Connecticut Garden Journal

With the changing season, it’s time to close the garden down. Before the cold weather hits, drain and bring in outdoors hoses, clean and sharpen garden tools and start protecting plants for winter. Wrap young trees with plastic or wire fencing to about 2 feet up the trunk and a few inches below the ground, to protect the young bark from rodents and rabbits. Erect A-frame, snow barriers for shrubs...

It's hard to think about winter with such warm, fall weather, but spring flowering bulbs need to be planted soon. If you want to enjoy your spring flowering tulips, daffodils, crocus and other bulbs a little earlier in spring or if you don’t have a garden, consider forcing them in containers.  You can plant two different ways. Either plant all one type of bulb in a pot for a big splash, or layer d...

With our warm fall, we're still enjoying fresh tomatoes, peppers, greens, and zucchini from the garden. But it's also time to start thinking about planting garlic and shallots. These two alliums are easy to grow. Unlike other veggies, you plant garlic and shallots in the fall for an early summer harvest. There are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck varieties, such as 'Romani...

As the days shorten and weather cools, somewhat, it's time for some fall garden chores. One of the rules that's changed is around perennial flower garden cleanup. Traditionally, we'd cut back and remove the dying foliage of perennial flowers such as daylilies, peonies, echinacea and rudbeckia. While the look of a cleaned garden might be appealing, it's not the best for the ecology around your yard...

October is spring bulb planting time. While the tulips, daffodils, and crocus head the list of popular bulbs to plant later this month, don't forget some of the more unusual bulbs such as the alliums. Allium or flowering onion plants range in sizes from 5 inches to 4 feet tall. The tall varieties make a statement in the garden rising about the foliage of perennials such as daylilies. The smaller g...

As the temperatures dip, it's time bring some of your favorite herbs indoors. Some of the best herbs to move inside to grow and cook with include parsley, rosemary, geraniums, chives, thyme and oregano. The advantage of bringing a mature, potted herb plant indoors is it will continue to send out shoots and leaves into November. If you grow it under grow lights, it will continue into winter. First,...

Fall is for asters. Asters are reliable native plants that give us color in our autumn gardens. But there are other natives that are equally as beautiful and trouble-free. One of the best is boltonia. Boltonia, or false aster, is related to asters. It features plants that grow 5- to 6- feet tall with white, pink or lavender colored flowers. Like asters, they flower in full or part sun in August an...

If you're looking for some color this fall in your perennial flower garden, certainly mums are always a nice addition. But here is a carefree, native perennial to grow for fall color and food for the pollinators. Helenium has the unfortunate common name of sneezeweed because it blooms when ragweed is flowering. It's the ragweed that causes the allergic reactions, not Helenium. This hardy, aster-fa...

It's apple and pear season and time to start harvesting. Actually some varieties are already ripe, but most will be harvested this month. If you're growing apples or pears in your yard, going to a pick your own orchard or just foraging for wild trees, it's good to know when to harvest. If you harvest too early the flavor isn't great. If you wait too long, the texture can be mealy or mushy. Pears a...

If you've had a rough year battling Japanese beetles, now is the time to control them. Many gardeners are familiar with Japanese beetle adults that cause damage to many flowers, vegetables and fruits. While there are chemical controls for these and other ground dwelling beetles, there are effective ecologically friendly controls as well. Remember only 1 per cent of the insects in your yard are one...

One of the trends I've noticed in our region is longer and warmer falls. This is an opportunity to garden more and now is the time to start planting quick maturing, cool weather loving veggies. The easiest veggie to grow for a fall harvest is greens. Spinach, lettuce, arugula, escarole, kale and Swiss chard can all be sown now from seed or purchased as seedlings from local nurseries. These veggies...

The hot, wet summer has been particularly good for growing melons. Cantaloups, honeydews and watermelons all seem to be enjoying the heat and humidity, more than I am. Once the melon fruits form and start to grow big, the question always comes up about when to harvest the fruits. So, let's talk about harvesting melons. The easiest melons to know when to harvest are the muskmelons or cantaloups. Th...

Late summer is often a time with little color from shrubs in our yard. That's why I love Rose of Sharon. Rose of Sharon's name is misleading. It's neither from Sharon, Israel or a rose. It's in the mallow family haling from Asia and is the National Flower of Korea. It came to Europe in the 1600's and North America during the colonial era. Thomas Jefferson particularly loved this shrub. This decidu...

