by Stephen Gent, Owner
McDade’s Nursery

Stephen has 14+ years of experience in horticulture as Publisher and Marketing Director for Nursery Management and Production, Greenhouse Management and Production and Garden Center magazine.

An avid gardener with a lifelong passion for plants, he enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with customers.

September marks the transition from summer to fall in the garden. The long hot days of summer give way to cooler temperatures and the opportunity to prepare your landscape for Fall. Here are some important tips for residents of the Cedar Creek Lake area..

Fertilizing and preparing your lawn for Fall is critical. Grasses undergo heat stress during the hot summers and need extra care and attention. Use a slow-release fertilizer with a 16-4-12 formulation that is recommended for the turf and soil types in our area. Contact your local nursery to purchase the correct fertilizer for fall. For best results, remember to water deeply after applying.

If you want a weed-free lawn during Winter and Spring use a pre-emergent in September. Pre-emergents work by stopping weed seeds from germinating, so applying at the right time is important. If you are interested in organically treating your lawn, Corn Gluten can be used as an effective organic pre-emergent.

If your St. Augustine grass has dead patches due to lack of watering, chinch bugs or fungus, now is the time to replace with new sod. If you have Bermuda grass, it’s best to lay down new seed before mid-September.

Fall is the best time of year to plant, especially larger trees and shrubs. Planting now allows the root systems to get established during the winter months. When Spring arrives the plant is acclimatized to its new environment and is ready to put out strong leaves, new top growth and lots of flowers. Trees and shrubs planted during the fall have a higher chance of surviving our hot summers.

At the Lake, mid to late September is the best time to start planting fall color. As cooler type plants become available, look to plant snapdragons, kale, cabbage, chrysanthemums, hardy asters, dianthus, pansies, violas and dusty miller into your yard. Chrysanthemums are perennials and can add wonderful color to the garden, patio or porch blooming up to three times in a year.

Remember, vegetables are not just for spring and summer. Beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, winter squash, peas, Swiss chard, lettuce, turnips, onions, and carrots are all crops that do well this time of year. Vegetables can be planted from seed or transplanted.

Daytime temperatures are forecasted in the 80’s this weekend. This will be a great time to get back into the garden and start preparing for fall.

Happy Gardening.

If you think you can’t have a garden in your apartment, guess again.

“When you look at basic watering, proper sunlight and plant selection, you can have a nice green space even in a small condo,” Andrew Dedrick of Geobunga.

We visited with Andrew before at his home in Nuuanu and discovered something called ‘container gardening.’

“What we call container gardening, where you’re able to incorporate multiple plants, so often people think one container, one plant and here you see where we’ve mixed a few in,” said Dedrick.

Here are a few examples.

“So we brought a red lia for a filler space,” Dedrick explained. “A varigated resina to come in and give you some color. Closer to you have a palm with some nice fern just to accent off the pot.”

In our visit with Andrew at his home, we found a number of containers that held herbs and vegetables — even this morning, we had rosemary and basil in vessels in the studio. Obviously, handy when you’re cooking. Want to know how to get started?

“We have a workshop this Saturday,” said Dedrick. “It’s a free workshop and it is 9:00 a.m. in town and 2:0 p.m. out at our location in Waimanalo. These are beautiful plants that are from the Waimanalo valley so there’s great nurseries out there. Sharon’s Plants was nice enough to provide these this morning.”

The workshop will turn your ‘brown’ thumb into a green one.

“If you understand the basic watering needs and the light conditions and select your plants based on that, you can have beautiful plants and keep them for a long time,” said Dedrick.

And that’s a goal devoutly to be wished.

What do you do when you’ve got a bumper crop of zucchini or lettuce? Or flower bulbs that have multiplied like rabbits? Many people give their extras away. And in the down economy, more and more hobby gardeners are trading their bounty at swap meets. 

A new website from a team in Seattle and Tacoma makes those transactions easier.

Radio script:

It’s lunch hour on a recent Wednesday in Seattle and Connie Parson’s is very excited about a blind date she set up online…she’s wearing a colorful scarf with matching ceramic earrings. She arrives at Westlake Center carrying a big bag with green leaves poking out…and is clearly looking forward to meeting a man she knows mostly by his handle, SparkyGlass.

