By Henry Homer
As I was walking around the garden with my wife, Cindy Heath, she turned to me and said, “Everyone who looks good in the gardens deserves a medal.” I agreed that we did not deserve a medal. Want to win the medal? Here are some tips that I have come up with.
First, pull out any long weeds. If you allow some strong weeds now, they can grow flowers in your garden. If you don’t want them to be embarrassed by your laziness, pull them out before the company arrives.
I have a lot of ornamental weeds (Impatiens capensis) For rich, moist soils, semi-sunny to shade flower beds. It is a native plant, but it can be inherited if you allow it. I recently removed some that were more than 6 feet high. They were in bed for many years, and I guess they sprouted to get more sunlight, in other places, where the finish is small, it may only be 3 or 4 feet tall.
According to the United States Forest Service website, garlic is one of the few native plants in our forest that represents mustard. So if you have and you have garlic mustard, you may want it to survive – and enjoy the bright orange and red flowers I found.
In my next list, I recommend that the flowers that are past and present look bad. I have a big Shasta daisy bed in front of our house, but they were upstairs two weeks ago. Cindy cleaned the flowers with a pair of scissors in just 10 minutes. It made a big difference to get rid of all used flowers. There are still many beautiful flowers in that bed, so we don’t have to cut them all.
A bleeding heart is my favorite flower. It is a large plant that blooms in early summer. But now the flowers have disappeared for a long time and the leaves have turned yellow. what to do? Cut the leaves to the ground. Don’t wait for a fall or snow to fall, cut it now. Do the same in every garden.
What can you do in the empty spaces where you cut flowers that have grown to the point where you want to cut them back? Depending on the gap, some chrysanthemums may or may not fall into the asters. These are sold or flourished in pots in grocery stores, farms, and garden centers. They bloom for weeks unless you allow them to dry. Falling stars are in the same category as normal moms – cheap and popular to fill vacancies.
Fallen mothers and short purple asters are often sold in compressed cardboard jars. Unfortunately, they dry out quickly. If you leave the plant inside, you will need to water the pots and pans more than once a week. The solution? Whenever possible, plant them in the ground or in plastic, fiberglass, or ceramic pots.
I dig that and hurt my roots, for example, I can’t plant mothers who have had that great bleeding. But I put them in a nice ceramic pot and maybe the front stems are a little forward or backward, but I can slowly prepare them in the same place in the bleeding heart. Yes, it is a work in progress, but it is worth the effort if you (and your friends and neighbors you visit) are in a place where they can see you.
Many plants in the garden are suffering from various fungal diseases. Mold and mildew are common and make the leaves ugly. The solution? Cut the leaves. Often new, unripe leaves and new leaves on plants such as pumpkins and pumpkins are still growing. Once a leaf has mold, it may not look good, so remove it.
Long flowers are now pouring in, especially if it rains heavily. I Susan, a black-eyed, Rudbeckia “Henry Eyler” has beautiful, unusual flowers, but grows to a height of more than 6 feet. I surrounded the big mound with solid wood and tied it from tree to wood to support it. Recently, I tied another rope ladder to 6 feet of nails to prevent floating.
For some things, I can avoid using a string by pushing the halves to the ground at an angle of approximately 45 degrees, two in an “X” pattern. I push the float up and then support it with two sticks. I use bamboo sticks for small things; For larger, heavier objects such as New England Aster can be 5 feet tall, I use 5 feet 1 inch hardwood. If you don’t want to notice them, paint them green.
What about grass? On Labor Day, it looks so bad. I don’t think any of us should waste water on our lawns. If you have a sunny yard with sandy soil, your grass will look yellow and dry. Grass clippings, annual grass-fed, are declining or dying in most places. My solution? Hope it rains, and try to avoid seeing dead areas. Enjoy watching your medal-worthy garden!
Henry Homer lives in New Hampshire in a cornice and gardens. He is the author of four garden books and the email is henry.homeyer@comcast.net.
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