You Grow Girlâ„¢

This is my August - September entry that took too long to finish. Speaking of taking too long to finish, I have somewhat finished planting a perennial bed in the front yard. Note to self: do not plant in 90 degree weather! I know I shouldn’t have but things managed to survive OK with watering every night.

I thought about doing some more beds around the large rectangular shaped front lawn we have but have decided against that. We will be moving in another year or two and I keep planting sort of rare varieties of some plants that I don’t want to have to dig up. It will already be a minor escapade bringing the things I will need to dig up plus my pots.

The Columbine in the garden (not sure of the variety) had lovely seed pods and I shook the little things and collected them in a ziploc bag in July. I have since read that I can either start them in the spring or just scatter them now where I want them.

This is the first year I purchased some annuals and I really wasn’t disappointed. The reason I hadn’t in the past is because they don’t come back what’s the point. But the three window boxes I put up with annuals did great and still look great while the perennials are crunchy and pretty much done. I filled in some gaps with them too in particular some purple petunias near a fairy statue that just still keep going strong.

Another annual I got a few of were snapdragons. They set seed freely in the late summer and will spill it out onto the soil so really they are not annuals here. The seeds will overwinter and germinate in the spring like the columbine as far as I am told.

On snapdragons the seeds can also be collected from the dried blossoms before they split. And you can label all the seeds and keep them in a dark and cool place until spring. The garage seems to be a good bet.

I also went out in the backyard and drew a rough sketch of the perennial beds and then labeled the drawing in my journal. I wrote down all of the plants I need to move before next year (only two I think) and where to move them to. I also kept in mind the size things get as well as any spaces that will be “free” come spring (also about two spots).

You can also take note of what did and didn’t do well via a photo. Print it out on a regular piece of paper and label with arrows.

This fall I will not go crazy with planting bulbs because last year things looked almost good enough. However my lilies and irises need dividing and I am looking forward to digging in and separating the overgrown mounds in about a month.

Normally in September it seems that the weather cools off and the rain starts. This year already we have set record temperatures for September (90s). By midmonth it was into the 70s.

I start horticulture courses on Oct. 2 and am pretty excited even though I am only taking two classes to start off with. I hope to incorporate a lot of my propagating knowledge into some of my entries soon!