She found him through a website she helped found. It’s called CropSwap.

BP: “What do you know about what he looks like?”

CP: “I don’t. I have his cell phone number….Hi! “

But it’s easy for them to find each other.

CP:” …And I told him I would have a big bag of plants.”

They’re actually two dozen Crocosmia bulbs that already bloomed this season. And she’s also got two purple Hastas from her shade garden, in plastic pots. 

CP: Hello – how are you? I’m Connie!

SG: Nice to meet you…Scott

CP: AKA, SparkyGlass?

SG: Yes. 

On the table next to him is a couple of columbine plants and an open carton of eggs, with pale green shells and dates written on them in pencil.

SG: “…each day that we get them, that’s the day that they were laid, so we know exactly how fresh they are and you’ll know how fresh they are.”

CP: And they’re beautiful eggs….if you bought these eggs at the farmers’ market – that would be…

SG: It’s expensive, they get expensive.”

In this deal, no cash is exchanged – just the eggs and plants these two urbanites produced at their homes in Kent and Seattle.

Sparky Glass says in the past, he’s sold his eggs to friends and used the income to help pay for the upkeep of his chickens.

But this season, he’s also accepted lemon cucumbers from a lady in Tacoma for his eggs. All this thanks to the Cropswap website.

He says once he found the Cropswap website on the Internet, he got hooked right away.

SG: “‘Caus’ it had everything that I wanted to do built into it already. So hopefully we can just keep it growing and getting more and more people involved. Because there are a lot of urban homesteaders out there, who are probably looking for something similar.”

The idea is that because the CropSwap site is searchable, people have a better shot at finding things they actually want, rather than taking what’s available at old-fashioned swap meets.

It has its limits right now, because there are only a couple hundred members so far. In other cities, similar ideas have fizzled in the past.

The site is designed to generate revenue when users pay an annual membership fee. For people who’d rather give their extra food to the hungry, there’s also a “willing to donate” option. 

Days are getting shorter, and weather has cooled. Autumn is right around the corner. Follow these guidelines to help your garden and landscape transition smoothly from summer to fall.

Planting

» September is the best time to set out landscape plants. Shop early to find the nicest trees and shrubs.

» When planting containerized plants, try to be certain to disturb or “open up” the plants’ root ball.

» Set out new chrysanthemum plants this month.

» Plant pansies to add color to your yard in the autumn, winter and spring months.

» Groundcovers will become well established if planted now.

» Transplant any evergreen trees or shrubs that need moving this month.

» Plant the following fall vegetables in September: mustard, onion, radish and turnip.

Pruning

» Do not prune shrubs in September, October or November.

Lawn care

» Tall fescue lawns should be seeded this month. Remember to mulch the newly seeded areas with wheat or barley straw.

» Fertilize and lime your tall fescue lawns according to soil test results.

» Do not fertilize warm-season grasses like centipedegrass, Bermudagrass and zoysia now.

Propagation

» Spring flowering bulbs can be divided and replanted this month. Daffodils will be the bulbs that most likely need this consideration.

Specific chores

» Mulch your favorite landscape plants for the winter.

» Clean up garden sprayers and lawn equipment if not in use.

» Prepare houseplants to re-enter your home. Bring them inside a little each day and rid them of insect pests.

» If you do not have a fall vegetable garden, chop, burn, or discard dead vegetable plants.

» Look for spring flowering bulbs to plant in October.

For answers to your garden and landscape questions, visit http://iredell.ces.ncsu.edu or call the Iredell Cooperative Extension Service office at 704-873-0507.

Gardening tips set to boost cancer charity at Stone Manor Hotel

9:20am Saturday 1st September 2012 in News

TOP tips for autumn gardening from an expert panel is set to make a blooming good evening and raise cash for vital research into cancer.

The popular event, organised by the Wyre Forest committee of Cancer Research UK, is being held at the Garden Room, Stone Manor Hotel, Kidderminster, on Wednesday, September 12.