There are few animal pests as clever as the raccoon. With their dextrose hands and feet, they can get into garbage cans, sealed compost bins and gardens with relative ease. I avoided growing sweet corn for years because of raccoons. Then I thought I'd try popcorn. I figured popcorn doesn't have sweet kernels so the raccoons would leave it alone. That worked for a few years, then they found my patc...

One type of perennial flower that I really love is shrub-like perennials. These are plants that quickly grow large in one season and even when they aren't flowering, put on quite a show. The one that's blooming right now is hardy hibiscus. Hardy hibiscus grows in zones 4 to 9 and is different from the woody, tropical, shrub hibiscus. The hardy hibiscus is a perennial, but dies back to the ground e...

If you’re lucky, around mid-July, warm weather loving veggies are thriving. I recently returned from a trip to find our okra had grown a few feet while I was away. Okra is a traditional Southern vegetable that should be grown in Northern gardens, too. Plant dwarf, quick maturing varieties now and harvest in 2 months. Dwarf varieties, such as 'Jambalaya' and 'Baby Bubba', only grow 3- to 4-feet tal...

With our warming climate comes many challenges. But one advantage is the possibility of growing some plants that normally would not thrive in Connecticut. This is true of crepe myrtle. Known as the “lilac of the South,” crepe myrtle has traditionally been successfully grown in zone 7 and warmer climates. But now with new hybrid, sterile, varieties from the National Arboretum and warmer winters, we...

I'm always looking for the most recent techniques to help protect our plants from deer and other critters. Deer browsing our shrubs, vegetables, and flowers is a constant source of angst for home owners. Fencing deer out of your yard is often not practical for a suburban homeowner, so repellent sprays are really the next best option. Recent research at the Connecticut Agricultural Research Station...

The warm, wet spring and now summery weather has encouraged our summer squash and zucchini to thrive. But we're not the only ones enjoying these plants. Squash bugs are here and laying eggs on the undersides of summer squash, winter squash, and melon plants. You may not see much damage yet from the squash bugs, but if allowed to thrive, your squash patch will be a mess come August. Squash bugs are...

We're potentially going to have an abundance of tree fruits this summer. With the mild winter and spring and the right about of sun and moisture, our cherries, plums, pears, apples and peaches have set lots of fruit. While I'm excited about the potential fruit glut, I also know that trees might be too enthusiastic. Too many fruits can lead to the branches breaking from the weight and the fruits be...

If you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant, chances are you've seen or eaten edamame. Edamame is a selection of soybeans that are harvested young when the green seeds fill out the pod similar to peas. You eat the seeds and the flavor is buttery and delicious. You can buy frozen edamame at grocery stores, but the flavor of fresh edamame is better. If you can grow bush beans, you can grow edamame....

Now that the lilacs and other spring flowering shrubs have finished flowering, it's time to prune. Many gardeners delay pruning until later in summer, or even next spring, but that's wrong. Pruning late will remove the flower buds for next year's show. After spring flowering shrubs, such as lilacs, forsythia, rhododendrons, weigela, nineback and bridal wreath spirea have finished blooming, you hav...

With summer here, it's time to experiment with some unusual, warm weather loving vegetables. One unique veggie I've tried growing for a few years now is peanuts. These nuts taste even better than store bought ones when grown in your garden. Peanuts are commonly grow in warmer climates, such as the Southeast, where well-drained soil, heat and humidity provide the perfect conditions for these ground...

Most vegetable gardeners are familiar with the benefits of growing veggies vertically. Certainly we know peas and pole beans love to climb. Tall varieties of peas, such as 'Tall Telephone' and 'Sugar Snap', climb up a trellis or fence with ease. Pole beans like to wrap around a pole or support as they grow. But there are other veggies that can also be grown vertically to save space and reduce dise...

As the weather warms, I'm starting to think about basil. It's a bit early to plant basil, but it is a good time to shop for plants and seeds of some of the more unusual basil varieties. While we all know and love 'Genovese' basil, there are many other flavors to basil. One of our favorites is 'Thai' basil. The thicker leaves hold up well at high heat in Asian recipes and it has a sweet, anise-like...