Fresh ideas in container gardening

I apologize for being so delinquent in posting information, tips and articles lately--if I may, I'd like to blame it on a busy spring! But on this rainy Saturday, I'm getting caught up on e-mails and "desk work" and thought it would be good to post this month's "In Bloom" column from the Lynden Tribune in case you haven't read it. Enjoy!
-David 

In the garden industry, a major trend over the last several years has been toward container gardening. We’ve all seen the pots of flowers sitting next to a neighbor’s front door or large planters overflowing with color in front of businesses or churches. If you’re like a good percentage of gardeners today, you have “patio pots” or other similar planters you use around your house, too.

This spring, as you figure out what to plant in the pots around your house, try something new that can bring joy all summer in addition to the happiness you get from the colors: welcome hummingbirds to your home!

For young and old alike, hummingbirds are fun to watch, and with container gardening you can bring the wildlife right up to your window. For hummingbirds, the key is to have the right plants, and thankfully, there are plenty of options suitable for containers.

If you wish to attract hummingbirds to a sunny location, petunias and calibrachoa are great options as they produce plenty of nectar and their funnel-shaped flowers are well-suited for hummingbirds to access. Traditional mounding petunias work well in the center of containers while trailing Wave petunias and calibrachoa are best placed around the perimeter of a planter or in a hanging basket.

When planting container gardens close to a house, many people have limited sun exposure to work with—if any at all. If you need shade-loving flowers, try planting a pot with impatiens. Colorful and showy, New Guinea impatiens work well in sun or shade and make great container plants. For your best chances at attracting hummingbirds, choose a color palette of bright colors—reds, pinks and orange work best.

Now, maybe hummingbirds are the least of your concern when planting container gardens—perhaps you’re interested in growing something for you to eat, not some blur of a bird! If that sounds like you, try container gardening with herbs.

To be honest, I must admit that as far as herb gardening goes, I’m still pretty new to the scene—this is only my second year growing herbs and I still have a lot to learn in how to properly use them once they’re out of the garden and into the kitchen. But, for all you interested parties, a bit of encouragement: herbs are easy to grow!

Frankly, many herbs grow like weeds, so you don’t need a lot of garden expertise to have a healthy, burgeoning container herb garden—all you need is a watering can, proper fertilizer and an easily-accessible hand pruner or scissors. The latter is important—herbs need to be harvested regularly to keep them from growing too large for your containers.

While there are hundreds of plants classified as “herbs,” I recommend starting an adventure in herb gardening with a few of the basics: chives, oregano, basil and thyme. With the help of a nursery professional, choose plants that will complement each other and will thrive in the size pot you have as well as the lighting conditions you can provide. Then, put together your planter, add a well-balanced fertilizer and keep the container lightly moist—in no time you’ll have a beautiful, delicious herb garden!

Whether you wish to enjoy the entertainment hummingbirds can bring to your window or discover fresh new flavors to add to your cooking, patio planters can provide more than just color through the growing season. This spring, visit a local independent nursery and learn more about how you can expand your horizons with a container garden!

Flowers or Food--Make the Most of Your Garden!

In case you missed it, here is my column from the April 14 Lynden Tribune. Enjoy!
-David

In the world of gardening, this is the time of year I like most. Each morning I walk through the greenhouses at our nursery and marvel at how fast everything is growing. The longer days and warmer temperatures throw annuals into overdrive—one day, a greenhouse of Lynden baskets may be merely budded; the next, it’s full of color.

In the last couple weeks, cooler, wetter weather may have dampened your spirits as you made plans for your garden. But with a return to milder weather, now is the time to start planting annuals and preparing your soil for a vegetable garden—more on that shortly.

Choosing annuals can often be an overwhelming task—it’s not uncommon for me to encounter a customer in the greenhouse staring into space while mumbling something about “too many choices…” Before you head to a nursery to pick out flowers for your garden, take a look at the area you’ll be planting to see how much sun it gets and which direction it faces. Knowing the conditions in which you plan to put flowers can greatly help when it comes time to make decisions.

A second bit of advice to help you in planning your flowerbeds or pots is this: know your limits. Do you have time to deadhead more high-maintenance flowers or do you need “carefree” selections? Do you regularly forget to water? Be honest with yourself—there are plenty of options for all types of gardeners, so with a little guidance from a nursery professional, you can have a garden that pleases the eye without overextending your skills or experience. One example: if you like the look of trailing petunias but don’t have the time to keep them pruned or deadheaded, consider calibrachoa (commonly called “Million Bells”)—it gives the look of petunias without needing any additional care.

Of course, gardens full of flowers can provide months of color, but with the state of today’s economy and the desire for fresher, more healthful food choices, many gardeners are giving up some sunny space once dedicated to flowers or lawn for a vegetable garden. Before you start planting seeds and vegetable starts, however, take some time to properly prepare your garden.

