Newsletter - September 2008

Hi,
In September we really want to clean up the vegetable garden and plant seriously for your winter/spring harvest. There is plenty of warm weather left to germinate seeds for many cool weather crops. These include: 1) roots -- onions, beets, potatoes, radishes, turnips, rutabagas and carrots 2) cole crops -- broccoli, Brussels's sprouts, cabbages and cauliflower 3) leaf crops - spinach, lettuce varieties, greens, chard and kale. This is also the time to start celery, asparagus, artichokes, and both regular and snow peas. I know, we've had a "coolish" summer and you're just beginning to reap the benefits of your summer gardening efforts. It's difficult to decide whether to leave the tomato plants in place and start the lettuce in peat pots or hang the plants and let them ripen in the garage while you start the lettuce in the ground. Direct ground seeding develops hardier plants and we're expecting a cold winter this year. I'll let you decide.

While you're choosing vegetable seeds, don't forget to pick up a few packs of flower seeds for winter color. For fragrance choose stock, sweet peas, and sweet alyssum and they will perfume the garden. For color choose poppies, violas, pansies, calendulas, dianthus and snapdragons. These annuals come up easily and enhance the vegetables. Treat them the same way for sun, soil depth, and irrigation.

While the soil is turned and nice to work, you may as well plant the truly showy spring flowers too. I'm talking about bulbs such as daffodils, narcissus, hyacinths, tulips, Dutch iris, anemones, crocus, freesias and ranunculas. The rule is to plant the bulb twice the depth of its width (so a one-half inch wide bulb goes one inch deep and one inch away from the next bulb). Place a little bone meal covered with soil in the hole, put in the bulb point up, cover with soil, and walk away. I guarantee the results will keep you in flowers until next summer and your neighbors will be envious.

Fertilize camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons, citrus and avocadoes one last time this month for their winter/spring flower display and fruit set. Now is also a good time to pick up a supply of 0-10-10 to fertilize all sun-loving shrubs and trees to promote winter hardiness. If you are trying to grow frost-tender plants such as hibiscus, bougainvillea, bananas and mandevillea look for a product called "Cloud Cover". This is an anti-desiccant that protects tender foliage from frost. If it gets really cold, use it on citrus and orchids too. You may not be aware that one of the best ways to control scale insects is with a garden formula of petroleum oil, or "Volck Oil". This is sprayed on the plants after they drop their leaves and it smothers eggs and crawlers and prevents the adult sacks from splitting. I've also used it lightly on some of my evergreens with good success.

As for my garden, I've really been enjoying the Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and the Speedwell (Veronica spicata) flowers this summer. The yellow daisies and purple spikes are wonderful in a vase. I've also been enjoying my Bleeding Heart vine (Clerodendrum thompsoniae). The small flower consists of a flat, white heart-shaped calyx from which a red flower protrudes. These are produced in clusters and are quite showy, but definitely not zoned for here. I had it on the terrace with the orchids and thought I'd lost it, but it came back. The next plant I'm excited about is the night-blooming Jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum). It's loaded with buds that are just beginning to open. Not showy during the day, but on a warm night (yes we do get a few) the scent in unforgettable. The ornamental oregano (Origanum 'Kent Beauty') is really spectacular with its trailing pink, overlapping bracts and gray-green foliage. Next summer, I think I'll skip planting tomatoes completely and stick with squash and Asian eggplant. The flowers are just too pretty to confine them to only one small section of a garden.

Have a great month.