SHOW ARCHIVE

Episode 221 • September 24, 2011

VIDEO ARCHIVE

Is it really fall?  The weather last weekend seemed to point in that direction, but this week we returned to the 80s and it was summer all over again.  But if you travel around the area you can see the tell-tale signs of fall, the leaves are starting to change!  Get out and enjoy the garden while you can!

We would also like to thank everyone for coming out to visit all the nurseries involved in ‘GardenPalooza the Tour’.  William and Judy had a great time visiting all the nurseries and meeting some of our fans.  Of course, everyone walked away with a free grocery tote courtesy of our sponsor, Meta!  We even had some happy people win cool watering tools from Dramm.  But I bet the happiest person was Sharyl from Independence who won the $50 gift card to her favorite restaurant in Salem!  We hope you have marked your calendars for the spring GardenPalooza event at Fir Point Farms on the 14th of April in 2012.  It will be our 10th anniversary and we plan on having a ton of stuff planned.  Who knows we may have an anniversary gift for you!

This week we featured...

Tough Spot Ground Covers

Tough Spot Ground Covers

There are areas in everyone’s yard that are just tough to grow things in.  For some it is a wet, boggy area, for others it is a hot and dry area that just doesn’t get any water in the summer and just about everyone has an area of dry shade under fir trees or eaves that challenges our green thumbs.  Ryan from Little Prince of Oregon joined us once again to show us some of the plants that he would recommend for these ‘tough to garden’ areas.  First he talked about those marshy areas and here he recommended a few plants like Acorus (Sweet Flag) or Juncus (Rush) which will do well in the wet areas of your garden.  Another plant for the wet area was the Chameleon Plant (Houttuynia), but it spreads pretty fast so make sure you use this in an area where you want a lot of this plant.

Next we moved to the hot and dry area plants.  The #1 ground cover plants for this type of area are sedums and sempervivums.  They are great for the hot areas because they hold their water in the leaves of the plant and that means they are more drought tolerant.  Other great plants for the hot areas of your garden are herbs.  Lavender and rosemary can take hot and dry conditions once they are established.   

Dry shade is one of the toughest places in the garden to grow plants.  The big trees of the Northwest have a lot of shade and they tend to suck up most of the moisture in the ground.  Ferns, Oregon grape and other native plants are perfect for this type of area, but there are other plants that will do well including the vinca ‘minor’ which could get aggressive in some gardens but survive and thrive in the shade.  

For more ideas on what type of plants will work well in your tough areas you can always stop by your local independent garden center for some help. 

Outdoor Entertaining

Outdoor Entertaining

Year-round entertaining in the garden is one of the pleasures of living in the Northwest.  Even when the weather gets chilly, we know that we still can spend some quality time with friends and family outdoors.   To get some ideas on creating a welcoming space we stopped by Portland Nursery on Stark Street (503-231-5050) and chatted with Sara.  We found 2 locations at the nursery that gave us some great ideas for setting up a party area.  Here are some basic tips to get you started.  First you want to lay out the basic space.  Planning before the event is key to creating a welcoming and entertaining area.  You can dress up the area with a fire pit or even with the type of seating you want for your guests.  Remember, the more comfortable the better.  We even checked out an area where they just used inexpensive cloth draped over some iron arbors and trellises to create a classy look.  You will also want to dress the table.  This means that you want to use some touches of class by using cloth napkins and real plates to make it seem more formal.  Another way to welcome people to your garden is to extend the entertaining by using lights in the garden.  You can simply do this by setting candles out in the garden or you can go one step further by getting strings of lights to set the mood.  Sara brought out some really nice glass bulbs that had a nice glow to them when you plugged them in.  a couple of final tips for you.  Pick food that is suitable for outdoors.  Foods with oil or gelatin won’t do too well.  You want to serve food that will do well at room temperature and will not need a lot of heating or chilling.    For more ideas on outdoor entertaining stop by either location of Portland Nursery.

Jan’s September Tips

Jan’s September Tips

The fall is here and for some it signals the end of the gardening season, but as we found out with our monthly visit with retired OSU Extension Agent, Jan McNeilan, the season is far from over and there are lots of things you can be doing in the garden right now.  Paying attention to your vegetable crop is still a concern.  Making sure the plants are getting the right nutrition is important.  A lot of gardeners blame their poor vegetable crops on the ‘clay’ soil.  Jan showed us how false that argument is with her ‘mole’ soil.  Clay is actually a very good soil for you plants.  The molecules in clay are just smaller and densely packed, but are still full of good stuff for your plants.  She had just scraped up some soil from mole hills in her garden and used it around a tomato plant.  This tomato was doing better in the ‘clay’ soil than a plant that was planted in a commercial potting soil.  We also talked about fall being a great time to relocate some of your plants.  If you have noticed a favorite plant is looking a little stressed or is not dong well, now is the time to move it to a better location for next year.  It will do better if you move it now and you will have less to do next spring.  Finally we had a visual demonstration using green peppers.  Jan had found a HUGE green pepper at the store and only had a tiny one from her garden.  The point is, you sometimes don’t grow vegetables just for the size.  You will always find ‘picture perfect’ produce at the store, but the real benefit of growing your own veggies is the joy you have in doing it yourself and knowing exactly what went into the fruit as it was growing.  If you would like more tips on getting your garden ready for fall and winter you can check out the OSU Extension website at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/.     

Emanuel Butterfly Plants

Emanuel Butterfly Plants

Attracting bees, birds and butterflies to your garden is a good thing and it can be educational as well.  We paid another visit to the children’s garden at Legacy Emanuel and discovered why it is important to think of the small creatures when you are planting your garden.  Teresia Hazen joined William and a little helper to check out some of the plants that they planted in the garden to attract these beneficial creatures to the garden.  Teresia talked about the importance of providing a broad mix of plants in your garden.  Plants that attract butterflies like sedums and cone flowers are a must have, but you also need the tubular flowers like the fuchsias and the honeysuckles to bring the hummingbirds too.  Varying the types of flowers and bloom times will guarantee that you will have visitors to your garden all season long.  Having lots of different blooming flowers will also attract bees to your garden.  Most people are afraid of bees, but it is the wasps that are aggressive.  In fact, you can gently disturb the bee and it will just simply fly to the next flower to continue its work of gathering nectar and pollen.   All this activity is great for educating your kids about the importance of the garden to wildlife.  Teresia recommended the book ‘Wildflowers, Blooms and Blossoms’ for your kids so they can find the good plants in the garden and learn what they do.  By getting your kids back outside you will help them find the wonder in nature and not be afraid of the bugs and animals who make their homes in your garden.
 

 
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