The expert panel will feature regulars Paul Cook, of Cook’s Nurseries, Stourport and Reg Moule, of BBC Hereford and Worcester, with committee chairman Peter Tomlinson as question master.

“This always proves a popular evening for keen gardeners, novices and even non-gardeners as audiences enjoy the humour and banter between our resident experts Paul and Reg,” said Mr Tomlinson.

The question time starts at 7.30pm for 8pm and tickets, priced £7, are available by ringing 01562 823825 or on the door.

Comment now! Register or sign in below.

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I tend to harp on keeping a record of what you do in the vegetable garden and flower beds and when you do it. To that end, the Wichita County Master Gardeners Association proudly announces its 2013 Gardening Calendar.

The brainchild of Master Gardener Mary Barry, we have created this calendar with the Knightcrawlers Junior Master Gardeners of Notre Dame Catholic School. Mary has volunteered at Notre Dame, helping with the JMG program since 2005. Her idea was to have the children create gardening-themed artwork, and each child in the group that submitted a picture would have the art included. Several of the children did more than one picture and I have to tell you, Mary and I spent a good bit of time deciding which of the extras to select. There are some budding artists in that group.

Inside on the calendar pages you will find gardening tips for each month, specific to our area, as well as water-wise gardening tips, recommended books and websites to help you in your gardening efforts. All of the information is solid, research-based data you can count on. There also is room to make notes and have a journal for future reference.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, all of whom are listed inside the calendar, the cost for printing, in color, was completely covered. That allows for all sales to be profit, which will be divided equally between the Knightcrawlers and the Wichita County Master Gardeners to fund our gardening projects.

My thanks go to Benny Butler with the Wichita Falls Parks Department for his horticultural editing; to Gail Elmore, our own editor-in-chief for all things printed (the woman can spot a typo from a mile away!); to Mary Barry, Jan Gardin, and Jerry Warren for their excellent fundraising efforts, and to our printer, who wishes to remain nameless. Without their incredible help, this project would never have gotten off the ground.

We will be selling the calendars for $10 each, and will be set up at United MarketStreet on Fairway from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 8 and 15. Many thanks to the good people at United for allowing us to plant ourselves two Saturdays in a row (I couldn’t resist the pun). This is a major fundraiser for both groups, so we hope you will come out and support our efforts to help folks garden better and smarter, sharing our love of gardening, and making some new friends along the way.

Click photo to enlarge

Walnut Creek’s Ruth Bancroft is a national authority on drought-resistant gardening. Twice a month, she and her staff share their knowledge with readers.

The genus Salvia has a large number of species, and many hybrids have been created from these. They range from small creepers, or “subshrubs,” up to large bushes, with varying flower colors. Because they come from differing environments, their water needs differ markedly from one kind to another. Among the drought-tolerant ones is Salvia clevelandii, native to Southern California and neighboring Baja California.

Salvia clevelandii is sometimes called Blue Sage or California Blue Sage, due to the blue-purple color of its flowers. The name sage is applied to various species of Salvia, including the kind used in cooking (Salvia officinalis), and other plants from different families can also be referred to as sage.

S. clevelandii is a modest-size shrub, typically reaching 3 to 4 feet in height and in width. The whole plant has a wonderful fragrance, and leaves or sprigs often are used in potpourris and sachets. The new gray-green leaves are minutely felted; older leaves become deeper green as the covering wears off. Elliptical in shape, the leaves grow to about 1¾ inches in length. They have a roughened texture, and the edges have tiny notches.

The flowers of the California Blue Sage emerge in spring, starting in May at the Ruth Bancroft Garden. If not watered, the plant often

stops flowering by early summer. However, occasional watering can keep the flowers going through the summer. The blooms come in whorls at intervals along the upper stems, each with a cushion-shaped cluster of buds and sepals; from these, the trumpet-like flowers emerge. Just under an inch in length, they (like other Salvia flowers) are two-lipped, with three of the petal-tips curling downward and the other two curving up. The color ranges from pale lavender through an intense blue-purple.

