The Dutch were on to something when they went crazy over tulips hundreds of years ago.

Their attempts to breed wild varieties and distribute them far and wide has left us with a brilliant array of bulbs that still turn heads.

David Glenn has about 6 thousand tulips in his garden and he brought a selection of them into the studio to brighten us up a little.

He also shares his love of early harvest asparagus and onions.

To keep up with David Glenn’s garden, listen to ABC Ballarat and Southwest Mornings Wednesdays from 10am fortnightly, and for a year round look at what’s happening in his garden, check out David’s blog.

Elegant Gardens Nursery offers gardening classes to the public. October’s topic is “Pruning Techniques”. Space is limited to 25 people. Please sign up to attend the class by calling Elegant Gardens Nursery at 805-553-0565 or email: grant.elegantgardens@gmail.com

Class is Thursday, October 4th at 11:00 a.m.

Elegant Gardens Nursery is located at 2046 Tierra Rejada Road in Moorpark (one mile east of the 23 Freeway. Elegant Gardens Nursery has 25 acres of plants, trees, fountains, decor, bulk soils and much more.

Elegant Gardens Nursery is open to the public Monday – Saturday from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Elegant Gardens offers a free gardening workshop the first Thursday of the month. The upcoming topics are as follows:

October 4- Pruning Techniques

November 1 – Planting in Pots

December 6 – How to Eliminate Pests

Since ancient times, many civilizations have realized the healing qualities of gardens with their fruit trees, flowers, water, and songbirds. The earliest hospitals in the Western world were infirmaries in monastic communities where herbs and prayer were the focus of healing and a cloistered garden was an essential part of the environment.

Restorative gardens for the sick, which were a vital part of the healing process from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, provided ordered and beautiful settings where patients could begin to heal, both physically and mentally. These were often part of hospitals prior to the mid-twentieth century and are regaining popularity now.

For the home or individual gardener, I think of a healing garden as a place that “heals” us in all ways: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But, it doesn’t just heal our souls by bringing joy, peace, balance, and wholeness; it also has the added benefit of helping our physical self as we work to maintain this oasis of beauty.

With the pace and the stress of modern life, its hard to find such a place, but your garden can be your own place of refuge and recuperation, a restorative landscape that’s a place for contemplation and a place that offers the chance to revive in the peace, serenity and beauty of nature.

No matter how large or small, it’s easy to transform your own yard, patio, or garden into a personal and meaningful garden for your soul by using the elements of water, scent, color, sound and planting schemes to create a “sensory” healing garden.

Sensory gardens use plants and other design elements to provide experiences to awaken all five senses giving the gardener new ways to enjoy the garden. Garden elements in sensory gardens involve seating, lighting, water features, paths, and whimsy. But the bottom line is this is your own special place, so think of what appeals to you.

 

Next: 13 tips to transform your yard

By Kathryn Beach

I was raised in upstate New York where September marks the end of the gardening season. Fortunately, this is not the case in the Sandhills. While it is true the first hints of fall are evident – our nights are getting cooler and some trees are already loosing leaves – our gardening season is just entering its second phase.

Whether you are a transplant to this area or a native interested in increasing your garden’s bounty, North Regional Library’s program, Cool Season Vegetable Gardening, will be of interest to you.

Join Kenneth Bailey, Agricultural Extension Agent with Cumberland County Cooperative Extension, Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. as he discusses how you can continue enjoying fresh vegetables throughout the fall and even into early winter. Bailey will advise you on exchanging tired tomato plants for leaf lettuces, collards, Swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, and radishes. These vegetables actually thrive on the cooler fall temperatures and will produce until the first hard frost.

If you are not sure about planting a fall garden this year, the program includes a review of soil care and activities you should be doing this fall and winter to prepare your soil for spring. As the trees begin to show fall color, make sure your garden does to. Register for Cool Season Vegetable Gardening online at cumberland.lib.nc.us, or by calling 822-1998 ext. 1.

Upcoming Programs at North Regional Library

So many times we look outward to find happiness when it really begins with us. Billie Crooks, a Success Coach and Educator with more than 13 years of experience, helps you experience a change in self-defeating perceptions and move forward toward a healthier self-image. After all, increasing self-awareness is the key to success in all areas of life, from personal to professional. Call 822-1998 or text “ccplinfo” to 66476 for more information. Registration for this program is recommended, as space is limited.

