Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2022 i Garden Gate

Mycorrhizae Mycorrhizae are a type of beneficial fungi that attach to the root systems of almost all plants and foster a positive relationship with the garden: They receive their energy from the plants, and in return the fungi break down nutrients in the soil. The plants then better absorb the nutrients they need for improved health and vigor, increased yields and more resilience to stress and disease. Finding the fungi These microorganisms are impossible to spot with the naked eye. They do create threads called hyphae that might extend from the roots like very thin, short hairs. These penetrate areas of the soil that roots can’t reach. Most all vegetables, perennials and annuals benefit from these fungi except for plants in the brassica family, such as cabbages. Fostering the fungi…

Imagine taking a deep breath in a gorgeous herb garden on a sunny day. Now imagine that you could bottle that fresh air and somehow use it to scent and sanitize your home. It is possible! Just ask Stephanie Rose. Stephanie uses all-natural, handmade cleaning agents at her home in British Columbia, Canada. Today a Master Gardener, permaculture designer and trained herbalist, Stephanie began her garden journey after a sudden illness left her bedridden in 2006. “I used gardening as rehabilitation,” she recalls, explaining that tending plants in her Vancouver yard helped her strengthen her body and her mind after many months of exhaustion. Gardening also led her to learn ways to avoid harsh chemicals that might trigger or exacerbate her health troubles. Pointing out that store-bought housekeeping and self-care…

Stephanie notes that the small muslin bags she uses are often sold as “bouquet garni bags” for soaking herbs in soups and stews. They measure roughly 3 x 4 inches. If you enjoy sewing, you can make your own bags out of cotton fabric. MATERIALS • Dried lavender flower buds• Drawstring muslin bags Fill the muslin bag to the top with the dried lavender and tie the drawstring tightly closed. Toss one into the dryer along with your laundry. Each bag can typically be used 10 times before the lavender loses scent. If the bag is still in good shape, you can refill it.…

Coneflowers grow and flower best in full sun to part shade, and most can survive winters as far north as USDA zone 3. Well-drained soil is great, but this is a plant that tolerates a wide variety of conditions, from moderate clay to rocky soil. About the only condition coneflowers don’t like is wet soil in winter. Their roots will rot, which causes plants to die. Like many plants native to prairies, coneflowers prefer a lean diet. Feed them too well, and you’ll end up with a tangle of weak, floppy stems. The best recommendation is to improve the soil with compost as you plant, and then top it off every few years. Most of the newer coneflower cultivars and hybrids are only available as plants. You’ll have the best…

It’s always a thrill when a hummingbird whizzes by while you’re working in the garden. These determined little birds are quick to check out any colorful spot—it might be something to eat! With a heart rate of 600 times per minute and flying an average of 30 miles per hour, these dynamos need to eat every 10 minutes to have enough energy to keep going. That’s where you come in. Feeders are a great beginning when it comes to drawing them in, but growing a garden full of flowers and adding habitat features to your borders are surefire ways to keep them coming back. Hummingbirds have great memories, so once they find your garden, they’ll return year after year. WHO’S VISITING? There are 16 hummingbird species that visit gardens in…

Beth has tried a lot of feeders over the years and has found that those with feeding ports above the liquid work best. The food is too far for the proboscis of insects, such as bees and wasps, to reach but just fine for the long tongue of a hummingbird. CLEANING TIPS • Change the nectar every 4 to 5 days.• If temperatures are above 90 degrees F, change nectar daily.• Don’t top off the nectar. Instead, clean the container with a mild dish detergent and water, then refill the feeder with fresh nectar.• Once a month soak it in a solution of 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 quart of water and rinse thoroughly. TROUBLESHOOTING • You’ll know the nectar has gone bad if it’s cloudy or you see…

You won’t believe the number of flowers on a single SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl sunflower. Catalog information will tell you it can have as many as a thousand blooms in one season! I haven’t counted the ones I’ve grown, but this little charmer sure makes me think it’s up to the task. A SMALL PACKAGE While you might think of sunflowers as towering stalks of heavy blooms, this one stays compact and branched. At just over 2 feet tall, Brown Eyed Girl sunflower is a flowering dynamo. All those branches allow for more blossoms, each up to 4 inches across. Keep deadheading as they fade by cutting stems back to a leaf node, and you’ll be rewarded with many more cheerful sunflowers. POLLENLESS FLOWERS The reason Brown Eyed Girl has…

Much of the fun of gardening in containers is that a pot’s portability makes it a cinch to search and find just the right spot for each one. No matter where you live, containers can add panache to hum-drum situations, create color and pattern against an otherwise stark backdrop and even provide much-needed focal points. The very best outdoor spaces are created with imagination, not just following a strict set of design rules found in a textbook. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any rules worth following when it comes to adding potted plants to your landscaping—and making them look their best. Combine these suggestions with your own creative juices and eye for detail for the very best displays that highlight and improve the look of your landscape. Allow…

Traditional cutting gardens are often simple beds with rows of different bloomers to have as many flowers as possible to cut for bouquets, not necessarily planted with aesthetics in mind. That may not gel with how you want your garden to look. But you can have a cutting garden within a good-looking flower border with just a few important considerations. MORE FLOWERS First, choose plants with a long flowering season. Annuals are often best, since they typically bloom nonstop until frost, especially if you harvest flowers often. But don’t underestimate perennials as cut flowers too. They may simply bloom for extended periods or can be encouraged to rebloom by deadheading. Look for plants that branch out with copious amounts of flowers, like zinnias or Shasta daisies, as opposed to one-and-dones…

