Next year's garlic crop starts now

Take an hour from planting your fall bulbs and start planting garlic.  Next summer you'll be glad you did!

Start your planting with local garlic found at farmer's markets, feed stores (Clyde's in Hamburg) and at local nurseries who sell fall bulbs (Menne Nursery).  Cornell Cooperative Extension has a garlic fact sheet and information on other crops. 

Fall Bulbs

I hope you have saved some space in your landscape for fall bulbs.  There are so many varieties of ruffled tulips, fragrant berry-colored hyacinths and daffodils with cream colored faces.  This year I will be adding to my lawn Orange Snow Crocus.   Fritillaria, both Lutea Yellow and Crown Imperial will be planted in our island.  If you can't find a good selection of bulbs at your local nursery, check out the following garden catalogs for ideas:  White Flower Farm, Wayside Gardens,  Van Bourgondien, or John Scheeper's.

Find that bulb planter and get digging!




 

Don't give up on gardening just yet!

Don’t give up on gardening just yet!  Fall is the best time to …

Get inspired.  Come to the Fall Garden Fair at Lockwood’s on Saturday, September 10, 2011. In the past Lockwood’s had 25% off shrubs!

Plant trees and shrubs.  Soil temps and moisture conditions at this time of year help promote root growth needed to sustain plants through their critical first year.

Plant or transplant perennials.  Divide perennials such as peonies, grasses and bearded irises.

Dig up summer bulbs.  After the first frost, dig up dahlias, cannas, gladioli and store for winter.

Plant fall bulbs.  Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are nice but have you seen fritillaria?! Crocus are also neat when planted in the lawn.

Start a new garden bed. 

Find out more events and tips buy picking up a free copy of Upstate Garden Journal at your local nursery, or download the current copy here.

Happy gardening!

You Know You Are Addicted To Gardening When . . .

·      Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs and a cup of 
coffee. 



·      You drive around the neighborhood hoping to score “trash” to reuse in your garden. 



·      Your preferred winter reading material is seed catalogs.

·      You grab other people's banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for 
your compost pile.

·      You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean. 



·      All your neighbors come and ask you questions. 



·      You know the temperature of your compost every day. 



·      You buy a bigger truck so that you can haul more trees, shrubs and mulch. 



·      You enjoy swatting Japanese beetles into soapy water and watching them drown. 



·      Your boss makes "taking care of the office plants" an official part of your 
job description. 



·      Your non-gardening spouse becomes familiar in botanical names. 


·      You find yourself deadheading flowers wherever you 
go. 



·      You dumpster-dive for discarded bulbs after commercial landscapers remove 
them to plant annuals. 



·      You plan vacation trips around the locations of flower shows, botanical gardens, arboreta, 
historic gardens, etc.



·      You sneak home a 7 foot Japanese Maple and wonder if your spouse will 
notice. 



·      When considering your budget, plants are more important than groceries. 


·      You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as 
emergency tools. 



·      You appreciate your Master Gardener/Certified Nursery Landscape Professional badge more than your jewelry.

·      You spend more time chopping your kitchen greens for the compost pile than 
for cooking. 



·      You like the smell of horse manure better than Estee Lauder. 



·      You rejoice in rain...even after 10 straight days of it. 



·      You have a compost container on your kitchen counter. 


·      Soil test results actually mean something. 



·      You'd rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store. 



·      You know that Seven is not a number.

·      You take every single person who enters your house on a "garden tour."

Happy Gardening! 

Fabulous Books

A few fabulous books that I have in my library include "When Perennials Bloom" by Tomasz Anisko, curator at Longwoods Gardens, "Bulbs in the Basement Geraniums on the Windowsill" by Alice and Brian McGowan, and "Bloom-Again Orchids" by Judy White.  What books do you recommend?