Winter planter gardens

Posted on 11/5/2013 by

How to perk up your Fall containers

When frost turns the contents of your outdoors planters into a blackened mushy mess; think about sprucing up your containers for the holiday/winter season. Winter planter gardens are a great way to continue to “garden” during the winter months.

A great way to redecorate your outdoor container is to add a spruce tree tops along with assorted evergreens and foliage such as pine tips, blueberried juniper, incensed cedar, oregonia, red huck, ruscus, or dyed seeded eucalyptus.

It’s best to start with fresh soil. If your container is full of roots, it may be difficult to insert the foliage stems. Therefore, it is best to remove the old soil and start with fresh soil, this way your planter will be ready to plant next spring.

Begin by inserting a spruce tree top into the center of the pot, add pine tips or greens around the edge of the planer to fill in. Be sure to work your design, before the soil freezes in your container.

Once you have the basic design, get creative! Peruse your yard for additional natural items such as sticks (Red twig dogwood), birch sticks, curly willow, Winterberry, dried pods, and pine cones. These will add a vertical accent to your planter garden. To brighten your planters add colorful holiday picks, artificial berries and finish off with holiday lights. You can also insert LED lights sticks to light up your arrangement in those long winter nights.

Once you are finished arranging your winter planter continue to water until a freeze. Freezing temperatures will harden the soil surface and keep your container intact through the winter months. You can also spray the greens with a wilt stop which will help keep the foliage green.

A video is worth a thousand words. Here’s a demostration from Hawthorn garden center on how to make your own spruce tree top container the quick and easy way. http://youtu.be/uNVrJeBLnVQ

Seasonal Plant Tips

Posted on 11/1/2013 by

November/December

5 Great Christmas holiday plants

Norfolk Island Pine
Instead of a Christmas tree some may opt for a Norfolk pine (Araucaria heterophylla)which is usually available in stores before Christmas. It may be sold plain or decorated to serve as an alternate mini Christmas tree for those with little space… (Read More).

Poinsettia survival guide
For longer bloom during the holiday season place your poinsettia in bright diffused light, away from heating vents (hot dry air) and cold drafts. The cool night temperatures will extend blooming time. Keep the plant evenly moist as moisture fluctuation, cold/hot drafts can cause premature leaf drop.
When watering, be sure to slip off the decorative foil cover or punch a hole in the cover to drain the excess water.
Once your poinsettia survives the holiday season it can be encouraged to rebloom next year.

Cyclamen The florist variety of cyclamen (C. persicum) was ‘the plant’ during the Christmas holiday in the Victorian era.

Christmas cactus offers a profusion of tubular flowers that bloom for two to four weeks around Christmas time.

Amaryllis - great bulb forced to bloom at Christmastime or indoor Winter bloom. Many bulbs kits are available starting in the fall that have all the necessary items needed. It usually includes pot, potting soil mix and the bulb along with planting instructions or you can purchase bulbs online from several sources.

If your poinsettia plant drops its leaves but you still have the colorful “flowers”. Make an easy vase arrangement.

How to harvest & store pumpkins

Posted on 9/13/2013 by

Harvest & store pumpkins and gourds

Harvest your pumpkins when the vines are dry, and fruit is an even deep orange or characteristic color of the variety. The rind should be hard and not easily punctured. Cut a 3-6 inch stem with a sharp knife or pruning shears. Lift the pumpkin from the bottom not by the stem to avoid breaking off the stem. Pumpkins should be free of cuts, scratches or bruises.

Australian blue pumpkin is a gourd w dense orange flesh. Great for cooking!

harvested pumpkins

Clean your picked pumpkin with a light chlorine solution to help avoid fungal or bacterial rotting. Sources recommend that a newly harvested pumpkin should be cured @ 80 degrees and 80% humidity for 7-10 days to finish ripening(curing) and heal over any surface bruising but its not always practiced and may not be necessary.

Storing pumpkins
After curing, store them in a dry, cool place with good air circulation and temperatures around 50-55F degrees with relative humidity of 50-70%. Properly stored pumpkins (50-55 F) can last up to 2 months but if stored in warmer temperatures (70 degrees) only 2 weeks.
Avoid any ethylene gas exposure, don’t store pumpkins with apples or other fruits. Do not store them on hard surfaces like concrete or stack them on top of each other.

Today there are many types of Pumpkins to choose from, some varieties make great Jack-o-Lanterns, whereas others are better for pies.

Choosing a pumpkin

Looking for that perfect pumpkin for your Jack-O-Lantern? Here are some tips that might help.

-Pick a pumpkin with a green stem that is free of bruises, discolorations and soft spots
-Don’t carry the pumpkin by the stem, it can easily break off .
-A thicker walled pumpkin will allow for more imaginative carving.
-Store your pumpkin in a cool, dry place, not freezing until you decide to carve it.
-When carving your pumpkin, tell the Irish folktale tale of Jack-O-Lantern .

Make a delicious snack. When you’re finished carving the pumpkin-Don’t throw out the seeds!!
It’s simple and easy to make a tasty snack:
Here’s how: Separate the seeds from the pulp, rinse, drain and spread out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle coarse or seasoned salt on the seeds and bake at 300F. for 30 min. Let them cool and Enjoy!

Late Season Tomato Tips

Posted on 9/9/2013 by

harvest tomatoes
Late season Tomato tips

As the summer season begins to wane, thoughts of the cold weather and eminent frost comes to mind. Your tomato plants look great, loaded with all those green tomatoes and now it becomes a race against time to ripen them. Good grief!! what do I do with all these green tomatoes?

