|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Visit
Our Website Previous Issues Buyer's Guide Tell A Friend
Bookstore
Site
Search Rose
Tips
Books
We Love
|
Ten, Nine,
Eight, Seven... Our gardens have never looked better! The combination of rain and moderate temperatures have been perfect for growing. Of course if you are wanting tomatoes anytime soon we are going to need to see a rise in temperatures both daytime and evening. Warm weather is a must especially when you are trying to grow Kansas City's Tastiest Tomato. After numerous reader requests we quietly added a donation link to (at left) for those of you who enjoy Savvygardener.com and want to contribute to our cause. Thanks to those of you that have contributed - it really helps! We've also been getting a lot of great feedback on our garden photos. We'll do our best to keep posting them every week. Just look for the "Garden Photos" link in the new "In This Issue" box at the top of each newsletter. Missouri Organic Recycling will be delivering 12 cubic yards of cedar mulch tomorrow so Kevin and I already have our long weekend planned. We will finish planting annuals, then make sure that every bed has a nice layer of mulch on it. Lots of work but we are sure looking forward to it. We can't think of a better way to spend a long weekend then doing what we love - gardening! Have a great Memorial Day! ~ Shelly
Perfect Peonies... According to Karen Gast at the Kansas State University Research & Extension gardeners should pick peonies when the buds are showing color and are soft like a marshmallow. Red cultivars should exhibit a soft center when pressed down too. Bunch the flowers in no more than ten stems to a bunch making sure the flowers are dry before you place them in a large bag. Seal the bag and place it in the refrigerator or cold storage at a temperature below 40°F. If you want to store them longer than Memorial Day, say for a wedding in June or July, you can give the flowers a drink of 10% sugar water before cold storage. Let the flowers sit for about 30 minutes after harvest and re-cut the stems just before you put them in the 10% sugar water solution. Keep the flowers in the sugar water for two hours at room temperature. When done, dry the stems and place in plastic bags and then into the refrigerator. When you are ready to use the flowers, take them out of cold storage or the refrigerator the day before, re-cut the stems underwater and place in water. If harvested at the right stage the flowers should be open the next day (if not before). Not all peony cultivars store well. For long term storage, store at least 25% to 50% more than you think you need.
Vine Crop Vigilantes...
Rain Drain... Use a general-use fertilizer or one high in nitrogen. Organic fertilizers such as blood meal contain good levels of nitrogen and work well as a side-dressing. Apply fertilizers along the crop row and lightly cultivate or hoe to make sure the fertilizer is incorporated lightly to quickly dissolve. With rainfall, the fertilizer nitrogen dissolves and is carried into the plant root zone.
Winning By
Thinning...
For a list of common garden vegetables and recommendations for their spacing click here.
Getting Antsy
About Aphids...
What's Hot On The Hotline...
Zoysia Tips...
Finally... ~ Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
© 1999-2003 Savvygardener.com, Inc. All rights reserved. If you wish to copy, transmit, or otherwise duplicate any of the material from our website please ask us first. Thank you. |