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September 24, 2003

Lovin' This Weather...
Fall has arrived - and what a fall it has turned out to be! For all of you who have planted grass the weather has been on your side. For those of you who have not yet planted, do it now! The cooler nights and warm days are perfect for grass seed germination.  Just make sure you are keeping your grass seed moist as there's not a sign of rain until later next week.  You'll have to get out and move that hose around. Laborious work that will pay off big next spring.

I have been busy once again working in someone else's garden. Last year at the Westwood View Elementary Auction, Gayle Purdy, a Westwood View parent purchased a day of my services. So last Saturday, being a perfect gardening day, my daughter Morgan and I headed over to Gayle's for some fall clean-up, landscaping ideas and tips. What a blast the two of us had! Morgan, only twelve, has an eye for design so I let her play a bit with different plant types and textures. She had some great ideas and I am really proud that she is getting the hang of this gardening thing. She is definitely going to be better at designing than at laboring. She has never been too fond of labor, be it any kind. I enjoy both aspects but must admit that laboring in the dirt is my favorite! Sounds like we make a pretty good gardening pair!

Tune in Sunday morning from 7-9 AM to AM 980 KMBZ to listen to me and my buddies John Bruntzel and Jan Olson of the Gard'N-Wise Guys. We will be answering all of your gardening questions and I am sure that you will be able to count on a joke or two! It will be fun so don't forget to tune in!

~ Shelly  

Totally Tulips (Part III)...
If you enjoy the thought of continuously blooming tulips in your spring garden you will need to round out the early and middle bloomers (discussed in the previous two issues) with some of these later blooming varieties:

  • Single Late Tulips incorporate the former Darwin, cottage, and breeder tulips.  Along with the Darwin hybrid tulips, they are some of the tallest tulips.  Flowers are borne on stems up to 30 inches tall and available in a wide range of colors.
  • Double Late Tulips are often referred to as peony-flowered tulips.  The many-petaled flowers are borne on 12 to 20 inch stems.  Plant double late tulips in protected locations as the large flowers can be damaged by rain and strong winds.
  • Viridiflora Tulips produce long-lasting flowers which have prominent green markings on their petals.  The unusual flower characteristics make it a novelty item in the garden.
  • Lily-flowering Tulips have long pointed petals which arch outward, the flowers somewhat resembling a lily.  Flower colors include white, pink, red, yellow, and purple. Several varieties have petals edged or feathered in contrasting colors.  Plants grow to a height of 20 to 30 inches.
  • Fringed Tulips have flowers with elegant fringed petals. Many varieties are mutants of single late tulips.  Also known as "crispa tulips."
  • Rembrandt Tulips produce striped or "broken" blooms. The white, yellow, or red petals are striped with red, bronze, or purple.  These types were bought for huge sums during the "tulip mania" in Holland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  The unusual markings were actually caused by a virus.  Due to the virus, the original Rembrandt tulips are no longer sold.  However, there are several modern, virus-free Rembrandt tulips available.
  • Multi-flowering Tulips produce 3 to 7 blooms per stem.  The main stem of multi-flowering tulips branches into secondary stems.  Each secondary stem produces a flower.  The flower on the main stem is slightly larger than those on the secondary stems.  Many of the multi-flowering cultivars belong to the single late tulip class.  These tulips are 14- to 20-inch-tall plants which bloom late in the season.  Several varieties are multi-flowering Greigii tulips which are 8 to 12 inches tall and early blooming.

Next week, Species Tulips...

Source

Make Green Tomatoes See Red...
When it gets as cool as it has been lately the green tomatoes still on your vines just aren't going to ripen there
(photo).  And what's worse, if a rogue frost descends on them it's game over.  Here are two approaches to getting them to ripen out of harms way:

  • Remove the whole plant, roots and all, and hang it upside-down in a cool, dark area indoors or in a garage.  At temperatures in the 60's those tomatoes should ripen nicely.  Just pull them off the vine as they are individually ready.
  • If the above method is a bit messy for you try picking the green tomatoes and individually wrapping them in newspaper.  Place them in a paper bag or cardboard box and store in a cool, dark place.  Keep an eye on them periodically.  When they start to redden up unwrap them and let them finish ripening at room temperature.  Hint - If you're in a hurry place an apple in the bag with the wrapped tomatoes.

Tasty red tomatoes won't be far away!

Chilly Change In The Air...
This time of year it's not unusual for overnight temperatures to dip into the 40's.  Brrr!  There's no frost on the horizon yet but keep in mind that our first frost is due in mid-October.  Remember that Mother Nature has her own agenda and doesn't have much time for statistics and averages.  Surprise early frosts can be a problem if you're not prepared.

For those of you new to Savvygardener.com we hope you will enjoy our timely frost alerts.  We send these e-mail alerts to all subscribers when we believe an untimely frost is likely.  Hopefully we are still several weeks from our first frosty scare.  Cross your fingers!

 


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Dig This...
Fall is the preferred time to plant many trees and shrubs.  Warm soil, moderate air temperatures and autumn rains all help a tree adjust to its new environment and set down roots with a minimum of stress and shock.  If you are transplanting deciduous trees and shrubs, wait until their leaves have dropped or at least changed color.  Evergreens and conifers, however, benefit from early planting in fall.  In either case watering (1 inch weekly until the ground is frozen) and mulching the root zone are crucial to success.

Only 90 Shopping Days Until Christmas...
Christmas is still a way off but if you are planning on displaying home-grown poinsettias it's time to start planning.  Poinsettias are short-day plants and must be tricked into blooming for Christmas.  Follow these steps:

  • Find a dark, cool (around 55 degrees) place where the plant will be kept at "night".  It must be absolutely dark as even short exposure to a light bulb will throw the process out of kilter.
  • Place the poinsettia in this dark place at 5 Pm and leave it there until 8 AM the following day.
  • Between 8 AM and 5 PM place it in a sunny window where temperatures will remain near 70 degrees.  
  • Do this for 11 weeks, watering and fertilizing as usual.

With care and patience you should have healthy, blooming poinsettias for the holidays.

 


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What's Hot On The Hotline...
Forcing bulbs indoors is a great wintertime treat.  What better way to bring the joy of spring into the gray of winter? Which bulbs are best?  How to get started?  Find out in this week's What's Hot On the Hotline...

Wet Or Dry?  Here's Why...
Even Savvygardeners sometimes wonder which is more effective: liquid or dry lawn products?  Both have their place in turf management, and either can be used interchangeably depending on the product, equipment, and expertise.  Broadleaf herbicides, for instance, are often more effective and less expensive when applied in a spray vs. those that are applied in a "weed and feed" granular formulation.  But to increase the efficacy of the "weed and feed", be sure to follow label instructions which generally states that it must be applied to wet or dew-covered turf.  Also, most gardeners prefer to spray fungicides for best coverage.  

However, the opposite is true with fertilizers.  Nitrogen sprayed to turf can cause burn at higher rates or during warm weather, may volatilize before the turf can use it, and only one form of water soluble fertilizer (urea, 46-0-0) is widely available.  Granular fertilizer products are often superior because they are available in a wide variety of formulations of N-P-K and in many slow release forms, both of which are untrue for soluble or sprayable fertilizers.  

There are few general differences between dry vs. liquid applications of preemergence herbicides or insecticides.  So the bottom line is if we had to choose, we’d spray broadleaf herbicides and fungicides, while using granular-style fertilizers.

Source

Finally...
"Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration"

~ Lou Erickson, Writer

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