Gardens and Sales, oh my!

This is a great time of year to work outside (unless you have seasonal allergies like me!) cleaning up spent flowers, watering (yes, some of us are having to do that again!) and gleaning the fruits of our labours. Yesterday I made spaghetti sauce and salsa from the beautiful tomatoes, peppers and herbs from my garden. I can't seem to grow good onions in my soil so I always raid my father-in-law's garden for onions. He grows amazing onions that are super-sized and full of flavour! My salsa seems to have turned out thick and chunky with just a bit of zip, just the way I like it. Later on I will make another batch that causes foreheads to break out in a sweat because that's how my husband likes it. :p

If you are thinking about the empty spots in your perennial beds, our perennials are now all on at 50% off! Dig them in now so they have a couple of months before cold comes (did I say cold? Yuk!) and the roots can become well established. If you still need fertilizer or other garden care products, they are 35% off. All other items such as garden decor, containers, soils and mulch are 35% off as well!

We are open Monday-Saturday 9-5

Houses for Haiti

I know the tragedy in Haiti happened awhile ago so it's easy to forget that it even happened. While we carry on with our everyday lives, others are still working to rebuild their lives and homes. When I came across this article, I wanted to share it with you. It's about a company that constucts greenhouses who designed inexpensive, temporary homes that can be shipped out to other countries, then set up quickly by volunteers. 200 of these were shipped to Haiti in February and likely more have been sent since. This really is a must-read and will only take a moment of your time. Go to www.esbenshades.com/haiti

Let me tell you a secret...

This is advice from http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/ about growing basil and cilantro.

Plant basil and cilantro about every two weeks and you will have fresh herbs to harvest for a longer period of time. Both of these herbs go to seed and stop producing leaves fairly quickly. The leaves have the best flavor when they are harvested before your plants start to flower. Harvest full stems rather than removing individual leaves, cutting just above each pair of lower leaves. This helps create bushy, compact plants. Apply a controlled- release fertilizer when planting and try to make sure the plants receive a good inch of water per week.

the Secret of early flowering Mums

Tonight I put the garden mums to bed for the night. Did you know that Chrysanthemums respond to day length for their blooming time? That's why they don't flower in your garden until autumn when the days are shorter. To have garden mums in bloom for sale this time of the year, we started about 6 weeks ago, pulling a thick black blanket over the 6" pots of mums at 8 p.m. & uncover them at 9 a.m., Mon - Sat.