Weekend Gardener: Cleaning Up the Garden

Enjoy the end of the season and put the gardens to bed

Here's some weekend gardening advice from Vineyard Garden's Nursery: Clean up the garden by removing all trellises, stakes, and plant debris.  Compost healthy plants or leave in the garden to be plowed into the soil.  Dispose of diseased plants away from the garden site to prevent overwintering of diseases. The survival rate of plants is dramatically improved when planting takes place in October or November. It lets the root system become established during the winter months. Even though above ground the plants may appear to be dormant (and they are) the underground roots are active, growing deeper into the soil to make a stronger healthier plant for years to come.  Chopped autumn leaves make wonderful mulch piled around perennials or …

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Weekend Gardener: End of Summer Tasks

There's still lots of summer gardening time to go

This weekend, our garden expert Laura Stone from Vineyard Gardens, has the following tips for end of summer gardening tasks: While the list of gardening tasks for August is shorter than in many months, there are still ongoing tasks to perform in the garden. The hot temperatures of mid summer make it tough to spend much time working in your garden, so take advantage of any cooler days to take care of grooming and weeding. With the warmer weather and increased watering, weed seeds will germinate and grow faster, and mature to the point of producing more seeds. Take advantage of your spare time to keep the weeds cultivated out of all parts of the garden. Fall blooming Crocus should be planted this month, to give you an extra week or two of …

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Weekend Gardener: Keeping Color in Your Garden

A few ideas for keeping your garden colorful during the hottest month of the summer

This weekend, our garden expert Laura Stone from Vineyard Gardens, has the following tips for getting the most color out of your garden all the way until the end of summer: Some plants thrive as summer heats up. If your perennial beds lack color, try a few of these plants that flower through sweltering August afternoons. All are drought-tolerant once established.   Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) brightens the garden with cheery yellow blooms perfect for cutting. It's a good choice for a wildlife garden. Flowers beckon butterflies; seed heads are a goldfinch favorite.   Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) unfurls silvery foliage accented with lavender blooms. Plants are deer-resistant.   Threadleaf tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) …

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Weekend Gardener: Trees and Shrubs

New trees and shrubs need extra water, when to water you lawn and more

Our weekend gardener expert Laura Stone from Vineyard Gardens has the following advice for us this weekend: Trees and shrubs planted in the last three years still need extra water during dry periods.   Newly planted trees and shrubs are at greatest risk and need 1-2 good soakings each week. A 5-gallon bucket, a slowly running hose, a "leaky pipe" or soaker hoses laid up-side down and snaked under the branches, or sprinklers adjusted to soak the area under the tree canopy are all good options.   Trees stressed from lack of water are more susceptable to insect pests, winter injury, yellowing foliage and other problems that may not show up until several months after the dry weather. Lawns need 1" to 1 1/2" of water per week to stay green.  It…

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Weekend Gardener: Heavy Rains Bring Slugs

Use the rainy days to manage these pesky garden pests

Our resident Weekend Gardener expert Laura Stone of Vineyard Gardens has the following advice for your weekend gardening plans: Since heavy rains encourage slug problems, you want to check for slugs during rainy periods and hand pick the pests.  If you cant see the buggers, but you know you have a slug problem, you can buy products such as Sluggo and Slug Magic that will save your plants. Both of these products can be used around vegetable gardens. However, if you’re interested in a chemical free solution try some of these ideas: Happy gardening!

