Winding Down the Garden Season

By Jos Van Hage

This is the time of year when gardens are full of flowers and vegetables. Although the weather was not as hot as other years the gardens still have  flourished. To keep annual flowers growing healthy and full of bloom they  need to be fertilized twice a week and watered daily. This is more  important now than earlier in the season as the plants root system have  become large and taken up most of the space in the pot. Continue to dead head the old finished flowers so that the plant will continue to produce  new flowers. If you want to save seeds from your flowers, you can leave a couple of finished flowers on the plant to produce seeds which will mature and be harvested for next years growing season.

I have noticed that the vegetable garden this year has been very good.  Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, leeks, all enjoy cooler temperatures so this has been a very good summer for them! Some vegetables such as leeks, kale and brussel sprouts are tastier after they have had a good frost so these are better left in the garden until the first frost. Depending on what area Prince George you live in you may already have experienced the first frost of the season. Some parts of  Pineview, Beaverly, and the Hart had a killing frost two weeks ago.

This is the time of year when you want to keep some 'Reemay' (frost protection blanket) near by so that you can cover the frost tender plants such as corn, tomatoes, squash, beans, cucumber, and peppers when you hear of freezing temperatures.

In the landscape and yard the season is coming to a close. You want plants to begin the process of getting ready for winter by slowly going dormant. This means you do not fertilize anymore with regular fertilizers. There are fall fertilizers available which are low in nitrogen and high in potassium which helps strengthen plants so that are better equipped to go through the winter months. These fertilizers are applied towards the end of August.

If you have been waiting to transplant or divide plants, you can begin doing this now. Peonies, iris, and lilies especially, are better divided and transplanted in the fall. If you are planning to seed a new lawn, there is still some time left as you want the seed to germinate before the winter sets in.

Apple trees are also becoming heavy with fruit. Apples should be picked as they ripen and not be allowed to fall on the ground. If branches are heavy  with fruit, they should be staked to prevent them from breaking. To check  if the apple is ripe, cut one open and if the seeds are a dark brown the  apple is ripe. Apples tend to ripen from the outside in, so pick the apples from the outer tips of the branch and work your way in towards the  trunk.

Continue to weed the garden as you do not want this year's weed to become next year's weeds. Weeds left to grow, will not only get a bigger root  system next year making them harder to remove but they will also produce seeds that will sow themselves and grow many more weeds next year!

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden Centresin the Prince George Region:

• Highway 16 West at Kimball Road
• Highway 97 North at  Northwood Pulpmill Road

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