Talk about your timing. We just shot a story on prepping your garden for fall and the weather just went right into winter (it certainly felt like it!) Really there are lots of warmer days ahead, but these past few nights are a wake up call for the cold days ahead. Time to watch the show and get your garden ready!

This week we featured...

Bauman’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off

The giants have returned! It is the first weekend of October and that means it is Bauman’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off time. This year the people at Bauman’s Farm and Garden (503-792-3524) have taken over the event and have really blown the doors off the weekend! There are tons of events centered around the Weigh-off including the inclusion of other ‘giant’ vegetables like tomatoes, watermelons and sunflowers. Radio Disney will be there and you can enjoy all of the outstanding harvest activities that Bauman’s has become famous for. There are hay mazes, zip lines, petal carts, slides, a hay castle, the jumping pillow and so much more! You can also enjoy some of their great baked goods, wonderful plants and all kinds of fresh garden produce.

Of course the stars of the show will be the giant pumpkins. These giants can get as big as 1,500 pounds and larger! With this year’s record prize purse of $20,000 we are sure to see a ton (sorry for the pun) of pumpkins entered. Even though the weigh-off is over on Saturday, the pumpkins will be on display for the whole weekend. Come and walk among the giants!

Winterize Your Fountains

Water in the garden is great, but once the weather turns to freezing it is time for you to look at protecting your investment in your fountain so you can enjoy it for many years to come. Wayne Elliott from Little Baja (503-432-8959) showed us how to protect and preserve your fountain. First you need to get out all of the water in your fountain. Wayne uses a shop vac and a small hand pump to make sure every drop is out. Any water left in the feature will freeze and then you will have permanent damage. He even plugged in the pump after he was finished to make sure that all the water was out of it. Next he scrubbed down the fountain to make sure that all the algae was gone. He used a natural, non-toxic cleaner to do the job. Once again he dried the fountain. Finally he covered the whole thing with a clear 4 mil plastic and tied it off at the bottom. The clear plastic allows the sun to warm the fountain and evaporate any remaining water. Wayne also poked a few holes in the plastic to let the evaporated water escape. Now if this seems like a huge task you can call Wayne and have the folks at Little Baja come out and do the job for you. They will even return in the spring and set it up for the summer of 2010.

Fall Clean-up Tips

Fall always brings questions from the home gardener. This fall William and Judy took a couple of minutes to talk about some of the common questions we have heard. Before we get started let’s just tell everyone to not be in too much of a hurry to get chores done in the garden. You spent months getting your garden ready for the summer, now you can spend a few days enjoying it before the cold rains return. In fact it might create more problems for your plants if you do too much too fast! William talked about pruning. You can do some light pruning, but if you get too ambitious you could cut too much and that will promote lots of new growth that can be damaged at the first hard freeze. This is especially true for roses. For some of the seed bearing flowers you can leave the flower heads to feed the birds and other wildlife. As far as your trees go, you can start pruning the dead branches off. It is good to do that now while the leaves are still there because once the leaves fall off you can forget which branches are dead and which ones are alive. Also, don’t forget about watering. Even with the fall rains coming you will need to make sure that your garden plants are well hydrated, especially under the eaves of your house and under trees. Indoor plants that have been outside for the summer can be brought back inside for the winter. Remember to treat them for pests before bringing them indoors. Wash them off with an insecticidal soap and use a systemic to ensure that the critters are gone. Finally, you can plant your spring bulbs now. You will ensure a bright, colorful and happy spring by planting your tulips, daffodils and other spring blooming bulbs now. For more tips on what you can be doing to get your garden ready for fall check out the garden calendar at the OSU extension website.

Ferguson’s Fall Plants

Fall plants are sometimes the biggest and brightest in the garden. Actually these plants are with us all year long, they just become big show-offs this time of year. We stopped by the new location of Ferguson’s Fragrant Nursery (503-636-0073) in downtown Lake Oswego to visit with Dani Ferguson to learn about a couple of her favorites! The first one she brought out was the Corylopsis spicata ‘Aurea’ the gold form of the winter witchhazel. This one has beautiful yellow flowers in the dead of winter and in the fall it has golden fall foliage. The next one is Gardenia ‘Chuck Hayes’. This one has LARGE white flowers with that typically overpowering fragrance. This one can become a very large at 6 feet tall and wide, but it will be covered by these huge fragrant flowers! Definitely a good trade off. Finally we saw the Solidago ‘Fireworks’, which is aptly named for the sparkling blasts of colorful yellow flowers on the flower stalks. It is a late bloomer in your summer garden and looks great when the other perennials are looking tired. These are great plants and you can see more of them at the new Ferguson’s location in downtown Lake Oswego. They are having their grand opening this weekend so stop by if you are in the area.

Blackberry Removal

How do you get rid of those pesky Himalayan blackberries! If you have ever had them in your garden you know that they can take over a yard. We caught up with Norm McCreight from Lilly Miller to see how he deals with them. He told us about Lilly Millers Blackberry and Brush killer. A lot of gardeners in the northwest have problems with blackberries and other woody invasive plants like scotch broom and poison oak. This product will take care of the problem and now is a perfect time to apply it. In the late summer and early fall the plant will draw energy to its roots. When you apply this product the plant will carry the spray to the roots and get rid of your problem for good! Norm also showed us how to apply it by paint brush so you can use it in your established gardens as well.