Some attractive forms of Salvia clevelandii have been selected by growers; the best known of these is the cultivar “Winnifred Gilman.” It is a bit more compact than other forms, usually reaching about 3 feet in height. It is often used in gardens of native plants, and makes a fine addition to any drought-tolerant landscape.

If you have a question for the Ruth Bancroft Garden, email info@ruthbancroftgarden.org. For tour and event information, go to www.ruthbancroftgarden.org.

September is upon us with another month of heat and heavy rain. This month is the height of hurricane-season, so Tropical Storm Isaac was right on time. And, there are more on the horizon which will hopefully go elsewhere. Remember all of the hurricane preparation and clean up tips to help you through this period.

Also, keep a close eye on your lawn right now. We just had a hot dry period followed by some very wet weather. These climatic changes are perfect for the breeding of new generations of chinch bugs. They are everywhere right now. Chinch bugs like to lay their eggs when it is dry and then the eggs hatch with the rains. Watch for the telltale yellowing followed by brown spots. Part the blades of grass to find the little black bugs with white wings running in the soil or on the base of the blades. The newly hatched bugs are orange.

Grubs can also be very active right now. Areas of your lawn that look water stressed may have grubs actively eating the roots of the grass. Grab a handful of grass in these areas and pull on it. If it lifts away from the soil with no resistance from the roots, you probably have grubs. A little digging in the soil will usually produce a fat, white grub lying in a C-shaped position. Grubs come to the surface to feed when the soil moisture is high, as it is after significant rain.

And finally, stressed turf is more susceptible to diseases such as brown patch, gray leaf spot or root rot. People who mistakenly turn off their sprinkler systems, believing the rain will keep their lawn healthy, can bring on disease problems when lawns are stressed from inadequate water to allow for the higher trans-evaporation rates of summer. Brown-patch affects the lawn in circular patterns and the blades can be easily separated from the crown or root area. Leaf disease causes the blades to have lesions, which eventually kills the whole blade. Root rot can be found in those damaged areas from spring. The disease will rot the roots from the stolons allowing them to float above the lawn. All of these diseases can be controlled with the use of fungicides to prevent the spread of disease organisms to healthy surrounding lawn areas.

The ficus whitefly has been decimating ficus hedges all around Marco Island for several months and continues to be a problem. If you can suddenly see a new view through your hedge, like your neighbor’s house, and your gardener has not severely trimmed it, you probably have ficus whitefly. You do need to act quickly since this whitefly will cause the branches to die and eventually the entire hedge. Spraying or drenching with an insecticide containing Merit will control the insect and will last for six months to a year. The spiraling whitefly attacking our trees can be controlled the same way. This insect will make a mess but will not kill your trees.

This is a good time to start preparing vegetable and flower beds by turning the soil and fumigating to control nematodes and diseases. The natural way to fumigate is to cover the garden beds with clear plastic, allowing the heat to kill these organisms. September is the last full month you can get away with heavy pruning on all shrubs. The official cutoff date for heavy pruning is Oct. 15 to avoid damage of tender new growth from cold winter temperatures.

After one more month of really hard work October should bring slightly cooler temperatures, less rain and humidity, and a slowed growth rate for your gardens. A welcome relief after a long, hard summer for tropical gardeners.

Eileen Ward and her husband Peter have owned and operated Greensward of Marco, Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company since 1981.

The Butte County Master Gardener 2013 calendars, “Gardening with Edibles,” are on sale now at the Saturday Chico Farmers Market, Master Gardener events throughout Butte County and through the UC Cooperative Extension office, 2279 Del Oro Ave., Oroville.

They will also be available during the Sierra Oro Farm Trail Passport weekend Oct. 6-7.

The calendars feature 13 months of tomato and gardening tips by the gardeners and include a planting guide on warm- and cool-season vegetable gardening and growing edible plants in the garden.

Proceeds from the sales support the Master Gardeners volunteer organization.

Volunteers receive 76 hours of training through the Extension office and will assist farm advisers and all home gardeners.

UC Master Gardeners in Butte County provide seasonal advice on plants, pests, gardening, home orchards and sustainable practices. They will also speak to local community groups and organizations on a variety of topics.