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Weekend Gardener: The Danger of Frost Has Passed

It's Memorial Day weekend - time to put veggies in the ground and take your houseplants outside

Our resident garden expert, Laura Stone of Vineyard Gardens has the following tips for getting out and gardening this weekend. - It's a great time to plant annuals, perennials, all trees and shrubs and all vegetable plants - we're finally out of frost danger.   - Fertilize all annuals, perennials and flowering shrubs and trees with a slow-release plant food that contains nitrogen, sulfate of potash, iron and other micro-nutrients for overall plant growth and development.   - To help with the upcoming hot months: Gator bags provide a great way to keep trees watered during hot and dry months. These bags, which can hold up to 20 gallons of water, are secured to the trunk of the tree, where they release the water slowly to the root ball over …

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Weekend Gardener: Lime, Crabgrass and Crepe Myrtles

Preparation and prevention are tasks for this weekend

This week our Weekend Garden expert, Laura Stone from Vineyard Gardens said it’s time to, “Make sure your crabgrass preventers are down on your lawn.” Crabgrass seeds germinate each year when nighttime soil temperatures reach over 50 degrees for 3 days. It’s also a great weekend to lime your vegetable garden, according to Stone. Most vegetables prefer a soil pH of 6.5 on a scale of 1 to 14 (7 is neutral). If your soil is too acid, you won't grow great veggies. The best way to find out is to test your soil. If your soil is below 6.5, adding lime is the answer. Finally, Stone advises you to prune your crepe myrtles this weekend. Crepe myrtles bloom on new growth, so pruning them now won’t reduce summer blooms. Plus, it’s much easier to see …

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Weekend Gardener: Potatoes, Greens and Onions

It’s time to get these plants in the ground

This weekend we start our Weekend Gardener column. Throughout the growing season, we will check in with our Weekend Garden expert, Laura Stone from Vineyard Gardens as to what you can work on this weekend in your garden. Vineyard Gardens was recently voted Best Garden Center in our Best of Patch Readers’ Choice Poll. Laura’s advice for this weekend is: “Make sure your potatoes and greens and onions are planted!” Onions are an excellent source of vitamins A and C. There are many different kinds of onions. They can be planted from seeds, small bulb sets or transplants. Transplants are most common and should be planted at a depth of ¾ of an inch deep and 3 inches apart.  Do not plant onions more than 1 inch deep.  Onions grow best in full sun…

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Mathea Morais

2:03 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012

Looks like Vineyard Gardens is open tomorrow. I'm a little behind myself, I finally got my beds dug today!   more ›

Get Ready to Garden

What you can do to get your garden going – in February

If you’re needing to get your gardening hands dirty these days, it may seem like spring is worlds away. However, according to Melinda Rabbitt DeFeo who handles Garden Enrichment for Island Grown Schools, there is plenty to be done. “It’s time to prune,” says DeFeo. Fruit trees, roses, raspberries and blueberries are definitely ready to be pruned she says. “The consensus is go for it! Now's the time.” DeFeo also recommends that due to the warm weather, it is a good time to work your compost piles, mulch garden beds, spread ashes or add them to your compost and start seeds for your cool weather crops (under cover) as well as getting those slower slow sweet peppers sprouting. DeFeo advises that, “If you have heat to keep seedlings warm when …

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The Astrology of Gardening

Astrological Gardening Report

As we enter the new moon on February 21st, Arlan Wise advises the most fertile and barren planting days of the coming moon cycle

Hold off on ambitious gardening projects even if the mild weather continues. Mars continues to move backwards in retrograde motion with Mercury joining him in March. It is a good time to rethink and redo your garden plan. Move things around and decide what structures you want to add, like those raised frames you’ve been thinking about. The energy of these two planets is in ebb as they reverse their steps and will hold back luxurious growth if you plant now. Neptune entered his own sign of Pisces on February 3. Pisces is a water sign; Neptune is lord of the oceans (remember your mythology?). Water will become more important as the years go on. Think of creative ways to irrigate your garden. Do some research on drought resistant plants. …

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Michael West

7:14 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hi, Arlen. Thanks for reminding me about those 4 raised beds in my front yard...I know I've got to start thinking about them. But I was confused by something in your listing of dates at the bottom. "February 21-13 are Very Good days for planting, as are February 26-28, and March 2-4." What does (or did, if you've corrected it already) February 21-13 mean? I know you said today, the 21th, we …   more ›