what they are growing and what they might appreciate receiving. As I was leaving a garden visit last week, the owner came out and told me they had a new rule on visitors. One could not leave without taking a zucchini!

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