Introduction to Power Point, Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. A powerful and versatile tool, Power Point allows you to present information in new ways. Discover those ways in this beginner’s class. Registration is required as space is limited. Text us at “ccplinfo” 66746 or call 822-1998 to reserve a spot. Computers used for this program are provided by a Golden LEAF Foundation grant.

North Regional Library is located at 855 McArthur Road.

Recently I was asked, “Do you know if there are herb gardens in Bluffton or on Hilton Head Island that are accessible for viewing by the public?”

Honestly, I do not. It’s not that the interest in growing a few herbs for their healthful properties and their flavorful addition to food has not increased. It has, but I do not see home gardeners planting and maintaining a sizable herb garden that would contain both annual and perennial herb plants.

Two decades ago, there were such gardens. Whether the decline is due to the gradual change in climate, I can’t say. It’s hotter and drier now, and the success of a large garden would require more attention, more watering, more weeding and more pruning.

In addition, herbs are readily available in our grocery stores and outdoor markets. But when was the last time you walked out of the market with a pot of turmeric? You know, turmeric — the second healthiest herb that you can grow in our climate.

This past year, I’ve added turmeric to the “no salt” blend that I make and use in the kitchen; it lends an orange color and a spicy flavor to the mix.

Do I have an in-ground herb garden? Yes, but it is small and contains only the perennials that can tolerate a bit of shade: rosemary, sage, parsley, bay, turmeric and gotu kola, the brain tonic herb.

The sun-lovers are grown in containers that I can easily move around to follow the sunlight. These small gardens have taken over the herb-in-ground gardens by many of our herb-growers. I’m loving the shallow, dish-type container that was once a hanging basket (wires removed). I set the container in a plant stand for stand-up gardening. Last year, I began to experiment with combinations of herbs and winter vegetables, a colorful Swiss chard with parsley and oregano. They looked great all winter and into spring.

This fall, I’ll plant a brocco flower (broccoli) with cilantro and dill and add a calendula for color. The calendula produces gorgeous flowers, but it’s not just a looker. The flowers can be made into an ointment by steeping them in boiled water, straining and incorporating the liquid into melted Vaseline. The ointment brings instant relief when applied to skin that’s been stung by red ants or wasps.

A summertime container will always have basil. I’m growing three varieties — sweet, Thai and reddish opal, each in separate containers so as not to interfere with pure taste. With the opal basil, I planted an epazote, the must-have herb for dried bean cookery, and lavender, the secret ingredient in a popular herbal vinegar I make.

Sweet marjoram deserves a pot of its own. It’s very hardy here, rewarding the cook with its sweet and spicy flavor all year long. I’ve known experienced herb growers who declare marjoram their favorite. On the wish list is French tarragon. I’ve tried every ruse I can think of to fool French tarragon into thinking it’s growing in northern New Jersey: Putting it in the refrigerator when it goes dormant in winter, throwing ice cubes at it in July. No deal, it will not tolerate our climate. Luckily we have a substitution in mint marigold or, as it’s often called, the Southern tarragon. Same scent, same taste as French, and unsurpassed
for chicken and fish cookery.

Mint? Of course, but in its own container. Please.

What is first on the list of healthy herbs that we grow in the Lowcountry?

It’s garlic.

Attractive, intelligent managing editors

Jeff Nusser

Craig Powers

Brian Floyd

Mark Sandritter

TAHLEQUAH —
Flowers and their blooms fascinate with intricate details, dazzle with their beauty, and enchant with their fragrance. This appeals to gardeners, whose passion is to tend to flora and fauna in every season.

“It’s amazing how God has made everything so intricate, like the center of a rose,” said Marie LeDoux.

She tends five acres, and loves the peace and beauty her landscape provides her from her front porch or new back deck.

“Every morning, I get up early and go out on the porch, read my Bible then start watering,” LeDoux said.

Gardens with roses surround the house, and beyond them are well-groomed, tree-lined fields, which she mows herself. The oaks were there when she moved in, but the California native, who was born in Java, planted lots of pine trees, pink and white dogwoods and crepe myrtle bushes.

“I keep it like a park so I can play soccer with my grandson,” LeDoux said.

Friends on Facebook can admire her talent with gardening and photography.

“Knock Out roses and nandinas – the deer like it all, and think I planted it just for them. They were here first, and that’s why I moved here,” she said. “The only way I shoot a deer is with my camera.”

Roses are her favorites.

“All us gals, my sisters and my mom, love them,” LeDoux said.

A new favorite addition this year are a couple of giant Calla lilies that look like tall elephant ears, which she bought at the Farmers’ Market.