Stephanie likes using essential oils to impart a more gentle aroma to her home, but she was disappointed by the chemical-smelling, short-lived reed diffusers sold at stores. So she began making her own. MATERIALS • Essential oil(s) of your choice• A thin “carrier” oil, such as sunflower or grapeseed oil• Isopropyl alcohol• Handful of flower stalks, such as poppy, daylily, or coneflower• Glass bottle with a narrow opening To make your own reed diffusers, remove leaves, soil and spent flowers from the flower stalks. Bake the cleaned stalks in the oven at 200 degrees F for 25 to 60 minutes until completely dried. Fill the bottle about halfway using a mixture of essential and carrier oils. The ratio should be 30 percent essential oil to 70 percent carrier oil. Add…

This recipe combines the powerful cleaning ability of vinegar with the delicious scents of orange rinds and fresh garden sage. The orange peels also “contain citric acid, which helps the acidic vinegar dissolve greases and other grime,” Stephanie adds. MATERIALS • Peels of 4 to 5 large oranges• Handful of fresh sage leaves• 6 cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)• Two 67-ounce lidded mason jars• Strainer Fill one mason jar with orange peels and sage. Top with white vinegar, seal the lid, and store in a cool, dark place for one week. Then strain the liquid into the second mason jar. This is your cleaning concentrate, which can now be diluted to different strengths for different jobs. The concentrate should be used within six weeks, so Stephanie recommends sticking with…

Native to sunny open prairies and lightly shaded savannahs, from northern Texas to Canada east of the Rockies, purple coneflower is right at home rubbing elbows with perennials of all types. Its long bloom time makes it attractive in a mass planting, a structured perennial border or a naturalized meadow. NATIVE ROOTS Because of their connection to prairies, coneflowers look great planted with grasses and other native plants. But if that look is a bit rustic for your garden, pair them with other sun-loving, easy-to-grow perennials like those in photo 2. Tall sedum and black-eyed Susan have a tighter, bushier habit that contrasts with the coneflowers’ stiff upright form. The sedum also repeats the dome-shaped blooms of the Joe-Pye weed in the background. Adding plants with strappy foliage, such as…

Save money and get more plants by direct-sowing seeds for easy-growing annuals like these cosmos and zinnias. Light Fillers Intersperse wiry ‘Buenos Aires’ verbena amongst dense-growing Fireworks globe amaranth and let the flowers mingle together on their long, thin stems. A pretty combo together in the garden, these airy, abundant bloomers are loaded with blossoms to tuck in as fillers in a vase of mixed flowers too. Globe amaranth can also be cut, hung upside down to dry and used in everlasting bouquets. Even if you don’t cut many, verbena and globe amaranth will bloom continuously until frost without deadheading. An extra bonus? They’re both drought-tolerant pollinator magnets. A Verbena Verbena bonariensis ‘Buenos Aires’ Tender perennial; lavender flower clusters atop thin, stiff stems from summer to frost; full sun; 36…

Even though coneflowers are generally considered easy to grow, some fare better than others in each region. Here’s a selection of regional coneflower trial results to help you find the best ones for your garden. UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA Athens, GA Kismet® White Echinaceahybrid (in photo) Crisp white petals surround a green-gold cone on a compact plant with an upright habit. Perfect in the border or in a container, this hybrid grows 15 to 18 inches tall and wide and is cold hardy in zones 4 to 9. Lovely Lolly E.hybrid Deep pink flowers are fully double and look like small pompoms. To make this hybrid even more striking, the stems holding the flowers are deep purple. Lovely Lolly grows 20 to 24 inches tall and 14 to 18 inches wide. It’s…

There’s no such thing as a trouble-free vegetable garden. In my own plot, I deal with deer, rabbits, imported cabbage worms, powdery mildew and slugs. So many slugs! Yet, don’t despair. Experience has taught me that a few simple steps can reduce the occurrence of many common pests and diseases. First, I try to grow crops and varieties that thrive in my zone 5 garden. I also practice crop rotation and space plants properly to minimize soil-borne diseases and ensure good air circulation. Feeding the soil helps plants fight off potential problems. And finally, I always include flowers and herbs in my vegetable beds to attract beneficial insects and pollinators. But even with pre-emptive measures like these, there are still struggles. Here are some of the most common problems and…

Warm weather and plenty of sun mean lots of flowers growing in the garden. Mix and match these later bloomers with earlier flowers for a garden that hummingbirds can’t resist. Sherri loves watching for the ruby-throated hummingbirds that always show up to take advantage of her wild columbine. A Agastache Agastachehybrids Perennial; pink, red, orange, yellow, violet or blue flowers midsummer to fall; full sun; 1 to 4 ft. tall, 1 to 3 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 5 to 10 B Parry’s penstemon Penstemon parryi Perennial; spikes of tubular magenta flowers from spring to summer; full sun; 2 to 4 ft. tall, 1 to 3 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 8 to 11 C Torch lily…

1| BioMarkers™ Identify your plants with these botanical garden-worthy labels that will last for years. Available in multiple sizes and colors, they are made from recycled plastic and biomass (organic byproducts like corn cobs) here in the United States. There is even a completely biodegradable label that still lasts up to 5 years. Use permanent garden markers to handwrite identifications or print your own on the included weatherproof labels. MCG BioMarkers Premium Garden Products, mcgbiomarkers.com (Price varies) 2 | TCP® LED Bug Trap Lure bothersome insects like mosquitoes and flies to their demise with this easy-to-use trap — just hang it up and plug it in. Insects are attracted to the glow of the UV LED light and CO2 emission, then a fan sweeps them into a basket where they dehydrate…