Here are some suggestions to help your tomatoes ripen faster.

Root prune
One trick is to root prune the plant. Dig a spade or garden fork into the soil 6-8″ deep and cut around a circle 12″ from the stem. Rock the spade back and forth to “shake” things up a bit. Careful not to dig up the plant. This pruning will stress the plant and signal it to ripen the fruit faster.

Pinch off flowers
Another tip to hasten ripening is to pinch off any flowers and fruit that is too small and will not mature in time. Trim back any new shoots so that the plant will use its energy to ripen the fruit instead of producing new growth. Start doing this about a month before an expected frost date.

What to do with all those green tomatoes?

If Mother Nature throws you an unexpected frost and you still have lots of green tomatoes, there is still hope. Harvest all your green tomatoes. Check for blemishes, bruises or spots and discard the bad ones. The best tomatoes for ripening will be ones with a slight yellow-pinkish color at the blossom end. Clean the tomatoes in a 1 percent bleach solution. (1 tablespoon of Clorox to 1 gal. water) dry and place in a shallow tray lined with newspaper. Do not let them touch each other. Keep them in a dark room at 60-70 degrees. They need warmth, not light to ripen. Check often for any spots, leaking or rotting and discard bad tomatoes immediately as they can affect the others.
Ripening can take 3-4 weeks. Some varieties, such as Long Keeper that store better than others.

You can also fry or pickle the green tomatoes.

Fried Green Tomatoes

4 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/2 inch tick crosswise
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour
salt, or seasoned salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable or peanut oil

Heat oil in a skillet. Season tomato slices with salt and pepper. In a separate shallow pan add the flour. In one bowl, mix breadcrumbs with cornmeal and add seasonings*. In another bowl, lightly beat eggs. Optional-You can add a bit of milk or buttmilk to the eggs.
Dip tomato slices in flour then egg, then in the cornmeal/breadcrumb mix.
Fry in a single layer for 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on papper towel and enjoy when slightly cooled.
*seasoning optional – can be Cajun style or Italian style.

Rose Mallow hibiscus

Posted on 8/20/2013 by

Hibiscus moscheutos also known as Rose mallow or Swamp Mallow is a cold-hardy perennial that grows in zones 4-9. The plant can grow up to 3-8 ft tall depending on cultivar and produces spectacular, dish plate sized, flowers 5-12″ wide that bloom in mid-summer until first frost. The large, showy flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Care
Grow it in rich moist, well-drained soil with a ph 6.5-7.5. It will tolerate occasional wet soil. Hibiscus moscheutos can grow in full sun to part shade but blooms better in full sun. Fertilize in spring with a 10-10-10 . Mulch the plant during the dry summer to maintain even moisture. They should not be allowed to wilt. To prolong blooming time, deadhead flowers and remove seed pods.

Winter care
When finished blooming allow the plant to dieback before cutting the stems 3″ above the ground or cut back in the spring. In cooler climates, Rose mallow will completely die back to the ground in winter, therefore mark the area where it was growing so that you know where to find it next season and mulch the area to protect the roots. It will return the following late spring but needs warm weather and long days to break dormancy. In cooler climates, it may not appear until June.

Propagation
It can be started from seed. Soak the seeds overnight before planting. Start seeds indoors in late winter/early spring. Hybrid seeds will not come true but will revert to original plant. They can also be propagated from soft-wood tip cuttings in the spring or hard-wood cutting in fall as well as root division.

A new cultivar for this season is Cranberry Crush a deep red color.

Problems:
Japanese beetles

Shooting star hydrangea

Posted on 8/3/2013 by

I just purchased two Shooting Star hydrangeas, also known as Fiji Waterfalls, or Fireworks. We live in zone 7. Should I plant these in a large pot outdoors and bring them inside during the winter? Or can I plant them in my flower garden? Will this plant ever need pruning?
Shooting Star Hydrangea belongs to H. macrophylla-Lacecap. It is hardy in zones 7-9, (20-50F) in dormant state.

The flattened flowerhead has white double petaled “stars” (flowers) that shoot from the flower like fireworks. The flowers stay white for 4-6 weeks and then mature to a light green hue. Quite impressive!

In zone 7-9 you can plant it outdoors in well drained soil, where it will get morning sun and afternoon shade. Add a few inches on mulch around the plant to keep it evenly moist during the summer. In warmer climate more shade is preferred.

In marginal climates, zone 7, if an unusual freeze is imminent, cover it with a frost blanket to protect the flower buds.

Fertilizing
The best time to fertilize is in late winter/early spring before bud break. Spread the well-balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) or a slow-release fertilizer (Osmocote etc.) around the base of the plant. See package directions as to the rate amount. You can also feed during the growing season but no later than Aug 1st. as that would promote new growth that may not have enough time to harden off before the winter.
Another option is to repot it in a larger container, let it develop a good root system and plant it in the fall. If you get an unusual freeze cover it with a blanket to protect the flower buds.

Pruning
Shooting star hydrangea belongs to the H. macrophylla family and blooms on old wood so care must to taken when pruning. Prune (deadhead) after bloom any fading flowers by cutting below the flower head. To maintain size and thin out old branches, cut back when needed. Hard pruning should not be done after mid-August.

In cooler regions zone 6 or lower, bring it indoors for the winter.

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