plant a row for the hungry - beaverton, oregon

June To-Do List:

We have a few weeks of optimal vegetable planting season ahead of us. See page 2 for more info!

Mulch! Bare soil will dry quickly, fluctuate in temperature, and suffer damage from the elements. A sim‐ple layer of mulch (bark, compost, etc) will help mitigate these factors and keep your soil healthier. Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants!

As the weather warms up, the need for wa‐tering increases. New plants will need special attention, and should be watered regularly after planting. Do not rely on rainfall to wa‐ter young plants!

Summer annuals are out in full force, and are just waiting for a chance to brighten up your garden. Petunias, Marigolds, Zinnias, and Geraniums are all warm‐season annuals that bloom all summer and bring lots of color to the garden!

Rhododendrons, Azal‐eas, and Camellias should be pruned right after bloom for the best results. Keep in mind that they set buds for the next spring’s blooms during the previous summer, so we recommend pruning no later than the end of June to pre‐vent cutting off next year’s flowers.

June 4th, 2010 Volume 4, Issue 5

Here we are, nearly a week into June, and the question on every‐one’s mind seems to be “Whatever happened to May?”. After a beautiful start to the spring season, May decided to be a real stinker and send rain shower after rain shower to dampen all of our gardening plans. People usually start planting gardens around Mother’s Day, but the weather was not very cooperative this year, so we know that a lot of people are still waiting for that elusive sunny day to get out and plant!

The good news is that the weather is due to improve and we are at a perfect point in the season to plant summer vegetables and annuals. The time will fly by quickly so don’t delay! On page two, we talk about the average days to maturity for common vegetables. You can see that plant‐ing now will put the harvest at the perfect time in fall. There is still a healthy planting window, but it is definitely slipping by quickly!

As the season warms up, the need for irrigation will also become more important. Our soils are warming up and drying out quickly, and the rainfall is not going to be able to keep up with plant water demands for much longer. New plants already need regular irrigation, and you need to keep an eye on your other plants and have a watering plan ready.

The nursery is well stocked and looking exceptionally beautiful right now, and we are bringing in new plants daily! This is one of the best times of the year to visit the nursery, and we look forward to seeing you!

Can You Believe It’s Already June?!

Time for Vegetables!

Plant a Row for the Hungry

Summer Rose Care

New Soil Products

Upcoming Events

Inside...

Volume 4, Issue 5

This is the perfect time to plant vegetables for late sum‐

mer and fall harvests. Our beautiful early spring took a rainy

turn in May, but the sun is on the way! We know that many

people try to plant as early as possible to get an early harvest,

but we are really just now getting into the main vegetable

growing season. We have a window of a few weeks of opti‐

mal vegetable planting now, and everyone should be taking

advantage of it to get those veggies planted!

Vegetable seed packets usually list the “days to matur‐

ity” on the label, which is the number of days on average it

takes from seed planting to harvest. This number of days as‐

sumes that the soil and weather have warmed up sufficiently,

like it is now. Planting summer vegetables early in cold soil just

prolongs the number of days to maturity unless you specifically

take measures to warm the soil or protect the plants (cold frames, row covers, and other

“season extenders”). For most people, it is a lot less hassle to just plant when the conditions

are right. Nonetheless, it is very possible to get a jump on the season if you are motivated!

Vegetables work when the soil and air are at the proper growing temperature

(around 65˚‐70˚ for corn, pumpkins, and tomatoes), but struggle before that. A tomato

planted in April with no protection will usually just sulk and limp along until the conditions

are right for growth, and then it will recover gradually and start to grow slowly (if it doesn’t

die in the cold first). A tomato planted in late May or early June will take off like a rocket and

probably outgrow the early planting by a good margin.

To give you an idea of how long it takes plants to mature to a point of harvest, we

have compiled maturity information on some of the more common summer vegetable crops

on the next page. Most of these numbers

assume that the plant is being grown from

seed, except for peppers and tomatoes

which are generally transplanted into the

garden as plants. You can cut these num‐

bers by a few days to a week by starting out

with plants instead of seeds, but they will

readily sprout in the ground now that the

soil has warmed up.

It’s Time For Vegetables!

