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Episode 144 • September 26, 2009

VIDEO ARCHIVE


Fall is here and the summer that we waited so long for is now gone... or is it?  We have had temperatures in the 80s and it feels like summer seems to be hanging on for a few more days.  Still it is time to start thinking about the cooler weather coming and taking care of your garden.  In the coming weeks we will be showing you how to whip things into shape in your garden before the weather changes!

This week we featured...

Tsugawa Fall Festival

One of the first festivals of the fall drew us north of the Columbia River this week.  Tsugawa’s Nursery (360-225-8750) in Woodland was the background for our show as they are celebrating their Fall Festival.  You can jump start your garden for next season with classes on lawn restoration, creating great containers for fall and water gardens and pond care.  Don’t forget some great specials on plants too.  Stop by sometime this weekend and check it out.

Rose Garden Store

Portland is the city of roses and rightfully so, roses thrive in our climate.  You can enjoy roses in your garden for a good part of the year, but if you are a fan of these lovely blooms you can never get enough of their beauty.  The answer for you is the Rose Garden Store (503-227-7033) at the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park.  We stopped by and visited with Lilia Villasenior the manager at the store.  She told us that the store is run by the Rose Festival Foundation and it benefits the Rose Garden and other parks within the Portland Park system.  She is also making the effort to showcase local artists and products in the store.  We saw some great products like Portland Rose soaps, greeting cards, ornaments, rose flavored tea and even some cool children’s aprons made by local seamstress ‘Edith’ who is over 100 years old.  If you are looking for a unique gift or you want to be surrounded by roses inside and outside your home, this is the place to visit.

Veggie Blues

A week ago William wrote a blog about his ‘veggie-blues’.  Being an experienced gardener he was disappointed by the performance of his vegetable garden this year.  Certain things grew well and other ‘proven’ vegetables didn’t do well at all.  We decided to cover a few of his points in this story for all to see.  First of all the successes; William had good luck with eggplants, herbs, onions, cherry tomatoes, pumpkins and squash.  Failures include cabbage, large tomatoes, and carrots.  Some interesting things happened too.  The broccoli bolted into flower during the hot summer days, but after being cut back it is now showing some florettes and the peppers are now starting to recover from a slow start.  The point we are trying to make?  If you were just trying vegetable gardening for the first time and you had problems in the garden, don’t worry!  Everyone has trials and successes every year.  The one thing you can’t control is nature.  The lesson learned is to be persistent.  Take some notes and try some different vegetables next year.  If you ever have any questions, your best source for information is your local garden center.

Portland Rain Garden

Rain, we do get a lot of it in the Northwest, but the runoff from our houses and walkways can create some real environmental problems.  Building a garden that can handle this runoff has become a hot topic for gardeners and landscapers.  We caught up with an expert to check out one of his installations.  Alfred Dinsdale from Dinsdale Landscape Contractors (503-925-9292) took us to north Portland to walk us through the steps he took to build this beautiful garden.  First he figured out the amount of rainwater produced by figuring the square footage of the roof and other hard surfaces in the landscape.  Then he did a survey of the entire lot to find the lowest spot in the landscape.  From there he worked with a designer to figure out ways of getting the water to the catch basin and plant material that would help clean and absorb the rain water.  Alfred also told us about the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services who has programs to help homeowners manage and contain storm water runoff.  If you have any questions about creating one of these beautiful and functional garden you can contact Dinsdale Landscape Contractors.

Peony Dividing

Fall is the time for planting.  It is also the time to dig and divide your favorite perennials.  This week William visited the experts at Adelman Peony Gardens (503-393-6185) to learn how to dig and divide peonies.  Carol Adelman showed us how easy it is to do.  She even told us that you don’t need to divide your plants as you would with other perennials.  These plants don’t get overgrown or choke themselves if they get too large.  Still you can use this technique to get extra plants for your friends and neighbors.  The keys to success are to make sure you dig a large root, make sure your divisions include an ‘eye’ and to build a good planting area for your new root with a quality bulb fertilizer and a little lime.  Carol even showed us how the rules remain the same for different styles of peonies, including the newest intersectionals.  If you have questions about peonies or you are interested in purchasing one, you can contact them at the gardens.

 
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