In the Garden - July 2023
Jun 30, 2023 12:40PM ● By JB Culbertson
Hi, all! I can’t remember a spring that we had to water two or three times a day every day since the beginning of the growing season. Some thoughts…1… Install rain barrels where they won’t be in the way or obstructed by branches or leaves. Cover it with a screen (with small openings) to keep out debris and bugs. Use collected rainwater for container plantings or run a soaker hose to a nearby garden. You could set out plastic trash cans to gather rainwater. Keep watering cans handy to dip and go as needed. Or, once a month mix in some plant food. Using rainwater reduces wear on your water pump or lowers your water bill and there is no heavy hose to drag around. To make a watering can, take an empty orange juice container and drill a series of holes in the lid. 2…let us hope it rains soon.
Happy Gardening…
Don’t forget to add a birdbath and a hummingbird feeder to your garden…The birds need water also. These plants are especially attractive to hummingbirds… Yellow Asiatic lilys, red Bee Balm, orange Butterfly weed, trumpet vine, and zinnias. Fill the feeder with homemade sugar water—mix four parts water to one part sugar, then boil for one to two minutes. Cool it before filling the feeder; refrigerate leftovers for up to a week. Toads eat cutworms and other garden pests. Welcome them with a shallow dish of water in the shade, placed strategically close to the right plants.
Deadhead flowers for continued bloom; leave them only if you will collect them or want them to reseed themselves. Divide and replant Oriental Poppies when their foliage turns brown after flowering. Turn a privacy fence into an attractive landscape feature by training fast-growing vines along it. Try clematis or noninvasive coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). Don’t overwater your Geranium. Don’t overfertilize either…Either one time in the spring or three smaller amounts in the growing season. You can overwinter geranium also.
Plant these in your garden or in containers to keep pests away… Basil (put in pots around patio or deck and don’t let dry out; full sun to partial shade), Mint (repels mosquitos, ants and flies; full sun to partial shade, crush leaves and rub on clothes; make sure it stays contained), Lemon Grass, (snip a few inches off tips to release bug repelling oils; can grow from seed; can bring inside for winter; full sun and evenly moist soil), Lavendar (Rub plant on yourself and nearby surfaces; full sun), Lemon Thyme (full sun), Garlic (Plant near carrots and tomatoes; put cloves in the ground in the fall; full sun), Catnip (don’t plant seed…too tough to grow; full sun; grows up to three feet tall), Rosemary, Sage. Pull weeds. Put down mulch… Encourage birds and bats to your yard.
If you haven’t cut the dried blossoms off your Iris, peony, Lilac trees, or the dried greens from those spring flowers, it is time. Remember that these cuttings can go in the compost, but not the weeds!
Happy Gardening…