Deerpath Garden Club Of Lake Forest
Gardening Tips
April
“Now is the perfect time to fertilize flower beds,” reports the Chicago Tribune Home & Garden section on Sunday, April 11, 2004. “The added nutrients will give the plants a boost as they go into the spring growing season. Use a balanced formula, such as 10-10-10, and apply it in granular or in liquid form with a hose-end sprayer, following package directions. If you use a regular formula, you will need to fertilize again in summer...But if you use a slow-release formula, such as Osmocote, you will be able to skip the summer feeding.”
May
As it is planting time, I felt it appropriate to include some club members’ recommendations on some of the best vendors of plant materials. Club members highly recommend:
Luhtala’s Greenhouse, 555 S. O’Plaine Road, Gurnee (North of Route 120) (847 336-0747);
Mini-earth Greenhouses, on Petersen Road in Mundelein (take Route 137 to Petersen past Sunset Foods; go west on Peterson to the greenhouses. The site is at the corner of Petersen and Route 60);
Roses, Roses, Roses at 14985 W. Wadsworth Rd., Wadsworth, IL (847 336-1086). Obviously, you will find mostly roses at this nursery! Click here for map.
And, of course, nearly everyone knows about Milaeger’s in Racine, Wisconsin. www.milaegers.com (262-639-2040 or 800-669-1229) (Take I-94 north to Hwy. K; stay on East Frontage Rd. north 1/5 mile to Four Mile Rd.; East on Four Mile Rd. to Douglas Ave. Go south one block.)
June
“When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant”.
August
Things to do in the August Garden:
- Plant greens, lettuce, kholrabi and radishes for fall harvest
- Sow beets, spinach and turnips
- NOT to fertilize roses after August 15. Wait until after roses have gone dormant in late fall.
- Divide irises.
September
A ‘hot tip’ for the onslaught of September mosquitoes (Think: West Nile Virus!).
“Now is the time to survey your yard and look for areas that hold standing water – even shady patches of your driveway that hold puddles –as mosquitoes lay their eggs in water – even in tiny amounts! A product called “Mosquito Dunks” is available at Pasquesi: little donut shaped cakes that you can break up and place into the standing water on your property – bird baths, fountains, drainage wells, rain gauges, trash cans, etc. to prevent hatching. It’s a great product. Pasquesi prices were actually cheaper than an outlet store in Wisconsin! Also, if you simply can’t stand the smell of “Off” or other commercial repellents, try the one from “Bert’s Bees”. It smells good and does the job for me!”
October
The fall northwest winds blow away the leaves raked onto my perennial beds for protection nearly as quickly as I can install them! The Chicago Tribune Home & Garden Section for 10/19/03 offers a good solution: “Toro Co., maker of lawn mowers..., has introduced a new product to keep leaves under control. LeafLock, made from corn byproducts, is a powder that forms a solid in the presence of water. The net of cornstarch will hold the leaves in place for a few hours or days. Toro says the product is biodegradable and will not harm plants, interfere with composting or foul shredders or municipal leaf collectors. It also can be used to secure leaves as insulation around roses or other plants that need winter protection. a 32-ounce bottle of LeafLock, which Toro ways covers 150 square feet, is $9.99 plus shipping and handling from www.Amazon.com.
Horticultural information regarding Endless Summer Hydrangeas: Important points to remember: 1) Be patient, the plants need a good 3 years to really get going. 2) Mound with leaves or compost in the fall, don’t prune at that time, nor in early spring. 3) When flower buds appear, probably around May, prune off the dead wood and flower buds above those green sprouts as well as any old dried blooms. Flowers will appear in mid-July on the live parts of the old growth and in late summer on the new growth that sprouts from the ground. 4) Deadheading flowers encourages re-blooming.
January
Hot Tips: The January 18, 2004 Chicago Tribune Home and Garden section features several interesting new ‘ergonomic’ gardening tools, which may offer assistance to those of us feeling the onslaught of gardening years. The FISKARS UpRoot step-on weeder pulls weeds without stooping! $30 from www.fiskars.com (or Target stores in February). The OXO trowel features a gel cushion in the handle to relieve pressure on gardener’s hands when digging. $9 (plus shipping and handling) from www.oxo.com. The new Sears Craftsman hose nozzle is large with a rubber grip “so it’s easy to manipulate for those with limited hand motion”. $19.00 at Sears stores.