Volume 4, Issue 5

Average Days to Maturity ‐ Summer Crops

Bush Beans ‐ 50 to 60 days

Pole Beans ‐ 60 to 70 days

Cabbage ‐ 70 to 120 days (depends on variety)

Corn – 70 to 100 days

Cucumbers ‐ 50 to 70 days

Peppers ‐ 65 to 80 days (from a plant; seed takes longer)

Pumpkins ‐ 100 to 120 days

Tomatoes ‐ 60 to 100 days (from a plant; seed takes longer)

Watermelon ‐ 65 to 100 days (larger varieties take much longer)

Zucchini ‐ 50 days to first harvest, then watch out…

Round Two!

All of these previously mentioned vegetables grow best in the warmer weather, but

there are many vegetables that mature in cooler weather like lettuce, peas, cauliflower,

spinach and broccoli. These early spring planted vegetables prefer the cooler temperatures

and shorter days and will be coming into harvest soon (if they aren’t already done). You can

plant these again in July and August for a late fall harvest, so save some room!

Here are some maturity times for the cooler season vegetables:

Average Days to Maturity ‐ Early Spring/Fall Crops

Broccoli ‐ 70+ days

Cauliflower ‐ 60 to 65 days

Lettuce ‐ 50 to 60 days

Peas ‐ 60 to 70 days

Spinach ‐ 40‐50 days

It’s Time For Vegetables! ...continued

Volume 4, Issue 5

After our enormous PAR harvest of over 6000 pounds last year, we are excited to begin our seventh season! Our hard‐working PAR gardeners have al‐ready begun calling, so we know you are ready to go too.

For those of you unfamiliar with this great com‐munity effort, here’s how it works: if you are a fruit or vegetable gardener, just grow a little more than you will need for your family and friends, and bring the surplus here on collection days. We are partnering with two local non‐profits, Sunshine Pantry and Tualatin Valley Gleaners, who will see that it quickly reaches families in need in our community.

We are making a few changes to our program this year. It has come to our attention that our past practice of rewarding donors with FG gift cards jeopardizes your ability to claim a charitable donation. Therefore, we are suspending that small part of the program here at FG. We hope you won’t miss it too much, but we feel that you will benefit more with this new format.

We will help you weigh and record your donations so that you will be able to itemize your total as a charitable donation at tax time. (There are new rules that enable you to claim the full fair market value of your produce, so we encourage you to separate your produce by type so that you can itemize your poundage on your donation form – it will make it easier for you to assign values later.)

The other change is that we are adding another day for dropping off your produce! You asked for it, and we are happy to comply. We have arranged to have volunteers from the two non‐profits help us with this. We will have an easy drive‐up location in the parking lot, to make unloading quick and easy for everyone. Please note the new drop‐off hours; we

will not be able to accept produce brought at other times.

We will be accepting donations on Sundays and Wednesdays from 10:30 am to noon beginning June 13th. Please consider making this a family project to help local families in need. Oregon has been espe‐cially hard hit by this recession, and families are still struggling to feed their children. As we have learned these past years, garden‐ers are generous people who are making a huge difference.

Plant a Row for the Hungry Begins a New Season!

Volume 4, Issue 5

June is here, and roses all over the area are about to burst into bloom! Our roses are all budded up and just waiting for a good sunny afternoon to unleash their flowers. It happens every year about this time, and the difference that just one nice day can make is astonishing. Right now the roses all look fresh and healthy in their spring growth, but the trick from now on will be to keep them looking that good throughout the summer. Rose care really isn’t that difficult, and with a few basic concepts you too can grow world‐class roses!

Start with good soil. Roses like rich soil, and good soil has numerous extra benefits that support quality plant growth. The extra effort that you put into amending your soil will pay you back tremendously in the long run. Mix a good helping of compost or other organic material into the soil before planting, and mulch the soil after planting to preserve the soil. Your existing plants will benefit from a good topdressing with organic material, but be careful not to bury any of the stem.

Feed them well. Roses are hungry plants! The amount of growing and flowering that they do constantly through the growing season takes a remarkable amount of energy. Start with good, rich soil (see above point), and feed with a quality rose fertilizer. We recommend a few applications of our EB Stone Organic Rose and Flower Food throughout the growing season for best results.

Keep it clean. Diseases and bugs love to live in leaf litter under plants. Keep all dead foliage cleaned up, and pick off any diseased foliage when possible. The ground under a rose bush should be clean and clear from debris.