“The grasshoppers eat everything. There are so many I can’t keep them off,” she said.

Fertilizer is out of the question, because she wants to protect the many birds that hunt her land. A red-tailed hawk that nests on her brothers’ 10 acres also hunts on her five.

“And it keeps away all the things I don’t like, rodents and snakes,” she said. “I pray every night no bugs, rodents or snakes will get into my home.”

The crepe myrtles bloom spring, summer, and most of fall. But the summer’s been so dry, the blooms haven’t been as abundant this year.

The 100-degree temperatures have challenged even the best of gardeners and landscapers. But those who watered twice daily have some gardens to enjoy and plants to prepare for the cooler temperatures autumn will bring.

“In the fall, the leaves of the dogwoods turn blood-red before they fall off,” she said. “And the oleander should survive the snow.”

Elephant ear bulbs stay in the ground, and LeDoux mulches them with cedar mulch to keep the roots moist and protect them from the extremes in temperature. She’s put out about 30 bags of mulch in the garden.

The roses get trimmed down quite a bit, and all the trees’ lower branches will get trimmed about the same height above the ground.

Jim Roaix normally plants extra, and he doesn’t weed.

“I get less tomatoes, for example, but the critters are happy,” he said. “I plant lettuce and cabbage and peas for the rabbit family, and they leave the other stuff alone.”

At the end of the season, he buys from the “ready to rot” section in stores, getting plants for 50 cents to $1 and nursing them back to heath.

In the fall, he trims everything that doesn’t have buds, like trees and the grape arbor with four types of grapes on it. And he doesn’t trim his Knock Out roses.

“I cover the strawberry patch with mesh, and in the fall, I cut off runners for new starts. I put in peat pots that make it easy to water, and come spring, they’re easy to plant,” Roaix said.

Gardening reminds him of the old days, when he was raising his children on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut.

“I used to can close to 1,000 jars of vegetables and fruits, and fish,” he said.

Barbara Hutchinson is so passionate about gardening she winters over about 40 pots in her “Florida room.” Hibiscus, bougainvillea, weeping figs and ferns are among them. She does more gardening in pots since developing arthritis.

She likes oleander and alstroemeria, commonly called Peruvian lily, which makes bouquets of blooms. Roses are a favorite, especially Palatine roses, which she has to order from Canada.

“They’re disease hardy, especially for black spot,” she said. “I have some Knock Out roses and hybrid tea roses with long stems.”

A new favorite is Duranta, a weeping blue flower a friend in Oklahoma City gave her.

“I always like to use fall mums, purple, red, yellow and when I can find them in Arkansas, salmon-colored ones,” Hutchinson said. “And salvia blooms in the fall, and coleus lasts into the fall with pretty colored leaves.”

 

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Easton Church Rooms buzzed with enthusiastic gardeners discussing their challenges with the weather this summer and how they achieved amazing results in the varying categories for the awards ceremony.

In the presence of the two experienced judges, Margo Hall and Margaret Robinson, the prizes were presented by John from Brownes Garden Centre.

1. ​

We are grateful to Rocky Mountain Nursery at Maesbury, and to Brownes Garden Centre at Coxley for generously donating the prizes.

The prize giving was interspersed with poetry as varied as The Rain Show by William Blake and Will To Live by Mary Triplett.

Next year we will provide a quiz as suggested by the gardeners.

It was a joy to realise that from Wells In Bloom inviting schools to plant wheelbarrows, two local young people, Sophie Peglar and Georgina Burns have found a lifelong joy of gardening.

Apologies were received from Councillor Sandra Ford, the chairman of St Cuthbert Out Parish Council who unfortunately could not make it. It was her vision inspired the formation of this competition three years ago.

The judging for 2013 will be in mid May with the overall theme Spring Gardens.

There will be some new categories including plants to encourage wildlife.

Since the start of the awards the Overall Cup has been awarded to gardens in East Horrington, Haydon and Coxley.

We look forward to sharing spring beauty with different gardens in the North and South Ward next year, as well as revisiting familiar gardens in a different season.

Councillor Jane Hill

St Cuthbert in Bloom Organiser

Question two: We have a lemon verbena which has been growing up a south
facing wall for about 15 years but the for the last two years the foliage is
becoming less and less and this year the leaves have appeared only at the
bottom. It is about 3m high and well supported and we have cuttings from it
but rarely seem to be able to keep these going for more than two years.
Please help – this was planted by a French window and every time you brushed
past it the smell was beautiful.