After an initial rototilling or cultivation to loosen the soil, you should add a layer of compost to provide nutrients. Mushroom compost—essentially manure and organic matter that’s been composted and aged—is my recommendation for growing a lush, productive garden. A thin layer of half an inch of mushroom compost mixed evenly into the soil is all you need for a vegetable garden; more is not better in this case as you can actually kill vegetable seeds and starts with too high a nutrient level.

If you’re new to vegetable gardening, the next step is to choose what you want to grow—and how much. From experience, I know that planting six zucchini plants sounds like a good idea (I had the space!) but unless you plan to stock the kitchens of homeless shelters from here to Portland, try just one.

With that extra room in your garden, try planting some more unusual varieties of vegetables. How about white or red carrots? Purple beans? If you have kids interested in gardening, fun crops such as these can provide great learning opportunities.

This spring, make the most of your options for color and enjoy the lavish potential a well-planned vegetable garden can offer! With a little preparation and help from your local independent nursery, you can have a flower or vegetable garden that brings pleasure for months to come.

Freeze alert!

If you're like me, your ears perked up when you heard the forecast for tonight into tomorrow--overnight temperatures are forecast to dip well below freezing! If you've already planted any annuals outside or have vegetables started in your garden, please take the time to protect them tonight. Here are a few steps you can take to prevent frost damage to tender plants:

• Mound bark mulch or compost around the base of tender perennials, annuals or vegetable starts.
• If you have an entire vegetable garden planted and it has no vertical obstructions, spread a tarp over the garden to build a mini-greenhouse. Raise the tarp a few inches above the soil (or above any plants) to create a pocket of warmer air and seal the edges with bricks or rocks to keep cold air out
• For potted plants or hanging baskets, move plants into a cool garage. If pots are too bulky to move that far, relocate planters to a place up against your house under the eaves. Doing so can boost temperatures by 10 degrees or more. 

All the forecasts I've seen show tonight's predicted freeze to be the last one before a return to more normal temperatures for this time of year--which means that it's time to start gardening! For tonight, though, if you've already moved any annuals outdoors, please the time to shelter them--your plants will thank you for it!

First

Pink Lemonade Blueberry

A hot new item this year is--get this--a pink blueberry. That's right! It's called "Pink Lemonade" and it really does have pink fruit. If you're interested in what "Pink Lemonade" is all about, here's some information on it, courtesy of Briggs Nursery (one of the growers for retail nurseries):

Pink Lemonade offers four seasons of color. The pinkish-white showy flowers are bell-shaped in spring. The fruit are pale greenish at first, then dappled pink, and finally turning to deep pink on ripening. Leaves are glossy green and lanceolate. Leaf surface texture is smooth, very similar to that of Vaccinium ashei. In fall, leaves turn golden yellow then bright orange. Wintertime twigs are dusky reddish-brown. Wintertime fruit encourages song birds and other wildlife in the garden. 

The ideal adaption of 'Pink Lemonade' is unknown, but its background suggests that it might perform equally well or better in milder climates including areas where rabbiteye cultivars can be grown. Mid-late to late-season ripening, with moderate yields of medium-sized, glossy fruit, bright pink fruit color, mild, pleasant flavor, and good firmness. 

Requires high light levels and well drained acid soil, high in organic material. Moisture content should be adequate and even. 

'Pink Lemonade' is ideally suited for borders, beds or in a mass planting mixed in with other ornamentals or perennials.

At Vander Giessen Nursery, we're proud to debut this beautiful new variety of blueberry. It's truly a unique introduction in the world of fruit! 

You know it's spring when...

This evening after work I decided to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight and do some work around the yard. After I finished up, I took a few minutes to wander around and admire what was popping up and leafing out.

My roses have been leafed out for a month already, so I thought maybe it was time to look for the first rosebud of the season...hey, it doesn't hurt to dream, does it? Well, I found it! Honest, it's there--if it was still light out, I'd take a picture to prove it.

But here's the problem: covering that one rosebud was a host of aphids. Yuck! I'm afraid that this year, I won't be the only one battling bugs in my garden. After an incredibly mild winter, it could shape up to be a bad year for insect problems. Normally, I wouldn't even have to dream of aphids this early, but it looks like it's time to take action.

If you're concerned about bug problems on your roses this year, I challenge you to try a product you may not have used before--Bayer All-in-One Rose and Flower Care. It's the only product I trust for managing insects and diseases on my roses, and it's an excellent fertilizer as well. The best part of this relatively new product is the ease of use--it's a systemic, meaning no more spraying! Simply mix up the liquid in a quart of water, pour at the base of the plant, and it protects your roses for 6 weeks.

Maybe you're already a believer in Bayer All-in-One--many of my customers are. But if you haven't used it yet, give it a try. You're sure to like it!