Prune thoroughly ‐ It will grow back! Perhaps the most important part of growing roses is proper pruning. Roses tend to grow rampantly, and unless well directed can turn into a big jumbled mess. Good pruning starts with a hard late winter pruning to “reset” the plant, and con‐tinuous maintenance pruning to keep the plant clean and well‐formed. One of the biggest parts of this is dead‐heading (see next point). You should also prune out growth that grows inward towards the center of the plant, weak growth, and diseased growth. You want to encour‐age good air circulation around the branches and through the plant, which require that you prune regularly.

Summer Rose Care

Volume 4, Issue 5

Deadhead! Larger flowered roses need help to continue flowering regularly through the season. When the flow‐ers start to look ragged and fall apart, it is time to clip the dead flower off so that a new one can take its place. This seems straightforward, but where you cut has a dis‐tinct effect on how the plant will behave. You want to prune back to a set of 5 leaflets that are pointing away from the center of the plant (the number of leaflets per set increase the further down the main stem you go). This encourages the growth to grow outwards and not tangle up in the center of the plant. Pruning back to a set of 5 leaflets will result in rebloom on that stem al‐most 100% of the time. In contrast, pruning back to a set of 3 leaflets or above will result in a rebloom on that stem only about 50% of the time!

Address problems early. Bugs happen. Diseases happen. How you deal with them is crucial to keeping your plants healthy! Well grown roses should have a minimal amount of problems if any, but they still pop up from time to time. Most problems are easy to take care of if caught early. A few aphids can usually just be hosed off with a sharp stream of water. A spotted leaf can be picked off. When these problems are ignored however, they can snowball into much bigger problems. If in doubt, our staff is happy to help you determine a course of action when dealing with these pest annoyances.

Water deeply and thoroughly. A soaker hose or drip system is ideal for watering roses because it keeps the moisture down at ground level and not on the foliage, and it encourages deeper rooting and better drought tolerance. A good blast from the hose is a good idea from time to time if you are seeing aphids or powdery mildew, but in general it is better to keep the moisture off of the leaves where it can promote dis‐ease problems.

With these ideas in hand, you can give your roses the help that they need to do their best. Roses seem intimidating to some people, and have somewhat of a reputation for being difficult. Roses don’t have to be an ordeal however, but they cer‐tainly can be if neglected or not cared for properly. Well cared for roses will bloom in your garden for years to come, and are well worth the extra effort!

Summer Rose Care ...continued

Volume 4, Issue 5

You’ve seen our great plants and met our helpful staff, but did you know that we also offer bulk soil products and bark? All of our bulk soil products are available for pickup or delivery at reasonable rates. We have recently changed some of our soil products, and we are very pleased with the quality of the new material! These are our three soil mixes and amendments that we are currently of‐fering:

Planting Mix. We recommend this for filling raised beds – in fact, it is what we used in our demonstration vege‐table garden (feel free to stick your hands in the bed to feel it!). This mix is nutrient rich and so light and fluffy that our veggies are really thriving. This mix is com‐prised of true Willamette Valley sandy loam, our dairy compost, and our garden mulch all blended together in one rich, well‐draining soil mix. You will love this, and so will your veggies!

Dairy Compost. This is truly great stuff! It is a by‐product of the Tillamook Cheese indus‐try. The animal waste is composted in an ingenious process: an anaerobic digester turns dairy manure into electricity. The by‐products of this are safe irrigation water and this great compost product. We recommend you use it as a soil amendment to add organic matter to your soil. Healthy soil should be at least 10% organic material by volume.

Garden Mulch. Another great soil amendment, this one is comprised of composted green waste. Unlike most prod‐ucts in this category, ours is manufactured under the strict‐est standards in the industry. It does not contain weed seeds, pressure treated lumber, construction debris or other undesirable materials that are sometimes found in lower quality products. There is truly a difference in quality! We recommend this product either as a soil amendment worked into the soil, or to use as a top dressing or mulch. Good gardens start with good soil, and a small invest‐ment in soil health goes a long way. Healthy soil will let your plants reach their full potential, and is much easier to work with. If you have any questions about soil health or how to improve your soil, let us know, and we’d love to explain and get you started on the road to healthy soil!

New Soil Products!

Volume 4, Issue 5

We grow a number of exceptional different plants, and beginning this week we are

proud to introduce our Grower’s Choice program! Each week we will select a different plant

that we grow and offer it for sale at special Grower’s Choice pricing. New plants will be an‐

nounced on Friday mornings on our blog, and Grower’s Choice pricing will continue for one

week or until quantities run out, whichever occurs first.