Call 538-7201 for information.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report late last week predicting an increase in food prices, especially among animal products. That’s thanks to a hard crop year in the Midwest, where droughts drove corn and soybean prices up. Those two items have a domino effect on all other food prices, including meat and dairy, as corn and soybeans are used for animal feed.

Among the predictions: Beef and veal will rise by an estimated 5 percent by 2013, pork will rise 3.5 percent and dairy will rise 4.5 percent during the same period.

Couple that with the premium health food seekers pay for farmer’s market fare and organic staples, and you’re looking at one whopper of a grocery bill. So what can you do? Here are some top tips to keep food prices down and quality up.

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• Find Meat Alternatives

  This may sound like an obvious one, but replacing meat with vegetable sources of protein like rice, beans and lentils, will always help reduce costs. That goes double during this period, when the USDA specifically predicts a price hike in animal protein.

  The Environmental Working Group recommends reducing meat-based meals by a href=”http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/goodfood/pdf/goodfoodonatightbudget.pdf” target=”_hplink”two additional meals per week/a, replacing them with lentils or beans for significant savings.

• Skip Prepared Foods

  Not only are boxed, frozen meals, pizzas and burritos more likely to be processed and laden with excess sugar, fat and salt, they’re also generally more expensive, a href=”http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/goodfood/pdf/goodfoodonatightbudget.pdf” target=”_hplink”according to the EWG/a.

• Plan With A Shopping List

  Grocery stores are designed to encourage more purchases, so walking in without a game plan can be dangerous for your bottom line. Instead, come equipped with a list full of staples that get you the most bang for your buck. This WebMD list of a href=”http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/cheap-healthy-15-nutritious-foods-about-2-dollars” target=”_hplink”15 healthful foods for under $2/a is a good place to start.

• Think About The Nutrient You Want

  Want fiber? Black beans and popcorn may be the cheapest sources. Need to up your protein intake? Go for canned tuna. For a more complete list of swaps, a href=”http://fitbie.msn.com/slideshow/8-ridiculously-cheap-healthy-foods” target=”_hplink”check out Fitbie’s suggestions/a.

• Preserve!

  Buying in bulk is a cheap way to get a lot of food in your larder, but healthful fruits and veggies can go bad before you can eat them. That’s where pickling, jarring and canning can come in handy — it’s a cheap, healthful way to keep seasonal produce all year round.

  Start by checking out the a href=”http://nchfp.uga.edu/” target=”_hplink”National Center for Home Food Preservation/a, a government resource that provides guides on safe canning, pickling and other forms of preserving.

• Freeze

  Another form of preservation, freezing is a good option for perishable items like meat and cheese, in addition to produce. The a href=”http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/goodfood/pdf/goodfoodonatightbudget.pdf” target=”_hplink”EWG also points out/a that freezing allows buyers to bring home family-sized packs that are on sale, further helping with savings.

• Buy Dry

  Dried beans are cheaper than canned. Dry milk, mixed with water, makes a href=”http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/goodfood/pdf/goodfoodonatightbudget.pdf” target=”_hplink”a cheaper and no less healthful/a substitute for recipes. Get bulk bags of dry oats for oatmeal, rather than the more perishable boxes of cereal. Dried fruits are another way to keep vitamin-packed goodies on your shelves for longer periods.

• Grow Your Own

  Though there’s an initial investment in starting a garden — the seedlings, planting boxes, fertilizers, tools and other instruments do add up — there are incredible gains, too: a steady source of organic, fresh fruits and veggies.

  If you don’t have a backyard, rooftops, balconies and community plots work just fine. Want to learn how to create your own veggie garden? a href=”http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/gardening/outdoor/garden-starting-checklist-00000000002180/index.html” target=”_hplink”emReal Simple/em has some good tips/a.

• Clip Coupons

  This is an obvious one, but so many people don’t do it. Using coupons is a great way to get organic and other pricier health foods at a discount. And, as BankRate points out, organic brands like Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen and Amy’s a href=”http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cheap/20040901a3.asp#15″ target=”_hplink”often have coupons attached to their packaging/a.