Lemon verbena – Aloysia triphylla – is a gorgeous aromatic
shrub and you have had 15 years of sheer enjoyment from it. Even on a south
facing wall if not protected over the recent harsh winter months then I’m
afraid what you have described sounds like frost damage or damage due to a
mixture of wet/cold winters.

We suggest that you prune the main stems to strong buds – about 30cm from
ground level – mid spring once the danger of frost has passed. Then, from
early summer, pinch out shoot tips for leafy, bushy growth. It is a bit late
now to prune back to 30 cm above ground so alternatively we suggest that you
prune back to where the growth is, take softwood cuttings in the summer and
then in the autumn mulch, protect over winter with fleece. Next mid spring
(2013) give it a prune back using the above technique.

Question three: My garlic is now flowering. Is it ready to harvest? It
seems too early but it has rust.

Garlic – Allium sativum – takes between 16 and 36 weeks to mature. Sounds like
you planted them in the autumn? If so, then flowering now sounds about
right. You need to snip off the flower spikes otherwise the plants put their
energy into the flower and seed rather than the cloves. The bulbs are ready
to harvest once the leaves fade (turn yellow) in mid-summer. Dry them
thoroughly, and store them carefully (they bruise) by hanging them in
bunches. The rust is either due to the plants being planted to closely
together and/or if planted in a shady spot.

Question four: I have a mint plants in the kitchen, where I strip
leaves, the shoots often grow back, long, straggly and yellow with tiny
leaves. What’s the best way to prune them to get less shoots but better,
greener leaves?

The key to having good mint plants is having good light conditions.
Unfortunately, mint plants don’t fare well indoors as light is reduced when
it passes through your kitchen window. It is therefore better to grow mint
outside in a sunny position and keep well watered. Grow in a rich, moist
soil in sun or part shade in a container and regularly divide the plants.
When your plants are young it is worthwhile pinching out their tips above
the nodes (two side buds) so that you create a more bushy plant. Then if you
continue to harvest the mint plants regularly you will maintain bushiness.
If grown in a container outside then it is worthwhile over time adding
nutrients by top dressing with peat free compost or in some cases dividing
the plant and repotting. Jekka Herbs supplies some really interesting mint
herb cultivars. We have had good success with Mentha spicata var. crispa
‘Moroccan’

Question five: Re: the slug problem – why don’t you encourage more
hedgehogs? I never have a slug problem in my garden as I have a resident
hedgehog. Eden Project is very well respected and could encourage everyone
to stop using environmentally non-friendly slug pellets and to help and
respect the hedgehog population. A small meal of dog food encourages them to
a garden.

We love hedgehogs and I completely agree with your solution of encouraging
more hedgehogs into our gardens to reduce plants being damaged by slugs.
Indeed, hedgehogs amongst other beneficial creatures that eat plant pests
such as ladybirds and lacewings are a gardener’s best friend. In particular,
as you quite rightly state, hedgehogs are fantastic at eating slugs, snails
and other pests that damage plants. Having a hedgehog yourself, you would
know that you can encourage them into your garden by having some entrances
and exits available to them – and by leaving piles of leaves and twigs
around for them to nest in, or by making purpose built shelters. Food should
be put out at sunset, so that flies cannot lay eggs in it. If the food is
not eaten by morning, it should be collected. A good hedgehog diet would
include tinned pet food, crunchy peanut butter, raw or cooked meat
leftovers, muesli and a small amount of vegetables. They should not be fed
on bread and milk if they are captive and cannot find other foods as this
gives them diarrhoea.

Unfortunately, many people’s first port of call to kill slugs is the use of
toxic slug pellets that contain harmful chemicals and this is why we suggest
the use of the non-toxic Ferramol Max slug pellets which contains Ferric
Phosphate only and not the additive EDTA in other Ferric Phosphate products
(thought also to be detrimental to the environment). In addition, we also
suggest using Nemaslug a bio-control that kills slugs. We feel that
suggesting a few options for the public gives them the freedom to decide
what route they want to take. These options include encouraging beneficial
predators into your garden such as hedgehogs, the use of less toxic baits
and bio controls. All of these options are given in the hope that the public
are well informed so that they can make their own choice and therefore
hopefully reduce the use of toxic slug pellets and thus reduce their impact
on the environment. Once again, thank you for your comment about hedgehogs.

Ask
the Eden experts your gardening questions here