Be sure to check our blog,

http://blog.farmingtongardens.com, each

Friday morning to find out the selected plant

for the week. This is an outstanding oppor‐

tunity to buy great plants direct from the

grower at unheard of prices!

Grower’s Choice!

We have extended our weekend hours for the summer season! We started these

hours in late May so that people had more time to shop on the weekends and could make it

here after work on Friday evenings.

Our new extended store hours are:

Sunday through Thursday from 9 am to 6 pm

Friday from 9 am to 7 pm

Saturday from 8 am to 7 pm

Extended Hours!

For a limited time, while supplies last, we are offering a

fantastic deal on a selected group of our Japanese Maples. We

have a selection of great homegrown varieties in 3 gallon deco‐

rative containers that we will be selling for only $24.99 each!

These are regularly sold for $59.99, so you are saving well more

than 50% off of our regular retail pricing!

Japanese Maples are one of our specialties, and we grow

over 50 varieties in all shapes, sizes, and colors. They are very

versatile plants and fit in many different situations in the garden!

A Special Deal on Japanese Maples!

Volume 4, Issue 5

Saturday, June 12th, 10 am ‐ 2 pm

Save Water, Time and Money This Summer!

While this is not really a class, we will have the Regional Water Providers Consortium here to share great tips for being water wise in your garden. Stop by their info station and pick up a FREE watering gauge, waterwise plant guides, and other resources. The water experts will be here from 10 am – 2 pm.

Sunday, June 13th, 1 pm

Glenn Andresen from Metro, on Organic Soils and Compost

Dirt may not be glamorous, but we all know abundant gardens are rooted in healthy soil. Get the scoop on compost and organic amendments for a thriving, nontoxic yard. Glen will be bringing lots of great Metro publications – great resources for the organic gardener.

Saturday, June 26th, 10 am ‐ 4 pm

Build your own Willow Furniture with Brian and Samantha Phillips from The Willow Station.

Choose from several project options – a garden bench, chair, plant stand, end table, plant trough, or trellis. Take your unique piece of furniture home at the end of the day! Suggested items to bring: knee pads, gloves, clippers, and a sack lunch. Class fee: $125 and a $10 registra‐tion fee. Registration required; space is limited.

Wednesday, June 30th, 11 am

Our Favorite Summer Perennials, with Marinda Parks

Summer perennials have a special place in the garden, because we are enjoying the outdoors with our friends and family. Marinda will share her favorites for long bloomers, as well as those that make great cut flowers. Who doesn’t love to bring garden flowers into their home?

These classes are free unless otherwise noted, but space is limited; please register with your name, phone number, and number attending at [email protected] or call us at 503‐649‐4568.

Upcoming June Events!

Farmington Gardens 21815 SW Farmington Rd

Beaverton, OR 97007

Phone: 503‐649‐4568 Fax: 503‐649‐4540

E‐mail: newsletter@ farmingtongardens.com

www.farmingtongardens.com

Farmington Gardens is

a Licensed Landscape

Contracting Business in

the State of Oregon–

OLCB# 8633

Summer Happy Hours at Farmington Gardens!

Volume 4, Issue 5

A little‐known fact: Summer evenings at Farm‐ington Gardens are quite beautiful! There is something about that time of day with the in‐tensely colored evening sky, when the heat abates a bit and the floral fragrances waft through the air. It can be magical!

Looking for ways to Share The Magic with you, our loyal customers, we’re planning some spe‐cial evenings here. We hope you can plan to meet up with your friends here to sample some great local wines and enjoy our beautiful plants. A great relaxing way to start your weekend!

Friday, June 11th, 5‐7 pm

We are kicking off our Summer Happy Hours with Morgan Meadows Winery from Gaston. Since 1992, the Morgan Family Farm has been making a delicious Pinot Noir. We invite you to sample their lovingly nurtured wines, nosh on munchies, and stroll through our garden store.

Friday, June 18th, 3‐7 pm

We are featuring Provincial Vineyards, an up‐and‐coming Washington County winery producing both single‐estate Pinot Noir and a tropical Pinot Gris. Pair that with some food and beautiful plants. Yum – sounds like summer!

plant a row for the hungry - beaverton, oregon

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