Keep up with the Feeding!

We are in the prime growing season for most flowers, trees and shrubs. That is why it is vitally important to be feeding your plants regularly. The beginning part of the month will be the last time for feeding large trees and hedges. Perennials should be fed now, as they are actively growing, and annuals should be fed weekly to maximize their bloom potential before they’re gone in the fall. Don’t forget about the veggies. They need weekly feeding as well before harvest time arrives. Look around your yard and see what might have been missed on the feeding schedule (things like vines for instance). Time spent applying healthy food to your plants always pays off!

Have a Backyard Grocery Store

This morning I thought my bowl of cereal looked a bit bland so slipped on my garden crocs and with bowl in hand, plucked a handful of fat, ripe blueberries from my raised vegetable garden to add to my breakfast. A short time later, I needed some leafy greens to add to my sandwich so again I slipped on my garden crocs and ventured the 15 feet out the backdoor to the ‘produce patch’. This time, instead of picking the usual bronze leaf lettuce, I reached for the dill and basil and put that in my sandwich. It was a pleasant change from lettuce. This got me thinking about how easy it was to grow my own fresh food. I have written many articles on growing all sorts of food but sometimes it bears repeating. IT IS EASY! You don’t have to plant an acre and be tied down to long days of toiling in the garden. Start small and see how much you enjoy slipping out back to the garden and harvesting your very own food.

I mention this because there is still so much available in the way of food crops to buy and plant. We have lots of blueberry bushes loaded with fruit, although the staff has to be reined in from sampling too heavily. We still have good supplies of strawberry plants, kiwi vines, raspberries, and much more. In the vegetable department, we still have plenty of pepper plants, tomatoes, squashes and kale. It’s not too late to pop in a few edible plants either into pots for container gardening or into empty spots in sunny gardens. With your first mouthful of homegrown goodness, you’ll be glad you made the effort!

Hooray for Hydrangeas

This is the time of the year when hydrangeas are at their prime. They will hold their blooming splendor well into the fall making them a valuable component of the garden. When you mention hydrangeas most people automatically think of the large round blue flowering variety. There is sooo much more available! The variety of colors and types is amazing and often underutilized. Choose from wee dwarf varieties (such as the lovely Pia) to tall tree form hydrangeas (such as the Pee Gee) to the bushy, rounded form of the
Oak Leaf hydrangea. Bloom shape is again varied with the round ball form of the macrophylla’s, the flat, delicate form of the lacecap and the conical form of the paniculatas. Flower color ranges from pure whites (such as the Incrediball) to soft pinks to purple, blue and limes (as in Limelight).

White hydrangeas will always remain true in color but pink and blue varieties can change depending on the soil composition they are grown in. Turning the bloom color either pink or blue can be achieved with the addition of either lime or aluminum sulphate. I admit to having a soft spot for hydrangeas for a few reasons: they are hardy, rarely get disease or insects, pretty low maintenance and bloom for long periods.

This is a picture of my 4 year old tree form Pee Gee hydrangea. Notice the solid stake it has. The blooms are so large and heavy, it actually split the stem one year due to the weight. I gave it a brutally hard prune and the next year it came back nicely with stronger stems. When all the blooms open, I often have people walking by comment on its beauty and ask what kind of tree it is. They are always surprised to learn it is a hydrangea because again, most people only think of the big, blue ball shrubs as hydrangeas.

If you’re looking for something easy and gratifying to add to your garden then give another look at the wide, world of hydarngeas!